Jonathan Papa: 2017 Awardee
Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship
University of Rochester
The 2017 winner of the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship award is Jonathan Papa. Jonathan received a BS in Physics, Magna Cum Laude, with Highest Distinction, and a BS in Optical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude, with Highest Distinction from The University of Rochester in May 2014. Jonathan entered the PhD program in fall 2014 and started his research in spring 2015. He is currently in his third year of the PhD program at The Institute of Optics, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Rochester, working with Prof. Jannick Rolland, Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering.
The 2017 Kidger Scholarship Award was presented to Jonathan by Andy Wood, Chair of the Kidger Scholarship Award Committee, during the International Optical Design Conference (IODC), Marriott City Center, Denver, Colorado, USA, 12 July 2017.
Research Highlights
IODC 2017 Denver, CO, USA
12 July 2017
L-R Andy Wood, Award Comm. Chair;
Jonathan Papa, Award Winner,
Prof. Jannick Rolland, Thesis Advisor
Jonathan’s current interest lies in the design of reflective freeform imaging systems. His goal is to use the tools of aberration theory for freeform surfaces to help guide the design of multi-mirror imaging systems. In spring 2016, Jonathan was awarded a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship (NSTRF) to investigate the design of four-mirror freeform reflective imaging systems.
Dietrich Korsch’s general solutions for correcting the aberrations of three-mirror anastigmats underpins Jonathan’s work. Assisted by Eric Schiesser (2015 Kidger Awardee), and borrowing from Andrew Rakich’s (2004 Kidger Awardee) Master’s Thesis, Jonathan implemented the three-mirror anastigmat solution space in MATLAB. He is now working to implement the four-mirror solution space in MATLAB from Rakich’s PhD thesis. The latter is part of Jonathan’s PhD topic that will expand the space and enter and reveal freeform four-mirror solutions.