Stephen D. Fantone received his S.B. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. from The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. His work there was under the supervision of Prof. Duncan T. Moore. While completing his Ph.D., Dr. Fantone joined Polaroid Corporation, where he worked on the development of Polaroid products and related technology, both as an employee and later through services provided by his company, Optikos. He has been a Senior Lecturer in the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department since 1995.

Dr. Fantone is the founder and president of Optikos Corporation. Established in 1982, Optikos is an engineering and instrumentation firm that uses optics as an enabling technology for clients who are developing medical devices and diagnostics, virtual reality and consumer products, aerospace and defense systems, and automotive sensing and imaging applications. Optikos also develops and markets metrology instruments that assess the quality of imaging systems.

Dr. Fantone is an OSA Fellow. He has served on the Board of the OSA Foundation since 2004, and has chaired OSA’s Strategic Planning Committee since 2015. He served as an OSA Board Member for two decades and as Vice-Chair of the 2016 Centennial Advisory Panel. As OSA Treasurer, he chaired the Finance, Audit and Investment Committees, and during his 18-year tenure (through 2013), OSA increased its financial reserves over 15-fold.