The SPIE Maria J. Yzuel Educator Award is given by an SPIE teacher or an educator in the field in recognition of exceptional contributions to optics education a $2,000 honorarium.
The International Society for Optics and Photonics has awarded the "2021 SPIE Maria J. Yzuel Educator Award" to Prof. Bishnu Pal, Dean of Academics and Professor of Natural Sciences at Mahindra University's Ecole Centrale School of Engineering (SPIE). The SPIE Maria J. Yzuel Instructor Award honors an educator in the field for exemplary contributions to optics education.
"In recognition of four decades of sustained contributions to education, outreach, research, technical program committees of global flagship conferences, and the editing of popular guided wave optics and photonics publications, Prof Pal has been named for this award." The award will be officially presented to him at the SPIE Optics+ Photonics conference scheduled at San Diego USA on August 1-5, 2021 at the annual award banquet.
We congratulate Prof. Bishnu Pal for winning the SPIE Maria J Yzuel Educator Award for 2021. In the field of optics and photonics, Prof. Bishnu Pal continues to lead from the front, and this is yet another acknowledgment of his contribution to the sector, as many thousand of his students can say. The University of Mahindra is so fortunate to have such an eminent scholar as its Dean: There is hardly any recognition that he has not earned in the sector and his impressive list of awards in the industry is unparalleled,' says Dr. Yajulu Medury, Vice-Chancellor, Mahindra University.
It is a pleasure to be acknowledged by the world's leading optics and Photonics community. SPIE has over 255,000 members from 183 countries, and it is always heartening to be appreciated by your own peer group. When I look back at my career and the students I have taught and the scholars I have worked with, I am shocked at the quality of the individuals I have come into contact with and it is always a pleasure to see them.
Some of the prestigious awards Dr. Pal has won in the past include Esther Hoffman Beller Medal from the Optical Society of America (OSA) in 2016, Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Photonics Society (IPS, USA) 2005-07, Prof. A. Selvarajan Award from the IPS India chapter in 2017 for excellent contributions to photonics education and research.
Khosla National Research Award 2014 (India) for life-time research achievements by IIT Roorkee, Om Prakash Bhasin Award for distinguished contributions to electronics and telecommunications networks, Homi J Bhabha Award 2006 of the University Grants Commission (UGC), India for outstanding contributions in Applied Sciences, and Fiber Optics Person of the Year 1998, founded by Lucent Technology in India and Voice & Data Magazine, 'OSI Award' of the Optical Society of India (OSI) 2010 for significant lifetime contribution to education and diffusion of knowledge in Optics and Photonics.