Contact:

Dr. A. H. Guenther, 277-7003 Michael Padilla, 277-1816

May 30, 2001

UNM professor awarded New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Award

Research Professor Arthur H. Guenther of the University of New Mexico Center for High Technology Materials has been awarded the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Award by Governor Gary Johnson.

Guenther has been influential in the promotion of optics/photonics, not only as an academic discipline, but also for its potential to impact economic development in New Mexico. He was a member of a recent National Academy of Sciences Study on Optical Science and Engineering, which concluded that optics is a most pervasive and enabling technology that crosscuts many fields, an activity that will be critical to the future tech-based economic development of the state.

“Optics and photonics promises to be as important in the future as electronics and computers have been in the past,” Guenther said, adding that his commitment and leadership on behalf of New Mexico in this area has led to a number of initiatives and achievements.

Through the Alliance for Photonic Technology (APT), Guenther was the principal driving force behind the development of the New Mexico Optics Industry Association, a trade organization of optics-related companies in New Mexico. He brought the university community and the industry-based organizations together to quantify and qualify the needs of the optics industry as to the educational requirements of graduates desired for new employees by companies in this area. As a result of bringing the University and industry together a new curriculum for a master of science in optical science and engineering was created and is currently being approved. He also had additional communications with leaders from the Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute addressing the need for two-year post-secondary programs to produce a trained workforce with the appropriate skill set for populating the emerging optics/photonics field. This has led to a new curriculum in the photonics area, to enhance workforce development and support this emerging field. This early initiative on his part has set the stage for New Mexico to become a center of high energy laser development, the cornerstone for Directed Energy for the Department of Defense.

Guenther has a long and distinguished career of service to New Mexico, as well as the United States as a whole, from optics to defense to education to technology-based economic development serving in the past as the first legislated science advisor to several governors. Guenther is the previous chief scientist of the Air Force Weapons Laboratory and held a similar position at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is a pioneer in laser activities and directed energy. This award is the second such recognition Guenther has received.

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The University of New Mexico
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