Light People: Professor James C. Wyant

EditorialHe is the founding dean of the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences. He was elected president of the OSA and the SPIE, two of the most respected international academic organizations in the world of optics. He is the founder or co-founder of multiple hi-tech companies. He is Prof. James C. Wyant. Professor Wyant is many things: master of optics, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, but above all, he is one of those rare lucky people who see their childhood dreams come true. He is the hardworking scientist who pushes optical science to the limit. He is the successful entrepreneur whose Midas touch turns research achievements into lucrative commercial projects. He is the generous philanthropist who has given a large fortune to help promote the development of optical science. He is the avid athlete who enjoys the outdoors and takes pleasure in hiking and running. From tender memories to cutting-edge research and hard-nosed business advice, Prof. Wyant will share with us how he became fascinated with optics and what he thinks about academic life and organizations.

Assessing the Skills of Alberta’s Refracting Opticians: Can Opticians Safely and Independently Refract and Prescribe Optical Appliances?

Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces that permits optician-performed refractions. Recently, the Alberta College and Association of Opticians (ACAO) has requested an expansion of opticians’ scope of practice to include the ability to prescribe optical appliances, an activity currently restricted to optometrists and ophthalmologists. For the remainder of this paper, the term “prescribe” should be interpreted as the prescription of an optical appliance, not a therapeutic pharmaceutical agent. In this paper, we investigate whether designated refracting opticians in Alberta have adequate training and knowledge to safely and independently perform a refraction and prescribe an optical appliance. To answer this research question, we composed a list of 27 skills we deem necessary to safely and independently refract and prescribe. We then evaluated the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s (NAIT) opticianry programs and the entry to practice examinations administered by the National Association of Canadian Optician Regulators (NACOR) and the Optometry Examining Board of Canada (OEBC) in terms of their coverage of these 27 skills. Our findings show that NAIT’s optical science programs either do not cover or do not practically assess students on over half (59 percent) of the skills required to safely and independently refract and prescribe, and the NACOR examination fails to cover 77 percent of the skills required to safely refract and prescribe. Based on this information, refracting opticians in Alberta do not possess adequate training and knowledge to safely and independently perform a refraction and prescribe an optical appliance. Granting opticians the legislative authority to independently refract and prescribe may result in a public health issue, as there may be an increase in the number of un-diagnosed or un-detected eye and systemic diseases.

The European optical contribution to the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is frequently referred to as the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The ‘Webb’ will be the biggest space telescope ever built and is expected to enable astounding new science. The observatory comprises a 6.5-m-diameter telescope with a segmented primary mirror and four high-performance optical science instruments. The JWST has mostly been optimized to work in the near- (0.6–5.0 μm) and mid-infrared (5.0–29 μm) wavelength regions. The project is a strong international partnership led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The observatory is currently scheduled for launch in early 2021 from Kourou, French Guyana, by an ESA-provided Ariane 5 rocket. This paper will focus on the European optical contribution to the mission, which mainly consists of two highly advanced optical science instruments: The multi-object near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the mid-infrared instrument (MIRI). The opto-mechanical design considerations and the realization of both instruments will be described, and we will conclude with a short JWST project status report and future outlook.