Andy Davidhazy at RIT

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: I am currently a professor in the Imaging and Photographic Technology Department of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. : My main areas of technical interest are the basics of just about any photo/imaging technique or process applied to visualization and/or analysis of engineering and scientific phenomena that require more than a standard or conventional camera to achieve the desired results. My "specialty," if there is any, has been the development and dissemination of information regarding improvised and simplified techniques particularly in the areas of schlieren, high-speed, and strip/streak applications. : What first interested me in the field of optics and photonics were UFOs (!) and just plain photography. I was early on fascinated by how one could visualize events normally unseen by human eyes, how one could make "special effects" (such as fake UFO pictures) and amaze friends and relatives, and also by the fact that people were willing to pay for photographic services of various kinds. I started consulting on a small scale very early in my career. : I have been involved in various quite interesting projects having to do with authentication of photographic imaging. One was with the House Select Committee working on a reexamination of the photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle and lately I was called upon to authenticate a photograph of O. J. Simpson wearing some shoes he claimed never to have owned. I have also worked on purported photographic evidence of force fields in the vicinity of Stonehenge and crop-circles in that general area. I periodically am asked to determine whether "ghosts" are present in photographs. I have taken serious work seriously but have also enjoyed a laugh or two based on this type of activity. : Professionally I have been primarily active in the High Speed Photography and Photonics working group of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) over the years. I attend and periodically present papers at the International Congress on High Speed Photography and Photonics. Recently I became a member of the SPIE Education Committee. : I've received IS&T's Raymond Bowman award for teaching, an ASEE Summer Fellowship at the NASA Langley Research Center, I was the Inaugural Kodak Visiting Professorship to Australia, received the RIT Eisenhart Outstanding Teaching Award at RIT, etc. A listing of my lectures, conferences, and publications would be somewhat too extensive to include here. Suffice it to say that most of my publications have been of a general kind and published in the popular press rather than in scientific journals. You can find a listing of these if you go to my web site, http://www.rit.edu/~andpph. : I am a member of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T), the International Panoramic Photographers Association (IAPP), The Photographic Historical Society, and past mamber of several other photo organizations but it got too expensive to continue membership in so many. : Some of my major influences undoubtedly were Dr. Harold "Doc" Edgerton, Mr. William Hyzer, Dr. Jeff Courtney Pratt, and Dr. Kenneth C. D. Hickman who encouraged me to publish. : I am married and share my personal life with Sue who has been a friend and companion for many years. We probably should do more canoeing together than we do currently but things are good. She does the lawn. ;-) : My favorite hobbies are photography, travel, writing, lecturing, playing hopefully harmless pranks on friends, and practicing being mildly politically incorrect. : For the last five years or so I have tried to be an advocate for photography and photographic education by establishing two mail lists dedicated to the profession. PhotoForum and Fotored bring me great pleasure and also take up a lot of my time and energy. I hope it is all worthwhile. : I do have one other major activity (besides teaching photographic subjects that few photography students get to experience at other schools) that brings me much satisfaction and that is my work on behalf of the students and faculty in my department and school. I was truly lucky to have been given a chance to develop my professional life among some of the most inspiring colleagues anyone could hope for. The Imaging and Photographic Technology students are very special to me as well. It is fun and rewarding to organize and participate in all kinds of extracurricular activities with them. From pizza parties in Tech Alley at RIT or field trips to Kennedy Space Center, Boston, Washington or Houston it is all just great fun. : [End of file]

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