Optometry professor awarded for outstanding contributions

Stephen Burns, an IU School of Optometry professor, has received the Optical Society of America’s Edgar D. Tillyer Award.

He is being recognized for his “outstanding contributions to the science of color vision and color imaging systems, and for pioneering work on brain imaging that has illuminated the organization and function of human visual processing,” according to an IU press release.

Burns’ research focuses on human color vision with an emphasis on photoreceptor function in health and disease.

“I’m pleased that Professor Burns has been recognized for the extraordinary contributions he is making to our understanding of retinal structure and function,” said Sarita Soni, interim dean of the School of Optometry, in the press release. “Receiving this prestigious award for the high caliber of research for which Professor Burns is known comes as no surprise and is well deserved.”

Burns has been at IU since 2005 after leaving his position as senior scientist at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard University Medical School. He currently serves as the IU lead investigator in a National Eye Institute’s Bioengineering Research Partnership.

Director of the University of Rochester’s Center for Visual Science David Williams has worked with Burns on the NEI partnership.

“I’ve known Steve my entire career and he has continually over the last three decades been a pioneer of developing and applying new adaptive optical tools to get these extremely clear views of the retina,” Williams said in the press release. “It should also be pointed out that his service to the Optical Society of America has been nothing short of exemplary over the years.”

— Lindsey Erdody