LLNL optical engineer Diana Chen named SPIE Senior Member for 2025

Diana Chen, an optical engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has been named a Senior Member of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Chen is one of 92 SPIE members honored worldwide as part of the organization’s 2025 cohort for their professional experience, active involvement with the optics community and significant technical contributions to the field.

Chen joined LLNL in 2004 and currently serves as the Large Optics Inspection System manager for the National Ignition Facility. Her work focuses on precision optical modeling, adaptive optics, laser system diagnostics and design and sustainment of large-scale laser systems.

“I’m honored to be named a Senior Member of SPIE,” Chen said. “It’s been incredibly rewarding to contribute to LLNL’s missions through optics and photonics, and I’m grateful to collaborate with so many talented colleagues who inspire and challenge me every day.”

Chen’s contributions at LLNL have been recognized with two R&D 100 Awards and two Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer. She is also the inventor of 25 U.S. patents and wrote a chapter in the book “Adaptive Optics for Biological Imaging.” Notably, Chen co-developed the MEMS-based Adaptive Optics Confocal Microscope, an innovative imaging system that integrates adaptive optics with confocal microscopy to produce high-resolution images of living tissue at the cellular level, including in-vivo images of the eye.

Chen also supported the broader STEM community as an advisor on a Curriculum Advisory Committee for a 35,000-student district and as a board member for the Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair.