Nerine Cherepy and Michael Pivovaroff elected senior members of optics and photonics society

LLNL researchers Nerine Cherepy and Michael Pivovaroff are among the 171 new senior members of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. 

Cherepy is being recognized for her "achievements in discovery and development of new scintillator materials and detectors," and Pivovaroff for his "achievements in design, fabrication and use of reflective X-ray optics." SPIE senior members are honored for their professional experience, their active involvement with the optics community and SPIE and/or significant performance that sets them apart from their peers.

Cherepy has been active as an organizer on the SPIE Conference Committee for "Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray and Neutron Detector Physics," from 2008-present, serving as session chair and co-authoring 16 SPIE publications since 2007.

"I am pleased to have been elected to the grade of senior member of SPIE," she said. "I appreciate the opportunities that the SPIE conference chairs have offered me to assist in inviting speakers, chairing sessions and networking with colleagues each year at the fall meeting. I met several of my current collaborators at these meetings for the first time. I also enjoy visiting some of the other symposia, on topics such as photovoltaics, lighting and optical sensors."

Cherepy is currently involved in development of new scintillator materials and instrumentation for gamma ray spectroscopy and radiographic imaging.

Pivovaroff is the associate division leader of the Lab’s Applied Physics section, which investigates the nature of dark energy and dark matter, explores the dynamics of ultra-fast photon-matter interactions and performs observations to better understand the composition and distribution of planets and neutron stars. Pivovaroff has expertise in visible wavelength optics, X-ray optics, adaptive optics, X-ray photon/matter interactions, space science and astrophysics and large-scale physics-based modeling and simulation.

"I'm very happy to have been elevated to senior member by SPIE," Pivovaroff said.

SPIE senior members are members of distinction who will be honored for their professional experience, their active involvement with the optics community and SPIE, and/or significant performance that sets them apart from their peers. While similar in some ways to the Society's fellows program, senior member recognition is a separate category that will be more accessible to active members earlier in their careers, as well as other members in a broader constituency.

SPIE includes more than 180,000 members from more than 170 countries to advance an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. Fellows are members of distinction who have been selected based on their significant scientific and technical contributions in the fields of optics, photonics and imaging. More than 900 SPIE members have become fellows since the society's inception in 1955.