{"id":369092,"date":"2019-04-14T11:50:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T15:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=369092"},"modified":"2023-06-29T14:35:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T18:35:03","slug":"freeform-optics-pioneers-jannick-rolland-369092","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/freeform-optics-pioneers-jannick-rolland-369092\/","title":{"rendered":"From a dancer\u2019s form to freeform optics"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jannick Rolland took a big chance in 1984.<\/p>\n
She had just received her diploma\u2014the equivalent of a master\u2019s degree\u2014from the Institut D\u2019Optique in Orsay, France. But she wasn\u2019t sure whether she should pursue her aptitude for optics\u2014or her talent for dance.<\/p>\n
She wanted to come to the United States to become more fluent in English. But she was three points shy of passing an oral language exam to enter the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n
She got on a plane anyway. She landed in Tucson, marched to the admissions office, and literally \u201ctalked her way\u201d into the university.<\/p>\n
Within months she was being encouraged to join the PhD program in optical engineering.<\/p>\n
It was the turning point of her career.<\/p>\n
Rolland is now the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering<\/a> at the URochester.<\/p>\n She directs the Center for Freeform Optics<\/a>, a federally supported collaboration involving Rochester, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and 18 companies and research institutes. The goal is to advance an emerging technology that uses lenses and mirrors with freeform surfaces to create optical devices that are lighter, more compact, and more effective than ever before.<\/p>\n With her former PhD student Cristina Canavesi, she is also cofounder and chief technology officer of LightopTech, a startup commercializing one of Rolland\u2019s inventions<\/a>. The portable device uses a microscope with a liquid lens to image cells just below the surface of the skin, cornea, and other tissues. Among many possible applications, the device is targeted to help surgeons determine if they\u2019ve successfully removed all of a skin cancer, without having to wait for the results of a traditional biopsy.<\/p>\n