Chuan Luo Awarded 2025 Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship in Optical Design

The Wyant College of Optical Sciences is proud to announce that Chuan Luo, an incoming third-year PhD candidate, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship in Optical Design. This prestigious $7,500 scholarship honors the legacy of Michael John Kidger, a respected educator and innovator in optical design, and is awarded annually to a student demonstrating excellence in areas such as lens design, illumination design, or computational optical design.

Chuan earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona, where his early research under Professor Yuzuru Takashima focused on using Digital Micromirror Devices (DMDs) for LiDAR and augmented reality (AR) applications. His work introduced a novel beam steering method that transformed DMDs into dynamic diffraction gratings, enabling compact, high-resolution LiDAR systems.

After completing his master’s, Chuan spent three years in industry as an optical engineer at Leia Inc. and Apple Inc., developing diffractive and holographic optical elements for next-generation displays. He returned to the Wyant College in 2023 to continue his research in the Advanced Lidar and Display Lab, where he now bridges academic innovation with real-world design challenges in AR display technologies.

Chuan’s recognition with the Kidger Scholarship highlights his outstanding contributions to the field and reflects the college’s continued leadership in optical design research and education.

Read more about the award, requirements, and previous winners here.