Brief Biography of Bryant Hichwa

Dr. Hichwa received his undergraduate physics education at Georgetown University and his Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame. He has much experience in both the academic world and industry. He taught physics at Hope College in Michigan for ten years. After a brief time at Donnelly Corporation in Michigan as Principal Scientist, he moved to Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. (OCLI) in Santa Rosa, CA where he served as Director of Research and Vice President of Research and Product Development. During his twelve years at OCLI Bryant was involved in developing a number of new innovative technologies and the associated products in the areas of sputter deposition of thin films, electrochromic devices, thin film photovoltaics, fiber optic telecommunication devices and optical MEMS (Micro-Electrical-Mechanical-Systems) products. In2000 he became President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MetroPhotonics (USA), Inc., a Santa Rosa outpost of a Canadian telecommunications company.

Throughout his industrial career Bryant continued to pursue his love of teaching, mostly at Sonoma State University (SSU). He joined the regular faculty of the SSU Department of Physics and Astronomy in the fall of 2002. Since that time Dr. Hichwa has taught both introductory level and upper division courses in Physics as well as a new general education course, the Physics of Music. In addition, he has developed several innovative courses in telecommunications and photonics including a state of the art laboratory in fiber optics and laser communications (see Cerent Laboratories). He has mentored a number of undergraduate and graduate theses and research projects in optical communications. Areas of special interest are fiber optic amplifiers, optical ring resonators, optical MEMS switching devices and optical waveguide design in 3-5 semiconductor materials.

One of Bryant's special passions is fostering the connection between music and physics. In addition to the Physics of Music class, he has undertaken several research projects in musical acoustics. Bryant is an active member of the Galpin Society, a professional organization in Europe, that studies historical musical instruments. With his collaborator, David Ranchor, a world renowned concert bassoonist, Bryant has investigated the effects of various bassoon reeds on the harmonic content of the Baroque bassoon.

Bryant has taken the lead for the Physics and Astronomy Department in the Darwin Hall remodel project. As such he has worked diligently on designing and implementing several new thin film deposition laboratories. With his colleagues Dr. Hongtao Shi and Mr. Steve Anderson, he has begun to outfit these laboratories for research work in ferro-electric and electrochromic materials development. These laboratories will open in the summer of 2006.

Dr. Hichwa continues to be active a numerous professional societies including the Optical Society of America (OSA), The Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC), the American Vacuum Society (AVS) and the American Physical Society (APS). For details see Hichwa CV. He has published numerous professional papers and holds 33 United States Patents.

Bryant and his wife Diane live in Santa Rosa and The Sea Ranch. They have been extremely active in many environmental organizations in Northern California, including the Madrone Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, The Sonoma Land Trust and Audubon Canyon Ranch. Bryant has served as president of Madrone and is a board member of Audubon Canyon Ranch. He sits on the steering committees of the Mayacamas Mountain Audubon Preserve, the Fairfield Osborne Preserve and SSU's Galbreathe Preserve. Bryant is an avid racquetball player and a semi-professional nature photographer who teaches course in digital photography in his "spare" time.

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last updated May 2, 2005 by BPH