On behalf of the SID Honors and Awards Committee (H&AC), I am appealing for your active participation in the nomination of deserving individuals for the various SID honors and awards. The SID Board of Directors, based on recommendations made by the H&AC, grants all the awards. These awards include five major prizes awarded to individuals, not necessarily members of SID, based upon their outstanding achievements. The Karl Ferdinand Braun prize is awarded for "Outstanding Technical Achievement in, or contribution to, Display Technology." The prize is named in honor of the German physicist and Nobel Laureate Karl Ferdinand Braun who, in 1897, invented the cathode-ray tube (CRT). Scientific and technical achievements that cover either a wide range of display technologies or the fundamental principles of a specific technology are the prime reasons for awarding this prize to a nominee. The Jan Rajchman prize is awarded for "Outstanding Scientific and Technical Achievement or Research in the Field of Flat-Panel Displays." This prize is specifically dedicated to those individuals who have made major contributions to one of the flat-panel-display technologies or, through their research activities, have advanced the state of understanding of one of those technologies. The Otto Schade prize is awarded for "Outstanding Scientific or Technical Achievement in the Advancement of Functional Performance and/or Image Quality of Information Displays." This prize is named in honor of the pioneering RCA engineer Otto Schade, who invented the concept of the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and who used it to characterize the entire display system, including the human observer. The advancement for this prize may be achieved in any display technology or display system or may be of a more general or theoretical nature. The scope of eligible advancement is broadly envisioned to encompass the areas of display systems, display electronics, applied vision and display human factors, image processing, and display metrology. The nature of eligible advancements may be in the form of theoretical or mathematical models, algorithms, software, hardware, or innovative methods of display-performance measurement, and image-quality characterization. Each of these above-mentioned prizes carries a $2000 stipend sponsored by AU Optronics Corp., Sharp Corporation, and Samsung Mobile Display, respectively.

The Slottow–Owaki prize is awarded for "Outstanding Contributions to the Education and Training of Students and Professionals in the Field of Information Display." This prize is named in honor of Professor H. Gene Slottow, University of Illinois, an inventor of the plasma display and Professor Kenichi Owaki from the Hiroshima Institute of Technology and an early leader of the pioneering Fujitsu Plasma Display program. The oustanding education and training contributions recognized by this prize is not limited to those of a professor in a formal university, but may also include training given by researchers, engineers, and managers in industry who have done an outstanding job developing information-display professionals. The Slottow–Owaki prize carries a $2000 stipend made possible by a generous gift from Fujitsu, Ltd., and Professor Tsutae Shinoda.

The fifth major SID award, the Lewis and Beatrice Winner Award, is awarded for "Exceptional and Sustained Service to the Society." This award is granted exclusively to those who have worked hard over many years to further the goals of the Society.

The membership grade of SID Fellow Award is one of unusual professional distinction. Each year the SID Board of Directors elects a limited number (up to 0.1% of the membership in that year) of SID members in good standing to the grade of Fellow. To be eligible, candidates must have been members at the time of nomination for at least 5 years, with the last 3 years consecutive. A candidate for election to Fellow is a member with "Outstanding Qualifications and Experience as a Scientist or Engineer in the Field of Information Display who has made Widely Recognized and Significant Contributions to the Advancement of the Display Field" over a sustained period of time. SID members practicing in the field recognize the nominee's work as providing significant technical contributors to knowledge in their area(s) of expertise. For this reason, five endorsements from SID members are required to accompany each Fellow nomination. Each Fellow nomination is evaluated by the H&AC, based on a weighted set of five criteria. These criteria and their assigned weights are creativity and patents, 30%; technical accomplishments and publications, 30%; technical leadership, 20%; service to SID, 15%; and other accomplishments, 5%. When submitting a Fellow award nomination, please keep these criteria with their weights in mind.

The Special Recognition Award is given annually to a number of individuals (membership in the SID is not required) of the scientific and business community for distinguished and valued contribution in the information-display field. These awards are given for contributions in one or more of the following categories: (a) Outstanding Technical Accomplishments, (b) Outstanding Contributions to the Literature, (c) Outstanding Service to the Society, (d) Outstanding Entrepreneurial Accomplishments, and (e) Outstanding Achievements in Education. When evaluating the Special Recognition Award nominations, the H&AC uses a five-level rating scale in each of the above-listed five categories, and these categories have equal weight. Nominators should indicate the category in which a Special Recognition Award nomination is to be considered by the H&AC. More than one category may be indicated. The nomination should, of course, stress accomplishments in the category or categories selected by the nominator.

While an individual nominated for an award or election to Fellow may not submit his/her own nomination, nominators may, if necessary, ask a nominee for information thatwill be useful in preparing the nomination. The nomination process is relatively simple, but requires that the nominator and perhaps some colleagues devote a little time to preparation of the supporting material that the H&AC needs in order to evaluate each nomination for its merit. It is not necessary to submit a complete publication record with a nomination. Just list the titles of the most significant half a dozen or less papers and patents authored by the nominee, and list the total number of papers and patents he/she has authored.

Determination of the winners for SID honors and awards is a highly selective process. Last year less than 30% of the nominations were selected to receive awards. Some of the major prizes are not awarded every year due to the lack of sufficiently qualified nominees or, in some cases, because no nominations were submitted. On the other hand, once a nomina-tion is submitted, it will stay active for three con-secutive years and will be considered three times by the H&AC. The nominator of such a nomination may improve the chances of the nomination by submitting additional material for the second or third year that it is considered, but such changes are not required.

Descriptions of each award and the lists of previous award winners can be found at www.sid.org/awards/indawards.html. Nomination forms are available at www.sid.org/awards/nomination.html where you will find Nomination Templates in both MS Word (preferred) and Text formats. Please use the links to find the Sample Nominations, which are useful for composing your nomination since these are the actual successful nominations for some previous SID awards. Nominations should preferably be submitted by e-mail. However, you can also submit nominations by ordinary mail if necessary.

Please note that with each Fellow nomination, only five written endorsements by five SID members are required. These brief endorsements – a minimum of 2–3 sentences to a maximum of one-half page in length – must state why clearly and succinctly, in the opinion of the endorser, the nominee deserves to be elected to a Fellow of the Society. Identical endorsements by two or more endorsers will be automatically rejected (no form letters, please). Please send these endorsements to me either by e-mail (preferred) or by hardcopy to the address stated in the accompanying text box. Only the Fellow nominations are required to have these endorsements. However, I encourage you to submit at least a few endorsements for all nominations since they will frequently add further support to your nomination.

All 2013 award nominations are to be submitted by October 8, 2012. E-mail your nominations directly to fan.luo@auo.com orsidawards@sid.org. If that is not possible, then please send your hardcopy nomination by regular mail.

As I state each year: "In our professional lives, there are few greater rewards than recognition by our peers. For an individual in the field of displays, an award or prize from the SID, which represents his or her peers worldwide, is a most significant, happy, and satisfying experience. In addition, the overall reputation of the society depends on the individuals who are in its 'Hall of Fame.'

When you nominate someone for an award or prize, you are bringing happiness to an individual and his or her family and friends, and you are also benefiting the society as a whole."

Thank you for your nomination in advance.

Fan Luo
Chair, SID Honors & Awards Committee

Thomas Vincent Curran, a strong supporter and long-time active member of the Society for Information Display, passed away on June 12, 2012, in Beaverton, Oregon. Tom is survived by his wife Nancy Johnson and his children Mary Jeanne Reynales, Jane Pandell, Joanne Angel, Juliana Terian, Thomas Curran, Jennifer Steets, and Frances Rossi. He also leaves behind his adored stepdaughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Tom was a charter member of the Society, one of 64 individuals so designated in a list dating from 1966. He served as publications chair for SID from 1975 to 1982 and from 1988 to 1992, receiving a presidential citation for his work. He was very active in both the Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest chapters of the Society, helping the Pacific Northwest (PNW) chapter to commence activity. He also served as nominations and awards committee chair for the PNW-SID chapter in 2001. Tom was granted a Life Membership for his longtime commitment to SID.

Tom was born in Los Angeles in 1926. He spent most of his youth and adult life in the Los Angeles area, where he raised his family and worked in marketing and sales in the electronics and information-display industries. He attended Pierce Community College and UCLA and received a certificate in advanced management from Ohio State University. He also spent several years with companies in Los Gatos, CA, and Horsham, PA. In 1988, he moved to Oregon and started working at Planar Systems as a marketing representative for EL panels and later in Planar Advanced for military AMLCDs.

Tom retired in 2001. However, he continued to participate actively in the local Pacific Northwest chapter. He was a devoted father with a fondness for tinkering (and fixing) electronics of all kinds and was also an enthusiastic and accomplished jazz musician.

Here are just two of many testimonials offered by former colleagues at SID:

"Tom was both a gentleman and a gentle man, neither of which prevented him from persistently pressing home points he felt were important, but not in such a way that you could ever take offense." – Ken Werner, Nutmeg Consultants

"He was polite to all and completely honest in his dealings with people. For that reason he was respected and appreciated by all that knew him in the display industry." – Chris King, Founder, Planar Systems

At Display Week 2012 in Boston, the Society for Information Display announced new executive committee members as elected by the members of the Society. The team, which will lead for the next 2 years, is composed of distinguished display-industry veterans from around the world: Brian Berkeley, president; Amal Ghosh, president-elect; Yong-Seog Kim, treasurer; and Helge Seetzen, secretary. In addition, three regional vice-presidents were also introduced: Dave Eccles (Americas), Baoping Wang (Asia), and Jutta Rasp (Europe).

"It's been an incredible honor and irreplaceable experience to spend 2 years at the helm of SID," remarked Munisamy Anandan, SID's outgoing president. "SID is the premier display-technology organization in the world and has attracted the very best display technologists while fostering leading-edge research and development throughout the industry."

New SID president Berkeley noted, "I would first like to thank Dr. Anandan for all his efforts over the last 2 years as head of this organization. Under his steady leadership, SID entered a fresh decade, helping to promote the new cutting-edge display technologies that we're starting to see in our everyday lives." He continued, "I am honored to assume this tremendous responsibility and look forward to ushering in the next generation of incredible, dynamic technologies that shape our ever-evolving space. I look forward to the challenge of ensuring that SID keeps pace and of furthering its reputation as the leading organization for both the present and future of the display industry."

Outside of his role as SID president, Brian Berkeley serves as senior vice-president of OLED Development at Samsung Display Company's San Jose Lab. Berkeley, who has been with Samsung since 2003, is also a 20-year veteran of Apple Computer, where he led all display development activities. In addition to authoring several papers and patents, he is recognized for numerous accomplishments, including his current work in large-area OLED displays. Berkeley is also credited with developing the world's first high-volume liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitor and first wide-format notebook and monitor displays.

New president-elect Amal Ghosh also serves as senior vice-president at eMagin Corp. With more than 2 decades of industry experience and numerous publications and patents to his credit, he is a recognized expert in the areas of OLED and field-emission displays (FEDs). SID's new treasurer, Professor Yong-Seog Kim, is a distinguished professor at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. Secretary Helge Seetzen serves as CEO of TandemLaunch Technologies and has spent time in executive roles at both Dolby and BrightSide Technologies. Americas Regional VP Dave Eccles is with Rockwell Collins; Asia Regional VP Baoping Wang is with Southeast University, and Europe Regional VP Jutta Rasp is with FPExperts. •