•New

With over 188,000 members from 138 countries worldwide, SPIE is an international scientific organisation of excellence and a global benchmark in the field of optics and photonics. SPIE promotes scientific advances in the field of light-based technologies.

Every year, SPIE awards the distinction of “fellow” to a number of its members, in recognition of their scientific and technical contribution to the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics and images, and their service to the optics community.

In 2009, SPIE recognised Maria Sagrario Millán as a fellow member. She is the first Spanish woman to be awarded this distinction. Maria Sagrario Millán has a PhD in physical sciences. She is a lecturer at the EUOOT and coordinator of the UPC’s Applied Optics and Image Processing Group (GOAPI).

Over 550 fellow members have been named by the prestigious SPIE over the years. However, only four Spanish scientists have received this distinction.

SPIE, which has named 59 new fellow members this year, granted Maria Sagrario Millán this distinction for her contributions to the fields of image processing, optical pattern recognition and optical applications to textile inspection. In addition, the organisation recognised her contributions to optical systems, particularly in optoelectronic signal processing, pattern recognition, diffractive optics, the development of secure information systems, image analysis, machine vision and the applications of optics to industry. Her scientific career began with quality control projects using optical technology for the textile industry. It continued with work on the recognition of polychromatic patterns and optical processing based on human vision. This work involves the acquisition of colour images, image analysis, the improvement of images, the application of computational models to human and computer vision, and biologically inspired techniques.

SPIE also took Maria Sagrario Millán’s CV into account, particularly her research at the UPC’s Terrassa Campus and her tireless work in the field of optics worldwide. The group that she leads collaborates regularly with research institutions in Europe, the United States of America and Latin America. Maria Sagrario Millán was also recognised in the 2008 Ciutat de Barcelona Awards, in the category of Technological Research, for the development of a security and identification system based on factors such as the veins in the retina.