Stephen D. Fantone is the founder and president of Optikos Corporation, headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was first affiliated with the Talcott Mountain Science Center as a high school student in the late 1960s.
Dr. Fantone attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received bachelor’s degrees in both electrical engineering and management. In 1979 he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. He began his career with Polaroid Corporation and later went on to found Optikos.
As a recognized expert in optical engineering and optical product development, Dr. Fantone has served on numerous program review panels, has provided expert testimony on patent infringement and trade secret litigation cases, and has been awarded over 70 patents covering a broad range of optical technologies.
He is a Senior Lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT, and serves on the boards of the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, the Hertz Foundation and the Optica Foundation. Previous board service includes service as a board member of Rofin-Sinar Technologies, Inc. and Zygo Corporation, and as chairman of Benthos, Inc.,
Dr. Fantone has been an Optica member for over 40 years and has served in several volunteer capacities, including Treasurer from 1996 to 2013, and as President in 2020. In 2007, he was awarded their Distinguished Service Award, and in October, 2013, Optica honored Dr. Fantone by renaming that award the Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award.
On May 16, 2015, he received the University of Rochester Distinguished Scholar Award at the University’s 2015 Doctoral Ceremony. On February 9, 2022, Dr. Fantone was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.