Mike Descour

Ph.D., The University of Arizona (1994)
Associate Professor of Optical Sciences
The University of Arizona

Research (Imaging Systems Laboratory)
Currently, Dr. Descour is an associate professor in the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. His research interests include optical engineering, design of multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems for remote-sensing and biomedical applications, high-speed spectral imaging, processing and analysis of high-dimensional spectral data, spectral subpixel analysis, and the design and fabrication of visible and infrared diffractive optics including specialized dispersive elements. Dr. Descour won the State of Arizona's Innovator of the Year -- Start-Up Company award for his achievements in developing commercially available products for DMetrix, Inc., a spin-off company from Optical Sciences. The Arizona-based company develops innovative microscopic-imaging instrumentation that integrates advances in optical design, digital imaging, telecommunications, and bioinformatics. He was named fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering in 2001, and a recipient of the National Institutes of Health Shannon Award in 1997 with Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum.

Education and experience
Dr. Descour immigrated to the United States from Poland with his parents in the 1980s. Upon completing his undergraduate work at the University of Colorado, Boulder in Aerospace Engineering in 1990, he began his graduate studies in Optical Science at The University of Arizona, Tucson. After receiving his doctorate degree in 1994, Dr. Descour was a postdoctoral appointee at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. He joined The University of Arizona in the Optical Sciences Center (1995 - present) and the Department of Pathology (2000 - present).