Top award for Imperial academics

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the award scheme recognises scientists of outstanding achievement who are based at universities within the UK. Professor Crowdy, pictured, has been recognised for his work in improving the theoretical understanding of a new breed of optical fibres. The new Microstructured Optic Fibres (MOFs) are made of a single material with many small channels running all the way through, whereas traditional optic fibres are made by coating a tube of one material with a thin cladding of another. Dr Abhijeet Ghosh's award is for contributing to the development of more realistic computer graphics through an improved understanding of the way real world objects are illuminated. By measuring the reflectance of different surfaces under controlled conditions, Dr Ghosh has accumulated data crucial to simulating the way such surfaces appear. The research is thought to have extesive applications in the field of computer graphics.