FEBRUARY 24, 2009--Edmund Optics (Barrington, NJ, USA; www.edmundoptics.com), a provider of optical components, today announced that Gregory Hollows has been elected to a two-year term on the board of directors for the Automated Imaging Association (AIA; a href="http://www.machinevisiononline.org" target="_blank" class="article_link">www.machinevisiononline.org). The AIA comprises about 300 companies across the Americas that provide products and services related to machine-vision systems, including sensors, cameras, optics, and software.
Hollows is an 11-year veteran at Edmund Optics, working his way from application engineer through engineering management to his present position as director of machine-vision solutions. He has bachelor's degrees from Rutgers University in both physics and chemistry. He has also been a frequent presenter and instructor in machine-vision technologies for the past seven years, covering topics such as optics, lighting, and system integration.
At his first board meeting, Hollows was appointed chairman of the Education Subcommittee for the association, which is in line with his personal goals for the industry. "It's hard to be an expert in all the technologies that must work together to produce a machine vision system," says Hollows, "but a lack of understanding of other areas can work against you in your own development. If you increase your performance but overshoot what another technology can achieve in applying your innovation, you get limited return on your investment." As one of his goals Hollows wants to have the AIA develop a repository for information on new developments to help developers advance their understanding of these various technologies. "The technologies are developing quickly but the information is scattered among many sources and sometimes buried deep within company websites," he says. "The repository will be part of a broader effort within AIA to educate both members and their customers on bringing machine-vision technology to bear in diverse applications."
