Professor Wolfgang Heidrich elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and named a 2025 Optica Fellow

About

KAUST Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering Wolfgang Heidrich has been named a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow and an Optica Fellow.

The former director of KAUST Visual Computing Center is a pioneer in computational imaging and display, which aims to advance imaging and display systems by generating optics, electronics and algorithms.

The NAI Fellows Program, founded in 2012, has grown to include 2,068 researchers and innovators who hold over 68,000 U.S. patents and 20,000 licensed technologies. Fellows are selected based on the number and significance of patents they co-invent; the patents must also have stemmed from a university-based research program.

Heidrich’s recognition from the NAI acknowledges the significant impact of his pioneering research across multiple successful startups. Notably, three of these startups achieved successful exits, leading to acquisitions by major industry players.

His former University of British Columbia spin-off, BrightSide Technologies, first co-developed high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging and displays, which became one of Dolby’s core commercial display technologies. Technology from his other successful startups has been integral to a wide range of advanced consumer devices, including digital cinema screening rooms and autonomous trucks.

The 2024 Class of Fellows, representing 39 U.S. states and 12 countries, will be presented with their medals at the NAI’s 14th Annual Conference, scheduled for June 26, 2025, in Atlanta, U.S.

Outstanding Optica recognition

Following his recognition at the end of 2024, Heidrich has received another notable accolade in early 2025: he is among the 121 Fellows from 27 countries elected to Optica’s 2025 Fellows Class.

Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America, OSA) is the preeminent organization dedicated to advancing the science of light. Optica Fellows are members who have served with distinction in advancing optics and photonics.  

The election process is highly competitive, as fellows can account for no more than 10 percent of the total membership. Several factors are considered when selecting fellow members, including outstanding contributions to research, business, education, engineering, and service to Optica and the larger optics and photonics community.

The German-Canadian researcher was chosen for according to his citation, “decades of fundamental contributions to the development and analysis of computational imaging and display systems.”

Computational imaging systems are cameras that rely on a tight collaboration of hardware—algorithms, electronics and optics—to capture and process images. Computational displays are computer monitors, TVs, or video projectors that utilize a similarly close interaction between hardware and software. Due to these complex interactions, computational imaging systems are robust but also exceedingly complex to design.

“Using computational imaging, information about the real world is optically encoded, allowing image sensors to capture it through hardware and software co-design. By employing inverse methods, machine learning and numerical optimization, the resulting images can be computationally decoded to provide detailed information on scene geometry, the motion of solids and liquids, multispectral information or high contrast,” Heidrich explained.

“More recently, I proposed a joint optimization framework in which hardware and software can be co-designed simultaneously, using so-called differentiable optical simulators. This framework allows us to tackle problems in camera design, including both cameras with extended capabilities (for example, spectral or depth cameras) as well as conventional cameras with better engineering trade-offs (for example, flatter form factors),” he added.

Professor Heidrich expressed that he is extremely honored by his NAI and Optica recognitions. In particular, to receive both in the same year, as they are recognitions for different aspects of the same research: “I am immensely grateful for these recognitions; they are a great validation not just of my work but the work of my whole group.”

A computational imaging visionary

Since joining the University in 2014, Heidrich’s research has focused on computational imaging and display, integrating techniques from computer graphics, machine vision, imaging, inverse methods, optics and perception.

A current focus of his research is the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and optics, specifically the use of learning-based methods for developing computational imaging systems and the use of optics for efficient computation by AI systems.

“Together with my Computational Imaging Group (VCCIMAGING) colleagues, we develop end-to-end learning imaging systems, which enhance the complexity of optical design space and advance the methodology to fully automate the design of complex optical systems rather than individual components,” he noted.

Following an "end-to-end optimization" approach, the VCCIMAGING researchers simultaneously design the hardware and the software components of computational imaging systems to ensure they optimally complement each other. This approach requires fundamental research on topics ranging from new algorithms for efficient, numerically accurate simulations to AI representations, such as neural proxies for optical systems.

Much like Heidrich’s research, the humble camera is in a state of constant evolution, with each passing year heralding new capabilities that enable new applications. In particular, the unlimited potential of spectral cameras—a specialized imaging device that captures information about the wavelengths of light across a wide spectrum—has been of a particular interest for the VCCIMAGING.

Recent group activity has focused on the cameras’ unique ability to be mounted on a range of devices, be it a microscope, an underwater vehicle for monitoring coral health, or a satellite to monitor crops. In collaboration with the KAUST Coral Restoration Initiative as well as the KAUST Center of Excellence for Generative AI, VCCIMAGING-developed technology has been used to support both a sustainable environment in the Kingdom and a steady supply of agricultural products.

“The most direct benefit of our work is that there are a number of commercially relevant applications in the realm of consumer electronics which are central to the economies of the future,” Heidrich noted. “There is a substantial interest by large multinational companies in these technologies, and my team and I are currently in the process of founding another startup to address this need.”

A concerted team effort

With an impressive array of personal accolades already accumulated in his distinguished career, such as his 2014 Humboldt Research Award and 2023 ACM SIGGRAPH Achievement Award, the prominent computer scientist is acutely aware that his impressive efforts are part of an extraordinary whole.

“My NAI and Optica accolades also motivate my team members (students, postdoctoral fellows and research scientists). These recognitions demonstrate that we are on the right track with our research and that our work will open up future academic and industry career paths for my team,” Heidrich emphasized.

“The group is dedicated to tackling challenging problems and bridging the gap between fundamental research and real-world applications. We believe that by pursuing this goal, we can drive meaningful progress and make a lasting impact,” he concluded.