David Williams, Ph.D. a faculty member of the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics, director of its Center for Visual Science, and dean for research in Arts, Science, and Engineering, will receive the Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award at a ceremony today in Lisbon, Portugal. The ceremony, chaired by the president of Portugal, will recognize Williams' work on adaptive optics technologies as a major breakthrough in the understanding and/or the preservation of vision. Williams is widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts on human vision.

In awarding the prize, the jury stated that Williams and his research group have revitalized the field of physiological optics, producing year after year truly beautiful, technically brilliant and groundbreaking work.