Ronald Driggers

Ronald G. Driggers is a Professor at the University of Central Florida’s College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), specializing in electro-optical and infrared imaging systems. Previously, he held senior leadership roles including Superintendent of the Optical Sciences Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Director of the U.S. Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD). He has extensive experience managing large-scale research programs exceeding $100M and over 200 personnel.

Dr. Driggers earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Memphis (1990). His research focuses on sensor systems for military and environmental applications, including target detection, thermal imaging, and spectral analysis. He has authored five books, over 130 papers, and served as Editor-in-Chief for SPIE’s Optical Engineering and OSA’s Applied Optics.

• Awards: OSA Fellow, SPIE Fellow, 2003 Military Sensing Symposium Fellow, 2002 Army Engineer of the Year, and 2001 Naval Engineering Duty Officer of the Year.
• Advising: Supervised PhD students Steven Butrimas (2020) and Robert Short (2020).
• Labs/Teams: Collaborates with military and academic groups, including the Army Research Laboratory and NRL, on advanced sensor technologies.

His work bridges academic and defense sectors, emphasizing practical applications of optical engineering in surveillance, environmental monitoring, and threat detection.