BioCommunications Association Bestows Its Highest Award to RIT Professor

Michael Peres, department chair of the biomedical photographic communications program at Rochester Institute of Technology, is the 2007 recipient of the BioCommunications Association’s Louis Schmidt Award, the professional society’s highest award.

The Louis Schmidt Award is given out annually for outstanding contributions to the progress of biological communications. Criteria for the award are outstanding contributions to the progress of communications in the life sciences, promotion of understanding and cooperation within the field of biocommunications, maintenance of an ethical approach to professional relationships, and a willingness to freely share information.

Peres’ distinguished career as an educator, photographer, writer, editor and imaging consultant has spanned more than 25 years. He serves as chair and professor in the Biomedical Photographic Communications program in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, a position he’s held since 1989. In 2003, RIT awarded Peres the Eisenhart Award for outstanding teaching. Peres also serves as one of the coordinators of RIT’s Big Shot photography project as well as the Images from Science exhibition.

An exhibiting photographer, Peres work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including several solo exhibitions. He is currently serving as chair of the nominating committee for the Lennart Nilsson Award (Stockholm, Sweden), a position he was invited to assume in 1998. The award is named after famous Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson and recognizes extraordinary photography of science.

Peres has been actively publishing for most of his career and most recently served as editor in chief for the revised Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, Fourth Edition, published in April by Focal Press.

Peres has been an imaging consultant to numerous companies, including Eastman Kodak Co., Bausch and Lomb, Sony, Central Intelligence Agency, Xerox Corp., William Brown Publishers and New York Botanical Gardens.

He’s been an active member of the BioCommunications Association since 1978 and was awarded a fellowship in 1995.

Peres lives in Rochester, N.Y., with his wife and two children. He’s a native of Utica, N.Y.