Kathy grew up in Corning, NY – The home of Corning Glass. She received a BS and MS in Optics from University of Rochester, and has two PhD’s from the University of Arizona in Optical Sciences and Music. Her professional career began in industry developing optical measurement instrumentation at Wyko Corporation where she is most known for her developments in optical metrology and a seminal monograph on phase-measuring interferometry. She began teaching classes at the University of Arizona at the Optical Sciences Center (now known as the Wyant College of Optical Sciences) in 1986 and entered academia full time in 1991 for a few years. She has taught classes in Optical Fabrication and Testing, Fundamentals of Applied Optics, Optical Testing, Interferometry and Holography, and Radiometry, Sources and Detectors. While going back to school to earn MM and PhD degrees in music beginning in 1995 she started a consultancy practice. From 2003-2008 she went back to the University of Arizona as a Research Professor in Optical Sciences and Medicine. She then spent 5 years working with 4D Technology Corporation developing the Biocam Quantitative Phase Microscope system through SBIR grants with NIH. She has been back full-time as a consultant since 2014.

Her consultancy practice of 28 years is her primary employment as she continues to provide her expert services to industry and government labs in optical design, metrology, and imaging. She is an internationally-recognized expert in microscopy, optical measurement, biological imaging and low-light level imaging.

Dr. Creath is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. She has organized numerous SPIE conferences related to Interferometry, Optical Testing and The Nature of Light. She is the author of more than 180 technical publications including 16 book chapters, 5 encyclopedia articles and editor of 27 books, the best known of which are the “Encyclopedia of Optics” published by John Wiley and Sons and “The Nature of Light: What is a Photon?” published by Taylor and Francis.

Education

Optics degrees from
   University of Rochester, and
   University of Arizona

Music degrees from
   University of Arizona

Experience

Consulting
• Optics consultant (27 years): imaging, optical design, optical engineering, optical metrology, translational R&D, microscopy, bioimaging, and interferometry
• LIGO and Advanced LIGO (13 years): Consultant for CalTech on core optics for all aspects of specification, manufacturing and testing
• CSIRO in Sydney, NSW, Australia (20 years): Consultant for Optics Laboratory on development of high-precision optical metrology procedures for measurement and data analysis

Academic
• University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences (since 1986): faculty appointments, 15 years teaching experience. Current appointment as Adjunct Research Professor of Optical Sciences.

Industrial 
• 4D Technology Corp (5 years): R&D of quantitative phase microscopy. Obtained $1.375 million in SBIR grant funding.
• Wyko Corp (5 years): R&D of optical metrology equipment and software. Obtained multiple SBIR grants for high-resolution microscopy and non-destructive evaluation.
* Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellow (4 years): Optical analysis, design and testing