Passion and drive combined have been my pole star on my journey(s). I chose a professional path in science while dancing as a professional was also pulling me. I had a strong aptitude and love for both, but science and technology truly drove my creativity early on and I chose that path. A professional career in optics has been extremely fulfilling for me and my passion for the sciences and technology only seems to grow stronger with time. I received a Diploma from the Institut D'Optique near Paris in 1984, and MS and Ph.D. (1990) degrees in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona. Prior positions include head of the Vision Research Group for Medical Displays at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1992-1996) and Professor of Optics at the University of Central Florida (1996-2008). In 2009, I joined the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester and was honored and humbled upon joining with an endowed professorship, The Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering. I direct the National Science Foundation Center for Freeform Optics (CeFO) since 2013 and the R.E. Hopkins Center for Optical Design and Engineering since 2012. I served on the editorial board of the Journal Presence (MIT Press) (1996-2006), Associate Editor of Optical Engineering (1999-2004), Optics Letters (2017-2022), and J. Optica (2022-present). I am a Fellow of the OSA, SPIE, NAI, and EUAS. I am grateful for having received the OSA 2014 David Richardson Medal. In my own community in Rochester, I am the recipient of the 2017 Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Faculty Award from the University of Rochester and a 2019 Engineer of Distinction Award by the Rochester Engineering Society. In relation to my alma mater in the US, I am deeply grateful for being the recipient of the 2019 Alumna of the Year Award from the J.C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. The OSA has been a home to me since I was a young graduate student, and I am deeply touched to have received the 2020 OSA Joseph Fraunhofer Award /Robert M. Burley Prize. Specialties: (1) Optical System Design for Imaging and Non-imaging Optics; (2) Physics-based modeling; (3) Image Quality Assessment; (4) Optical Metrology; These areas have been applied to Near Eye and Head-worn Displays for Augmented Reality, Optical Coherence Tomography, Biomedical and Medical, Alignment of Optical Systems, Aberration Theory.