It is my honor and pleasure to publish in today’s Opticians Handbook eblast the first of what I hope will be many more research papers submitted by students or their instructors of vision science in the Darryl Meister Educational Forum section.

The Importance of Understanding Color Vision Deficiency written by Brianna Bischoff an Ophthalmic Science Student at Raritan Valley Community College is proudly published this week and placed in our interactive archive of educational articles.

The Opticians Handbooks articles are written by optical professionals for other optical professionals with the aim of motivating, educating and furthering the advancement of all those in the vision care field.

Darryl Meister, an optical genius that passed too early in 2014, was a beloved and revered colleague at SOLA Optical. We established a section of the Optician’s Handbook in his honor.

Darryl was mostly self-educated in the field of optics and was one of the youngest opticians ever to earn the ABO’s Master certification. He joined SOLA Optical/Carl Zeiss Vision in 1996 in the Technical Services department, eventually becoming the technical marketing manager. He held multiple patents on ophthalmic lens designs.

Darryl was devoted to the optical industry and generous in sharing his time and expertise. With Dr. James Sheedy he wrote “Introduction to Ophthalmic Optics,” which continues to be used in optometry and opticianry schools. He was a key contributor to many important industry initiatives, including the VCA's Lens Description Standard and ANSI's Z80.1 Standards. His articles have been published in magazines such as Optical World, Clinical and Experimental Optometry, LensTalk, and Refractive Eyecare Management. He lectured for organizations such as the Opticians Association of America, the Meredith Morgan Symposium at the UC Berkeley School of Optometry, and the Contact Lens Society of Ophthalmologists. He was a frequent contributor to OptiBoard.com and was never too busy to answer questions from his industry colleagues.

Darryl was a consummate student and teacher of optics, and I am confident he would approve and likely have comments and guidance for all students and professionals who research and share their knowledge as he did.

If you or someone you know is interested in submitting a technical paper for this forum, please contact [email protected]

Mindi Lewis, MA, ABOC, FNAO, is an industry professional with experience from exam room and dispensing table to marketing and national account management. She has an AS in Optometric Technology, a BS in Allied Health Education, and was an Optometric Technology Instructor at St. Petersburg College, Fla. She has worked for SOLA Optical, Carl Zeiss Vision and Essilor, and is currently a consultant and speaker, and Managing Editor for Jobson Medical Information's Optician’s Handbook.