Milan R Kokta was the manager of R&D at Bicron Crystal Products in Washougal, Washington, when he received the 1999 David Richardson Medal from OSA. He was recognized “for the development of low loss, high optical quality laser crystals, particularly Ti-doped sapphire.” The following year, he was elected to OSA Fellow. More recently, he has been affiliated with Saint Gobain Crystals, also in Washington.