Ryan Beams is a Physicist in the Division of Imaging, Diagnostics, and Software Reliability (DIDSR), OSEL/CDRH. He received his Ph.D. in Optics from the University of Rochester advised by Professor Lukas Novotny in 2013. Following his PhD he was awarded an National Research Council (NCR) Fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He joined the FDA in 2018, where he currently serves as the program coordinator for the Medical Extended Reality (MXR) research program.
His current research emphasizes optical characterization and the development of evaluation methods for augmented and virtual reality devices. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications in the optical sciences.