Steven Schwartz, PhD

Distinguished Teaching Professor
Biological and Vision Sciences
Director, Institutional Research and Planning
  • General
  • Credentials
  • Instruction
  • Scholarship

Bio

Dr. Steven H. Schwartz, distinguished teaching professor of biological and vision sciences, has substantial and varied involvement in academic administration, accreditation and assessment of student learning. He teaches courses on visual perception, optics and personal financial planning.

Dr. Schwartz has authored textbooks on visual perception and optics, both published by McGraw-Hill and widely utilized in the United States and abroad. Visual Perception: A Clinical Orientation is in its fifth edition and Geometrical and Visual Optics: A Clinical Introduction in its third.

Education

  • MA, Counseling in Colleges and Community Agencies , New York University, 2005
  • PhD, Physiological Optics (Vision Science), University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1982
  • OD, Doctor of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, 1979
  • BS, , University of California, Berkeley, 1977

Residency/Other Post Graduate Training

  • Clinical Fellowship in Cognitive Psychotherapy - Albert Ellis Institute, 2007

Awards/Honors

  • Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching , 2017
  • President’s Merit Award in Excellence , 2016
  • Michael G. Harris Award for Excellence in Optometric Education , 2015
  • Optometric Educator of the Year Award, 2015

Professional Experience

  • Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY College of Optometry, 2023 - Present
  • Professor, SUNY College of Optometry, 2011 - Present
  • Associate Professor, SUNY College of Optometry, 1997 - 2011
  • Associate Professor, Southern College of Optometry, 1995 - 1997
  • Assistant Professor, Southern College of Optometry, 1991 - 1995

Teaching Interests

Geometrical and Visual Optics; Visual Perception and Monocular Sensory Processes; Personal Financial Planning

Courses Taught Most Recent Academic Year

BVS 170SA
Visual Function: Sensory (MSP)

BVS 131FA
Integrated Optics I

ELC 515
Personal Financial Planning

BVS 170SA
Visual Function: Sensory

Research Interests

As the body of knowledge forming the basis of clinical practice continues to increase, the selection of material to be included in the curriculum becomes more critical. I create user-friendly textbooks on visual perception and optics with the goal of codifying the curricular knowledge base for these areas.

Publications

  • Geometrical and Visual Optics: A Clinical Orientation (Third Edition), (Third Edition): 2019
  • Visual Perception: A Clinical Orientation (Fifth Edition), (Fifth Edition): 2017
  • Differential vertical visual latency as determined with a simultaneity paradigm., Vision research 50 (5): 534-40 534-40, 2010
  • The optometrist's role in the management of clinical depressive disorders., Optometry (St. Louis, Mo.) 78 (9): 469-73 469-73, 2007
  • Empiric determination of corrected visual acuity standards for train crews., Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry 82 (8): 774-8 774-8, 2005
  • Pulse-duration threshold functions obtained at the MWS/LWS cone antagonistic locus., Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) 20 (5): 387-90 387-90, 2000
  • Selective masking of the achromatic system can be cortically mediated, Journal of the Optical Society of America A 14 (3): 703-707 703-707, 1997
  • Masking of the achromatic system: implications for saccadic suppression., Vision research 36 (11): 1551-9 1551-9, 1996
  • Spectral sensitivity as revealed by isolated step onsets and step offsets., Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) 16 (1): 58-63 58-63, 1996
  • Dependence of visual latency on wavelength: predictions of a neural counting model., Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision 12 (10): 2089-93 2089-93, 1995
  • Spectral sensitivity of dichromats: role of postreceptoral processes., Vision research 34 (22): 2983-90 2983-90, 1994
  • Colour and flicker thresholds for high frequency increments., Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) 13 (3): 299-302 299-302, 1993
  • Reaction time distributions and their relationship to the transient/sustained nature of the neural discharge., Vision research 32 (11): 2087-92 2087-92, 1992
  • Retinal differences in light sensitivity., Journal of the American Optometric Association 63 (3): 167-8 167-8, 1992
  • On reaction time histograms., Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) 5 (2): 225-6 225-6, 1985
  • Effect of duration on detection by the chromatic and achromatic systems., Perception & psychophysics 36 (1): 65-7 65-7, 1984
  • Differences in temporal appearance associated with activity in the chromatic and achromatic systems., Perception & psychophysics 33 (4): 388-90 388-90, 1983
  • Evidence for luminance and quasi-sustained color mechanisms., Vision research 22 (4): 445-7 445-7, 1982
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