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Howard C. Howland

Professor Emeritus

W201 Seeley G. Mudd Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Phone: (607) 255-4716
Fax: (607) 254-1303
Email: hch2@cornell.edu

Research Interests

The research in Howland’s laboratory focuses on vision, especially physiological optics. He has worked for many years on the development of refractive state in infants, children and young adults. Other projects involve emmetropization and eye growth in chickens, measurements of monochromatic high-order aberrations of eyes, and compensation for corneal aberrations by the internal optics of the eye, and measurements of accommodation in a variety of animals.

Biographical Sketch

Professor Howland received his B.A. (1952) in Liberal Arts at the University of Chicago, his M.S.(1958) in Zoology at Tufts University, and his Ph.D. (1968) in Biological Sciences at Cornell University. Howland served in the U.S. Army from 1953-55. He was an Instructor at the State University of New York, Long Island Center from 1960-66 and Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook from 1966-67. From 1962-63 and 1964-66 He was a Scientific Assistant at the Max Planck Institut fuer Verhaltensphysiolgie, Seewiesen, Germany, in Abteilung Mittelstaedt. He was appointed as Assistant Professor at Cornell University in 1968, promoted to Associate Professor in 1974, and to Professor in 1985. Howland has spent academic leaves at Dunedin School of Medicine (New Zealand), Vision, Touch and Hearing Centre (Australia), University of Sussex (U.K.), the Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London (U.K.), Physiology Department, Cambridge (U.K.), and the Max-Planck Institut fuer Verhaltensphysiologie (Germany). Howland is a fellow of the Optical Society of America, a member of numerous professional societies, and has served on the editorial boards of Vision Research, and currently serves on the editorial board of Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics.

Recent Publications

Howland, H.C. (2009) Photorefraction of eyes: History and future Prospects. Optomethry and Vision Science, 86 (6):603-606.

Howland, H.C.  (2009) Orbital orientation is not visual orientation: A commenton “X-Ray Vision and the evolution of forward-facing eyes” by M.A. Changizi and S.Shimojo,  Journal of Theoretical Biology(2008), 522-523.

Wahl, C., Li, T. Choden, T. & Howland, H.C. (2009) Morphometrics of corneal growth in chicks raised in constant light. Journal of Anatomu 214, 355-361.

Sharma, R. Mihashi, T. & Howland, H.C. (2008). Compensation of high order monochromatic aberrations in older eyes. Journal of Modern Optics 55(4-5): 773-781.

Howland, H.C. & Howland, M. (2008). A standard nomenclature for the planes and axes of vertebrate eyes. Vision Research 48: 1926-1927.

Sharma, R. Mihashi, T. & Howland, H.C. (2008). Compensation of high order monochromatic aberrations in older eyes. Journal of Modern Optics 55(4-5): 773-781.

Howland, H.C. & Howland, M. (2008). A standard nomenclature for the planes and axes of vertebrate eyes. Vision Research 48:1926-1927.

Rompala, K., Rand, R. & Howland, H.C. (2007). Dynamics of three coupled Van der Pol oscillators with applications to circadian systems. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 12:794-803.

Ronneberger, A., Basarab, J. & Howland H.C. (2006). Growth of the Cornea from Infancy to Adolescence. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics 26:80-87.

Holzman, R., Shashar, N., Genin, A. Howland, H.C., and Katzir, G. (2006). Changes in refractive state during prey capture in the nocturnal cardinalfish, Apogon annularis. Vision Research 46(13):2094-2101.

Li, T. & Howland, H.C. (2006). Role of the pineal gland in ocular development of the chick in normal and constant light conditions. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 47(11):5132-5136.

Shapiro, J.A., Kelly, J. E. & Howland, H.C. (2005). Accommodative state of young adults using reading spectacles. Vision Research 45: 233-245.

Howland, H.C. (2005). Allometry and scaling of wave aberration of eyes. Vision Research 45:1091-1093.

Courses Taught

Sensory function BioNB 492 (with Professor Bruce Halpern)
The visual system BioNB 320
Human and animal eyes BioNB 420-1