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Pano Spiliotis has always had an eye on the future. As co-founder and CEO of Eoptic , he is advancing imaging technology to meet the needs of security, space, industrial metrology, and medical industries while leading a company experiencing rapid growth. This forward-thinking mindset dates back to his time as a student at RIT. Spiliotis first heard about RIT from an older neighbor enrolled in the microelectronics program. In the mid-1990s, as personal computers were becoming increasingly common, he recognized the industry’s potential and enrolled at the university. But he realized early on that engineering wasn’t the best fit. After a friend told him about the then-new imaging science program , which combines math, science, engineering, and computer science, Spiliotis switched majors. Science, though, wasn’t his only interest. He also had a strong entrepreneurial drive. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in imaging science in 1999, which included a co-op at Xerox, he stayed at RIT to complete an MBA in 2001. Rochester was the ideal place to combine his interests in imaging and business. A group of scientists, most of whom were RIT faculty members, had started a company called Pixel Physics. Spiliotis did some pro bono work for the company before being hired full time. He quickly moved up the ranks. “Back then there were a lot of dot-com startups, but there weren’t a lot of imaging startups,” explained Spiliotis. In 2006, he co-founded FluxData with his wife, Tracie (Lamphere) Spiliotis ’99 ( accounting ), ’01 MS (business administration), and Lawrence Taplin ’01 MS ( color science ). “We were always product-centric,” said Spiliotis. “We used our expertise in imaging science to look at hard, mission-critical problems for harsh environments, and we built solutions.” FluxData grew steadily—its multispectral cameras flew aboard the International Space Station, helping farmers monitor changes in their land—before it was sold in 2017. Today, the Spiliotises are applying the same combination of technical expertise and business acumen at Eoptic, the company they co-founded, which creates AI-enabled imaging systems. The company has expanded rapidly, growing from three employees in 2023 to about 30 today, and is still hiring. Spiliotis says his career has been able to thrive because of RIT’s interdisciplinary offerings. “Even though I was in imaging science, I didn’t feel like I was confined to thinking just as a scientist,” said Spiliotis. “The other part of my brain was an entrepreneur. That wasn’t being blocked or prevented.” The success also has come via strong connections with RIT faculty, students, and alumni. The majority of Eoptic’s employees are former Tigers, and the company welcomes co-op students . “I wasn’t the best student, but I could recognize talent and drive and was going to put a great team together,” he said. “That’s what we’ve done. The success of these companies is the teams we built.”