Stefan Bäumer studied physics at the university of Bonn, Germany, and at the Washington State University where he received a Master of Science degree in 1988. After that he returned to Germany to the Technical University of Berlin where he got his PhD at the Institute of Optics in 1995. He currently works as a senior optical system designer at the Philips Centre for Industrial Technology (CFT) in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. His main tasks involve system design of injection molded optics for applications in mass products.