Previous Articles

Six new Student Chapters were approved by the Board of Directors last month. These new chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 147 Student Chapters comprised of over 4,300 members in over 20 countries.

Begun as a collaboration between the American Physical Society, the Optical Society, and SPIE, LaserFest is a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laser, which was invented in 1960. From DVD players to eye surgery, the laser is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century—one that has revolutionized the way we live.

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As SPIE’s largest meeting, PW brings together over 17,000 students and professionals for five days of learning and networking. SPIE Student Services has designed several events to facilitate an optimal environment for students searching for a career in optics and photonics.

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Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser at Photonics West will definitely be educational, but will it be fun? If you like to game and compete against other conference goers for some nice prizes, then the answer is clearly "yes!" The makers of Khet will host a World tournament on Wednesday of Photonics West for people looking to test their skills of logic and beam steering.

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Every other year, SPIE Europe organizes one of the largest European optics conferences. Photonics Europe presents an interesting look at the photonics market in Europe and draws researchers from across the globe. In 2010, the conference will be held in Brussels, Belgium and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel SPIE student chatper has been busy preparing student events.

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Students are the engine that makes the Solar Decathlon run, and their nearly boundless energy kept spirits high during the final rainy days of the event in October 2009 in Washington, DC. SPIE visited the event and compiled this composite "tour" highlighting the different components of a typical house, as told by student tour guides at several houses.

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The Photonics21 Student Innovation Award will be presented during the Photonics Europe conference in Brussels on 12-16 April 2010. As with the first award, the photonics community is looking for innovative and outstanding work in photonics with a high industrial impact. To be eligible for an award, the work must be performed in Europe and within the framework of an EU education programme or a regular course of studies at a European university. The closing date for applications for the Student Innovation Award 2010 is 10 February 2010.

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The optics industry has seen many advances in technology and applications. Continued innovation and discovery is dependent on a stream of new researchers and engineers educated in optics. The optics community needs to play a role in understanding how these new knowledge workers are trained. As individuals, we can contribute to this process by sharing our passion for optics and science with students of all ages.

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Over the past few months, SPIE Student Services has added several new faces to the Visiting Lecturer directory. Take some time and get familiar with the newest volunteers.

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The roots of modern laser technology go back to a burst of innovation in the years following Theodore Maiman's demonstration of the ruby laser in 1960. Most major types of lasers were first demonstrated in those early years, but their technology has advanced greatly since then and today is on a roll.

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Five new Student Chapters were approved this summer by the Board of Directors. These new chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 141 Student Chapters comprised of over 4,300 members in over 20 countries.

The Optics + Photonics 2009 Student Chapter Leadership Workshop was the spot to meet and network with peers in optics from around the world! The 8^th annual two-day workshop began early Saturday morning when 130 students from around the world gathered to share experiences and ideas.

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SPIE Optics+Photonics 2009 kicked off with special programming aimed at students and early career professionals, showcasing SPIE's commitment to growing the next generation of scientists, researchers, and innovators.

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Innovention Toys is partnering with SPIE to offer tournament sponsorship programs to any student chapter interested in hosting a Khet tournament at your school or in your community. Teach a lesson on basic optics with a Khet educational kit or simply challenge your labmates to a strategic game!

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The first North-American meeting of the IONS will be held in September 2009 at the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. As the host, the UM SPIE-OSA Student Chapter is committed to take every measure towards organizing a dynamic platform for networking and academic interaction.

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This year the Stanford University OSA/SPIE Chapter is hosting a student photography competition to generate interest in optics among pre-university students. We are hoping to expand the competition to the international community and we invite other student chapters to partner with us in this outreach effort!

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More than 100 students from the top optical science schools in India, Russia, the Ukraine, the UK, the United States, Singapore, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, and Australia have been awarded SPIE scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year.

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The career center website SPIEWorks has been named among the Top 100 job boards and career portals by a leading employment-industry guide publisher.

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SPIE will launch a series of online courses on photonics topics, offering flexibility and more opportunities for ongoing, professional education.

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I've been involved in many negotiations in my career. They've all been different in some ways, and alike in others. But through them all, I've identified four "golden rules" to be the most helpful towards productive negotiation outcomes.

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Five new Student Chapters were approved last month by the Board of Directors. These new chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 136 Student Chapters comprised of over 4,600 members in over 20 countries.

This year marks the 8th Annual Student Chapter Leadership Workshop at SPIE Optics + Photonics. The SCLW is a two-day workshop to kick-off the Optics + Photonics conference. It is designed for chapter leaders and brings together students from all over the world for food, fun, and fellowship.

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Held in Quebec City from March 5 to 8 2009 at the Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL, Laval University), Photonics ToolkiT attracted graduate students in optics from ten universities in Canada and the United States. The collaboration of four student chapters brought this conference to life in Canada’s largest optics photonics university research center.

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For the first time, all Stanford photonics students, post-docs, and faculty were invited to gather together for a weekend retreat on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula.

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Many chapters have made an extra effort to get out into their community and help foster interest in the fields of optics and photonics. See what's happening at the Univ. of Calcutta, Univ. California San Diego, and Univ. Texas Austin.

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Congratulations to Nicolaus Copernicus for receiving the the second Collaborative Conference Grant of 2009! This funding will support professional development opportunities at the Fourth International Student Chapters Meeting held 14-16 May in Torun, Poland.

The next Collaborative Conference Grant applications are due 1 July.

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Congratulations to the best student poster award winners at the 2009 Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSBP/NSHP). Each year SPIE sponsors awards for promising students presenting their research at conferences.

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Has a professor significantly impacted your life? If you would like this person to be recognized, consider nominating him/her for the SPIE Educator Award.

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Move over Facebook... SPIE.org has a new feature. We're proud to introduce SPIE Profiles; a professional networking platform for optics and photonics professionals worldwide. For a good example of a profile, check out Gabrielle Thériault (you must sign in to see her full profile).

Sign in now to access and easily manage your own profile.

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Scientific and technological innovation is being championed as a major driver for revitalization of the global economy, but a shortage of scientists and engineers, combined with a declining number of young people interested in studying science and engineering, could become a major restraint to economic recovery.

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One new Student Chapter was approved at the Board of Directors at SPIE Photonics West in San Jose, CA.  This new Chapter joins the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 131 Student Chapters comprised of over 4,600 members in over 20 countries.

You never know who you'll meet in San Jose!

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The students chapters from Universite Laval and Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal are inviting you to Photonic ToolkiT, a four day event taking place in Quebec City, Canada on March 5-8. This event is organized specifically to offer a wide variety of tools for your future career, as a graduate student and as a professional in the field.

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Student participation at SPIE Photonics West was in evidence as numerous optics and photonics students presented their papers in San Jose. Among the winners of various awards:

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Over the past few months, SPIE Student Services has added several new faces to the Visiting Lecturer directory. Take some time and get familiar with the newest volunteers.

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One of my closet recruiter colleagues says that job fairs are for the “unemployed and unemployable.” That’s pretty harsh but there is definitely some truth to it. Of course, if recruiters didn’t actually hire people from job fairs then one would have to question the existence of the job fair industry. There is value for both the job seeker and the potential employer. I recently attended the SPIE Photonics West Career Fair in San Jose, California and noticed some interesting things.

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We may be losing some of the most talented potential academics before they even arrive for a job interview. In the eyes of many doctoral students, the research university has a bad reputation — one of unrelenting work hours that allow little room for a satisfying family life.

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You’ve just accepted an assistant professor position. Congratulations! One of the first and biggest challenges awaiting you is the task of building a productive laboratory. If you’re like me, you will be shown an empty room, given a startup fund, and told to “go make great things happen.”

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Have you ever wanted to turn off gravity? Four ambitious undergraduates got that opportunity when they participated in the Microgravity University program put on by NASA last June. Microgravity University is a summer program that allows undergraduate students to propose, design, fabricate, fly in, and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment.

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Photonics Research Education and Training of the Photonics21 Technology Platform have established a prize for students in the field of photonics in order to promote research in photonics especially related to R&D with industrial impact.

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Four new Student Chapters were approved at the Board of Directors meeting in Bellingham, WA.  These new Chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 133 Student Chapters comprised of over 4,600 members in over 20 countries.

With the year rapidly coming to a close, we would like to take some time to highlight the good work coming from SPIE Student Chapters. Many chapters have made an extra effort to get out into their community and help foster interest in the fields of optics and photonics.

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SPIE Asia was an initial step towards bridging the communication gap between the student chapters across Asia. Being the organizer of the first student conference of its kind in Asia I had a lot of responsibilities to portray myself and my chapter well in front of the visiting international community.

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The papers submitted at SPIE APOC this year were very competitive and there was a great deal of discussion concerning the verdict. SPIE sends congratulations to the following winners:

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Finding the right graduate adviser is important for your success in graduate school and your future career. Not only will your choice of adviser affect everything about your life during graduate school, a strong letter of recommendation from your graduate adviser will have a vital impact on your postdoctoral career.

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A computer is a pretty useful tool. It stores large amounts of information and performs complicated calculations. Fifty computers can be hooked up to share power and information. But only when connected to the outside world is their true power unleashed. Suddenly, they can be used to communicate with a worldwide network of information and resources.

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Americans see entrepreneurship as the answer to the current financial crisis—but worries about the economy are deterring them from taking the first step on that path, according to survey findings released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

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Three new Student Chapters were approved by the Board of Directors at SPIE Optics + Photonics in San Diego, CA, USA. These new Chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 129 Student Chapters comprised of nearly 2,300 members in over 20 countries.

SPIE hosted several special events for Students and Early Career Professionals (ECPs) at the Optics + Photonics symposium over the week. Some of the most beneficial events were the panel discussions about careers in optics and photonics.

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Scientists need the public to understand what they're doing, so that good personal and public policy decisions can be made in an increasingly technologically driven world, science writer Margaret Wertheim told an overflow audience at the Women in Optics reception Monday evening.

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Congratulations to the SPIE Singapore Student Chapter for hosting their first international chapter meeting co-located with Laser Metrology 2008. Chapter Members received positive feedback from chapter representatives, school teachers, industry affiliates, and many others.

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• 1^st Place ($500): Stanford University Chapter
• 2^nd Place ($250): International School of Photonics (ISP) Chapter
• Honorable Mentions: Univ. of Texas at Austin, Singapore Student Chapter, Wroclaw Univ. of Technology

$262,000 was awarded in scholarships to 149 outstanding individuals, based on their potential for long-range contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline. Award-winning applicants were evaluated and selected and approved by the SPIE Scholarship Committee.  For a list of the winners and information on how to apply for 2009, please visit spie.org/scholarships.

Engineering tops the list, but 'soft skills' are also in demand

Mike Borden appreciates all the attention he's been getting from potential employers. He also knows it's not personal. They don't want him, exactly. They want his degree...

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Four new Student Chapters were approved by the Board of Directors at SPIE Europe Photonics Europe in Strasbourg, France. These new Chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 126 Student Chapters comprised of nearly 2,300 members in 20 countries.

It all started with a project launched at our university (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) that aims to get photonics engineering students acquainted with the business aspects of research and industry...

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This year SPIE Europe Photonics Europe featured a more focused student and early career professional program.  Events on entrepreneurship and career development complemented a strong scientific conference.  I traveled to Strasbourg to see where photonics in Europe is headed.

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The academic conference is stereotyped in popular culture -- not without cause -- as a confluence of the bizarre and the boring. But for faculty members, especially those on the tenure-and-promotion track, learning how to get the most out of those meetings has become an essential skill.

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Thirteen volunteers representing SPIE were among more than 250 who participated on 5 March in the annual Congressional Visits Day (CVD) sponsored by the Science-Education-Technology (SET) Working Group. The message carried to Congress last week by [these] volunteers from SPIE and other science and technology societies was clear.

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Congratulations to the best student poster award winners at the 2008 Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSBP/NSHP). Each year SPIE sponsors awards for promising students presenting their research at conferences.

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Congratulations to the Singapore Student Chapter and other local SPIE Chapters in Asia for receiving the first Collaborative Conference Grant of 2008. This funding will support professional development opportunities at Laser Metrology 2008 in Singapore, Singapore from 30 June - 2 July.

Download a brochure (for Asia Region; for non-Asia Regions).

SPIE Student Services is proud to announce new additions to its student events line-up at Optics + Photonics. New for 2008 is a panel discussion on getting hired after graduation and a student chapter and exhibitor social. These events join 15 other student focused courses and events.

See the entire list of events...

Are you looking for a job or internship, maybe you know someone who is? Students looking for jobs/internships are invited to upload their resumes to SPIEWorks.com, SPIE's very own job site! Submit a resume to the Optics + Photonics career fair, even if you can't attend the conference.

Read instructions on uploading your resume while maintaining document formatting.

Five new Student Chapters/Clubs were approved by the Board of Directors at SPIE Photonics West in San Jose, USA. These new Chapters and Clubs join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 122 Student Chapters comprised of nearly 2,100 members in 20 countries.

The largest optics & photonics research conference and trade show in the world wrapped up in San Jose two weeks ago on a very positive note, despite headlines of a global economic down-turn and uncertainty in the financial markets.

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The SPIE Singapore Student Chapter will be hosting an Asia Student Chapters Meeting at Laser Metrology 2008. All student chapter members are invited to attend; travel assistance is available for students in the region. See the brochure (for Asia Region; for non-Asia Regions) for event details.

Visit the Laser Metrology 2008 website for more details about the technical conference.

Get creative with the Engineering Education Service Center 2008 Poster Contest! "Green Engineering" is the theme for this year's poster contest. Green Engineering is the design, commercialization and use of processes and products that are feasible and economical while minimizing the generation of pollution at the source and the risk to human health and the environment.

Contest deadline is 15 February; winners will be notified by 22 February. Cash prizes available for first, second, and third place contestants. Visit the contest website for details.

As you may (or may not) know, 17-23 February is National Engineers' Week in the United States. Last year, 40,000 engineers visited classrooms to share the world of engineering with students. Get involved; you won't regret it.

Find local Engineers' Week events at eweek.org. Need activity ideas? Check out the Engineers Week Solution Kits.

SPIE Student Services is proud to announce an expanded student program at Photonics Europe. Student attendees will enjoy added networking opportunities, the Entrepreneurship in Photonics workshop, new short courses, and a Chapter Breakfast.

Visit the Student Events page for detailed links to the on-site activities.

Congratulations to Wroclaw University of Technology for receiving the the first Collaborative Conference Grant of 2008! This funding will support professional development opportunities at the Third International Student Chapters' Meeting held 20-22 May in Wroclaw, Poland.

The next Collaborative Conference Grant applications are due 1 April.

Numerous conferences at Photonics West sponsor awards for the best student papers presented either orally or as posters. SPIE send congratulations to the following winners:

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Happy Lunar New Year! 7 February 2008 marks the beginning of the year of the Rat (in China) and signals the start of a new year in many other cultures in the region. Nearly 1.5 billion people will be celebrating the holiday by the time you read this. Learn more about the Lunar New Year at Wikipedia.org!

Student Chapters will notice an increased level of funding this year, enabling greater possibilities for future activities. The increased funding was approved, in part, to compensate the weaker US Dollar and to provide additional support for large active chapters. Increases affect:

• Chapter Activity Grants: No longer limited to $1100
• Visiting Lecturer Program: $1000 (up from $800)

Fourteen new Student Chapters/Clubs were approved at the Board of Directors meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. These new Chapters and Clubs join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 117 Student Chapters comprised of nearly 2,100 members in 19 countries.

Thankfully, no one stays a student forever. As SPIE student members graduate and join the world of the optics professional, their needs necessarily change. New questions about your future need new answers. How do you negotiate for a start-up package or an increase in salary? How do you write better proposals? What is the best way to manage a team of colleagues or grad students? Can I stop living on Ramen noodles?

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Humans spend much of their lives piloting cars from place to place. For millions of people who spend time stuck in traffic, the promise of one day being able to take their eyes off the road, read a book, or catch some extra sleep took a big step closer on November 3rd, 2007.

On 10 November, the Northwestern University Student Chapter hosted the "SPIE Chicago/Midwest Conference." The event was made possible with the support of an SPIE Collaborative Conference Grant and meeting space and equipment donated by the McCormick Engineering School at Northwestern University.

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Each year SPIE donates unused but unloved books to our Student Chapters. This year, we will ship an estimated 5500lbs (2500kg) of books to Student Chapters worldwide. This is one of our most anticipated fall programs and is a great opportunity for Chapter Members to gain access to valuable technical resources.

Two Collaborative Conference Grants will be available in early 2008. For schools with a short break in January or February, this is an excellent opportunity to organize an event benefiting students in your region.

Download an application and submit it by the 1 January deadline.

In 2008, SPIE Student Services will be hosting several new events including professional development speaker series, Student Chapter gatherings, off-site socials, and an increased number of student focused workshops. Join us at Photonics West (San Jose, United States) and Photonics Europe (Strasbourg, France) for fresh perspectives on entrepreneurship, career development, and skills to help you get there.

The Master of Science programme in Photonics is a multidisciplinary programme covering basic physics, material technologies, electronics and applications in different fields. Students will be trained to become specialists in the field. In addition, students will be brought in contact with European culture and languages and will get the chance to live in several European cities (Brussels, Edinburgh, Ghent, St. Andrews and Stockholm) with a long and still visible history.

Application Deadline: 15 January

Program Information
Download a Brochure  

The International School of Photonics held one of the largest student outreach events yet, hosting over 1300 students age 10 through 17 for a day of demonstrations and exhibits.

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Five new Student Chapters were approved at the Board of Directors meeting at Optics & Photonics in San Diego, California. These new Chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students. There are now 103 Student Chapters comprised of nearly 1,800 members in 19 countries.

105 Students, 11 guest speakers, 2 days, and 20 gallons of coffee later... The Student Chapter Leadership Workshop concluded with its most interactive program yet, kicking-off Optics & Photonics 2007.

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Straight from some of our best Student Leaders, learn from their experiences in  recruiting new members, energizing the Chapter, managing university politics, and more.

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Observations, words of encouragement, and a few tips from your Student Services Coordinator.

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• 1^st Place ($500): Singapore Student Chapter
• 2^nd Place ($300): Tec de Monterrey
• 3^rd Place ($200): Taurida National V.I. Vernadsky Univ.
• Honorable Mention: Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte

$290,500 was awarded in scholarships and grants to 136 outstanding individuals and 23 educational institutions, based on their potential for long-range contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline. Award-winning applicants were evaluated and selected by the SPIE Scholarship Committee and approved in April by the SPIE Board of Directors' Executive Committee. For a list of the winners and information on how to apply for 2008, please visit spie.org/scholarships.

Please contact John Ballato for details.

Optical Research Associates (ORA®), Pasadena, CA, has selected the winners of their annual Student Optical Design Competition, in which awards totaling $4,000 are granted. This year, former Tec de Monterrey chapter member Manuel Guizar-Sicairos and Univ. of Arizona chapter member Joshua Jin Kim were selected as two of the top award winners. Congratulations Manuel and Joshua!

Optics in the Southeast, co-sponsored by SPIE, announces call for papers. Abstracts are to be submitted to jballat@clemson.edu electronically by Monday, August 20, 2007. Submissions need to include the title, name of author(s), and their affiliation(s), an abstract longer than 250 words, status (high school, undergraduate, or graduate) and an indication of whether or not an oral or poster presentation is preferred.

Five SPIE Student Members from the University of Arizona were awarded prestigious scholarships in recent weeks. Awards included the first ever Louise Wyant Scholarship in Optical Sciences and James M. Palmer Endowed Scholarship.

Six new Student Chapters were approved at the Board of Directors meeting at Defense + Security Symposium in Orlando, Florida. These new Chapters join the steadily increasing population of optics / physics students, bringing the total number of Student Chapters to 98.

Many current students will be instructors themselves. Here is advice on how to make that transition smoother for all involved.

You made it! You are done with your PhD and are now ready and very excited to start a promising career as an educator and a researcher. Your role has suddenly changed, and now you are the one doing the teaching. Here is some advice on making this transition…

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For many students the months of May and June signal the end of a long school year, but for newly elected Student Chapter Officers it is just the beginning. The tasks ahead of them may feel daunting at first, but with supportive Chapter Members and a few tips new officers will find the transition to be relatively easy.

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This April, over 75 students, faculty, and staff from Stanford and Berkeley participated in the first annual "Photonics @ Stanford" Day. The afternoon event featured an in-depth tour of SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), a special seminar from the PULSE (Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering) Director Philip Bucksbaum, and a joint poster session and mixer on campus.

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Last March 8 and 9th, the 6th Symposium, Optics in Industry (SOI) took place in Monterrey, Mexico. The most important event in Mexico that links Optics and Photonics Research with Industry, takes place every two years in one of the several Optics research centers of the country. This year, the venue city was Monterrey…

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Congratulations to the Wroclaw University, Nicholas Copernicus University, and Silesian University of Technology Student Chapters for receiving the second Collaborative Conference Grant of 2007. This funding will support professional development opportunities at the Second International Student Chapters' Meeting in Wroclaw, Poland from 21 - 23 May.

The Delhi College of Engineering Chapter has created the online magazine, Opto-Informatics @ DCE to help address the need for more open-source optics resources in India. Free collaborative resources enable greater student access to peer knowledge networks that encourage sharing of ideas and networking.

Interested in contributing to Opto-Informatics @ DCE? Contact the Delhi College of Engineering Student Chapter.

Mary Masterman, a 17-year-old Westmoore High School senior from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was awarded a $100,000 scholarship for describing...

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The Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program within the Policy and Global Affairs Division of the National Academies is designed to engage graduate science, engineering, medical, veterinary, business, public policy, and law students in the analysis that informs the creation of science and technology policy and to familiarize them with the interactions of science, technology, and government. As a result, students develop essential skills different from those attained in academia and make the transition from being a graduate student to a professional.

Learn more about the program

The PS3 wonderchip does more than play games -- it saves lives

The Cell Broadband Engine is a truly versatile piece of silicon. It's inside every PlayStation 3 powering games, decoding Blu-ray movies and curing diseases with Folding@home. It's also inside a few IBM BladeCenter servers, which will soon be utilized for medical imaging. Collaborators from Mayo Clinic and IBM say that they are now using the Cell Broadband Engine to dramatically speed up the processing of 3D medical images.

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A new theoretical design using nanowires provides a way to hide devices from visible light.

A hairbrush-shaped device has been theoretically designed that would use bristles made out of nanowires to bend light around it, rendering the object invisible. The researchers who came up with the design say that it's the first practical design for an "optical cloak" to work in the visible spectrum.

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What can 1600 enthusiastic optics students do in a year? The answer might surprise you-unless you keep up on the latest chapter reports! Find out what your peers have accomplished in the last year.

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There are many reasons why students should attend conferences: to learn about new technologies from leading scientists, present original research, participate in professional development opportunities, etc. Perhaps one of the best (and sometimes forgotten) reasons is to network.

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Cali, the third largest city in Colombia, was the point of reunion for over 120 participants of the tenth National Optics Meeting and the First Andean and Caribbean Conference on Applied Optics. Old friends organize Latin-American optics conference...

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Congratulations to the Tec de Monterrey, Universidad del Valle, and University of St. Andrews Student Chapters for receiving the first Collaborative Conference Grant of 2007. This funding will support professional development opportunities at the 6th Symposium in Optics / III International Student Chapter Meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, on 8 March.

The reality of research life is that many students are unable to travel to far off conferences to present their work or attend courses. Even fewer students are exposed to career development resources that are specifically related to science and engineering. By organizing student events in their own local regions, chapters...

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In an information age emphasizing instant, yet impersonal communications, it is sometimes easy to forget how important conferences can be to student professional development. Conferences provide a venue for meaningful personal interactions between students and professionals, face to face sharing of ideas, and a way to build lasting relationships. Also, many researchers get their best job leads at conferences. As a student, how can you organize a conference at your home university and make it a success?

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The 5th Annual Student Chapter Leadership Workshop at Optics & Photonics included an all-time high of 109 students from 57 student chapters. Despite challenging travel conditions, lost luggage, and jetlag, a vast majority managed to arrive by the 8:30 am start time.

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Recent job market trends have stressed both academic achievement and strong extra-curricular involvement. Applying for a job involves not only a simple résumé/CV and cover letter, but also strong interpersonal skills and extra-curricular involvement as unwritten requirements for getting an interview.

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Tune in to Scott McCain's experience at the 2006 Congressional Visits Day in Washington D.C. Here, the focus is on science, engineering, and technology and how it relates/is incorporated into current and future policy by U.S. lawmakers.


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Carlos López-Mariscal of Tec de Monterrey interviews Dr. Eugene Arthurs on the value of networking at conferences.  Download the video (3.4MB Quicktime) or the audio (1.5MB MP3) and learn why you should try to attend at least one SPIE conference!

My vice-supervisor and I arrived in Warsaw, Poland on 27 August after a long flight from Beijing on Royal Dutch Airlines and an interchange at the Amsterdam airport. In the morning, we registered in the main hall of the Warsaw University of Technology. The Warsaw students were the main service people and I saw that they worked very professionally. What surprised me greatly about the day was...

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