Open to all Students and Early Career Professionals

What are the critical career choices and decisions that face new graduates in optics and photonics? What are some strategies for navigating the transition from student to professional or academia to industry? Get a perspective from our panelists in this wide-ranging discussion.

Moderator
Nishant Mohan, Wasatch Photonics, USA

Panelists

Morteza Karami, Hach Company, USA, Haley Marks, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, USA, Nur Nabila Binti Mohd Makhtar, Konica Minolta Inc., Japan, Darryl Naidoo, CSIR, South Africa

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Join us for Jean-Luc's talk on Networking for Researchers and then for a breakout session focused on career and professional skills development. Come ready to share your thoughts and ideas!

10:30 AM - 11:20 AM: Networking for Researchers
Location: Marriott Marquis, Marina Ballroom F


Jean-luc Doumont, Principiae (Belgium)

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Breakout Session

Effectively Evaluating Your Outreach Activities
Location: Balboa Room

Jess Wade, Imperial College London (United Kingdom)


Getting Published: How to Write a Good Science Paper
Location: Misson Hills Room

Chris Mack, Lithoguru.com (United States)

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Oral presentation skills are a key to success for researchers and professionals alike. This workshop offers a no-nonsense approach to preparing and giving presentations, with a particular focus on structure, slides, and delivery. It also offers tips on how to manage the nervousness associated with speaking in public.

Learning Outcomes
This workshop will enable you to:
• organize your material into an effective structure
• create slides that get the message across
• deliver your presentation effectively, both verbally and nonverbally

Intended Audience
This workshop is intended for anyone who must prepare and give oral presentations about his or her research work. Both novice and experienced speakers can expect to gain a lot from it.

Instructor

Jean-luc Doumont runs lectures and workshops in scientific communication, pedagogy, critical thinking, and more for engineers, scientists, and other rational minds. He is an engineer from the University of Louvain and a doctor in applied physics from Stanford University. Articulate, entertaining, and thought-provoking, he is a popular invited speaker at top-notch universities and research centers worldwide.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

All research requires funding. That truth means that proposal writing is an essential skill for all scientists and engineers, whether in academia or industry. Unfortunately, most early career professionals are uncomfortable “selling” their research. This workshop addresses “grant phobia” by teaching attendees how to align research with funding opportunities, develop firm project plans, and communicate effectively to reviewers.

Learning Outcomes
This workshop will enable you to:

• Align research objectives to the funding opportunity
• Develop a research plan with clear objectives
• Structure the proposal for clarity
• Choose effective illustrations and figures

Intended Audience
All scientists and engineers seeking to improve the quality of their research proposals.

Instructor

Damon Diehl is a professional writer specializing in scientific content. He has a doctorate in optics from the University of Rochester and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago. His grant-writing course is based on two decades of academic and industrial research experience. Over 90% of the scientific grants he has written have been funded, and every client that he has worked with has won funding within two tries.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Strong writing skills are a key to success for researchers and professionals alike. This workshop discusses how to structure research papers, dissertations, and other reports effectively at all levels to get the readers’ attention, facilitate navigation, and thus get the message across optimally to their audiences.

Learning Outcomes
This workshop will enable you to:
• create an effective abstract, introduction, and conclusion
• organize your material into an accessible structure
• construct paragraphs that get the message across

Intended Audience
This workshop is intended for anyone who must write or edit technical documents in general and research papers in particular. Both novice and experienced authors can expect to gain a lot from it.

Instructor

Jean-luc Doumont runs lectures and workshops in scientific communication, pedagogy, critical thinking, and more for engineers, scientists, and other rational minds. He is an engineer from the University of Louvain and a doctor in applied physics from Stanford University. Articulate, entertaining, and thought-provoking, he is a popular invited speaker at top-notch universities and research centers worldwide.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Join us for a session on how to command attention and get your point across in a variety of professional settings from networking at events to your next business meeting.

Learning Outcomes
This workshop will enable you to:

• utilize frameworks that yield clear and concise communication in a variety of situations
• adjust your delivery style to boost credibility and confidence
• reduce nervousness associated with public speaking

Intended Audience
Women who are interested in improving their communication skills.

Instructor

Christine Haas has over ten years of experience working at the intersection of communication and science. Since founding Christine Haas Consulting, LLC in 2012, Christine has traveled the world teaching courses to clients in industry, government, and academia on presentation skills, storytelling, slide design, and technical writing. She received her MBA in marketing and international business from Drexel University, and her BA in English and film from Dickinson College.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Widely used in research and development to analyze and communicate data, graphical displays are still poorly mastered by researchers (and popular software does not helps). This workshop discusses how to create more effective graphs—graphs that are truly visual, are truthful to the data, and get the message across.

Learning Outcomes
This workshop will enable you to:
• select the right graph for a given data set and a given research question
• optimize this graph to make it intuitive and to reveal the data
• phrase a caption that gets the message across

Intended Audience
This workshop is intended for anyone who must create graphs for written documents or oral presentations. Both novice and experienced authors/speakers can expect to gain a lot from it.

Instructor

Jean-luc Doumont runs lectures and workshops in scientific communication, pedagogy, critical thinking, and more for engineers, scientists, and other rational minds. He is an engineer from the University of Louvain and a doctor in applied physics from Stanford University. Articulate, entertaining, and thought-provoking, he is a popular invited speaker at top-notch universities and research centers worldwide.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

This introspective and interactive workshop will challenge participants to identify and leverage their strengths to define themselves, describe themselves to potential employers, and create a unique career approach. Through a series of individual and pair sharing exercises, participants will develop a strengths-based strategy for resumes and interviews. The course will also cover tips and etiquette for successful job searches. This workshop is for anyone who is entering the work force and interested in standing out as a polished professional candidate.

Prerequisite:
Though this course is free and open to paid attendees, it is highly recommended that you purchase a copy of StrengthsFinder 2.0 and take the CliftonStrength Assessment in advance of this workshop. The price of the book (with access code for assessment) is around $20 USD. You can find copies on Amazon as well as the official CliftonStrengths website. Please do not buy a used copy as the access code for the assessment will be invalid.

If the cost is prohibitive, please take the free High 5 Test before the workshop. It is less detailed than the CliftonStrength Assessment, but it is a free option for students who are unable to take the CliftonStrengths assessment.

Before class, make sure to complete the following pre-work assignment:
1. Write a few sentences about what motivates or inspires you and what you want your legacy to be.
2. Generate a list of 3-5 strengths that define you. Use assessment tools linked above to identify them.
3. Bring a job description for your technical area and level of expertise that you are interested in.

Learning Outcomes
This workshop will enable you to:

• identify your strengths and understand what keeps you motivated, productive, engaged, and happy at work
• leverage your strengths to create a unique job search and career approaches
• write resumes that stand out and enable employers to understand your skills and strengths quickly
• effectively and confidently communicate your skills and strengths in an interview

Intended Audience
Graduate students, new graduates, and early-career professionals who wish to develop and refine resume and interview skills while embracing and highlighting their strengths.

Instructor

Dr. Iwona A. Palusinski is the founder and director of the Integrated Sensor Design and Analysis Department at The Aerospace Corporation, which supports the optical design, analysis, and testing of sensor systems from short-turnaround prototypes to Class A satellites. She uses strengths-based strategies for technical team development and has 11 years of hiring and recruiting experience. She has presented on professional development panels and taught workshops on hiring strategies and strengths-based development through SPIE and the Univ. of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Working in industry is very different than academia. An advanced degree in science and engineering gives you many technical skills that are valuable in the private sector, but there are a lot of important aspects of working in a company that aren’t taught in school. This course gives you the industry primer you need.

The workshop will start with an overview of the five most important ways that working in industry is different than the academic research environment STEM graduate students are trained in. Next, we will cover five habits that scientists and engineers who are successful in industry learn quickly. We will also cover some basics of company finance, how projects are managed in industry, and some tricks for keeping your projects on schedule.

Learning Outcomes
After completing this workshop, attendees will be able to
• describe five ways that technical work in industry is different than academic research
• list the five habits that scientists and engineers who are successful in industry learn quickly
• explain a corporate financial statement and point out where engineering/R&D fits into the profit model
• describe why making decisions quickly is so important in industry, and explain a new technique for making a decision when the 'right' answer is not clear
• list the key elements of a typical industry development project, and describe tactics for keeping it on schedule

Intended Audience
This workshop is intended for graduate students in science and engineering programs who are looking to pursue careers in industry. Scientists and engineers who are already working in industry and want to accelerate their career progress will also find this course very helpful.

Instructor

David M. Giltner is the author of the book Turning Science into Things People Need, and is an internationally recognized speaker and mentor for early career scientists and engineers seeking careers in industry. He has spent the last 20 years commercializing photonics technologies in a variety of roles for several companies including JDS Uniphase and Ball Aerospace. Through his time in the private sector, David learned how to function well in both highly technical and business circles, and has often functioned as an interpreter to help these two words communicate more productively. David has a BS and PhD in physics and holds six patents in the fields of laser spectroscopy and optical communications.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Startups face unique challenges when bringing innovative optics, photonics, and imaging products to market. Sujatha Ramanujan, managing director of the Luminate optics accelerator program, uses the history of Luminate as a means to explore specific stories of business success and failure. The introductory presentation will be followed by a highly-interactive workshop that uses imaginary scenarios to address the challenges facing a cash strapped start-up.

Learning Outcomes:

• Perform customer discovery and assess a market
• Balance a diverse team that comprises different skills and personality types
• Determine technical feasibility
• Establish a market advantage
• Work with limited physical resources
• Follow best practices for protecting intellectual property

Intended Audience
This course is intended for early-career scientists uncertain how to turn crazy ideas into successful businesses.

Instructor

Sujatha Ramanujan is the managing director of Luminate, the world's only start-up accelerator exclusively for optics- and photonics-based companies. Over the course of 25 years, she has started, built and grown startup businesses in cardiac surgical equipment, optical communications, and nanomaterials. In her position at Luminate, she provides guidance to start-ups, M&A strategies for growing businesses, and vetting of technologies to investors.

Open to those with a paid registration badge.
No advance registration is required. However, seating is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Gain confidence in your negotiation style through facilitated discussion and role-play. Explore useful negotiation skills for a new job, raise, or promotion.

Participants will learn:

• how to identify and articulate their personal value
• how to develop an arsenal of persuasive responses and other strategies to use when negotiating
• how to conduct objective market research to benchmark a target salary and benefits
• how to develop a plan to achieve your goals

Intended Audience
Any paid attendee who would like to improve her salary negotiation skills.


Instructor
Elizabeth Umphress teaches Dynamic of Negotiations and Ethical Leadership to top executives as well as masters students of the MBA program at Univ. of Washington, where she is currently an Associate Professor and Evert McCabe Endowed Fellow. Under the rubric of social justice research, Dr. Umphress pursues three primary branches of inquiry: ethics, organizational justice, and diversity. Her consulting work focuses on helping employees feel empowered and more productive in the workplace. She has worked with companies such as NASA, Citigroup, and Lockheed Martin.