Photonics for a Better World

Editor’s note: Guest blogger Khushi Vyas , Outreach Coordinator for the SPIE Student Chapter at Imperial College London , was among students at the biophotonics and imaging graduate summer school 15-20 June at the National Biophotonics Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIPI), National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. In the second of two posts, Khushi describes the experience of attending the school from a personal perspective. Wisely -- and happily -- BIGSS organizers ensure that the week is not all work and no play; above attendees get to know each other better over refreshments after hours. Galway -- the cultural city of Ireland with Bohemian accents -- played host to the fifth annual Biophotonics and Imaging Summer School (BIGSS) , organized by the NUI Galway Applied Optics group and chaired by Professor Martin Leahy, who also leads the NBIPI. A mixed crowd, from first-timers to all-timers, comprised this year’s approximately 50 students who not only attended the technical

Editor’s note: Guest blogger Khushi Vyas , Outreach Coordinator for the SPIE Student Chapter at Imperial College London , was among students at the biophotonics and imaging graduate summer school 15-20 June at the National Biophotonics Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIPI), National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. The first of two posts filed by Khushi describes the topics and trends discussed during the school. BIGSS participants enjoyed an energizing week in Galway. The recent fifth annual Biophotonics and Imaging Graduate Summer School (BIGSS) offered a great platform for multidisciplinary learning in biophotonics and fostered communication across several disciplines. Students went home with new ideas, streamlined directions for research, new contacts, and the motivation to contribute towards finding solutions for unmet clinical needs. Participants included approximately 50 graduate students and early-career professionals and seven distinguished guest speakers working

Show us your photonics -- that’s what the SPIE Professional magazine staff are asking of photographers around the world. Light, water, camera, action: Indirect light in a darkened aquarium highlights anatomical detail in a tank of swimming jellyfish. (Nikon D40, Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G lens, ISO 1600) Winning photos showing the use of light and light-based technologies in daily life will win cash prizes and cover placement in an issue of SPIE Professional , published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics . The SPIE International Year of Light 2015 Photo Contest is part of the society's observance of the United Nations-declared International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies in 2015 (IYL2015). IYL2015 is a celebration of the crosscutting discipline of science that has revolutionized medicine, astronomy, and clean energy and opened up international communication via the Internet, and that continues to be central to