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SPIE Micro Grants help communities worldwide celebrate IDL2018

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The first International Day of Light was 16 May 2018, and SPIE joined citizens around the globe in celebration of lifesaving, life-enhancing light. To assist communities in the organization of their own celebrations of light, SPIE made available micro-grants worth up to US$3,000 to help fund and execute their events. 

Available to SPIE Members, the grants provided for planned activities that highlighted the critical role that light plays in our daily lives. The activity also had to occur during the month of May 2018 and tie directly to the inaugural event on the 16th.

Our 2018 SPIE IDL Micro Grant recipients included:
  • Martina Mrongovius and the Center for the Holographic Arts (USA)
  • Thouakesseh Jeremie Zoueu and Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet-Boigny (Cote D'Ivoire)
  • Amar Deo Chandra and IISER Kolkata (India)
  • Jesús Carlos Alberto Obando Aguirre and the Instituto de Luz Ambiente y Visión (Argentina)
  • P.T. Ajith Kumar and Light Logics Holography and Optics (India)
  • Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Thailand)
  • Antigone Marino and the National Research Council (CNR) (Italy)
  • Angeles Camacho Rosales and the Optics and Photonics Society University of Southampton (United Kingdom)
  • Imrana Ashraf and Quaid-i-Azam University (Pakistan)
  • Anneke Erasmus and Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
  • Nancy Magnani and Summer School District #320 (USA)
  • Fang Ou and The University of Auckland (New Zealand)
  • Perla Marlene Viera-Gonzalez and the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon (Mexico)
  • Madison Rilling and Université Laval's SPIE Student Chapter (REPOL) (Canada)
Celebration took on many forms, as grant recipients showed great variety and creativity in the creation of their event. There was a photonics art installation in Long Island, New York, a multi-day Optics Fair in Islamabad, Pakistan, a photonics research exhibition in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, and laser holography demonstrations in Kerala, India. See some images from events below.

The grant cycle for the International Day of Light 2019 will begin this fall. Applicants must be SPIE Members and should be prepared to submit their applications by the end of the year for activities that will occur in May 2019. Learn more on spie.org.

Students wearing SPIE diffraction glasses at the Optics Fair at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

Dr. Ajith Kumar showing off the first hologram he recorded at the Science & Technology Museum in Kerala.

Participants and volunteers at 'Light, Colour and Vision' in Naples, Italy.


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