Photonics for a Better World

ACTION MAN: Brandon in the lab working on a lidar system Meet Brandon Hellman, this week's SPIE Faces of Photonics series feature. He is a student researcher at the University of Arizona, pursuing a PhD in Optical Sciences. Brandon and his colleagues work on making new lidar systems in Professor Yuzuru Takashima's lab. You can see a sample of their work on the College of Optical Sciences' YouTube page. Enjoy the interview with Brandon! 1. Share your favorite outreach or volunteer story.  Laser Fun Day is an annual optics outreach event put on by the Student Optics Chapter "SOCk" in the College of Optical Sciences. The event is free and open to the public, encouraging hundreds of children and adults of all ages to explore optics through hands-on demos put on by undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the college.  Demos include a laser maze -- Mission: Impossible- style -- a six-foot-long kaleidoscope, laser radios, solar telescop...

"With my lasers!" SPIE's Faces of Photonics series is sharing the story of Dr. Hannah Williams! Hannah recently graduated from Imperial College London after completing her thesis on ultracold molecules . She now continues that research as a postdoctoral research associate in the College's Centre for Cold Matter. Along with her postdoc work,  Hannah recently announced via Twitter that she is a Doctoral Prize Research Fellow for The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This recognition is yet another achievement to add to her impressive list of accomplishments, which includes organizing and leading events such as the Gamechangers for Diversity in STEM event held recently at the Alan Turing Institute in London, of which SPIE was a sponsor. Enjoy the interview with Hannah, and be sure to follow her on Twitter . During her PhD, Hannah spent two months conducting research at Columbia University 1. Tell us about when you first became intereste...

Anuja De Silva attending SPIE Advanced Lithography in San Jose, CA Meet the SPIE Faces of Photonics star of the week, SPIE Member Anuja De Silva. Anuja grew up in Sri Lanka and now resides in Albany, New York, where she works as a materials and process researcher in the Semiconductor Technology Research division of IBM. Speaking of her work, she says, "I develop new types of materials and processes that help us to scale the size of computer chips... It's hardware development for next-generation semiconductor devices." Anuja graduated with her Bachelor's in Chemistry from Mount Holyoke College and went on to get her Master's and PhD in Materials Chemistry from Cornell University. Upon conducting a research project for her undergraduate degree, she found her passion for optics and materials research. Anuja and husband Nelson Felix attend SPIE Advanced Lithography together. The couple both work at IBM. "I have always been interested in math and scie...