Photonics for a Better World

We are less than two months away from the 2019 International Day of Light (IDL). In preparation for this annual event, we will be revisiting our 2018 IDL SPIE Micro Grant winners from around the world, showcasing celebrations of IDL in their communities. Each year, SPIE provides IDL Micro Grants to SPIE Members who want to celebrate the importance of light and share that knowledge with their community. These activities must take place during the month of May and tie directly to the cross-global festivities held on the 16th of that month. You can learn more here . This week we travel the United States coast-to-coast, visiting HoloCenter in New York City and Sumner Middle School in Sumner, Washington. HoloCenter: Center for the Holographic Arts Despite cold, rainy weather in May and June of 2018, over 2000 people made the ferry boat ride from Manhattan and Brooklyn out to Governor's Island in New York City to attend "Artist Photonics," a five week exhibition held...

PHO-NATIC: The ever-curious  Cheryl Asbury When you think of ballet, photonics isn't usually the first word that comes to mind -- unless you know Cheryl Asbury, Photonic Part Specialist for Mission Assurance at JPL/Caltech, and an avid dancer since childhood. Read the rest of Cheryl's Faces of Photonics story on the SPIE website.  SPIE’s #FacesofPhotonics social media campaign connects SPIE members in the global optics, photonics, and STEM communities. It serves to highlight similarities, celebrate differences, and foster a space where conversation and community can thrive. Follow along with past and present stories on SPIE social media channels: Or search  #FacesofPhotonics  on your favorite social network!

Shelbi Jenkins and her cat, Beans SPIE's #FacesofPhotonics is sharing the story of Alaska-born Shelbi Jenkins, a PhD student studying at the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences. In the interview, Shelbi shares what she's working on in Bob Norwood's Magneto-Optics Lab at U of A, her most memorable outreach moment, and this adorable photo of her cat, Beans! 1. Tell us about when you first became interested in optics and photonics. As a part of my physics undergrad, I worked on a research project that looked at the industrial applications of ultra-fast laser ablation. That was when I was first exposed [to the field], and I decided that I wanted to learn more about optics and how it could be used. So, I decided to go to grad school and to study it! I am happy with my decision -- to me, photonics research feels like a nice balance between pure physics research and engineering. That is a nice perk considering I was never able to decide which I like...

Brownie Space Science Adventurer Cybersecurity. Space exploration. Robotics. Mechanical engineering. Environmental advocacy. These are just a few of the STEM-related areas covered by 30 new Girl Scout badges  that reflect freshly-implemented programs for girls 5-18. Girls in kindergarten through fifth grade, for example, through a collaboration with NASA’s Science Mission Directorate led by the SETI Institute, now have a window into the wonderful worlds of outer space and astronomy. Fourth and fifth grade girls can earn mechanical engineering badges through hands-on work as they design paddle boats, cranes, and balloon-powered cars, learning about jet propulsion, buoyancy, and potential and kinetic energy in the process. New programming for girls in grades 6-12 includes learning to design, program, and showcase robots, while the Raytheon-funded “Think Like a Programmer” track offers foundational lessons in computational thinking, and “Think Like an Engineer” focuses on ...

International Women's Day has been observed on 8 March for more than 100 years, and Women's History Month is celebrated variously in March (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and October (Canada) for nearly as long. (See some of that history via The Huffington Post .) Women in optics are celebrated year-round in a planner produced by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics . The 2017 version features comments from 28 women in multidisciplinary fields within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), sharing their inspirational stories, crediting influential mentors and role models, and lending valuable advice to others considering careers in STEM. (The planner is distributed at no charge; to get yours, email CustomerService at SPIE.org.) The SPIE 2017 Women in Optics Planner includes comments from women such as Irene Sterian , ReMAP, who advises, "If you are interested in STEM, have passion and dream big. Tak...

Among the #FacesofPhotonics: Student Leadership Workshop participants at SPIE Optics + Photonics Guest blogger: Emily Power is a 2016 graduate in communications from Western Washington University, and most recently social media intern for SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. She blogged on responses to the SPIE #FacesofPhotonics campaign, to share the stories of SPIE students around the globe. This is the second of four posts. One of the many perquisites of being a student in the optics and photonics field is being able to pass along knowledge to those who will follow your footsteps in the future. Throughout the #FacesofPhotonics campaign, it became clear that current SPIE students thrive on educating a younger generation while simultaneously working diligently on their own academic careers. In this post, we feature students who have educated others as well as themselves. Teboho Bell Teboho Bell is from the Republic of South Africa, and is...

Among the #FacesofPhotonics: Student Leadership Workshop participants at SPIE Optics + Photonics Guest blogger: Emily Power is a Winter Quarter graduate in communications from Western Washington University, and most recently social media intern for SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. She is blogging on responses to the SPIE #FacesofPhotonics campaign, to share the stories of SPIE students around the globe. It is a commonly known fact: students are the future. Around the world, students with ideas, opinions, and innovative minds are preparing for their opportunities to conceptualize and create the next advances for the ever-changing world in which we live. In the field of optics and photonics, students are making a difference even now, sharing their work and building their networks through conferences such as SPIE Photonics West , coming up next month in San Francisco. The SPIE campaign #FacesofPhotonics was developed as a showcase across social ...

Sci-fi meets reality in this 1975 NASA photo: The Shuttle Enterprise rolls out of its Palmdale, California, manufacturing facilities with Star Trek television cast members on hand for the ceremony. From left to right are James Fletcher (NASA), DeForest Kelley (“Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy”), George Takei (“Mr. Sulu”), James Doohan (“Chief Engineer Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott”), Nichelle Nichols (“Lt. Uhura”), Leonard Nimoy (“Mr. Spock”), Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, an unnamed NASA official, and Walter Koenig (“Ensign Pavel Chekov”). Fifty years after Gene Roddenberry launched the Star Trek series on American television, many of the then-futuristic devices and ideas on the award-winning show have become commonplace on Earth. Roddenberry’s creativity and extensive homework in consultation with scientists and engineers of his day infused the show with technology such as photodynamic therapy, laser weapons, and handheld sensors and communication devices. In the process, hi...

SPIE Women in Optics 18-month planner for 2016-2017. Interest in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) can lead to a wide variety of careers. A few examples: exploring photonic nanostructures that can improve the efficiency of solar energy generation observing micro-organisms in the Arctic ice to learn more about lifeforms of all sorts developing optical systems for noninvasive diagnosis of tumors inside the body assessing the radiation hazard to be incurred by humans travelling to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The paths to all careers include some challenges. For anyone looking at a career in STEM, the latest edition of a free annual publication offering insights on those paths has just been released. The 12th edition of the Women in Optics Planner published by SPIE contains more insights from more than 30 women discussing their interests and occupations and offering advice. Among their stories: Viera-Gonzalez Perla Marlene Viera-Gonzalez ...

The photograph "Studying" by Handi Laksono captured in a home in Wae Rebo, Flores NTT, Indonesia, on  1 September 2014, is the People's Choice Award winner in the SPIE International Year of Light Photo Contest. A photo of a 5-year-old boy studying in a dark hut, with only natural morning light streaming through a small window, has been selected for the People's Choice Award in the SPIE International Year of Light Photo Contest. The contest was sponsored by SPIE Professional , the quarterly magazine of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, as part of the International Year of Light observance. SPIE is a Founding Partner. Captured by Javanese travel and landscape photographer Handi Laksono , the winning photo was taken after Laksono hiked three hours to the remote village of Wae Rebo on Flores Island in Indonesia. Wae Rebo's only lighting source is solar, either direct sunlight or a few small solar panels, Laksono said. He n...

Mars Curiosity Rover scientist Melissa Rice inspires the next generation with talk of exploring the Red Planet: see the video on SPIE. tv [23:55]. (Above, Rice at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab with a model of the Curiosity.) If it wanted to, NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover could stretch its 7-foot arm up from its 10-foot-high body and slam-dunk a basketball. Admittedly, it isn’t likely that any of NASA’s Rovers -– cars on Mars, as some call them –- will find any basketball hoops on the Red Planet. But the space agency’s newest robotic Mars explorer, the Curiosity, has found evidence of ancient lakes, captured images that reveal the composition of rocks on the planet’s surface, and done something many of us have done: taken selfies to post on FaceBook. Curiosity’s discoveries are far from over. The robot is just now reaching the foothills of the lofty (5.5 km, or 18,000 feet) Mount Sharp, with its mission to scale the peak and report back about what it finds along the way...

The first 60 years of SPIE's history have seen amazing advances, but what will photonics enable in the next 60 years? SPIE Student Chapter leaders will be among those creating the future. Several shared their visions recently at SPIE Optics + Photonics. Sixty years ago, in 1955, the world had not yet seen the first laser -- it had not yet been invented. Fiber optics were brand new, there were no artificial satellites circling the Earth, no humans had been in space, and the first solar cell was in early stages of development as was the first video recording machine. Smartphone? How can a phone be "smart"? In that environment, a group of engineers working in optics and optoelectronics to build the first scientific cameras gathered in a restaurant in Hollywood, California, to discuss a shared challenge. They needed to use high-speed photography to solve design issues and create capabilities in industries from aerospace to communications and to advance research. ...

Guest blog from Ven: Jacqueline Andreozzi , a PhD candidate at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, blogged on her experience at the Biophotonics Graduate Summer School on the island of Ven, off the southern coast of Sweden, 6-13 June. SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics , and COST, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, are among sponsors of the school. Also supporting the school are DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark; Lund Laser Centre; NKT Photonics A/S; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, through its Nobel Institute for Physics; and Thorlabs. Reflecting back on the Biophotonics ’15 Graduate Summer School , one word, new to my vocabulary, comes to mind: “lagom.” The Swedish expression, as I was informed by fellow student Johan Borglin on the first day while touring Lund University, translates roughly to the concept of “just the right amount.” Indeed, the school provided lagom in every aspect of the week, from the scho...