Photonics for a Better World

In preparation of the second annual International Day of Light this 16 May, we asked members of the SPIE community to explain why they feel light is so important. Today, 8 March is also International Women's Day. So to kick off this year's 'Why Light?' series and to celebrate IWD2019, we spoke with SPIE Fellow Dr. Kyle Myers , director of the Division of Imaging, Diagnostics, and Software Reliability in the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the US Food and Drug Administration. She is an active Member of SPIE, advocating for women in optics within her various roles with the organization and in the greater optics and photonics community.  She answers for us what light means to her and to the greater global community. Dr. Kyle Myers Dr. Myers answered these three questions in our 'Why Light?' series: What about light inspires you? How can light help overcome a current global challenge...

JESS WADE: Advocate, organizer, physicist SPIE's #FacesofPhotonics is sharing the story of Dr. Jess Wade, research associate at Imperial College London, SPIE Early Career Professional , collector of graphic T-shirts with a positive message , and longtime advocate of underrepresented communities in the STEM field. When she's not studying plastic electronics or helping to promote and organize amazing outreach events such as Pride of Physics , she writes and edits  Wikipedia pages of female scientists , showcasing their contributions to the field. This project, and others like it, are part of her overarching mission to attract more young girls to the sciences. Her most recent project involved raising over £20,000 to buy a copy of Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Science that's Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini   for every secondary state school in the United Kingdom (and included a fun "Thank you" message from a certain Daniel Radcliff...