Summary: Members of our chapter volunteered to assist at the combined Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC)
and Stanford Student SPIE/OSA booth at the conference exhibit. We were there to provide a student perspective to and spread the word about
photonics research at Stanford!
Special thanks to the volunteers:
Alexei Goun
Lana Lau
Tom O'Sullivan
Hyejun Ra
Lieven Verslegers
Quan Wang
Seeing in the Dark:
Special Film Screening & Telescope Viewing at the Chabot Space & Science Center
Thursday, March 6, 2008 San Jose, CA
Event type: Networking Off-campus
Summary:
Timothy Ferris, renowned science writer of books such as
Coming of Age in the Milky Way and The Whole Shebang
provided a screening and discussion of Seeing in the Dark,
a film based on his book about amateur astronomers.
After the screening, students were able to view Saturn and other celestial objects through the three telescopes at the
Chabot Space and Science Center.
Photonics @ Berkeley 2008
Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 Berkeley, CA
Event type: Networking Collaboration Off-campus
Summary:
On Friday, February 22nd, 2008 a full busload of Stanford Cardinal traveled to UC Berkeley for an afternoon of tours, networking, and fun! This marked our second annual Photonics@Berkeley trip, organized in collaboration with the PhotoBears, the Berkeley student chapter of OSA and SPIE.
We arrived in the early afternoon at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Molecular Foundry. Together with Berkeley students, faculty, and staff, we heard from Jeffrey Bokor, Professor of EECS at UC Berkeley and Director of Science at the Molecular Foundry about the mission of the facility, and most interestingly, how we could gain access to it for our own research. The talk was followed with a special guided-tour of the entire Molecular Foundry. The Molecular Foundry is divided by floor into six major subject areas including: nanofabrication, imaging and characterization, inorganic materials, organic materials, biology, and theory. We learned about the current research and capabilities of each division, and furthermore how users can take advantage of the cross-disciplinary expertise of foundry scientists to enhance the study of nanoscale materials.
After the tours, we headed to the UC Berkeley campus for a wine and cheese mixer with members of the Berkeley optics community. Attendees were given the chance to network and interact in an informal setting with fantastic food and refreshments. New friends were made, business cards were swapped, research discussed, and officers and committee members of the OSA and SPIE student chapters discussed current and future programming. The evening concluded with a raffle of door prizes including a Stanford Student OSA & SPIE branded optical mouse and multi-function tool!
Summary: Members of our chapter volunteered to assist at the combined Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC)
and Stanford Student SPIE/OSA booth at the conference exhibit. We were there to provide a student perspective to and spread the word about
photonics research at Stanford!
Special thanks to the volunteers:
Xing Chao
Chris Fesenmaier
Alan Lau
Tom Lee
Xiao Hann Lim
Dany Ly-Gagnon
Tom O'Sullivan
Jason Pelc
Eden Rephaeli
Quan Wang
Photonics Pioneers: Small Group Lunch with Dr. John Bjorkholm
Nov. 15, 2007 Stanford, CA
Summary: Stanford OSA/SPIE and the Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC) partnered to kick off the first in the Photonics Pioneers lunch series. The purpose of this program was to give Stanford students working within the photonics area the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the pioneers in quantum electronics, particularly those scientists who have been successful pursuing nonacademic careers. These lunches (food was provided) are an informal venue for discussing science and technology, the innovative process of converting science and technology to commercial enterprise, career options, and personal history. Space for this event was limited and student OSA/SPIE dues-paying members were given first priority. To become a student member, go to our home page for links to OSA and SPIE.
About the speaker: John Bjorkholm was a Principal Scientist at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, CA from 1996 through 2002; his work there was concerned with the development of EUV lithography. Previously, he worked at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ for 28 years. During his Bell Labs tenure he carried out research in a number of areas, including lasers, nonlinear optics, and nonlinear spectroscopy; he was a co-author with Art Ashkin and Steve Chu on the first demonstrations of optical molasses and of the optical trapping of atoms. John is a Fellow of the OSA and the APS. He served as an OSA Director-at-Large (1988-90) and as the OSA Treasurer (1992-96). He also served as a Trustee of Princeton University (1991-95).
"Bridging Local and Student OSA: Initiating Joint Optics Events in the San Francisco Bay Area"
Nov. 20, 2007 Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Palo Alto, CA
Event type: Speaker Networking
Summary: Stanford OSA/SPIE President Meredith Lee gave a presentation at the Optical Society of Northern California (OSNC) Meeting held at the Palo Alto Research Center
(PARC). The presentation is available here. Photos will be posted in our Picasa Web Album.
If you are interested in getting involved with joint activities between local and student OSA/SPIE, please email us!
"Light Field Photography and Microscopy" seminar
Nov. 15, 2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Speaker
Summary: Professor Marc Levoy from Stanford University's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science gave a seminar.
Photos are available in our Picasa web album. Check back here soon for video clips!
Summary: A group of ~20 students and post-docs from Stanford, Berkeley, and Davis convened at the San Francisco Exploratorium for lunch and time to explore the science exhibits.
We videotaped clips of our student members demonstrating the
optics exhibits, including local K-12 students as demonstration helpers. Stanford and
Berkeley have created YouTube broadcasting channels to share our educational video
clips with a broader audience. This stimulated a new initiative to video record our
outreach efforts so teachers can learn about different hands-on ways to enhance their
optics curriculum.
Visit The Exploratorium!:plan a trip, view online content, and purchase science education supplies
Download a printable version of the event flyer here.
Student OSA/SPIE Welcome BBQ for all optics/photonics community
Oct. 4, 2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Networking
Summary: Every fall we kick off the academic year by sponsoring a welcome barbecue for the optics community. This year, in addition to students, we invited faculty and staff working in optics-related disciplines. The purpose of the barbecue every year is to encourage those studying/working in optics, photonics and related disciplines to learn about OSA, socialize with peers, improve collaboration, and recruit students for the student OSA and SPIE chapters.
Educators' Day (EDAY) 2007
Sept. 20, 2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Outreach Collaboration
Summary: Science Educators' Day (EDAY) 2007 is a annual event held in conjunction with the Frontiers in Optics Conference/ Annual OSA Meeting. This year, Stanford Student OSA/SPIE, Berkeley Student OSA/SPIE, OSA and the OSA Foundation coordinated the event for local pre-college (middle and high school) teachers.
For the first time, 8 universities (Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State, and University of Rochester) had hands-on optics demonstrations as part of EDAY!
Attendees of EDAY were given teacher handbooks filled with lesson plans, instructions for how to recreate many of the demonstrations on a budget, and more.
EDAY 2007 was recently featured in Optics and Photonics News: Download it here!
Our original flyer:
SCIENCE EDUCATORS' DAY Save the Date! Thursday, September 20, 2007 5:30-9:00
pm Regency Ballroom, Fairmont Hotel 170 South Market Street, San Jose, California
Attend this FREE event for middle and high school science teachers sponsored by the
Optical Society of America (OSA), the Northern California Local Section of OSA, and the OSA Student Chapters at Stanford and Berkeley
Come see hands-on experiments and demonstrations on optical phenomena:
Fluorescence: Viewing Glowing Colors and Invisible Ink
Splitting White Light: Prisms, Soap bubbles, and Rainbows
Creating Colors from Polarization
Waveguides: Water and Jell-O Light Pipes, Fiber Optics
And Much More!
Receive a participant packet of educational resources and lesson plans for replicating demonstrations in the classroom
Meet Stanford and Berkeley graduate students, staff, and local educators interested in science outreach
Click here for a printable reservation form and return to Allison Cargile at 2010 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036 or email all information to
acargi@osa.org. Email questions to Chad Stark at
cstark@osa.org.
For more information on additional education outreach activities of OSA Local Sections and Student Chapters, please contact the following representatives: Paul Griffiths (Northern California Section) at
paul113@ix.netcom.com, Forrest Sedgwick (Berkeley Student Chapter) at
sedgwick@eecs.berkeley.edu or Meredith Lee (Stanford Student Chapter) at StanfordOSA@gmail.com
OSA Annual Chapter Leadership Meeting 2007
Sept. 16,2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Collaboration
Summary: Approximately 80 student leaders from around the world visited Stanford campus for a day of workshops, seminars, and networking.
SPRC Annual Symposium 2007
Sept. 15-16,2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Collaboration
Summary: Saturday's program included research presentations by Stanford faculty and students. Sunday's events featured "Encouraging Visionary Innovation: Business and Technology Development Perspectives," a set of presentations from the government, private sector, and Stanford University, closed by a panel discussion.
The 2-day event was held in conjunction with the FiO meeting that was held in San Jose, CA immediately after the Symposium.
Photos: Picasa Web Album Feedback: Did you attend the event?Email us your suggestions and feedback! Additional resources: Visit our Outreach Page for PDF handouts of our Community Day posters, and scroll to the EDAY section for new materials on how to recreate some of the demos shown at Community Day!
Photonics @ Stanford 2007
April 6, 2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Speaker
Summary: Over 75 students, faculty, and staff from Stanford and Berkeley participated in the first annual Photonics @ Stanford Day. The afternoon event featured an in-depth tour of SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), a special seminar from the PULSE (Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering) Director Philip Bucksbaum, and a joint poster session and mixer on campus. The group's first stop was at SLAC for a tour of the 6-story Detector Hall (the largest pit in the Bay Area), the Klystron Gallery above the Linear Accelerator, and the site of the upcoming Linac Coherent Light Source (world's first x-ray free electron laser, scheduled for operation in 2009).
After the tour, Professor Bucksbaum discussed ultrafast x-ray science and a number of planned experiments for the future Linac Coherent Light Source. Dr. Thomas Baer, Executive Director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC), joined the large group of OSA officers, photonics students, and physics undergraduates in the exciting visit, where the group donned SLAC construction helmets and had a chance to view what is deemed the world's straightest object.
Following the SLAC tour and seminar, students had the opportunity to interact more closely at a lively joint poster session featuring over 30 research projects, ranging from optical MEMS and nanofabrication to holographic data storage systems, plasmonics, and devices for functional brain imaging. Food was generously funded by OSA Headquarters. Attendees at the poster session/mixer voted for awards including Best Simulation Results and Most Clear Verbal Explanation selecting five prize winners among their peers to receive OSA headphones and MP3 players or SPRC-donated green laser pointers.
Seminar/Workshop: Using Optics in Novel Ways for K-12 Education Outreach
March 20, 2007 Stanford, CA
Event type: Speaker Outreach
Summary: Donn Silberman, Founding Director of the OISC (Optics Institute of Southern California) came to speak about ways to use his "Optricks Suitcase" in K-12 education outreach. We set up displays of outreach optics 'toys' around the room and let students browse these before and after the slideshow. At this seminar we also took sign-ups for our Community Day outreach event that was held a month later.
Specialized Technical Seminars
Jan. 26, March 23, May 17, Nov 15, Nov 29 Stanford, CA
Event type: Speaker
Summary: We regularly host invited speaker events for the technical community on subjects ranging from high-resolution microscopy and ultrafast lasers to MEMS and solar energy. This year we held many seminars, with several of these seminars featuring a novel component (such as an informal small group lunch/dinner, was a seminar as part of a larger event). The 'special seminars' are listed separately below. Below are our standard technical seminars for Spring 2007 and Fall 2007:
Developments in Silicon Solar Cells Dr. Richard Swanson, Co-Founder, President, and CTO of SunPower Corporation
Light Field Photography and Microscopy Prof. Marc Levoy, Stanford University Computer Science Department
Real-time Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Microscopy: Inverse Scattering for Optical Coherence Tomography Dr. Tyler S. Ralston, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
High bit-rate transmission system based on multilevel coding combining coherent detection and digital signal processing Dr. Sang-Yeup Kim, University of Tokyo
Passive mode-locking using single-wall carbon nanotubes Dr. Fong Kok Hann, University of Tokyo
Structural Invention & Optimized Design of Lightwave Circuits and Devices:
Tapered Lightguides and Photonic Crystals Dr. Richard Black, Photon Design
