Each spring, the Wyant College of Optical Sciences recognizes incredible students, as nominated by professors and peers and selected by a faculty and staff committee. Congratulations to Christian Pluchar (Outstanding OSC Graduate Student), Lindsey Wiley (Outstanding OSC Graduate Student Mentor), Quinn Jarecki (Outstanding OSC Teaching Assistant), Sebastian Magri (Outstanding Senior Award), Amie Rott (Wildcat Award), and Kody Gray (College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student TA for OSC) as the 2023-2024 Outstanding Students of the Year. All six were publicly recognized during the End of Year Student Celebration on May 2nd, 2024, and awarded certificates by R. John Koshel, professor and associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs. College of Engineering Awardees are also recognized here. Congratulations to all the awardees!

On Monday, April 29th, Wyant College of Optical Sciences and College of Engineering undergraduate teams showcased their interdisciplinary final projects at the Craig M. Berge Engineering Design Day. Students, faculty, staff and judges met the teams and learned about the industry-sponsored senior capstones in the most highly anticipated event of the year for engineering and innovation. Congratulations to everyone who participated for their hard work and perseverance, and a special congratulations to those who received a prize.

NASA has awarded 24 postdoctoral fellowships for 2024 in astrophysics, including one to an upcoming PhD graduate of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, Jaren Ashcraft. As one of eight selected Sagan Fellows, Jaren's proposal title was, "Optimizing the Vector Field for Next-Generation Astrophysics."

Congratulations to all the students taking on exciting roles as SOCk and WiO officers. We cannot wait to see what the upcoming school year holds.

Laser Fun Day 2024 attracted over 400 visitors and was made possible by over 100 volunteers. On the day of the event, the building was filled with hands-on activities and demonstrations that showcased the amazing world of optics. The third floor was especially busy with many visitors coming in from the solar telescope and fresnel lens, set up out front of the building. Once inside, they found many more stations set up on the third floor and extending throughout the rest of the building, including a cow-eye dissection and pickle light bulb in Meinel 307. A special thanks to SPIE and Optica for supporting this event.