Longtime Arizona academic leader and business owner, James C. Wyant, founding dean and namesake of the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, passed away Friday, Dec. 8, in Tucson, after a valiant battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He was 80 years old.

On December 7th outside of the Meinel building, the final staff recognition awards were presented after a fantastic meal during the Wyant College Staff Recognition and Holiday Luncheon. Awards presented included the 4th Quarter Peer-to-Peer, Amee Hennig, and the Honorable Mention, Rachel Lyman; and Employee of the Year, Chris McCormack-Obregon. Photos of the celebration are now available on our website as well.

SOCk had a fantastic time playing Bubble SOCk-er to celebrate the end of the semester, as can be seen by the exciting photos! Check out SOCk's Instagram for more updates! Best of luck to all our students during finals, and have a great break. See you in January!

The National Science Foundation has announced that 18 teams will be moving forward into the final round of the $6 million Visionary Interdisciplinary Teams Advancing Learning (VITAL) Prize Challenge. Among those selected for the finals is the team composed of Ameé Hennig, Wyant College Media Content Manager, Prof. Allison Huff, Assistant Prof. at UArizona College of Medicine, and Vincent Hood, Illustrator and member of the Yavapai-Apache Nation. As well as newly added team members Trivikram Gummaraj Shivakumar Sridevi, MS student in Data Science at the iSchool and Whitney Aragaki, VITAL Challenge Education Mentor.

Recently, Prof. Meredith Kupinski and optical sciences PhD students Micah Mann and Leo Bia attended the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) conference in Spokane, WA to represent the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the college's booth. Read more about their time at the conference.

As we enter the holiday season, SOCk is gearing up for a number of exciting optics outreach events and is seeking your support volunteering! Volunteering is an opportunity to gain valuable experience explaining optics to others enhancing your own professional and communication skills. If you are interested in volunteering for upcoming events or want to get more involved in outreach events please reach out to SOCk Outreach chairs.