College News

NSF recently announced 54 teams chosen for the VITAL Prize Challenge Semi-Final Round, an initiative to support "teams developing novel learning technologies with entrepreneurial training, customer discovery support, seed funding and mentorship to build K-12 learning innovations for adoption nationwide." One team selected includes 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.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to take the new OPTI 596: Computational Imaging and Machine Vision Seminar with Prof. Florian Willomitzer. Are you motivated to understand the basic principles of computational imaging and machine vision? Are you interested in learning more about the practical applications in topics such as industrial inspection, VR/AR/MR, robotics, medical imaging, remote sensing, automotive sensing, metrology, forensics, or cultural heritage preservation? Then this would be a great course for you!
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An article submitted by Associate Professor Mohammed Hassan was recently published by "The Conversation," an independent publisher of articles authored by academics for the general public. Titled, "The digital future may rely on ultrafast optical electronics and computers," the article focuses on his research into ultrafast optical switching. The article has been republished by The San Francisco Times and BusinessMirror.

The Polarization Lab is seeking volunteers* for a project about eye polarimetry in near-infrared. Participants will have their eyes measured using a Mueller polarimeter, providing insights into the polarization properties of the iris. Plus, you'll receive the processed polarimetric data after the measurement, in other words—rainbow eye pictures!

Congratulations to John Hygelund on winning the International Optical Design Conference (IODC) Illumination Contest with Optica. The challenge's advertisement begins with an abstract that could be something out of Harry Potter, requiring the hero to submit a solution for how to reattach the unicorn's horn that has been stolen by an evil sorcerer. John was deemed the hero by his entry and named both winner of the apprentice and wizard prizes.

Wyant College is pleased to welcome two new administrative staff. Samantha Staltari and Julissa Alvarez recently started at the Wyant College as new administrative associates. Welcome!

Kevin Chew Figueroa was selected as a 2023 NASA Space Grant recipient for his proposal, "Seeing beyond the Diffraction Limit." Kevin will contribute to a grant funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) awarded to UArizona intended to detect, track, characterize, and catalog currently untracked small space debris that continues to pose a threat to manned space flights and civil and military space operations.

Week one of the exciting Summer Engineering Academy began by featuring optical sciences and electrical & computer engineering. Wyant College was thrilled to host the SEA students June 21-22. Together, the students learned about the concepts of internal reflection as well as electrical engineering and soldering. With these skills, each student built from scratch their own infinity mirror and programmed an Arduino board to allow the LED lights inside to change color.

Twenty-four indigenous students visited Wyant College this week, June 13th, to learn more about the amazing world of optics. Wyant College faculty, staff, and students provided one-on-one opportunities to engage with optical sciences in hands-on experiments and demonstrations, beginning with a pinhole camera picture! A special thank you to Hillary Mathis, Dr. Mike Nofziger, Khawlah Al Yahyaei, Clarissa DeLeon, Alisha Whitehead and Adley Gin for providing this amazing opportunity to the NASEP students.

In 2022, Wyant College had thirty UArizona patents issued, according to Tech Launch Arizona (TLA),—that's a third of UArizona's total ninety-two patents for the financial year. In April, TLA hosted a celebration recognizing World Intellectual Property Day at their offices at The Refinery at The Bridges. Inventors from across campus and myriad academic fields were invited to attend and received commemorative coins, each emblazoned with their name, and the name and number of the patent.