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.

Roarke Horstmeyer
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University

We have developed a new type of computational microscope that uses a compact array of "micro-cameras" to jointly record high-resolution video across large areas. We refer to these novel systems as “multi-camera array microscopes” (MCAMs), which contain up to 96 individual synchronized image sensors and associated lenses to produce gigapixel-scale snapshot measurements.

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.