SPIE will be honoring alumna, Mary G. Turner, PhD (OSC 1993), with the 2024 SPIE María J. Yzuel Educator Award at their annual meeting in August, 2024. She is receiving the distinction for her lifetime dedication to teaching optical design. Mary’s remarkable career includes her current role as a Technical Fellow in Optical Design at Edmund Optics and adjunct professor at the College. Read the SPIE Press Release on the 2024 SPIE María J. Yzuel Educator Award. Congratulations Dr. Mary Turner, for being an inspiration to aspiring optical engineers and educators.

Jennifer Kehlet Barton, director of the BIO5 Institute, Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, has officially commenced her role as the 2024 President of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. This pivotal appointment solidifies Barton's standing as a trailblazer in her field and marks a significant milestone for the university.

Aydogan Ozcan
Chancellor’s Professor and the Volgenau Chair for Engineering Innovation
University of California Los Angeles

In this presentation, I will provide an overview of our recent work on using deep neural networks in advancing computational microscopy and sensing systems, also covering their biomedical applications, including virtual staining of label-free tissue for pathology. I will also discuss diffractive optical networks designed by deep learning to all-optically implement various complex functions as the input light diffracts through spatially-engineered surfaces.

The University of Arizona Alumni Association announced Dr. Kent Rochford as the 2024 Alumnus of the Year for the Wyant College of Optical Sciences. The Alumni of the Year ceremony took place February 22, 2024.

The Wyant College Industrial Affiliates Showcase and Meeting took place Feb. 19 - 21 in Tucson, AZ. The event kicked off with a busy poster session and corporate showcase in the Bear Down Gym. The second day was filled with student and faculty presentations that outlined current Wyant College research. On the final day student interviews took place as well as lab tours and a pizza party punctuated with a few exciting outreach demonstrations courtesy of students from this semester's Outreach Class.

Zeinab Hajjarian
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
University of Massachusetts

Our results demonstrate the links between micromechanical heterogeneities and clinical prognostic markers, including histopathological subtype, tumor grade, receptor expression, and lymph node status in breast carcinoma. These results outline the tremendous potential of SHEAR for both technical maturation and prospective applications in cancer biomechanics and mechanobiology research.