Shibin Jiang, adjunct research professor of Wyant College of Optical Sciences, was named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, one of two Arizona faculty members elected for 2024. Jiang has been recognized globally as a pioneer in photonic glasses, fiber amplifiers and lasers, and he holds 52 U.S. patents. His academic contributions include editing 40 books and eight special journal issues and publishing 98 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Nobel Laureate Donna Strickland gave an engaging colloquium to a crowd of about 200 attendees at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences on Dec. 5. Titled "High Intensity Fiber Lasers for Nonlinear Optics," her talk discussed the development of fiber laser amplifiers for nonlinear optical interactions, emphasizing their potential for high average power applications, such as mid-infrared generation and electron acceleration. Ahead of the colloquium, Strickland met with students from the college, sharing insights into her research and career journey while answering their questions. This was a wonderful opportunity for students to connect an inspirational researcher in optics and photonics ahead of the colloquium.

Don't miss the opportunity to check out one or both of these upcoming Spring 2025 OPTI courses. Daniel Soh will teach OPTI 647B Photonic Quantum Information Processing and Ewan Wright will teach OPTI 596-006 Elements of Nonlinear Optics! The latter course has not been offered in over ten years, so don't miss the chance to take it this coming Spring!

The NSF Center for Quantum Networks (CQN) is excited to kick off the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology with the 3rd Annual Winter School on Quantum Networks. Registration is now open! The goal of the Winter School is to provide introductory tutorials at all levels in topics that are new to the participants, who include CQN students, postdocs, faculty, CQN industry partners, other outside qualified persons (including students at non-CQN schools), and industry and government scientists.