In celebration of Black History Month (Feb. 1 - Mar. 1), we highlight a few of the great Black Optical Scientists and Engineers who have helped shape history. Each of these inspiring innovators were shared over the course of the month on the college's social media pages.

Wyant College's 2025-2026 academic year departmental scholarships are now available for application.  The application deadline for all departmental scholarships is March 30, 2025, at 11:59pm.  If you will be an active student in a OSC undergraduate or graduate program next academic year (25-26), you are encouraged to apply! Questions? Email: grad-funding@optics.arizona.edu

New administrative associate, Jackie Johnson, joins the Wyant College of Optical Sciences from the medical field, where she previously worked as a medical scribe. Excited to start this new chapter, Jackie is looking forward to supporting faculty and becoming part of the college’s team.

The future of the super camera is here—and it’s only getting sharper. At The Camera Lab, led by David Brady, J.W. and H.M. Goodman Endowed Chair in Optical Sciences and professor of optical sciences, researchers are developing super cameras that push beyond conventional imaging limits. This revolution is moving toward terapixel per second capture rates. In 2012, Brady led the team that developed the world’s first gigapixel camera as principal investigator on the DARPA AWARE program. Today, he's taking the work to the next level, building a display that can keep up.

Inventing is core to the university's commitment to pursuing solutions to grand challenges. The National Academy of Inventors has named Professor Jennifer Barton, Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the BIO5 Institute; and Associate Professor Euan McLeod as Senior Members of its newest cohort of 162 honorees from across the nation.

Inventor Mohamed ElKabbash has developed an advanced radiative cooling system for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chips with minimal change to the chip design. The technology is available for license.