Student Spotlight

In this issue of Another Wavelength, we chat with first-generation PhD student, Paola Luna. She is currently in the 2nd year of her PhD program and is performing research with Cristian Panda, new assistant professor of optical sciences. Paola's story is one of persistence and resiliency. We'd like to celebrate National First Generation Student Day, November 8th, and commend her and all first-generation students for the accomplishments they have made, and the inspiration they offer.

Clarissa DeLeon, optical sciences PhD student advised by Associate Professor Meredith Kupinski, won a SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science) best presentation award in the session Mechanical and Other Engineering, for her oral presentation titled "Mapping Sky Polarization Under Different Atmospheric Conditions," at the 2024 National Diversity in STEM (NiDSTEM) Conference, held in Phoenix from October 31 to November 2.

Last Thursday, on October 17th, Optics for All (OFA) hosted a lunchtime gathering with women faculty, where they had a discussion on how to achieve work-life balance. In particular, how to stay motivated during setbacks and the impact of mentorship in their careers. They also had Christine Bradley join the conversation, alumna and Optical Lead for the EMIT imaging spectrometer instrumentation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who offered valuable insight from the industry perspective. OFA wants to thank everyone that attended and we hope to see you at our next event!

The newly re-named Optics for All (OFA) club, previously Women in Optics (WiO), held its first meeting of the school year on Thursday, Sept. 19. Club leadership shared that the new name, "is necessary to reflect our mission statement of supporting diversity and inclusivity in our college."

The American Chemical Society has selected the cover art for the journal Nano Letters from an image taken in Assoc. Prof. Dalziel Wilson's Quantum Optomechanics laboratory. The image was taken by Andrew Land, undergraduate in the College of Science, Physics Department The article, titled "Sub-ppm Nanomechanical Absorption Spectroscopy of Silicon Nitride" was first-authored by Mr. Land and co-authored by Wyant College of Optical Sciences graduate students Mitul Dey Chowdhury and Aman Agrawal, as well as Prof. Wilson.

A special congratulations to the authors of the paper "Ultra-high-Q free-space coupling to microtoroid resonators" as April's top downloaded paper among all papers published by Light: Science & Applications, a Nature sub-journal with impact factor 19.5, in March 2024. First author of the paper is Sartanee Suebka, PhD Student under the advisement of Judy Su, Associate Professor of Optical Sciences, who is the senior author on the paper. Euan McLeod, Associate Professor of Optical Sciences, is also a co-author on the paper.

Two students advised by Prof. Ron Driggers were selected for Awards at the SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing 2024 Conference in April 2024. Jordan Rubis, PhD Student, was selected for the SPIE Infrared Imaging Systems 2024 Young Researcher Innovation Award. Luke Somerville, PhD Student, was selected for the SPIE 2024 Infrared Imaging Systems Best Presentation. 

Three Wyant College of Optical Sciences PhD students, all advised by Travis Sawyer, Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences, have had their research featured on prominent journals' covers. Justina Bonaventura's article was published in the May 2024 issue of SPIE's peer-reviewed Journal of Biomedical Optics. Noelle Daigle's and Shuyuan Guan's work was featured in the May/June 2024 issue of BioPhotonics, a news journal published by Photonics Spectra. 

Congratulations to Chuan Luo, PhD student, for receiving a $4,000 scholarship from SPIE for 2024. This recognition, part of SPIE’s $303,000 distribution to 72 exceptional student members this year, highlights Chuan's outstanding potential in optics and photonics. Chuan is advised by Yuzuru Takashima, Professor of Optical Sciences. 

Students and Alumni from the Wyant College of Optical Sciences participated as volunteers in the recent International Day of Light Celebration on May 19 at the Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium.