Dear Industrial Affiliate Member,

It was wonderful to see so many of you at our inaugural Fall Industrial Affiliates Workshop earlier this month.  For those who participated, if you have not sent in your evaluation form, please do so.  We value your comments and suggestions and will use them to tailor future workshops to your needs.  Once again, we would like to say how much we appreciate the time you took to be here and the interest you express in our students and our programs.  You are vital to the success of our college and we appreciate your support and involvement.

CONTACT US

• Affiliates, it's always a pleasure to hear from you.  Please feel free to contact Ms. Allison Huff, College of Optical Sciences Industrial Affiliates Coordinator at any time.   She can be reached by telephone at 520-626-6737 or by email at allison@optics.arizona.edu 

INDUSTRIAL AFFILIATES

• Our First Fall Workshop for Our Industrial Affiliates:  With the goal of complementing our traditional spring workshop, the first-ever fall workshop was planned to facilitate learning opportunities, discussions, and informal interaction between OSC students and Industrial Affiliate companies.  The agenda debuted some new events and retained many events that were familiar to Affiliates through our spring workshops.  Affiliates, thank you for attending -- we hope to see you all again at our next workshop in the spring.  At right:  Industrial Affiliate representatives make time for a group photo.  Please click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
   

• Save the date for our Spring Workshop:  February 23, 24, and 25, 2009.  The workshop will kick off with a company tabletop showcase on February 23 and will be followed by the workshop on February 24 and 25.  Affiliates, we hope to see you all then.
   

• Breault Research Organization Donates ASAP Tutorials:  Thank you BRO for making it possible for our students and faculty members to attend a special ASAP tutorial during our winter holiday break -- the only time that most of our people are free.  Bob Breault, founder of Breault Research Organization, is an OSC alumnus and (among his many other activities) has generously offered his classes at no charge to OSC students, faculty members, and staff each year during the holiday season.  BRO's product line includes ASAP and other innovative optical design and analysis software.  The company also provides engineering consulting services for any optics problem and offers a variety of software classes including introductory ASAP tutorials, application-specific tutorials, and custom training.  You can find out more about BRO at http://www.breault.com/index.php  Thanks BRO -- you are the GREATEST!

FACULTY/PERSONNEL

• New Discoveries in OSC's BEC Lab:  Take a look at Spontaneous Vortices in the Formation of Bose-Einstein Condensates by Chad N. Weiler, Tyler W. Neely, David R. Scherer, Ashton S. Bradley, Matthew J. Davis and Brian P. Anderson -- published just a few weeks ago in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.  The Nature editor summarized the article:  "One prominent element of many continuous phase transitions is the spontaneous formation of topological defects as the system passes through the critical point. The microscopic dynamics of defect formation in such transitions are generally difficult to investigate. The authors present an experimental and theoretical study of the Bose-Einstein condensation phase transition of a trapped atomic gas. They observe and statistically characterize the vortices (or defects) formed spontaneously during condensation. The results provide further understanding of the development of coherence in superfluids, and may allow for direct investigation of universal phase transition dynamics."  For more information, please visit Brian Anderson's Web site at http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Anderson/default.htm 
   

• A New OSC Short Course by John Greivenkamp:  Geometrical Optics, the newest addition to our list of full-semester distance learning classes on DVD, has just finished taping and is available for purchase via our Web site at  http://www.optics.arizona.edu/ShortCourses/ShortcoursesSC708-08.htm   The course, intended for engineers, scientists, managers, and technicians, provides the background and principles necessary to understand how optical imaging systems function and includes topics such as imaging with thin lenses and systems of thin lenses, stops and pupils, afocal systems, illumination systems, mirrors and prisms, and radiative transfer.  It also provides simple methods of arriving at, and understanding, the first-order layout of an optical system by a process which determines the required components and their locations, producing an image of the right size and in the right location. John places special emphasis on the practical aspects of the design of optical systems.  The course is divided into eight sessions and runs for a whopping 9 hours and 43 minutes.  For more information about our short courses, please visit http://www.optics.arizona.edu/ShortCourses/Default.htm  And be sure to check back occasionally as we continue to add to our course list.  (Rumor has it that another course will start taping in a few weeks.)
   

• CGH/DOE Workshop:  Tom Milster's acclaimed Computer Generated Holography and Diffractive Optical Element Workshop -- an annual event now -- is scheduled for March 17, 18, and 19, 2009.  The workshop, co-sponsored by SPIE, provides participants with a hands-on learning opportunity for design and fabrication of CGHs/DOEs using the Maskless Lithography Tool.  Through a series of lectures, computer training, and laboratory experiments, participants will be exposed to processes needed to design and build physical devices.  For all the details, please visit http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Milster/CGH/Workshop2009/home.htm

STUDENTS/ALUMNI

• Rolyn Optics Company Rewards Three OSC Students:  Three OSC students were selected to receive Rolyn Optics Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Awards for their work during the spring 2008 semester:  Riley Aumiller, Anoop George, and Tyler Neely.  The awards, sponsored by John Ross of Rolyn Optics Company of Covina, California, reward OSC students who have done outstanding work as teaching assistants.  Rolyn Optics Company is a supplier of precision optics since 1925 and a pioneer in modern fabrication and distribution of quality off-the-shelf industrial and precision optics.  For more information about Rolyn Optics, please visit their web site at www.rolyn.com   Rolyn gives six awards per year; three in the spring and three in the fall.  Since 1997, John Ross has become unofficial "grandfather" to 66 of our best Teaching Assistants.
   

• OSC's All Star:  OSC PhD candidate Ying Li has been selected as a National Women of Color All Star. She will be recognized at the National Women of Color STEM Conference later on this month in Dallas Texas.  The National Women of Color STEM Conference is the only multi-cultural celebration and recognition event held to honor the significant achievements of women in technology.
   

• Snapshot Imaging Spectropolarimetry by Nathan Hagen is an Award Finalist:  Nathan Hagen, OSC PhD 2007, currently a post-doc at Duke University, is a finalist for the 2008-2009 Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) Innovation in Technology Award.  The award is given for a thesis or doctoral dissertation that addresses the development of an innovative technology and its utilization for the creative solution to a major problem.  Nathan's dissertation, Snapshot Imaging Spectropolarimetry, was done under the guidance of Eustace Dereniak, who nominated him for the award.  Nathan's dissertation describes "the development of a creative and highly innovative technology that has widespread applications, including use in the detection of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) often used in unconventional warfare as well as biomedical applications....[His] research has highly significant application, not only for IED detection, but also in its applications in the astronomy sector (Maui, Hawaii, tracking of satellites), medical applications in fluorescence spectroscopy, in microscopy, and in agriculture spectral analysis."
   

• Stefano Young Receives First Place Award  in GPSC's Student Showcase:  GPSC, UA's Graduate and Professional Student Council, has awarded Stefano Young a first place award in the Graduate Student Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science Division for his Image Quality in Digital Breast Tomosynthesis.  Student Showcase is the academic portion of UA's Homecoming weekend.  The showcase attracts the best student academic work at UA and is intensely competitive.  Physical exhibits submitted by students include a 4' x 8' display board and many students incorporate technology or three-dimensional materials supporting their research. Students receive prize money by demonstrating the ability to discuss the cultural implications of their work in combination with exceptional talent and research skills.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 2008 October Support Campaign:  We invite you to join us in our 5th Annual October Support Campaign.  We are grateful to each of you for your past contributions and we value your continued support.  The campaign brochure is available online at http://www.optics.arizona.edu/GivingBack/2008OctoberSupportCampaign.htm
   

• Mt. Graham: the Large Binocular Telescope Trip:  Thanks to Katia Shtyrkova and Julian Sweet for the photo and special thanks to Jim Burge for the opportunity to visit the telescope and for making a "truly awesome" breakfast.  Depending on who did the counting, somewhere between 100 and 115 people made the trip with about 75 electing to stay overnight at Shannon Campground.  At right:  The Mt. Graham group.  Please click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
   

• Special Short Course Program  Back by popular demand, our faculty members will teach another round of optical design and testing short courses in Tokyo this November.  Course contents are taken from our undergraduate and graduate courses in optics.  Two courses will be taught in Japanese and the remainder in English.  All classes will have Japanese speaking teaching assistants to enable questions and discussions in Japanese.  Details are available online at http://www.optics.arizona.edu/tokyoshortcourses/default-eng.htm 

Much of the information included in this e-mail can also be found in our weekly e-newsletter, Watt’s Up. If you would like to subscribe, you may add (and later remove if you wish) your name to our Watt's Up listserv by visiting http://www.optics.arizona.edu/helpdesk/listserv.htm

Cathy Alexander

Information Specialist Coordinator

College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona

cathy.alexander@optics.arizona.edu