College News

The final staff recognition awards were presented during the Wyant College Staff Appreciation and Holiday Luncheon. Awards presented included the 4th Quarter Peer-to-Peer, Jason Orlowski; November SPOT Award, Hillary Mathis; and the Honorable Mention, Ian Arnold; and Employee of the Year, Nathan Martinez.

On December 12th outside of the Meinel building, the final staff recognition awards were presented after a fantastic meal during the Wyant College Staff Appreciation and Holiday Luncheon. Awards presented included the 4th Quarter Peer-to-Peer, Jason Orlowski; November SPOT Award, Hillary Mathis; and the Honorable Mention, Ian Arnold; and Employee of the Year, Nathan Martinez. The celebration ended with a lively series of karaoke!

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.  

Optics for All (OFA) invited Caleb W. Baker, alumnus and optical engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for a talk and discussion on mental health in STEM. Caleb provided prevalence studies, as well as specific effects and constructs surrounding the psychological challenges specific to STEM graduate school and working at a place like NASA. The talk is now available on the Wyant College of Optical Sciences Youtube!

Thomas L. Koch’s term as dean of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences has been defined by 13 years of tremendous growth amidst the continuing explosion of applications and demand for new optics and photonics technologies. Provost Ron Marx said, “Dean Koch has led the Wyant College of Optical Sciences with outstanding leadership and unwavering dedication. He has been a champion of one of our unique strengths in science and engineering here at the University of Arizona. We are deeply grateful for his service.”

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.