NASA has awarded 24 postdoctoral fellowships for 2024 in astrophysics, including one to an upcoming PhD graduate of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, Jaren Ashcraft. As one of eight selected Sagan Fellows, Jaren's proposal title was, "Optimizing the Vector Field for Next-Generation Astrophysics."

Congratulations to all the students taking on exciting roles as SOCk and WiO officers. We cannot wait to see what the upcoming school year holds.

Laser Fun Day 2024 attracted over 400 visitors and was made possible by over 100 volunteers. On the day of the event, the building was filled with hands-on activities and demonstrations that showcased the amazing world of optics. The third floor was especially busy with many visitors coming in from the solar telescope and fresnel lens, set up out front of the building. Once inside, they found many more stations set up on the third floor and extending throughout the rest of the building, including a cow-eye dissection and pickle light bulb in Meinel 307. A special thanks to SPIE and Optica for supporting this event.

Alba Alfonso Garcia
Assistant Project Scientist
University of California, Davis

This study evaluated the sensitivity of label-free fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) as a novel method for detecting low-grade GI inflammation. FLIm captures changes in the tissue microenvironment altered under inflammatory conditions...These findings hint at the quantifiable detection of inflammatory changes in mucosal tissue using FLIm, providing a foundation for further investigations into its sensitivity to colon epithelial metabolism and its potential for monitoring inflammation in live tissue.

Michael Gehm
Professor of ECE and physics
Duke University

In this talk I will discuss our investigation of the general feasibility of this phenomenon as well as our explorations into several promising engineered scenarios that seek to exploit this opportunity. In addition to our ongoing work, I will introduce a variety of interesting open questions that have emerged during our efforts.

April 8, 2024 was the date for the Great American Eclipse, and not only were people from all over the country chasing clear skies, but a number from OSC were also seeking the chance to see it both in totality and as a partial eclipse. If you also traveled to experience the total solar eclipse you can email Amee Hennig to have your name added to the list. Be sure to send any photos you may have captured of either the partial or total solar eclipse!

Senator Mark Kelly and his team were warmly welcomed to the Wyant College of Optical Sciences on April 5, 2024 for a "Quantum Tour" to see the cutting-edge NSF-ERC Center for Quantum Networks (CQN) and the Grand Challenges Research Building (GCRB).