EXPANDING HORIZONS
The OSA Centennial
VOLUME 4: LIGHTING THE FUTURE
www.osa.org/100
2
Inspiring a New Generation
This booklet is the last of four marking the 100th anniversary of The Optical
Society (OSA). The first three booklets focused on past and present: OSA’s
history; how the society works to connect members; the role of optics and
photonics as enabling technologies in unexpected areas. In this final booklet,
we throw the spotlight on the future—and the students and early-career
professionals of today who will build the accomplishments of tomorrow.
Courtesy of Carlos López-Mariscal
OSA’s commitment to that next generation is exemplified nowhere better
than in its new Ambassador program, which has grown directly out of the
society’s Centennial activities. The Ambassador program connects dynamic,
emerging leaders in optics and photonics with communities of students and
young professionals worldwide, via traveling lectures and engagement with
local sections and student chapters. Through shared experience, inspiration
and mentorship, the Ambassadors help those early in their scientific journeys to
expand their horizons, build their careers, and establish enduring connections.
(Visit www.osa.org/ambassador to find out more.)
Thus, it seems particularly apt to close this 100 th-anniversary booklet series
with brief profiles of the inaugural class of Ambassadors, who have dedicated
their time and effort to this outreach during OSA’s Centennial year 2016. Their
experience, together with those they inspire and the generations that follow,
will “light the future” for optics and photonics in the next 100 years.
Attendees of the 2016 International OSA Network of Students (IONS) meeting in Campinas, Brazil,
exemplify the energy and optimism that will build the next 100 years of optical science.
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EXPANDING HORIZONS
An Eye on Global Solutions
To Antigone Marino, the Ambassador program is a chance to support the
young scientists who will be solving humanity’s most pressing future challenges.
Antigone’s work as an OSA Ambassador has taken her to Hungary, the United
Kingdom and India, as well as to events in her home country, Italy. In those
travels, she’s focused on reminding students and young scientists that
the research they do is “not only an intellectual engagement, but a social
engagement.” Global issues such as clean energy, climate change, and access
to health care and natural resources are all challenges, she says, whose solution
will depend on the scientists coming of age today.
Antigone brings a similar commitment to her work at the Institute of Applied
Sciences and Intelligent Systems of the Italian National Research Council,
where she researches soft-matter optics and liquid-crystal technologies.
She’s been an active volunteer for OSA and a leader in its programs aimed
at young researchers. “Since starting my work with OSA,” she says, “I have
really grown as a scientist and a science communicator.”
Courtesy of Antigone Marino
During my OSA Ambassador lectures, I always share the
“advice
I received years ago from one of my mentors: Do you
want to grow as a scientist? Then step out of your comfort
zone. This will help you grow as a human being, too.
”
— Antigone Marino, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Antigone at an outreach event in Naples, Italy.
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EXPANDING HORIZONS
Bridges Across Borders
Throughout his career, Alvaro Casas Bedoya has been an advocate for students,
working to share knowledge and expand the reach of optics internationally.
In his OSA Ambassador work, Alvaro has focused on building opportunities for
“young minds to connect and learn more about the past, present and future
in optics.” As a subcommittee chair at the 2016 OSA Latin American Optics &
Photonics conference in his native Colombia, he advocated for grants to increase
student attendance, empowered chapter leaders with event responsibilities, and
“invited some of the world’s best scientists in the area of silicon photonics,” to
offer an international perspective from leaders shaping the field.
Courtesy of Alvaro Casas Bedoya
Alvaro’s own career, too, has spanned the globe, moving from undergrad work
in Colombia, to graduate study in Scotland, Belgium and Australia, to his current
position as a postdoc at CUDOS in Sydney, Australia, where he studies design,
simulation and fabrication of integrated optical circuits. His roots with OSA are
deep; he’s a recipient of the society’s Ivan P. Kaminov Prize for outstanding
young professionals, the OSA student chapter advisor for CUDOS, and a
member of OSA’s MES Council. “It is thanks to the society,” he says, “that I
connected with optical leaders that supported my scientific progress.”
My main goal has been to empower students around the
“world—encouraging
their career development in the areas
of optics that excite them.
”
— Alvaro Casas Bedoya, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Alvaro in the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology Lab, University of Sydney.
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EXPANDING HORIZONS
Reaching Out to Diverse Groups
Arti Agrawal has a passion for taking science to young people, especially
those from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups.
As an Ambassador, Arti has visited four OSA student chapters in India and
attended an IONS conference in Naples, Italy. In these events she’s shared the
excitement of science in talks about optical devices and modeling—and she’s
also passed along practical tips on presentation skills and career growth. The
time with the students has been a source of inspiration, she says. And some of
their questions “are very thought-provoking and open up new ideas.”
The commitment Arti has brought to her Ambassador year mirrors that shown
in her wide-ranging career as a scientist, a science blogger, and an advocate
for gender balance and diversity in optics. As a researcher at City University
London, U.K., she applies her work in numerical modeling and design to solar
cells, 2-D materials and photonic-crystal fibers. She has strong ties with OSA, as
a Senior Member, a recipient of the Outstanding Young Professional Prize, and
a valued volunteer. “My relationship with OSA,” she says, “has breathed life and
vigor into optics for me by giving me a vibrant community to be part of.”
Mauro Caecavale
My OSA Ambassador year has been an absolute eye“opener.
Seeing the students’ passion and enthusiasm—it’s
like receiving a huge jolt of invigorating energy.
”
— Arti Agrawal, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Arti talks at an outreach event in Hyderabad, India.
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BUILDING A CAREER
Putting Research Skills to Work
Chad Husko helps optical scientists and engineers apply their research skills
in fields outside of traditional optics.
While he has mentored a lot of young scientists over the years, Chad says the
Ambassador program has allowed him to visit and engage with more people on
an individual level. To maximize impact, he has decided to focus on one specific
topic as Ambassador—going beyond the lab to put research skills to work in
other areas. “A surprisingly large number of us,” he points out, “end up doing
‘science’ in fields we’d never expect.”
Chad has sought out opportunities to interact with young scientists throughout
his career—whether teaching physics in grade schools in Harlem, N.Y., USA,
or mentoring undergraduates and Ph.D. students. At present, he is the
Alexei Abrikosov Fellow at the Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne
National Laboratory, Chicago, Ill., USA, where he focuses on nanophotonics,
integrated waveguides, silicon photonics and 2-D materials. An OSA member
and conference speaker since his student days, Chad says the Ambassador
program “has really taken my involvement with the OSA to another level.”
My goal is to communicate to optical scientists and
“engineers
that our research skills are in high demand in many
areas outside of traditional optics fields.
”
OSA
— Chad Husko, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Chad (center) on a student chapter visit to ICFO, Spain.
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BUILDING A CAREER
The Keys to Success
Bettina Heim shares with students and young professionals insight on how
to unlock success, from distinguished members of the optics community.
As an OSA Ambassador, Bettina, together with fellow Ambassador Aline
Dinkelaker, organized a panel titled “The Keys to a Successful Career in
Optics” during OSA’s Optics and Imaging Congress in Heidelberg, Germany.
Participants heard from distinguished speakers, including 2011 OSA president
Chris Dainty, who gave valuable insight into industry and academia.
Bettina herself is familiar with the challenges and opportunities of career
transitions, having recently changed scope from academia to a career in
the space industry. She now works as an optical engineer at OHB System
AG in Weßling, Germany. Before that shift, during her Ph.D. work at
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg, she worked on quantum
communication protocols with OSA Fellow Gerd Leuchs at the Max Planck
Institute for the Science of Light and also served as president of OSA’s
Erlangen student chapter. “Since joining OSA, my professional network has
continuously expanded and has led to many long-term friendships,” she says.
enjoyed the opportunity to share my experience
“andI have
provide advice for personal development and career
paths with students—many of them about to make the
transition to professional life.
”
OSA
— Bettina Heim, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Bettina at the Siegman School 2015 in Amberg, Germany.
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BUILDING A CAREER
Providing Insight and Guidance
Aline Dinkelaker helps students and recent graduates make more informed
career-path choices by offering both information and honest advice.
“In the final stages of completing a degree in physics,” Aline notes, “there is
usually not a lot of guidance as to what comes next.” As an OSA Ambassador,
in a joint effort with the BerlinOptik Student Chapter, she organized and hosted
“Working in Optics in Berlin,” an event that allowed young scientists to learn
about career paths directly from employees of local companies and research
institutes. “I wanted to help provide a setting in which students and recent
graduates can get information about different career options,” says Aline, “but
also honest advice regarding obstacles and everyday working environments.”
Courtesy of Aline Dinkelaker
Aline is part of the Quantum Sensors and Ultracold Atoms team within the
Optical Metrology group at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and a guest researcher at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik. Supported by the German Aerospace Center, she’s currently focusing
on laser systems for atomic physics experiments on microgravity platforms.
Throughout her Ph.D. studies at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, Aline
was an OSA student chapter member, including serving as chapter president.
many people in physics and optics are passionate about
“theirAswork
and want to find fulfillment in their job, it is important
to find a good fit.
”
— Aline Dinkelaker, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Aline in the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin lab.
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
Opportunity Through Networking
Carlos López-Mariscal shares with students and recent graduates the value
of networking for finding their next career opportunity.
As an OSA Ambassador, Carlos attended IONS Campinas in Brazil, where
he spoke about the importance of networking in one’s professional career.
“Interaction with students is an activity I am fond of,” he says, “because I am very
grateful for all the resources that OSA made available to me as a student and how
these shaped my own career.” In addition to his work as an Ambassador, Carlos
has been active in OSA leadership as a young-professional representative serving
on OSA’s MES Council and Board of Directors.
Professionally, Carlos has particularly focused on optical tweezers and trapping
technologies, including work on optofluidics applications with the U.S. National
Institute of Standards and Technology and on airborne-threat detection with
the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He currently works as the lead optical
scientist at Underwater Photonics and is a visiting scholar in the Photonics and
Mathematical Optics group, Monterrey, Mexico.
Courtesy of Carlos López-Mariscal
The OSA network provides numerous opportunities for
“professional
advancement, as well as meaningful experiences,
long-standing friendships, and a vast diversity of viewpoints
and perspectives that would not be easily accessible through
other channels.
”
— Carlos López-Mariscal, OSA 2016 ambassador
Carlos (center) with attendees at IONS Campinas in Brazil.
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
An Early Link
Giovanni Volpe values the opportunity to connect with students—
and to give them thoughts on the road ahead.
The Ambassador program has given Giovanni a chance to engage with
students “in the very early stages of their career,” and to give them
guidance on how best to invest their time and resources in their own
growth. His Ambassador stint has included visits to the student chapters
at Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey, and at ICFO in Barcelona, Spain, as
well as with students who were interested in forming a student chapter at
Bogazici University in Istanbul.
Giovanni himself is no stranger to starting things up; with Armand Niederberger,
he co-organized the first of the highly successful, student-led IONS conferences
in 2007. He was also instrumental in restarting OSA’s Board of Meetings. In
his recent work, he’s focused on the intersection of nanotechnology, soft
condensed matter and photonics, including work on creating a new class of
light-activated artificial nanoswimmers. He held a faculty position at Bilkent
University in Ankara, Turkey, from 2012 to 2016, and recently joined the faculty
of Gothenburg University in Sweden.
Being an OSA Ambassador has given me the opportuinty
“to connect
with students and provide them with some
perspective on how their careers might evolve.
”
OSA
— Giovanni Volpe, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Giovanni (center) with Koç University students in Istanbul, Turkey.
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
Mentoring the Next Generation
Armand Niederberger hopes to pass forward to the current generation of
students and postdocs the same guidance that he received from mentors.
“How can we use the Centennial celebrations to create a spark in our
community?” This was the question everybody was talking about when
Armand first joined OSA’s Centennial Advisory Panel. Armand and another
active OSA volunteer on the panel, Zulya Tomova of the University of
Maryland, came up with a solution: the OSA Ambassador program. For him,
“OSA is a professional platform through which I continue to learn, connect
and share.” Creating the Ambassador program was an opportunity to pass
that knowledge on to the next generation.
While working on his Ph.D. thesis in ultracold atoms (quantum optics) at ICFO–
The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, Armand co-founded
the IONS project and led other outreach activities. In his current role as
Director of Algorithms and Data Science at Leia In c., Calif., USA, he focuses
on 3-D/holographic algorithms. His other research interests include numerical
optimization, machine learning and robotics.
If you are a student who wishes to get a glimpse into the
“future,
talk to an Ambassador who is just a few years ahead
of you in their own journey. Ask a lot of questions, share your
experience and enjoy the ride.
”
OSA
— Armand Niederberger, OSA 2016 Ambassador
Armand (right) with Zulya Tomova at OSA’s Winter Leadership 2016, Washington, D.C., USA.
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Looking to the Future
As the OSA Ambassadors and a new generation of members embark together on the
next 100 years, we close with a few predictions for the future of optics and photonics.
“We’re rapidly approaching megawatt average power in
commercial products. Diode-pumped fiber and solid-state lasers
have wall-plug efficiencies near 50 percent. Imagine replacing
all the chemicals in rocket fuel with an electrically powered laser.
That’s a much cleaner, easier way to put matter in orbit.”
—Robert Byer, OSA Fellow and 1994 President
“Almost every neuroscience laboratory has a very complex
optical imaging system. Silicon photonics could be used to
integrate these complex systems onto a small chip.”
—Michal Lipson, OSA Fellow and 2016-2018 Director at Large
“Imagine what a communication system will look like in the year
2050: A multimode fiber with a coherent image processor, and
every pixel in the image plane being a receiver. It sounds impossible
today, but that will change when someone figures out how to do it.”
—Neal Bergano, OSA Fellow and 2009-2011 Director at Large
“There’s been a huge change in the status of women in physics
from when I was in grad school. We’re not there completely yet, but
the slope is positive—very positive. A more diverse and inclusive
organization is more respectful of multiple viewpoints and can
adapt more rapidly, which is essential in our global environment.”
—Margaret Murnane, OSA Fellow
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“The invention of new types of high-resolution image sensors
could stimulate the growth of new 3-D imaging technologies.
Spatial light modulators that record sub-micrometer pixels at
high speeds could bring us a new generation of much more
realistic 3-D displays and holography for AR.”
—Byoungho Lee, OSA Fellow and 2006-2008 Director at Large
“In the next 20 to 40 years, biophotonic devices will be more
portable, so people can wear them. A wearable device could take
control of your medication and pump a dose into your body when
you need it. Medical devices could be made so user-friendly that
people could use them at home instead of going to a hospital.”
—Patience Mthunzi-Kufa, OSA Member
“I’m a big Star Trek fan, so I envision a ‘Dyson sphere’—that’s a
far-out concept of an extremely advanced civilization that captures
all the energy from its sun … Talking about a Dyson Sphere implies
that we will conquer the mega-problems that challenge our world,
from global hunger to environmental disruption.”
—Alex Cable, OSA Fellow
“Ultimately, it is not science fiction to think that optics will be woven
into everything, but we won’t even notice it because optics will
be an essential enabler and behind the scenes to the user. To
paraphrase a line from a recent James Bond movie, ‘We are
everywhere’.” —Alan E. Willner, OSA Fellow and 2016 President
For more thoughts on the future of optics, see the OSA Century of Optics in the
Centennial Bookshelf at www.osa.org/100/centennial_bookshelf.
OSA outreach programs span a wide range—inspiring the next generation to "light the future" for optics and photonics in the next 100 years.
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