Stanford University Student SPIE Chapter

Annual Report

Feb. 2010 – Feb. 2011

Officers:

Ross Audet (President) 03286685

Jason Pelc (Vice President) 03064394

Aaswath Raman (Vice President) 03285839

Charles Rudy (Treasurer) 03199936

Alok Vasudev (Secretary) 03274564

Shai Barak (Outreach) 03317583

Kristen Boucher (Outreach) 3391219

Robert Chen (Membership) 03391640

Lana Lau (Speakers Chair) 03139076

Total Student Members: 55

Name Expires

Ross Audet 3 June 2011

Colin Bailie 3 March 2012

Edward Barnard 1 November 2011

Shruthi Baskaran 9 January 2012

Shrestha Basu Mallick 4 March 2012

Robert Beatty 10 January 2012

Jesse Benck 26 July 2011

Kristen Boucher 20 January 2012

Robert Chen 1 March 2012

Zhebo Chen 28 June 2011

Jang Hwan Choi 30 January 2012

Noy Cohen 15 November 2011

Kirsten Frieda 24 February 2012

Simon Gao 4 January 2012

Ellis Garai 7 January 2012

Timnit Gebru 16 November 2011

Mohammad Hendijanifard 29 November 2011

Eric Hoke 3 March 2012

Scott Hsieh 14 January 2012

Ching-Mei Hsu 19 January 2012

Laura Huntley 22 February 2012

Yijie Huo 7 January 2012

Leslie Jimison 18 July 2011

Yiye Jin 7 September 2011

Soo Jin Kim 15 July 2011

Sri-Rajasekhar Kothapalli 30 November 2011

Hee Yoon Lee 22 November 2011

Meredith Lee 11 February 2012

Paul Lim 3 March 2012

James Loudin 27 February 2012

Kristen Lurie 10 November 2011

Tahereh Marvdashti 14 November 2011

Saahil Mehra 5 July 2011

Waqas Mustafeez 3 January 2012

Van Nguyen 2 January 2012

Rodrigo Noriega-Manez 19 July 2011

Javier Palomares 21 July 2011

Jason Pelc 13 January 2012

Blaise Pinaud 26 July 2011

Aaswath Raman 18 August 2011

Shen Ren 6 January 2012

Rebecca Schaevitz 31 May 2011

Nicholas Sergeant 12 July 2011

Matthew Sieth 10 June 2011

Sarah Stokes 9 June 2011

Ray Sun 22 February 2012

Nina Vaidya 23 February 2012

Dominique Van de Sompel 25 October 2011

Lieven Verslegers 5 January 2012

Patricia Voll 10 June 2011

Adam Wang 31 January 2012

Tianhua Xu 18 January 2012

Yuan Yao 11 December 2011

He Yi 15 February 2012

Dale Zimmerman 4 January 2012

Recruitment / Social Events

Baseball Game: SF Giants vs. AZ Diamondbacks AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA

August 27, 2010

Estimated 20 attendees

Summary: We planned a group trip for the Stanford chapter to see the (soon-to-

be) World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants, play the Arizona

Diamondbacks. Taking advantage of group ticket prices, roughly 20 members

traveled together to AT&T Park to sadly watch the Giants lose 0-6.

Summer BBQ Stanford, CA

June 25, 2010

Summary: The Stanford chapter hosted its annual summer barbeque to bring out

members and interested students out for an afternoon of drinks and food. The

barbeque was well-attended with over 100 people dropping by. Attendees ranged

from current SPIE members at Stanford to faculty and staff, as well as a few

students from other universities who were doing research here for the summer. We

served typical grill items, such as burgers and hot dogs, and served cool beverages

to help attendees rehydrate and socialize.

SPIE/MRS/HapEE Hour Fall Kickoff Joint Recruitment BBQ Stanford, CA

October 14, 2010

Summary: We hosted a fall kickoff barbeque to start the new quarter and to

recruit new members. This barbeque was hosted jointly with Stanford‟s Materials

Research Society (MRS) student chapter and HappEE Hour electrical engineering

social organization. Over 150 people attended this event, attracted by burgers/hot

dogs, drinks, and outdoor games such as volleyball.

Our fall barbecue attracted a crowd!

Joint / Inter-chapter Events

Exploratorium “After Dark”

Joint event with SPIE chapters from San Jose State University, San

Francisco State University and University of California at Berkeley

San Francisco, CA

February 3, 2011

Summary: We organized an event to bring four Bay Area student

chapters together for explOratorium‟s “After Dark” event, which

exhibits the museum‟s usual attractions with added attractions for the

more adult scientist! Students from San Jose State University, San

Francisco State University, University of California at Berkeley, and

Stanford University gathered together to experience attractions themed

“Get Surreal”. We had over 30 students in attendance.

Stanford OSA/SPIE & NorCal OSA Networking Event Stanford, CA

February 8, 2011

Estimated ~60 attendees (30 students, 30 professionals)

Summary: The Stanford OSA-SPIE hosted a professional networking event with

the Northern California section of the OSA. This meet-and-greet was an excellent

opportunity for both Stanford researchers to network among professionals involved

in optics technology in Northern California and to communicate their research

interests to a broad professional audience. Following a Mexican-style dinner, the

event included introductions from our president, Ross Audet, the NorCal OSA

section president, Joe Armstrong, as well as an overview of OSA activities by Dr.

Tom Baer, former OSA president and director of the Stanford Photonics Research

Center. We solicited research presentations from Stanford grad students working

in optics/photonics, and featured three 20-minute student presentations at the

meeting.

OSA professionals from the Bay Area and Stanford students share stimulating discussions

during our Stanford OSA/SPIE Professional Networking Event on Feb 8, 2011.

Seminar Series

Stanford OSA/SPIE organizes technical seminars in a variety of optics-related

fields for the general public. Most seminars are held on Stanford campus in the

Science & Engineering Quadrangle. Since 2006, we have been partnering with

groups like the Stanford Photonics Research Center and UC Berkeley OSA/SPIE

to provide special events that include seminars. We also offer limited seating

events, such as lunch before a seminar, with priority given to dues-paying student

OSA or SPIE members.

Time/Place Speaker (Institution) Title Attendance

April 9-11, 2010,

Napa, CA SUPR 2010

12 invited speakers as part of

SUPR 2010!

May 27, 2010

4:15 PM, AP 200 Alan Willner (USC)

Towards Robust and

Reconfigurable Optical

Communication Systems

50

June 10, 2010

4:15PM, AP 200 Bo Huang (UCSF)

STORM: Super-Resolution

Light Microscopy with

Twinkling Molecules

60

October 28, 2010

4:15PM, Hewlett 102 James Schuck (LBNL)

High spatial resolution optical

investigations of nanostructures

and nanomaterials

60

November 4, 2010

4:00 PM, Allen 101-X Thomas Lee

IEEE / Optical Society

Congressional Fellowship Info

Session

35

Tuesday, November

16, 3:30 PM,

Physics and

Astrophysics 102

Andrew M. Weiner (Purdue) Ultrabroadband Radio-

Frequency Photonics

50

Thursday, November

18, 4:15 PM, Hewlett

102

Raj Chhibber (CEO,

BrighTex Biophotonics) Skin Metrology

40

Thursday, December

2, 4:15 PM, Nano

Center 232

Seung Rim (Sunpower) Progress in back contact crystalline silicon solar cell

55

Tuesday, December

14, 4:15 PM, Nano

Center 232

Ivan Kaminow (UC

Berkeley)

Lightwave Modulators: Early

Research at Bell Labs

40

Various Photonics Pioneers lunch series 10-15 each

Friday, January 14,

4:00 PM, CISX 101

Janglin Chen

Industrial Technology

e-Paper Technology and

Future Development

40

Research Institute (ITRI),

Taiwan

Thursday, January 20,

4:15pm, Nano Center

232

T.W. Clinton (Hitachi

Global Storage

Technologies)

A little bit is a big

achievement: overcoming

barriers in nano-scale

magnetic recording

50

Tuesday, February

8, 6:30 PM

Stanford Graduate

Community Center

(GCC)

Edward S. Barnard, Onur

Can Akkaya, and

Meredith M. Lee

(Stanford)

Stanford OSA/SPIE and

Northern California OSA Local

Section Professional Mixer

40

Speakers’ Talk Summaries: are available via the links in the table above, and on

our website, http://photons.Stanford.edu.

The audience is captivated during Dr. Seung Rim’s seminar

Prof. Ivan Kaminow (UC Berkeley)

Photonics Pioneers / Visionary Innovation Lunches

The purpose of this program, co-sponsored with SPRC, is to give Stanford students

working within the photonics area the opportunity to meet and talk with some of

the pioneers in quantum electronics, particularly those scientists who have been

successful pursuing nonacademic careers. These lunches are an informal venue for

discussing science and technology, the innovative process of converting science

and technology to commercial enterprise, career options and personal history.

Raj Chhibber (CEO BrighTex Bio-Photonics LLC, USA) Thursday,

November 18, 2010, 12:45 PM

Alan Willner (USC) Thursday, May 27, 2010, 12:30 PM, Allen 101

Conference Room

Kerry Vahala (Caltech) Tuesday, Oct. 5th, 2010, 12:45pm, Nano Building

143

Tim Day (Daylight Solutions) Nov 15, 2010

Andrew Weiner (Purdue) Tuesday, Nov. 16th, 12:15pm, Huang Engineering

Center 305

Tom Baer (Stanford) Wednesday, February 23rd at 12:15PM

Andrew Weiner hosts one of our Photonics Pioneers Lunches on Nov. 16, 2010.

Stanford University Photonics Retreat (SUPR) 2010

SUPR 2010

Napa, CA

April 9-11, 2010

Please visit http://photons.stanford.edu/supr/supr2010 for more photos and

video from the retreat!

The Stanford OSA/SPIE Student Chapter organized our second annual retreat as a

way to strengthen the photonics community and promote cross-disciplinary

interaction at Stanford. The retreat agenda includes three days and two nights

filled with technical seminars, student poster presentations, a career development

panel, and workshops as well as social activities. We believe it is important to

travel off-campus in order to avoid daily distractions and to create an engaging yet

relaxing atmosphere.

At Stanford, the students and faculty involved in optics and photonics research are

spread across a variety of departments, including but not limited to electrical

engineering, applied physics, materials science, mechanical engineering,

environmental science, biology, chemistry, and medicine. The retreat provides an

opportunity to stimulate interactions among this dispersed group of researchers and

to serve as a catalyst for fruitful collaborations.

Approximately 75 people attended the retreat, including 55 graduate students and a

number of postdocs, faculty, panelists, and invited speakers.

Stanford University Photonics Retreat (SUPR 2010) Schedule of Events

Location: Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa, Napa, CA

Friday April 9, 2010

1:30-

2:00pm Leave Stanford Campus

4:00-

5:00pm Arrive at Hotel & Check-In

5:00-

6:00pm Registration and Welcome Reception

6:00pm Dinner

7:00pm Welcoming Remarks, TBA

7:15pm Keynote Address, Dr. David Welch (Co-founder, Chief Marketing and Strategy

Officer, Infinera Corp.)

8:00-

9:00pm Mixer Featuring Poster Session I

Saturday April 10, 2010

8:00-

8:30am Breakfast

8:30-

9:10am Invited Lecture: Prof. Stacey Bent (Chemical Engineering)

9:15-

9:55am Workshop: Dr. Rachel Won (Associate Editor, Nature Photonics)

9:55-

10:05am Coffee Break

10:05-

10:45am

Workshop: Dr. Milton Chang (Managing Director of Incubic Management, Former

President/CEO of Newport and New Focus)

10:50-

11:30am Invited Lecture: Prof. Jelena Vuckovic (Electrical Engineering)

11:30-

12:30pm Poster Session II

12:30-

1:30pm Lunch

1:30-

5:30pm Social Activities and Break

6:00-

7:30pm Dinner

7:45-

9:00pm

Career Experience Panel, Moderated by Prof. Bob Byer (Stanford)

Panelists include Dr. Tom Baer (Stanford), Prof. Lynford Goddard (UIUC), Prof.

Michelle Povinelli (USC), Dr. Michael Wiemer (Solar Junction)

Sunday April 11, 2010

9:00-10:30am Breakfast

10:30-11:10am Invited Lecture: Prof. W. E. Moerner (Chemistry)

11:15-11:55am Invited Lecture: Prof. Shanhui Fan (Electrical Engineering)

12:00-1:30pm Lunch and Adjourn

Dr. Rachel Won sharing the secrets to publishing in Nature journals

Learning how to make wine!

Our star-laden panel

Outreach

Splash! Stanford, CA

April and November 2010

Estimated ~80 attendees

Summary: The Stanford chapter worked with the Stanford Educational Studies

program to teach a short overview course on optics to interested students. Each

class was two hours long, and focused on demonstrations, encouraging further

interest in optics while instilling an understanding of its fundamental principles. It

did this by combining an examination of the physics involved with an overview

and examples of applications which the students will have encountered in their

lives. In April 2010, we had 5 sessions of about 10 students each, and in November

2010 we had 3 sessions with about 10 students each, reaching about 80 students

total.

Girls Go Tech Stanford, CA

January 29, 2011

Estimated ~200+ attendees

Summary: This year, our group of Girls Go Tech volunteers shared our

demonstrations with mostly fourth and fifth graders. In this event, Girl Scouts from

around the Bay Area gathered at the NASA Ames research center for a day of

learning about potential futures in science and technology. For the event, we

exhibited our popular Gratings: Splitting of White Light, Colors of Polarization

and Fluorescence modules. In the gratings experiment, girls saw rainbows appear

when looking at the lights with a grating that they could take home as a souvenir.

For the polarization demo, linear polarizers were used to view stress in plastics, as

well as birefringence effects, and the scouts saw how pairing polarizers enabled

near complete transmission or no transmission of light. The girls could take home

their own linear polarizers and pair them with polarized sunglasses, or LCD

monitors to repeat the experiment. Finally, one of the most popular was the

fluorescence exhibit, where a black light created a glow in money, credit cards,

tonic water, and more! The girl scouts enjoyed writing messages with our

„invisible ink‟ pen and holding the notes under the black light to see them appear.

We estimate at least 200 girls experimented with our optics demos.

Demonstrations at “Girls Go Tech!”

Mini-Maker Faire Oakland, CA

October 24, 2010

Estimated ~2,000 attendees

Summary: October 24, 2010 at the Park Day School in Oakland was the first

annual East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Despite it being one of the rainiest days in the

Bay this year, there were over 2,000 in attendance! The Stanford Optical Society

had a great booth with many hands-on activities for children and adults alike. One

of the highlights of the booth was an IR camera and video screen setup, which was

excellent at showing cold noses and raindrops -- both in abundance during the

event ;). We had a great response and look forward to participating in this event

again next year.

Is that me? Where did my nose go?

Galileoscope Grants

Summary: We coordinated with the OSA Foundation to give away more than 100

“Galileoscopes” to commemorate 2009 Year of Astronomy, celebrating the 500th

anniversary of Galileo‟s telescope. The Galileoscope is a high-quality, low-cost

telescope kit that comes with educational material to help teachers incorporate it

into their classrooms. We had local teachers write mini-grant applications (a few

sentences telling us about their students and classrooms, and how they planned to

use the Galileoscopes in their teaching) and distributed the „scopes accordingly.

Photo Contest

Summary: The Stanford Optical Society partnered with other student OSA/SPIE

chapters from around the world to sponsor our third online photography contest for

students age 12-18. This year‟s theme was “Illuminating Your World.” The

contest was sponsored by the professional societies of the Optical Society and the

SPIE. This year we received a record 280 submissions from many different

countries around the world! The photographs were judged based on technical and

artistic merit by a panel of faculty and students from several universities. The

winners received hundreds of dollars worth of gift certificates for photography

equipment.

Partner Chapters: IIT Delhi SPIE Student Chapter

University of New Mexico SPIE Student Chapter

University of Arizona SPIE Student Chapter

ETH Zurich OSA Chapter

Moscow State University OSA Chapter

National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (Mexico) OSA/SPIE Student Chapter

By Marc Havlik

First place, Age 15-18

K-12 Grant Writing Workshop Stanford, CA

April 27, 2010

Estimated ~45 attendees

Summary: This workshop, presented by the Stanford OSA/SPIE Student Chapter

in collaboration with Ann Shioji, a teacher in the East Side Union High School

District in San Jose, CA, provided tips for how to apply to education-related

grants, with a focus on K-12 science education. It described how to match funds

for teachers‟ projects and outlined how to write the components of a typical grant

proposal. The majority of the participants were educators from local K-12 schools,

but also included students from Stanford‟s teacher-training program and local

parents. The workshop was held at Stanford on the evening of April 27, 2010. It

consisted of dinner for the teachers, followed by the workshop led by Ms. Shioji.

The workshop consisted of a brief overview presentation, a grant-matching hands-

on activity (some participants were assigned roles as funding agencies, others acted

as educators looking for funding, and they competed to find their “match”), and a

period where participants could look online for relevant grants and get one-on-one

assistance. We had a total of 45 teachers attend the workshop.

The teachers participated in a mini-grantwriting exercise

Stephanie, 2009-2010 Outreach Coordinator, and Tom, 2009-2010 President,

with Ms. Shioji after the workshop

Leadership Development

2010 SPIE O+P San Diego Leadership Workshop (funded by Officer Travel Grant)

San Diego, CA

Summary: Two members of our executive committee (Ross Audet and Aaswath

Raman) attended the leadership workshop in San Diego in August. The workshop

events, and larger conference, allowed our chapter leaders the opportunity to

interact with students from around the world in both structured and informal

settings. They greatly enjoyed the team-building activities, and the opportunity to

hear from leaders within SPIE, in academia and beyond, and to consider ways of

improving our chapter‟s activities.

SPIE Photonics West Leadership Workshop San Francisco, CA

Summary: Six of our executive committee members made the (not so) long trek

up to San Francisco for the leadership workshop at the beginning of Photonics

West. After Dirk made a short presentation, we enjoyed discussing ideas to

improve the student chapter experience, and beneficial activities we‟ve partaken in

to engage and increase our membership. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a great meal at

Buca di Beppo and had an opportunity to get to know chapter members from all

over the world.

Elections

We held our annual elections on May 28, 2010 to elect a new executive committee

to lead chapter activities in the coming year. Food and drinks were served, and new

members and younger students were encouraged to attend. Last year‟s committee

members described each role in detail, and then attendees were asked to list their

interests and preferences. We are happy to say we were able to fit everyone

interested into an appropriate role and were very excited to move forward with a

large, capable committee!

Our Stanford OSA/SPIE outgoing 2008-2009 and newly elected 2009-2010 Executive Planning

Committee!

Planned Activities

Stanford University Photonics Retreat (SUPR) 2011 Marconi Conference Center, CA

April 8-10, 2011

We have already finished planning the third annual Stanford University Photonics

Retreat (SUPR) at the Marconi Conference Center near Point Reyes, CA. We have

confirmed 12 invited speakers including Dr. Kristina Johnson (Former US Under

Secretary of Energy), Dr. Jean-luc Doumont (Principiae), Elizabeth Rogan (CEO,

OSA), and Dr. Mathieu Foquet (Pacific Biosciences).

James F. Lick Observatory Tour Lick Observatory, CA

Spring, 2011

Join the Stanford Optical Society was we tour the Lick Observatory atop scenic

Mt. Hamilton. Completed in 1887, Lick was the first permanently occupied

mountain-top observatory, and is still engaged in cutting-edge research on

everything from the hunt for extrasolar planets to cosmology. We‟ll tour the main

120-inch reflecting telescope, and, weather permitting, have the opportunity to do

astronomical viewing through the 36-inch refracting telescope that made

the observatory famous.

Maker Faire San Mateo, CA

May 21-22, 2011

With much success at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in the fall, we are

enthusiastic to participate in this year‟s Bay Area Maker Faire May 21-22, 2011

website. The Bay was the location for the first Maker Faire held in April 2006 on

the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Past events have had over 65,000 people in attendance,

so this is a great opportunity for us to promote optics on a grand scale!

Expanding Your Horizons

Skyline College, San Bruno, CA

March 19, 2011 Expanding Your Horizons is a conference for 6th through 12th grade young

women to learn about career opportunities in math and science. Science and math

careers are fun, exciting, and rewarding and so is Expanding Your Horizons.

Conference participants conduct lab experiments, wire high-tech phone systems,

examine microscopic creatures, and design their own computer software. Each girl

attends three hands-on workshops during the all-day conference.

Splash! Stanford, CA

April 16-17 2011

Grantwriting Workshop for K-12 Teachers Stanford, CA

May 2011

Financial Information

Opening Balance (02/01/2010) $2,977.63

Expenditures

Activities

Technical Seminar (T.W. Clinton): 1/20/2011 -$27.10

Technical Seminar (J. Chen): 1/14/2011 -$30.02

Technical Seminar (I. Kaminow): 12/14/2010 -$24.79

Technical Seminar (S. Rim): 12/2/2010 -$45.06

Technical Seminar (R. Chhibber): 11/18/2010 -$30.45

Technical Seminar (A. Weiner): 11/16/2010 -$81.11

Technical Seminar (J. Schuck): 10/28/2010 -$76.28

Technical Seminar (B. Huang): 6/10/2010 -$84.35

Technical Seminar (A. Willner): 5/27/2010 -$98.64

Technical Seminar (F. Capasso): 1/26/2010 -$70.05

East Bay Mini Maker Faire Equipment: 10/24/2010 -$7.50

Lick Observatory Tour: -$350

(tour cancelled—awaiting reimbursement from UC Regents)

Photo Contest Prizes: -$1,150

California Academy of Sciences Nightlife: 3/4/2010 -$264

Science on a Shoestring Workshop: 4/27/2010 -$894.29

SUPR Payment to -$2,000

Stanford Photonics Research Center:

Meeting-related expenses

SUPR Planning: -$221.28

Food for Chapter Elections: 5/28/2010 -$182.30

NIF Tour Thank You Gifts: 2/10/2010 -$57.54

Promotional Materials / Recruitment

Stanford Optical Society/MRS/HappEE Hour -$139.79

joint BBQ food and supplies: 10/14/2010

Stanford Optical Society Brochures: -$213.04

Stanford Optical Society/HappEE Hour -$154.20

joint event: 9/24/2010

SUPR Reunion/Summer BBQ: 6/25/2010 -$435.25

Income

Manning the OSA Table at $200

SPRC Symposium: 9/13-15/2010

Manning the SPIE Table at $400

SPRC Symposium: 9/13-15/2010

OSA Activity, Travel and Outreach Grants: $5,590

SPIE Activity Grants: $1,200

OSA Membership Contest First Prize: $200

Ticket sales for California Academy $145

of Sciences Nightlife: 3/4/2010

Ending Balance (02/01/2011) $4,075.59