Research presentations, invited lectures, and networking to strengthen relationships among students and young photonics researchers worldwide highlighted the Asia Student Photonics Conference (ASPC) in Osaka, Japan, this week. Co-sponsored by the OSA/SPIE Osaka University Student Chapter and the university's Photonics Center, the event ran 24-26 July and was supported by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, through its FOCUS Conference Grant program and several other organizations.
SPIE supported Osaka University Student Chapter members in hosting photonics conference in Japan
The FOCUS program was established to provide SPIE student leaders with funds to organize regional student leadership workshops featuring significant, non-technical professional development opportunities. Two grants are awarded by SPIE each year, and chapters are encouraged although not required to collaborate in the organization of the conference.
Invited speakers at ASPC included:
- SPIE Fellow and Student Chapter Advisor Satoshi Kawata, Executive Director of the Photonics Center, professor in the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University, and Vice President of the Japan Society of Applied Physics
- Michael Alley, professor in Engineering Communication at Pennsylvania State University
- Prabhat Verma, professor at the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University
- Rinto Nakahara, President of Nanophoton Corp.
- Junichiro Kono, professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University and founder of the award-winning international NanoJapan research experience program for science and engineering undergraduate students.
Speaking on topics ranging from management to effective scientific presentations and writing, the speakers all stressed how to create and effectively make use of professional networks, noted Osaka Student Chapter President Shota Ushiba.
Oral presentation and poster sessions throughout the three days provided students with opportunities to discuss their work with peers from across the region.
Collaborating in the photonics conference with the Osaka University Student Chapter were students from:
- SPIE Singapore Student Chapter
- SPIE Sichuan University Student Club
- SPIE IISER Kolkata Student Chapter
- SPIE Multimedia University Student Chapter, Malaysia
- SPIE National Taiwan University Student Chapter
- SPIE Xidian University Student Club
- SPIE University of Fukui Student Chapter.
- Tohoku University JSAP Student Chapter
- National Yang Ming University, Taiwan
- University of Tokushima
- OSA Peking University Student Chapter
- OSA National Taiwan University Student Chapter
- OSA University of Tokyo Student Chapter.
Along with SPIE through its FOCUS program, event supporters included the Asian CORE Program of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, the Inoue Foundation for Science, the Murata Science Foundation, and the Optical Society (OSA).
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. The Society serves more than 235,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, offering conferences, continuing education, books, journals, and a digital library in support of interdisciplinary information exchange, professional networking, and patent precedent. SPIE provided over $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2012.