University of Otago SPIE Student Chapter

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1 University of Otago SPIE Student Chapter 2015 Annual Report Prepared by Bianca Sawyer Elected Officers for Name Membership number President Bianca Sawyer Vice President Kris Roberts Secretary Fan Hong Treasurer Matt Pearce Note that our officers will be updated in March 2016 when we hold our annual recruitment event. Also, our SPIE chapter is a joint chapter with our University s OSA Student Chapter, and sometimes operates under the name: Otago Optics Chapter (OOC). Members during reporting period: Bianca Sawyer Fan Hong Matt Pearce Yin Hsien Fung Callum Macdonald Peter McDowall Carolyn Cowdell Kris Roberts Xavier Fernandez Gonzalvo Matthew Reeves Hamish McDonald Alan Kwok Lun Cheung Alexander Doronin (Alumni) Gavin King (Alumni) Levi Bourke (Current members are indicated in bold font.)

2 Chapter Activities for 2015 Website and Social Media Ongoing We continued to keep our Facebook page and website updated, plus created a twitter account: SPIE/OSA University of Otago Student Chapter Symposium 17 th February 2015 In February our chapter held a student symposium which was run alongside the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies (DWC) launch symposium! The DWC is a brand new Centre for Research Excellence launched in NZ last year, which encompasses researchers from five NZ universities as well as partners from government, local businesses and overseas research institutions. The University of Otago is one of the key players in this new research network. By holding our student symposium during the larger DWC symposium, we were able to have students from five New Zealand Universities attend and participate, increasing the scope of the event. We had 6 excellent talks from PhD students plus a poster session with 21 presentations from Honours, Masters and PhD students. This event provided a platform to share and discuss our work and enabled inter-university relationships to be developed, as we previously have not had a lot of opportunities to get together with those in our fields outside of Otago. Luminescence: The Spectrum of Science Photography Competition June-July 2015 As a celebration of the International Year of light, we ran a Photography competition where participants were asked to creatively illustrate the beauty and behaviour of light and how it is important in our world, in the form of a photo and short description. We received 120 entries and these were showcased in an exhibition during the Luminescence Science Fair (see below). The judges for the competition were Paul Muir and Petra Fersterer from the Physics Department, and local photographer Derek Morrison. Prizes were awarded for the top photos in each of our 4 age categories, and extra prizes awarded for things like Scientific Excellence. The prizes included things like Light Blox Kits, Galileoscopes, science kits and book vouchers. We got some really incredible entries and a selection of them, along with all the winners, can be viewed here:

3 Luminescence: The Spectrum of Science Fair 18 th July 2015 The Otago Optics Chapter and other physics department students ran a day long community outreach festival to celebrate the International Year of Light Luminescence consisted of a wide range of interactive demonstrations on concepts and technologies involving light and a series of public lectures by University Professors aimed at ages 12+ on what light is, how it creates phenomena such as sunsets and rainbows, how it behaves near black holes, and how it can be used to manipulate atoms, discover exoplanets and probe brain function. SPIE outreach and activity grants provided roughly half of the funding for Luminescence, which attracted over 500 members of the Dunedin community. The event had a range of activities that appealed to all ages. For example, some favourites for the younger kids were UV face painting, a laser maze, rainbow shadows and kaleidoscope making. These fun and engaging activities were accompanied by explanations by student physicists about UV light and florescence, what is a laser, the colours in white light and reflection. Older children and adults enjoyed the educational public lecture series and photo exhibition, as well as stalls on things like spectroscopy, fibre optics, model of an eye, light in chemistry, using diffraction to measure the width of a hair, interference of light in a Michelson Interferometer and more. These demonstrations were supported by educational posters and explanations from our fantastic student volunteers, who educated a very large number of people about a wide range of optics concepts and possible uses in technology. The response we got from the event was overwhelmingly positive and it seems that we really made a big impact on our community and got them talking and thinking about light and how it can be used in various technologies. We have had several requests from schools to come along and talk to their pupils about light, and many requests to run a similar event in the future!

4 More photos from the event can be found here: There was also an exhibition of the entries of our Luminescence Photo Competition that asked entrants to capture a photo showing the beauty and behaviour of light and how it is important in our world. The event was generously sponsored by SPIE (primary sponsor, via an outreach grant), OSA, the Otago Physics Department and Quantum Science Otago.

5 SPIE Optics and Photonics 2015 August 2015 Bianca also attended other parts of O+P, such as the Optics Outreach Games, Women in Optics Discussion Panel, Lunch with the Experts, Women Celebrate the IYL, various poster sessions, research talks and professional development seminars and the job fair in the exhibition hall, as well as presented a poster on our student chapter activities and gave a talk about her work in Optical Trapping. Overall it was a hugely worthwhile event that offered a chance to network with other chapter leaders, employers, and others working in Optics and Photonics all around the globe. Our current chapter president, Bianca Sawyer, travelled to San Diego to represent our SPIE chapter at the Student Leadership Workshop, a part of the week-long SPIE Optics and Photonics Meeting. The workshop was facilitated by Jean-Luc Doumont, and almost 250 students discussed what being a leader is about, how to communicate across cultures, and how to go from ideas to achievements. Te Koanga: Illuminating New Zealand s Finale Gala 27th September 2015 In the wake of Luminescence, we were asked by the Otago Museum to help run a series of light-themed demonstrations during the closing event of a nation-wide series of outreach events called Te Koanga. Our students manned a range of light-themed interactive stalls, Light Matters Outreach Kits were handed out, and there was a repeat of the Luminescence series of talks on light and exciting light-based research being done at the University of Otago! The event was held at the Otago Museum and attracted about 500 people from the Otago community.

6 IONS KOALA 2015: 22 nd -27 th November 2015 IONS KOALA is the Conference on Optics, Atoms and Laser Applications held annually in Australia and New Zealand. The conference is organised for students, by students, and brings together a large group of Honours, Masters and PhD students from New Zealand, Australia and beyond. KOALA aspires to foster an environment where young researchers can share their expertise, discuss new ideas, relax, and socialise while building long-lasting networks that will continue to support them throughout their careers. IONS KOALA 2015 was co-hosted as a collaboration between the Otago Optics Chapter the University of Auckland OSA Student Chapter and was held from 22nd 27th November on the University of Auckland Campus, in the heart of the Auckland CBD and home to many world class research centres including the Photon Factory and a large branch of the Dodd Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies. Since the inaugural conference in 2008 in Brisbane, KOALA has been continually expanding and evolving. KOALA 2015 was the second ever kiwi-koala and we are very proud to say that it was the biggest and most international to date, with a total of 107 attendees from institutions across 10 different countries: New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, France and Austria! Of these, 98 were students. We were fortunate to be hosting KOALA during the UNESCO International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies (IYL 2015). The scientific programme featured five truly inspiring plenary speakers working in a variety of fields across optics and photonics. The talks focused on trends in optical communications, advances in atomtronics circuits, uses of ultra-short pulses, medical imaging and surgical robots, and insights into careers and connections in photonics. Four of our plenary speakers travelled from the USA and the UK to be a part of this event, for which we are very grateful! One of these was Nobel Laureate William D. Phillips of the Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, who generously gave his time to present both a plenary talk and a public lecture, entitled Einstein, Time and Light. The public lecture was an entertaining, informative and down-to-earth account of the way that gases can be cooled to ultracold temperatures for use in atomic clocks, included many exciting experimental demonstrations, and was thoroughly enjoyed by the ~500 strong audience (including many children).

7 The majority of student attendees also made amazing contributions to our program and helped to create an active, fun and supportive atmosphere. There were a total of 5 tutorials, 45 oral presentations and 35 poster presentations throughout the course of the week, covering a wide variety of topics such as laser machining, spectroscopy and atom optics, and all presented to an exceptionally high standard. As well as its strong scientific program, KOALA boasts extended social and professional development opportunities, which kicked off on Monday evening at the Industry and Innovation Night. This event was inspired by the Industry Workshop held at IONS KOALA 2014 and served as a platform for networking between conference attendees and representatives from the Australasian optics community; an opportunity for students to find out more about the exciting world of optics and photonics industry and innovation. The evening began with a keynote presentation by Dr. Michelle Stock, who gave conference delegates her insights on the career path for young researchers after completing their academic career. Specifically she referred to her own experiences developing her startup company and consulting firm. This was followed by a panel discussion where Michelle was joined by three other industry and innovation experts from a variety of backgrounds. The panelists answered questions from the audience about their careers, advice on getting into industry and innovation, and the relationship industry and academia, to name a few. Wednesday was our social day, where attendees took the day to kick back and relax while socialising with their peers and enjoying some of the things that Auckland has to offer. Many spent the day swimming, walking and playing soccer at St Heliers Bay, a seaside suburb east of the Auckland City Centre with one of the region s most picturesque beaches overlooking Rangitoto Island and Waitemata Harbour, while others stayed in the city and checked out art galleries, museums and the Sky Tower. Our Conference Dinner was held on Thursday at Mecca Stonehouse in Mission Bay, where attendees enjoyed a sitdown meal in a covered outdoor area overlooking the beach and unbeatable views of the Hauraki Gulf. As well as a way to wrap up the conference and socialise with conference attendees, the evening was dedicated to celebrating IYL2015 and the outreach efforts of our conference delegates during the year. It served as an opportunity to look back on the year that has been IYL 2015 via a series of student presentations, reflect on what we have all achieved and spark up conversations around how we can continue to promote light and light-based technologies beyond 2015.

8 Overall, KOALA 2015 was a huge success and we throughly enjoyed hosting the event in collaboration with the Auckland students! SPIE Visiting Lecturer 23 rd November 2015 We made use of the SPIE visiting lecturer program to invite Dr Michelle Stock, president of mlstock consulting and chairperson of Mi-Light, a photonics industry cluster based in Michigan, to be our keynote speaker at the Industry and Innovation Night at KOALA Her inspiring talk, Insights on Careers and Connections in Photonics: from Start-ups to Industry Clusters (and beyond), gave conference delegates her insights on the career path for young researchers after completing their academic career. Specifically she referred to her own experiences developing her startup company and consulting firm. It was wonderful to have Michelle be a part of our evening, including sitting on the Experts Panel Discussion that we held. Overall, 2015 was an incredibly busy but amazing year for our chapter and we are so grateful for the support from SPIE that helped to make it all happen!!

9 Planned Activities for the Future Below is a list of anticipated chapter activities for the coming year, including approximate dates. Many of these are activities that we typically hold annually, but that were not run during 2015 due to us being busy with bigger and more exciting things, like IYL events and KOALA! Note that our chapter leadership will soon be changing, so there s a chance that the actual activities will vary a little form those listed! SPIE Members AGM and Recruitment Event March 2016 As the New Zealand academic year starts in February, we will hold a pizza party in early March to recruit new members and elect new chapter officers. We ll invite all of the optics and photonics students in our Physics Department, plus all of the new Honours Students from all fields of research. The president will give a short speech outlining the chapter activities over the last year and explain the benefits of being an SPIE member (in terms of experiences such as outreach though our student chapter and conferences, and in terms of access to journals, scholarships etc.). The new chapter officers for 2016 will then be elected and new and existing members will get to know each other over pizza and drinks. Outreach Event for Undergraduate Students April 2016 This event serves as an opportunity for 2 nd and 3 rd year undergraduate students, some of whom will likely be the future chapter members and leaders, to network with postgraduate students by providing a relaxed environment in which to ask questions about our research and get to know the graduates in the chapters. We did not hold this event in 2015 as we didn t have the time to organize and run the event due to our IYL activities and the KOALA conference. However, we hope to reinstate it in 2016 because it provides a rare opportunity for networking between the different levels of students in our Physics Department. This year we will host an evening of friendly Undergraduates vs. Postgraduates Laser Tag, followed by refreshments and a short presentation about SPIE and OSA. Optics Outreach Trip September 2016 We plan to reinstate our annual Optics Outreach Trip to rural New Zealand primary schools. This activity was very successful in 2013 and 2014 where members of our chapter visited schools in Central Otago and Southland respectively, to deliver an outreach program focused mainly on a "colours in white light" theme, and making use of resources from the Optics Suitcase (provided by OSA). During each trip, we worked with around 220 primary school kids and 10 teachers who wouldn t otherwise get exposure to this type of outreach due to their rural location, and in many cases do not have adequate resources for a varied scientific curriculum. This year we plan to either repeat the trip in another area of the South Island, possibly North Otago or Canterbury, or to focus instead on more local schools, in the wider Dunedin area.

10 Otago Optics Chapter Student Symposium November 2016 A student symposium provides a platform to share and discuss the various research activities going on around the physics department. We currently have few opportunities to present our work in a formal way to our peers and believe that this activity is highly beneficial to the student members to have the chance to present their research and practice their presentation skills in a supportive environment. It also gives the more junior members of the department a taste of what research opportunities are available. SPIE Visiting Lecturer Date TBC We plan to make use of the SPIE visiting lecturer grant and invite a speaker from overseas. The topics that the students would like to hear more about are quantum optics, biophotonics and cold atoms experiments, so we will invite a lecturer who is experienced and knowledgeable in one of these fields. Financial Information We were lucky to obtain additional financial support from a huge range of organisations this year, without which we would not have been able to hold the majority of our events, with the total cost of all our activities this year totaling roughly $60,000!! Firstly, the New Zealand IYL committee covered the expenses associated with the Te Koanga Finale Gala and the Dodd Walls Centre absorbed the costs of our student symposium into their larger symposium. The Luminescence Science Fair and Photography Competition was also sponsored by Quantum Science Otago, The Otago Physics Department and OSA, while KOALA 2015 necessarily had a huge 21 different sponsors! Thank you so much to all of those organisations and individuals who have supported us this year, both financially and through donations of time and expertise!! Values quoted below are in New Zealand Dollars (NZ$) Opening Balance (1/3/2015) 744 Income: 2015 SPIE Activity Grant SPIE IYL Outreach Grant 3890 Conference Grant for KOALA 3830 Expenses: Luminescence Science Fair and photo competition IONS KOALA Ending balance (31/1/2016) 0