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SPIE Annual Report 2014 Michigan Technological University Chapter
SPIE Annual Report
2014Michigan Technological University Chapter
Introduction
This is the 2014 final report for Michigan Technological University's student SPIE chapter. Thispast years goals were to design and build projects to demonstrate to college ad high school level students the principles of photonics and optics. We intend to continue these goals into the new year in order to further progress our overarching goal of spreading knowledge in regards to optics.As with all organizations we maintain the ever ongoing goal of recruiting more members and keeping our current members informed and active.
Student Membership
Officers
President - Christopher Fisher: [email protected] President - Arash Hosseinzadeh: [email protected] - Seyedmehdi Sadatgoltabarestani: [email protected] - Michael Briseno: [email protected] – Dr. Christopher Middlebrook
Dr. Mike Roggerman
Detailed Membership List
John Becker Michael Briseno Jacob Carrick Casey Demars Clayton Doyle Chris Fisher Arash Hosseinzadeh Kevin Kruse Patrick McKeon Seyedmehdi Mousavi Charles Murillo Dennis Thomas Seyedmehdi Sadatgoltabarestani
Company Outreach Event
The SPIE chapter at MTU organized and conducted a very successful industry outreach event during the Spring 2014 semester. The chapter brought representatives from six companies to the MTU campus with one additional company connected remotely to the event. The representatives were from companies located in the Midwest region, namely: Molex, Dow Corning, Signature Research, Smart Zone, Rigaku, M-light and Osram. The event was a full day event, from 8:30 am until 6 pm, in a very professional atmosphere. The event included three main parts: 1- presentations from industry, 2- presentations from MTU faculties and students, and 3- MTU lab tours.
The event started with a welcome speech and introduction about ECE department presented by Prof. Fuhrmann, chair of the ECE, and followed by an introduction about Optics/Photonics program in MTU presented by Prof. Middlebrook. Then the representatives from industry gave presentations abouttheir companies, products, and the impact of their products on real life. These presentations provided a real sense of optics/photonics industry, covering topics from material science to image processing, for the students.
To have companies be familiar with optics/photonics program in MTU, the chapter planned andconducted several lab tours of the Optics/Photonics labs in the ECE and Physics departments. Our senior graduate students guided these tours and explained ongoing research projects in these labs.
The chapter organized several presentation by MTU faculty members and students. Prof. Levy from Physics department and Prof. Middlebrook from ECE department presented their projects in their research groups. In addition, different presentations by the grad and undergrad students could give the participants a good sense of the research activities and projects in all levels, from undergrad up to PhD, conducted in MTU. In addition, the chapter president gave a brief overview of chapter activities.
During the event several social times were implemented that gave students, faculty, and company representatives the chance to interact with each other and network. At the end of the event, a copy of the students' resumes was handed to each of the companies.
Winter Carnival Fluorescent demoAs a continuation of the club’s annual campus outreach session during Michigan Tech’s Winter
Carnival, the club created a display of visually appealing fluorescent items to demonstrate practical optics in everyday life. The applications of fluorescence include chemical sensing, security and anti-counterfeiting, biomedical imaging, and other visual enhancement effects. The club utilizes Monster energy drink handouts to demonstrate fluorescence as well as recruit new members. There was also an LED cube display demonstrating the power of electro-optics. The LED cube was built by members of the club as a part of a group project to help develop members engineering skills.
8x8x8 LED Cube WorkshopIn order to further develop members engineering skills as well as to create a larger more
impressive demo for our next winter carnival the SPIE chapter at Michigan tech has been hard at working assembling and integrating an 8x8x8 LED Cube. The LED cube portion and Control board were finished this year and only the integration of the two along with problem checking remain.
Christmas PartyFor the final SPIE general meeting of each your our chapter holds a Christmas/holiday party
with food and drink provided for our members. We also hold a white elephant style gift exchange with the gifts to be related to optics in some way and price kept to a minimum. This year we provided pizza and an assortment of carbonated soda beverages for our members and the event was used to discuss ourthoughts on this years events and the plans for next semester.
MTU Observatory CookoutAt the start of the 2014 fall semester the SPIE club headed over to the MTU observatory to do
maintenance and held a cookout to help new and old members socialize. We provided hot dogs and hamburgers as well as several carbonated beverages to the members. We also demonstrated the proper setup and start sequence to operate the observatory equipment. The observatory telescope mount was malfunctioning and requires repair, which we intend to take care of in the spring 2015 semester.
Open HouseIn fall 2014 the club set up a booth for Open house event in MTU to introduce Optics/Photonics
concentration to the electrical engineering department visitors, mostly perspective college students. The visitors were showed demonstrations involving optics and photonics including, holography, fluorescence, as well as spectrometry. The club discussed how these concepts are used in various fields of study such as Electrical, Optical, Biomedical, and Mechanical engineering as well as Physics.
Journal ClubJournal Club is a series of meetings held by the club at least once a month to discuss journal
papers from different areas in optics and photonics. The main goal of these meeting is broadening the knowledge of optics for our members while conducting social activities. As well these meetings help our undergraduate members to become more familiarized with the process of reading and evaluating a scientific article. The meetings generally take place at a local brew pub in order to keep the atmosphere friendly and not overly serious. Journal articles are selected by a member of the club and submitted twoweeks ahead of time to be dispersed and read amongst the members.
Photonics Learning CenterThe photonics learning center has been a volunteer-driven activity the club has supported since 2010.
The club members held help sessions for students in optics and photonics related courses, including electromagnetics, optical devices, and Fourier optics.
Invited Speaker – Dr. Jonathan ArenbergThis last fall 2014, the club organized an EE departmental seminar, inviting Dr. Jonathan
Arenberg as our guest speaker, with the help of funds from SPIE, to travel to Michigan Tech and talk about the James Webb Space Telescope. The seminar was made available to the university public, for professors, students, and staff to attend.
ConclusionThe SPIE club of Michigan Tech offers students a chance to learn about and help develop the
vastly expanding field of optics and photonics. With many outreach programs, demonstrations, and projects students are able to have fun working with and gaining unique experiences they would not be able to have elsewhere. By expressing the variety of optics, in a friendly atmosphere, the club is able to involve multiple disciplines and the community as a whole. The Michigan Tech Student Chapter thanksSPIE for their continued support and looks forward to another great year.
