CREOL e-Highlights Vol 2 Iss 8

Vol. 2, Issue #8

December 2006

Greetings Friends of CREOL:

Welcome to e/Highlights, published by CREOL & FPCE, The College of Optics and Photonics.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or other feedback on information and news from COP that would be most valuable to you, please click here to e-mail us. And please forward this newsletter to others in your company or other colleagues who would like to be kept up to date on the exciting things happening at The College of Optics and Photonics.

Best Regards,

Jim Pearson

Director, Research & Administration

CREOL & FPCE, The College of Optics & Photonics

$4.5 Million Granted for Laser Technology Center Initiative

UCF’s Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) has been enhanced with a new Laser Technology Initiative. The award is one of six new Center of Excellence awards approved unanimously by the state Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s public universities. The $4.5 million in funding and a designation as a state Center of Excellence was announced in November.

The Laser Technology Initiative builds on the highly successful base established by the FPCE with its original award of $10M in 2003. "The Initiative's focus on new compact and efficient high-power pulsed lasers, laser materials, and laser-based technologies for medical, industrial manufacturing, and defense applications will make Florida the center for laser-based technologies and industries, said Eric Van Stryland, Dean of the College and Director of the FPCE and one of the initiative’s lead researchers. The Principle Investigator of the new center is Martin Richardson, University Trustee Chair and Northrup Grumann Professor of X-Ray optics.

Look for more news on the new Laser Technology Initiative in the January 2007 print edition of Highlights.

Affiliates Day 2007

April 13, 2007

"Ultra-Short Pulse Lasers and Applications"

Please mark your calendars for our great technical program, with 4 invited external speakers and two notable UCF/CREOL speakers, and afternoon tour of the new CREOL addition, laboratory tours, vendor exhibits, student research poster session, and faculty research updates. And plan to stay for the great social event, "The Spring Thing", the next day, hosted by MJ Soileau at his home on Lake Jesup (home for more alligators per square meter than any other Florida lake!).

For vendor exhibit reservations, please contact Diana Randall at 407-823-6834.

Faculty News

NABEEL RIZA ELECTED FELLOW OF IEEE-LEOS

Please join the College in congratulating Professor Nabeel Riza for election to the status of Fellow of the IEEE-LEOS. His citation reads: "For contributions to acousto-optic, liquid crystal, and micromirror device applications in photonic signal processing and controls"

Student News

ZHIBING GE AWARDED IEEE/LEOS GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP

Congratulations to Zhibing Ge, student of Dr. S.T. Wu, was awarded a IEEE/LEOS Graduate Fellowship for 2006.

The IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society established the Graduate Student Fellowship Program to provide Fellowships to outstanding LEOS student members pursuing graduate education within the LEOS field of interest. The Fellowships were presented during the Awards Banquet at the LEOS Annual Meeting.

Welcome New Affiliate Members:

Coastal Optical Systems, Inc West Palm Beach, FL

www.coastalopt.com

Save the Date:

January 2007

Photonics West San Jose, CA Look for the "FLORIDA CLUSTER" aisle.
Alumni Reunion -- during Photonics West, Wednesday, January 24, 2007. 6PM - 8PM

April 2007