The goal is to introduce 50 Black physics and engineering undergraduate or first year Master’s students annually to the research and career opportunities in optics and photonics and to the Optica community.

Following is a general overview of the program timeline and description.

Program Timeline
The program will run 07-10 October 2023 (4 days and 3 nights) co-located with the Optica annual meeting Frontiers in Optics:

• Saturday, 07 October – arrival and networking event
• Sunday, 08 October – Immersion programming, Student Leadership plenary and party
• Monday 09 October – FiO/Student Leadership programming, DLS Symposium on Undergraduate Research 
• Tuesday 10 October – show floor tour, Plenary and departure

Program Description
Time will be split between programming designed specifically for this group, joint activities with the Optica Student Leadership program, and attending FiO talks and programming. The activities for the Immersion attendees will include: 

1. Overview of optics and photonics research, technologies and career opportunities. 
2. Introduction to Optica and of FiO technical program and special events with programming on getting the most out of the experience.
3. Participation in the DLS Symposium on Undergraduate Research
4. Participation in FiO activities including small group guided tours of FiO exhibit floor and the opening Plenary talk. 
5. Informal networking activities and meals 

Schedule and speakers subject to change. 
 

Saturday, 07 October 

Afternoon - Arrivals

17:30 – 19:00 - Welcome Reception, Point Defiance, Marriott
 

Sunday, 08 October 

07:30 – 08:30             
Breakfast, Ruston, Marriott

08:30 – 08:45            
Welcome, Chambers I, Marriott
Elizabeth Rogan, CEO, Optica, USA
Marcia Lesky, Sr. Director Diversity & Foundation Programs, Optica, USA

08:45 – 09:15             
Introductions & Kick-off with Master of Ceremonies
Peter Delfyett, CREOL, UCF, USA

09:15 – 10:15             
Enabled By Optics
Biomedical Optics – Caroline Boudoux, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada
Fabrication, Design & Instrumentation – Jannick Rolland, University of Rochester, USA
Information Acquisition, Processing & Display – Adam Fleisher, NIST, USA
Optical Interaction Science – TBD
Photonics & Opto-Electronics – Winnie Ye, Carleton University, Canada
Vision & Color Division – Brian Vohnsen, Aalborg University, Denmark
           
10:15 – 10:30               
Break

10:30 – 11:30               
An Engineers Path to NASA and a career in Light Management
Lyndsey McMillon-Brown, NASA Glenn Research Center, USA 

11:30 – 12:30                
The L.A.S.T. Lecture
Donnell Walton, Corning, Inc., USA

12:30 – 13:30              
Networking Lunch 

13:30 – 14:30              
Opportunities in Optics
Kenneth Barber, Edmund Optics, USA
Faezeh Gholami, IBM, USA
Ivy Krystal Jones, Hampton University, USA
Justus Ndukaife, Vanderbilt University, USA

14:30 – 15:30              
Paving the Way
Jami Valentine Miller, PhD, Founder, African American Women in Physics,  Inc. & Primary Patent Examiner, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, USA

15:30-16:00                 
Break

16:00 – 17:30              
Being Black in STEM
George Okyere Dwapanyin, University of St Andrews, UK
Timothy Oshiobughie Imogore, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
Joshua Burrow, Brown University, USA

17:30 – 18:00              
Q&A and Closing
Peter Delfyett, CREOL, UCF, USA

18:00 – 19:00              
Joint dinner to Student Leadership Conference, Location

19:00 – 22:00             
Ghost Tours, McMenamins Elks Temple. 565 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402
 

Monday, 09 October 

07:30 – 08:30         
Breakfast, Commencement I and II, Marriott

08:00 – 08:30        
Breakfast Talk: A Word About Frontiers in Optics from the Chair
Turan Erdogan, Plymouth Grating Laboratory, Inc., USA

08:30 – 12:00         
Free time to Explore the Conference

09:00 – 12:00         
DLS Undergraduate Symposium, Chambers I, Marriott

12:00 – 13:00         
Joint Lunch Symposium on Undergraduate Research, Chambers I, Marriott

13:00 – 14:00         
Starting Point: Meet the Exhibitors, NextGen Lounge, Science & Industry Showcase

14:15 – 14:45           
Black in Optics Meetup, NextGen Lounge, Science & Industry Showcase

14:00 – 16:00         
Optica Foundation Challenge Symposia, Room 405 Convention Center
Use Photonics. Change the World: Environment Symposium
Gilberto Brambilla, University of Southampton,UK
Dismas Choge, University of Eldoret, Kenya
Ashim Dhakal, Phutung Research Institute, Nepal
Michela Florinda Picardi, ICFO – the Institute of Photonics Sciences, Spain
Wanvisa Talataisong, Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand

16:30 – 16:30           
Ambassador Mixer, NextGen Lounge, Science & Industry Showcase

18:30 – 19:30           
Joint Dinner DLS Symposium, The Old Spaghetti Factory, 1250 Pacific Ave
 

Tuesday, 10 October 

07:30 – 08:30         
Breakfast, Commencement I and II, Marriott

08:00 – 08:30        
Breakfast talk: FiO's Science & Industry Showcase: What to Expect
Jose Pozo, Optica Chief Technology Officer, Netherlands

10:30 – 11:30           
FiO Plenary: Towards Wearable Adaptive Optics for Vision, Showcase Theater
Pablo Artal, University of Murcia, Spain

11:30 – 12:00           
Plenary Q&A, NextGen Lounge, Science & Industry Showcase

12:00 – 12:45         
Career Perspectives Roundtable: Academia, NextGen Lounge, Science & Industry Showcase
Mitchell Cox, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Mateusz Szatkowski, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland
Sejeong Kim, University of Melbourne, Australia

12:30 - 13:30           
Outreach & Gender Equity in Pakistan, Optica Booth, Science & Industry Showcase. Imrana Ashraf, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan

Speakers

Kenneth Barber, Edmund Optics
Caroline Boudoux, Biomedical Optics
Joshua Burrow, Brown University
Peter Delfyett, CREOL, UCF
George Okyere Dwapanyin, University of St Andrews
Turan Erdogan, Plymouth Grating Laboratory, Inc.
Adam J. Fleisher, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Faezeh Gholami, IBM
Timothy Imogore, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Ivy Krystal Jones, Hampton University
Lyndsey McMillon-Brown, NASA Glenn Research Center
Jami Valentine Miller, United States Patent and Trademark Office
Justus Ndukaife, Vanderbilt University
Jose Pozo, Optica
Jannick P. Rolland, University of Rochester
Johannes Trbola, Trbola Engineering
Brian Vohnsen, University College Dublin
Donnell Walton, Corning West Technology Center
Winnie Ye, Carleton University