Edmund Optics names winners of 2013 higher education grants for optical innovation

Sept. 4, 2013

Edmund Optics (EO) announced the winners of its 2013 Higher Education Global Grant Program. recognizing outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at non-profit colleges and universities worldwide.

Conard Holton

Barrington, NJ--Edmund Optics (EO) announced the winners of its 2013 Higher Education Global Grant Program. recognizing outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at non-profit colleges and universities worldwide. Over $85,000 in EO optical products will be awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place winners in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, in support of their research and education activities.

"The originality, ingenuity, and vision put forth in so many of these projects is very impressive," said Kirsten Bjork-Jones, Director of Global Marketing Communications. "Edmund Optics remains a very proud supporter and advocate for these resourceful and talented university researchers dedicated to furthering the science of optical innovation."

After evaluating over 800 applications, the EO Grant Team selected 45 finalists from 21 countries who submitted applications ranging from developing handheld optical coherence tomography (OCT) probes for non-invasive diagnostics in primary healthcare to real-time optical detectors for airborne asbestos detection.

The finalists were chosen based on two criteria: 1) technical merit, which is the application of optics in the programs, and 2) the innovative use of optics in the lab or research setting. After securing more in-depth information about the programs, the Grant Team selected the final award recipients.

Award recipients:

In the Americas, the first place award of $10,000 in EO products was given to University of Illinois at Chicago, submitted by Simon Alford, for developing a novel approach to protein-protein interactions using a combination of total internal reflection microscopy and fluorescence anisotropy.

Second place award of $7,500 in EO products went to The Pennsylvania State University, submitted by Jennifer Yang, for an innovative laser ablation tomography (LAT) and serial imaging system for a high-throughput plant phenotyping project.

The University of Pittsburgh, submitted by Yang Liu, was the third place recipient of $5,000 in EO products for developing a clinically applicable optical microscopy system that integrates seamlessly into the standard pathology laboratory for the analysis of standard cell and tissue biopsies of human patients.

In Asia, the first place award of $10,000 USD in EO products was awarded to YongKeun Park from KAIST (South Korea) for the development of holography-based imaging techniques designed to study human disease including the investigation of malaria, cancer, and other neuro-diseases.

Li Heng from Shenzhen University (China) is the second place award recipient of $7,500 USD in EO products for the development of super-resolution fluorescence imaging used in the analysis and nano-positioning of intact cells to achieve dynamic tracking methods.
Third-place award of $5,000 USD in EO products was awarded to the Indian Institute of Science (India), submitted by Shilpa Dilipkumar, for research that is focused on the development of new fluorescence microscopy techniques capable of both temporal and spatial super-resolution such as Multiple Excitation Spot Optical (MESO) microscopy.

In Europe, the first place recipient of €7,000 in EO products is the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), submitted by Craig Mackay, for building a new kind of instrument intended for the largest ground-based optical telescopes which will deliver much higher angular resolution than any space-based images by combining a 5-10 meter class telescope with both Lucky Imaging and adaptive optics systems.

Sarah Isabelle Ksourifrom Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany) was selected to receive €5,000 in EO products as the second-place European recipient for developing new assembling techniques required to fulfill specifications in increasingly complex, and smaller, microsystems.

The third-place recipient is Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata (Italy), submitted by Luca Giovannelli. The award of €3,000 in EO products was presented for developing a Fabry-Pérot Capacitance Stabilized Etalon (CSE), based on a monolithic approach, optimized for a satellite application.

"We offer our deepest congratulations to the winners and finalists of our 2013 Global Grant program! Your research is on the forefront of advancing optical science. We would also like to congratulate and thank all of the researchers who submitted an application this year. It was an honor and inspiration for the EO Team to review every project submitted," said Bjork-Jones.

For more information about these award-winning applications or to view a list of all 2013 finalists with links to their programs, please visit www.edmundoptics.com/grant

To see the winners and finalists for the EO grants in 2012, click HERE.

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.