We’ve certainly been thrown a curveball, haven’t we? Together, over the last few months and in response to COVID-19, we’ve seen the world around us shift rapidly. The global coronavirus pandemic is affecting all our families, our businesses, our communities, and our way of life. My heart goes out to those around the world who have directly suffered loss from COVID-19, and I hope that you, your family, and coworkers are safe and well. If there’s one thing we’ve recently learned, it’s the value of sharing data early and preventing delays in the distribution of information that can affect the actions we take today, to curtail the virus, and ultimately save lives tomorrow.
To that effect, it’s more important than ever for industry leaders to exchange knowledge and discuss solutions to overcome current obstacles. That’s why we’re asking for your input to support Laser Focus World in our efforts to distribute time-critical photonics business and technology information in our online COVID-19 related coverage. Whether your organization is deemed essential to defense, medical, or semiconductor supply chains, or you're developing technology that could play a part protecting people from, detecting, diagnosing, or killing this virus, we want to hear about your doings and findings. If you have insight to provide, or would like to pose a question to the larger optics and photonics community, please email Senior Editor John Wallace at [email protected].
Of course, the selfless first responders and healthcare workers around the world who are on the front lines working tirelessly to care for people in need are truly inspiring. And, I’m sure that many of you continue to work hard in your respective fields, upon which our society relies on more than ever. While you’re not likely to receive the accolades that other professions do from general media outlets, I want you to know that I am in awe of your efforts and am honored to serve you in the capacity of an information provider. We are here to listen, we are here to help, we are here to tell your stories. As always, I hope you enjoy this issue.
John Lewis | Editor in Chief (2018-2021)
John Lewis served as Editor in Chief of Laser Focus World from August 2018 through October 2021, after having served as the Editor in Chief of Vision Systems Design from 2016 to 2018. He has technical, industry, and journalistic qualifications, with more than 13 years of progressive content development experience working at Cognex Corporation. Prior to Cognex where his articles on machine vision were published in dozens of trade journals, he was a technical editor for Design News, covering automation, machine vision, and other engineering topics, for over six years.