End of summer brings more opportunities to learn about lasers

It has been a pretty quiet summer if you live in the Northeast, and not, for instance, in Texas and Florida (hurricanes) or the Northwest (fires). We're scheduled to get a sample from Hurricane Jose passing close this week. However, the fall season brings lots of travel with it—here are a few laser-related venues:

• D2P – Design to Part – a regional job shop show located in Marlboro, MA (September 27-28); there are a number of other regional shows like this in other areas of the country as well.
• Additive Aerospace Summit – Los Angeles, CA (October 18-20).
• ICALEO – Atlanta, GA (October 22-26) – LIA's flagship event will be held in Atlanta this year and not Miami, thankfully!
• FABTECH – Chicago, IL (November 6-9).
• MDM Minneapolis – Minneapolis, MN (November 8-9). There is a conflict with the FABTECH show this year and a number of us that usually attend both will either have to make a choice of one over the other, or, as in my case, try to take in the FABTECH venue in the beginning of the week and hit MDM Minneapolis at the week's end.

I would also like to mention a couple of PennWell-sponsored webcasts coming up this fall. Next week on Thursday, September 28^th, Dr. Sterling Backus of KMLabs will give a presentation on industrial femtosecond lasers operating below the 150fs pulse length. This will begin at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time—click here to register.

I am also giving a webcast on new and interesting ultrashort-pulse (USP) laser applications on Wednesday, November 1^st—keep the date in mind and registration details will be forthcoming. The timing for this webcast was chosen partly because it is just after the ICALEO conference and I should be able to report on a lot of new and interesting developments in the USP world.

Finally, the company I started with my partners, PhotoMachining, Inc., celebrated its 20^th anniversary on September 19^th. Wow—where has the time gone? Another well-known company, Joining Technologies (East Granby, CT), is having their 25^th anniversary party on Friday, October 20^th—just before ICALEO.

So, there are lots of opportunities to promote industrial lasers and interact with the laser community. Hope to see you at one or all of these venues!

I am always interested in hearing your thoughts concerning laser micromachining, the laser industry, comments on entrepreneurial endeavors, etc. AND … we are always looking for fresh, publishable material. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].