News – Page 16

Congrats to Laura Waller for Receiving the 2021 Optical Society (OSA) Adolph Lomb Medal

Founded in 1916, OSA is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and business leaders who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts.

Laura is being honored specifically for important contributions to the advancement of computational microscopy and its applications.

Adolph Lomb was OSA’s treasurer from its founding until his death in 1932. In recognition of his devotion to OSA and the advancement of optics, the Adolph Lomb Medal, established in 1940, is presented to a person who has made a noteworthy contribution to optics at an early career stage.

She joins an esteemed group of past recipients recognized for their outstanding contributions to the field of optics and photonics.

Congrats to Heather Lewandowski for Receiving the Boulder Faculty Excellence Award for AY 2020-2021

The BFA Excellence Awards specifically recognize outstanding work and a concerted effort to make advances in the academy. This award recognizes the importance of teaching and mentoring students as significant components of faculty duties. Congratulations, Heather!

Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, who are also fellows in JILA, recognized for work in cutting-edge lasers

Two scientists who pioneered technologies for generating coherent X-rays, which helped propel research in dynamic processes in atoms, molecules and materials, have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, the academy announced today. Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, physics professors at the University of Colorado Boulder, direct a laboratory in JILA, a joint institute of CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. They are among 175 inventors to be named 2020 National Academy of Inventors. Murnane and Kapteyn are co-inventors on 17 U.S. patents and have published more than 250 peer-reviewed journal articles. They are co-founders of KM Labs, a startup company that produces high-power, high-performance table-top laser systems.

Congrats to Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn for Being Named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

The NAI Fellows Program was established to highlight academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.

Congrats to Yuka Esashi for Receiving the 2021 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship

Yuka Esashi has been announced as the 2021 recipient of the $10,000 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business, for her potential contributions to the field related to advanced lithography. Esashi is pursuing her PhD in physics at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Kapteyn-Murnane group. She is co-lead of a research team that is addressing much-needed advances in metrology techniques for the semiconductor industry, where techniques with high resolution, fidelity and sensitivity are needed. With her team, Esashi has developed phase-sensitive EUV imaging reflectometry, a novel technique which combines computational imaging with EUV reflectometry to measure depth-dependent chemical composition of semiconductor samples in a spatially-resolved and non-destructive manner. In her current research, she is planning on applying this technique to a wider range of next-generation structures and materials. Esashi received her BA in Physics from Reed College in 2017, and her MS in Physics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019.

Native American Heritage Month at UCI: Franklin Dollar

Native American Heritage Month at Physical Sciences: This month, you’ll be hearing about Native Americans at the School of Physical Sciences, and how they make the School what it is.

I’m Franklin Dollar, a member of the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UCI. I study ultrafast laser matter interactions, and how we can convert laser energy into beams of particles and X-rays for next-generation microscopes. I also try to understand how physics education can be improved, from mentorship, to curriculum, to environment.

PS: What advice do you have for Native American students who are considering a career in STEM?

The most important thing you learn with a degree like physics is how to solve problems in the real world. This is useful in nearly any career, and can provide the flexibility to try out different career paths. So though you may not know what you want to do today, as you work and learn you will be able to find your own path.

What to Know if You’re Teaching Physics Labs Remotely

The coronavirus pandemic upended schools in the spring of 2020, sending students and faculty home. This rapidly changed how instructors handled laboratory physics courses. With a NSF RAPID grant, JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski asked instructors what worked—and what didn’t—as they moved their lab courses online.

New electron microscope at CU Boulder enables groundbreaking research across disciplines—and from a distance

Capable of achieving spatial resolutions of 70 pm—smaller than the size of an atom—the Thermo Scientific Titan Themis S/TEM, located in the newly-launched CU Facility for Electron Microscopy of Materials (CU FEMM), is now the highest-resolution electron microscope in Colorado.

Taller than a person and equipped with multiple cameras and detectors, this state-of-the-art, aberration-corrected electron microscopy platform makes groundbreaking research possible in a wide range of fields, including catalysis, advanced imaging, quantum information, energy conversion, biomaterials, battery research, geology, materials development and even archaeology. A team from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is even exploring a potential COVID-19 study using the microscope to inspect the salt from dried saliva droplets.

Congrats to Sakshi Singh for Being Selected as a Winner of the 2020 Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) Poster Contest

Congratulations to Sakshi Singh for Being Selected as a Winner of the 2020 Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) Poster Contest. Sakshi’s poster is titled, “Robust, fast, and high-resolution ultra-thin fiber endoscopes.“

Congrats to Yuka Esashi for Being Selected as a Winner of the 2020 Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) Poster Contest

Congratulations to Yuka Esashi for Being Selected as a Winner of the 2020 Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) Poster Contest. Yuka’s poster title is, “Phase-Sensitive EUV Imaging Reflectometer for Depth-Dependent Composition Determination.”