DSU and OSCAR Host 1st-ever Regional Optics Symposium

Delaware State University's Optical Science Center for Applied Research (OSCAR) recently hosted the first-ever Delaware Optics Symposium, bringing together businessmen and scientists from nine companies, several institutions of higher education and three federal agencies.

Held Oct. 8-9 in the MLK Student Center parlors, it was the first time such a symposium took place in the six-state Mid-Atlantic region (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia).

The participants heard cutting-edge presentations on emerging topics in optics as well as the wide-ranging applications of optics in military defense and security, medical diagnostics, biological sciences, energy and environmental science.

Dr. Noureddine Melikechi, OSCAR director, said it was a timely year to hold the symposium, as 2015 has been proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies.

“The aim of this symposium was to provide a forum for interaction among scientists engaged in optics-related research in the Mid-Atlantic region,” Dr. Melikechi said. “With this being the first-ever regional symposium, we are looking forward to creating a regional force in optics and photonics that will spur economic development.”

The symposium was attended by representatives of the following companies: SPIE, Zurich Instruments, Leica Microsystems, Coherent Inc., FEI, Ophir Photonics, Praxair, B&W Tek, Axiom Optics and Nikon Instruments. Also participating in the two-day event were researchers, scientists and officials from the Army Research Lab, the National Science Foundation, Old Dominion University, Princeton University, Hampton University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware.