{"id":512152,"date":"2022-02-24T11:43:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T16:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=512152"},"modified":"2022-09-19T10:18:27","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T14:18:27","slug":"optics-phd-expands-graduate-recruitment-national-demand-512152","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optics-phd-expands-graduate-recruitment-national-demand-512152\/","title":{"rendered":"Institute of Optics expands graduate recruitment amid soaring national demand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two new awards will help the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ prepare a more diverse pipeline of optics professionals.<\/h2>\n

Two recent awards will enable the Institute of Optics<\/a> at the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a> to help address a pressing need for highly trained PhD graduates, including women and underrepresented minorities, in industry, research labs, and academia.<\/p>\n

A $900,000 GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need<\/a>) grant from the US Department of Education will pay for six PhD fellowships, at least half of which will be awarded to students from underrepresented groups.<\/p>\n

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Apply for optics PhD fellowships<\/h2>\n

Email Kat Davies<\/a>, graduate coordinator for the Institute of Optics, to learn more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Another $500,000, to be matched by the University, comes from SPIE, the international society of optics and photonics. The SPIE Endowment Matching Program<\/a> award will initially provide stipend and travel support for an additional student but is expected to grow.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1929, the institute is the oldest optics degree-granting program in the nation. To date, it has granted approximately 2,800 degrees\u2014about half of all optics degrees awarded in the US. The institute currently enrolls 102 PhD students.<\/p>\n

\u201cRochester has a long history of successful optics education, and many of today\u2019s leading optics researchers have emerged from its Institute of Optics. This endowed fund is a critical partnership between SPIE and the URochester, one that will help ensure that pipeline of leaders continues for generations to come,\u201d says SPIE president Anita Mahadevan-Jansen.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tremendous momentum\u2019 in optics PhD recruiting<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cOne of the most important aspects of a gift like this,\u201d says Thomas Brown<\/a>, interim institute director and professor of optics, \u201cis that it allows us to \u2018invest in the best,\u2019 to continue searching for future Nobel laureates, entrepreneurs, and engineers from all over the world to come to Rochester and be part of our growing family.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2018, Donna Strickland \u201989 (PhD) was awarded a Nobel Prize<\/a> for work she did at the University\u2019s Laboratory for Laser Energetics as an optics PhD. Strickland is only the third woman to receive the prize in physics\u2014and her accomplishment was a \u201cwatershed moment for our PhD program,\u201d Brown says. \u201cIt imparted tremendous momentum in our recruiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe present employment prospects for optics PhD graduates are excellent, because they are recruited from such a broad range of industries, universities, and government laboratories,\u201d Brown says. \u201cThe requests we receive from prospective employers hungering for fresh PhD students continue at a steady pace. All our recent graduates have found employment before or within a month of graduation, and PhD graduates who are US citizens or permanent residents are in particular demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the institute\u2019s graduates find employment in the Rochester region, a hub of more than 90 optics-related companies. AIM Photonics<\/a>, which designs and manufactures complex photonic integrated circuits, and entrepreneurial initiatives such as Luminate<\/a>, which provides startup funding for optics-related initiatives, have cemented Rochester\u2019s international reputation in the field.<\/p>\n

Collaboration in the classroom and the lab<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Optics
Optics PhD candidate Kareem Garriga researches terahertz electromagnetic waves. \u201cThe facilities afforded to us and the freedom we have as graduate students allow us to tackle problems and delve deeper in all subfields,\u201d he says. (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With its four-to-one ratio of PhD students to faculty, the institute prides itself on fostering a close-knit community. It does so through open-door access to faculty, weekly informal gatherings, as well as annual departmental picnics, holidays parties, and family-friendly events. Despite recent necessary curtailments due to COVID, two current PhD students say they’ve benefited from the collegial atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m part of a unique community at the institute,\u201d says Katie Dunn. \u201cWhen you\u2019re taking first-year classes and studying for preliminary exams, it\u2019s not a competitive environment. Everyone is trying to help each other out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow optics PhD student Kareem Garriga concurs and adds, \u201cWe have a very collaborative environment, with access to cutting-edge technology,\u201d he says. \u201cThe facilities afforded to us and the freedom we have as graduate students allow us to tackle problems and delve deeper in all subfields, from quantum optics to laser fusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garriga, for example, is researching terahertz electromagnetic waves in the lab of Xi-Cheng Zhang<\/a>, a leading expert in field. The waves are hard to detect, but could have interesting applications, for example in detecting drugs or explosives behind barriers, which is why Garriga is working to create a detector to improve the characterization of THz sources.<\/p>\n

Dunn, meanwhile, is a member of the research group of Andrew Berger<\/a>, an expert in developing optical contrast mechanisms to analyze untreated cells and tissues. She is using a technique called angularly resolved light scattering to learn more about the organelles within single cells, which could have applications for improved medical diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n

Both students say they appreciate the supportive mentoring they\u2019ve received. Berger, for example, \u201creally cares about his students\u2014that they\u2019re flourishing as researchers, and also as people,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cHe gives us a lot of his time.\u201d Another big supporter has been Jim Fienup, the Robert E. Hopkins Professor of Optics, who has taught several of Dunn\u2019s favorite courses and helped her with the Fourier processing she uses as part of her research. He is on her thesis committee.<\/p>\n

Garriga says that Zhang \u201chas been great because he\u2019s given me a lot of freedom to approach topics on my own accord and in my own time. I\u2019ve also learned a lot about mentoring and grant writing from him.\u201d Yiwen E, a research associate in the lab, has helped Garriaga develop his skills as a lab researcher and teaching mentor, he adds. \u201cShe also taught me how to keep up with the latest trends and how to always be innovating in a field that continues to move as fast as our does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both say they wholeheartedly encourage aspiring optics PhD students to consider enrolling at the institute. \u201cIf you\u2019re interested in optics, it\u2019s definitely a wonderful place to be,\u201d Dunn says. \u201cYou are surrounded by a lot of other students and faculty who are very interested in similar things. And everyone is on board to help you with whatever you want to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

What sets us apart<\/h1>\n

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Research across domains<\/strong><\/h4>\n