News From OSA

A Message from OSA's Chapter and Student Services Manager

This has been an active year for OSA Student Chapters. This year we reached a milestone in welcoming our 100th Student Chapter. Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun, China became our 100th Student Chapter shortly before the Annual Meeting. OSA has witnessed 13 new chapters start this year with several more in the process as of this writing.

Additionally, a committee of student chapter leaders developed and continues to manage a new tool for student chapter leaders that was officially unveiled during the well-attended Student Chapter Leadership Meeting on October 8th during the Frontiers in Optics/Laser Science XXII in Rochester, NY. 

The new tool was just part of a successful meeting that saw over 70 OSA Student Chapter leaders from around the world. The one-day training session also included presentations about educational outreach and keys to running a successful chapter in addition to award presentations. 

The winners of the 2006 Excellence Awards were also announced during the plenary session. Winners from the Student Chapters were the Ecole Polytechnique Student Chapter in Montreal, Canada and the Institute of Photonic Sciences Student Chapter in Barcelona, Spain. Winners from the Local Sections were the Southwestern Ontario Local Section in Ontario Canada and the Delhi Local Section in New Delhi, India.

Student Chapters exhibited in the Student Chapter Pavilion in the Exhibit Hall where they displayed information about their activities and gave demonstrations.

Special appreciation is reserved for the OSA Student Chapter Online Educational Outreach Team of students who devoted so much of their time and energy to this project. Special thanks to: Brad Bower (Duke University); Chris Dean, David Banks, and Adriaan van Brakel (University of Southampton); Ciara Close (University College Dublin); Francois Busque (Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal); Winnie Ye (Carleton University); and Yoshi Okawachi (Cornell University).