Rochester Institute of Technology SPIE Student Chapter Annual Report 2016-2017

1. Elected Officers 2017-2018

President: Lauren Taylor E-mail: llt9077@rit.edu Member Number: 3633470

Vice President: Kamran Binaee E-mail: kb4000@rit.edu Member Number: 3768234

Secretary: Ryan Ford E-mail: rmf3259@rit.edu Member Number: 3741032

Treasurer: Zichao Han E-mail: zh7474@rit.edu Member Number: 3710872

2. Current Chapter Members Student Members: 38 Total

Di Bai Kfir Ben-Zikri Kamran Binaee Bahar Canga Ying-Ju Chu Mert Corbaci Shusil Dangi Kevan Donlon Ryan Ford Joshua Frechem Aaron Gaylord Timothy Gibbs Zichao Han Sanghui Han Riaz Haque Tyler Hayes Amiee Jackson Golnaz Jalalahmadi Nirmalan Jeganathan

Kevin Kha Evan Krueger Zachary Levinson Keegan McCoy Melissa McNulty Yu Kee Ooi Sankaranarayanan Piramanayagam Timothy Rupright Katherine Seery Paul Sponagle Lauren Taylor Anton Travinsky Dmitry Vorobiev Zihao Wang Thomas Wilhelm Jie Yang Gefei Yang Wei Yao Runchen Zhao

Alumni Members: 14 Total

Douglas Axtell Burak Baylav Javier Concha David Coumou Germain Fenger Joseph Ho Neal Lafferty

Cristian Linte Sanjit Maitra Chris Maloney Paul Romanczyk Ariel Schlamm Amanda Ziemann René Zünd

3. 2016-2017 Chapter Activities The activities for the 2016-2017 academic year are described, below. Imagine RIT Outreach Event Date: May 7, 2016 Number of attendees: 9 student presenters, >30,000 visitors to the festival Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: $123.79 was spent for supplies to develop a walk-in pinhole camera and to purchase white boards for communicating with hard-of-hearing visitors. Description: An exciting day was spent by chapter members at Imagine RIT - an Innovation and Creativity Festival for showcasing the output of the RIT community. We presented several optics demonstrations to RIT students, faculty, and staff, as well as audiences of all ages from the surrounding community. Demonstrations included our Schlieren Imaging System (allows us to see changes in air density caused by heat and turbulence in the air), a phone-booth-sized walk-in pinhole camera, and a diffraction experiment looking at different household light sources. Attendees were able to interact with each demonstration in a hands-on fashion and learn about diverse physical phenomena which can be investigated using simple optical setups.

Corning Museum of Glass Group Field Trip Date: May 8, 2016 Number of attendees: 16 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: Yes How chapter funding was spent: $108.90 on admission to the museum Description:

Student chapter members and peers attended the Corning Museum of Glass to enjoy a day learning about the history of optical materials and some hands-on glass blowing. Demo tours at the Museum covered the history of glass both in terms of technology and art.

Camera Lesson and BATCAM Work (Outreach) Date: June 8, 2016 Number of attendees: 30 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No SPIE funding was spent. Funded last term by OSA Centennial Grant. Description: Last year, the RIT Student Chapter worked to set up a camera in a bat house (BATCAM) for second-grade students at Cherry Road Elementary School (Syracuse, NY) to learn about the nesting habits of bats in a local park. Due to the nocturnal nature of bats and their small living quarters, we purchased and set up a camera with night-vision capabilities to track their activity around the clock. On June 8th, we visited the school to give a class lesson to the involved students on how cameras work. Students were taught simple ray tracing to learn how a camera uses light to form an image and were also assisted in constructing and using their own simple cameras.

RIT and University of Rochester SPIE Student Chapter Collaborative BBQ Picnic Date: September 30, 2016 Number of Attendees: ~50 Included in previous report: Yes (Collaborative event was planned, but details were not finalized) Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: The cost of the event was split between chapters. RIT’s contribution to the food/event cost was $147.35 Description: We co-hosted a picnic with the University of Rochester SPIE Student chapter at the Genesee Valley Park in Rochester. Chapter members were able to socialize with peers in the fields of optics, photonics, and imaging and learn about one another’s research. We enjoyed the food, conversation, and meeting new people.

Presentation Skills Competitions Date: Graduate - October 14, 2016 / Undergraduate - March 24, 2017 Number of attendees: 15 (graduate), 25 (undergraduate) Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: Yes How chapter funding was spent: $100 was spent to cover the cost of the undergraduate competition ($75 was given to the first place winner and $25 was given to the second place winner). OSA funding was used to support the graduate competition. Description: Student talk competitions were held for separate fields of graduate and undergraduate student competitors. Participants submitted abstracts in advance and competing speakers were selected by the student chapter council. Each student gave a 10 minute talk which was scored by an audience of peers in categories of organization, timeliness, visual aides, delivery, and content. Feedback from presentation experts from the RIT Toastmasters organization was given at the close of each competition to educate both presenters and audience members on effective presentation skills.

Invited Speaker - Dr. Patrick Oden Date: October 26, 2016 Number of attendees: ~80 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: Yes How chapter funding was spent: A total of $82.13 was spent: $42.99 was spent on a group lunch for students and the invited speaker and $39.14 was spent for the invited speaker’s breakfast and dinner. Description: We invited Dr. Patrick Oden, Fellow at Texas Instruments, to give a talk entitled, “‘Steering’ Light with Texas Instruments Digital Micromirror Device”. He was given a tour of different labs by chapter members studying at the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT, where he particularly enjoyed playing tennis as part of a virtual-reality-based demonstration of research in vision science. Chapter members were able to interact with Dr. Oden over meals, where topics of conversation included the events and activities of the RIT student chapter and academic and industry career paths.

Visit from the SPIE Student Chapter at the University of Fukui Date: October 26, 2016 Number of attendees: ~10 (5 visiting students and 5 Chapter members) Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: A total of $31.86 was spent on lunch. Description: University of Fukui SPIE and OSA student chapter members were invited for a visit to the RIT campus after meeting with our Chapter Representative at the SPIE Student Leadership Workshop. RIT and University of Fukui attendees discussed the ongoing events and activities of each of our chapters and also discussed potential future collaborative activities. RIT chapter members hosted lab tours including research areas such as optics, virtual reality, and detectors.

SPIE Visiting Lecturer - Pantazis Mouroulis Date: October 31, 2016 Number of attendees: ~40 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: Yes How chapter funding was spent: $42.99 was spent on lunch for students and the invited speaker. Description: SPIE chapter proudly invited Dr. Mouroulis, Senior Research Scientist and Principal Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We were excited to invite Dr. Mouroulis to give a lecture at RIT, as his career highlights include a stint at RIT at the time when the PhD program in Imaging Science was being established! Chapter members were able to discuss the activities of the SPIE Student Chapter and the history and present ongoings of the RIT Center for Imaging Science. Students and faculty were given the opportunity to attend dinner alongside Dr. Mouroulis, where he shared his experiences in academia/industry with others.

Churchville Chili Middle School Outreach Date: November 8, 2016 Number of attendees: 35 Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No funding was spent. Description: We were invited to present to 5th and 6th grade students at Churchville Chili Middle School in Rochester, NY as part of their monthly workshop on job/career opportunities to show students how the concepts they are learning in class apply in the “real world”. We brought our Schlieren Imaging System to show students how optics and imaging can be used to study phenomena such as air turbulence, heating, and gas emission and discuss career paths related to optics.

Chapter End of Semester/Holiday Party Date: December 15, 2016 Number of attendees: 15 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: Yes How chapter funding was spent: $114.49 of SPIE funding was spent on finger food for attendees. Description: The SPIE Student chapter invited all chapter members and peers to an “End of Semester” party at a local restaurant. Students celebrated a semester of hard work and enjoyed each other’s company to kick-off the winter holiday.

3rd Annual Writing Retreat and Workshop Date: January 16-21, 2017 Number of attendees: 7 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No money was spent. The Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT funded this event. Description: For the third year in a row, the RIT SPIE student chapter organized a writing retreat. Graduate students from all RIT disciplines were encouraged to apply in early December via submitting a statement of the writing goals they wished to achieve during the retreat, a description of the current status of their technical writing project (planning, data gathering/analysis, understanding of the audience, etc.), and a letter of support from their advisor. The writing retreat was held at a cottage on Honeoye Lake close to Rochester, NY. During the retreat, students spent time working on their writing projects which included conference/journal papers, thesis proposals, and dissertations. Mid-week, a professor from the RIT Center for Imaging Science visited the cottage and provided

individualized feedback on the writing task of each attendee. Presentations were given on subjects including effective figures and interactive data visualization and peer discourse on effective writing strategies was facilitated.

Interactive Science Kit Competition Date: 2016 - 2017 Academic Year (Judging February 22, 2017) Number of attendees: 10 Included in previous report: Yes (“Mini Optics/Imaging Demo Competition”) Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No funding was spent. The prize money for the competition and implementation cost was supported by the RIT Center for Imaging Science. Description: This new event was created as a competition for undergraduates coupled to outreach to a local middle school. Undergraduate students from RIT competed to develop the best interactive science kit, having a central theme of optics, photonics, or imaging, to serve as a hands-on experience/science lesson for middle school students. Kit prototypes were limited to $20 and competitors were required to budget their kit so that 35 kits could be constructed for $350. Kits were judged based on strong, real-world connections to the presented science concepts, audience/age-appropriateness, and cost of implementation. First prize was awarded $500. The winners of the kit competition are currently working with the SPIE Student chapter to purchase and assemble the kits so that they can be implemented as outreach to a local middle school. RIT Girls Soaring in STEM Fair Outreach Event Date: February 4, 2017 Number of attendees: ~100 Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No

How chapter funding was spent: $21.58 was spent to supply the demonstration with air duster to enable attendees to see the effect of air turbulence. Description: Our chapter demonstrated our Schlieren Imaging System to girls and women attending the RIT Girls Soaring in STEM Fair. The Schlieren imaging system enabled attendees to see the effect of changes in air density with respect to light collection and imaging. The focus of this outreach event was to get chapter members to inspire Rochester-local female students (elementary through high school) and Girl Scouts to pursue science in the fields of optics and imaging while enabling presenting chapter members to practice communicating optics concepts to audiences of all ages and levels of understanding. Our “Seeing the Invisible” presentation even made the cover of RIT’s “News & Events Daily” portion of the University News!

Photo credit: http://www.rit.edu/news/photoarchive.php?view=photo&datePhoto=2017-02-05

Northside Elementary School STEM Night Outreach Event Date: February 16, 2017 Number of attendees: >500 Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: $31.31 was spent on supplies for the Schlieren. Description: We were invited to present our Schlieren Imaging System as part of the Northside Elementary School STEM Night in Fairport, NY. Several hundred 3rd-5th grade students, siblings, parents, and grandparents visited our demonstration. We helped attendees of all ages to interactively investigate how changes in the temperature and turbulence of air change its density and showed them how a long-standing optical technique can be used to visualize these phenomena.

Olympia High School Visit Date: March 7, 2017 Number of attendees: 20 Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No chapter funding was spent. Description: Junior and Senior students from Olympia High School (Greece, NY) visited with representatives from the RIT Center for Imaging Science and the SPIE Student Chapter to learn more about the field of optics and the academic, research, and career opportunities it has to offer. We introduced the students to the SPIE organization and discussed how membership to a professional society can offer unique scholarship, conference participation, and outreach opportunities. The students enjoyed the chance to learn about research in the field of optics and imaging by interacting with virtual and augmented reality research of one of our chapter members.

RMSC Featured Presenters Outreach Event Date: March 25, 2017 Number of attendees: ~30 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: Yes How chapter funding was spent: $43.18 was spent to re-supply computer duster for the demonstration so that the effect of turbulent air could be seen using the schlieren system. Description:

Our chapter demonstrated our Schlieren Imaging System to children and parents in a presentation entitled, “Seeing the Invisible,” at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The Schlieren imaging system enabled attendees to see the effect of changes in air density with respect to light collection and imaging. The phenomenon was explained to event attendees at an introductory level. Children and parents were able to interact with the system and investigate first-hand how heating elements and air turbulence affect the image of the system. This outreach event enabled participating chapter members to practice presenting optics concepts to audiences of all ages and levels of understanding.

Dinner with SPIE Immediate Past-President, Dr. Robert Liebermann, and University of Rochester SPIE Student Chapter Officers Date: March 26, 2017 Number of attendees: 3 RIT Student Chapter Officers, 10 attendees total Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No funding was spent. Description: An enjoyable dinner was spent interacting with the Immediate Past-President of SPIE, Dr. Robert Liebermann, and SPIE Student Chapter Officers from the University of Rochester. We discussed past, ongoing, and planned events for our chapter and cooperative events between the two chapters with Dr. Liebermann who inspired us to organize more collaborative activities. We asked about his academic and industry career path and the responsibilities associated with the position of SPIE president. We also discussed upcoming SPIE events and opportunities for students and early career professionals to become more involved with conferences.

Preparing New Demonstrations Date: Spring 2017 Number of attendees: 10 Included in previous report: No Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: A total of $679.06 was spent to implement 3 new demonstrations in preparation for Imagine RIT and to use in upcoming outreach events. This year’s SPIE grant supplied $452.42 toward this cost. Description: Several demonstrations have been proposed by chapter members to increase the diversity of our outreach. We have brainstormed two new demonstrations which juxtapose the “Seeing the Invisible” demonstration - these demos focus on “hiding” objects with optical systems! We have also identified a new “laser targeting” demonstration in which the audience can interact with system alignment. The new demonstrations have required the purchase of several optical elements and mounting/implementation supplies. We plan to use these new demonstrations in our upcoming appearance at the 2017 Imagine RIT event and future elementary/middle school and Rochester Museum and Science Center outreach events. Monthly Happy Hour Date: 2nd Thursday of Every Month Number of attendees: 10-20 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No money was spent. Description: The second Thursday of each month, graduate student chapter members gather at a local restaurant to have some snacks and drinks and chat amongst fellow chapter members, RIT peers from other disciplines, faculty and friends including SPIE chapter members from the University of Rochester. Monthly Chapter Meetings Date: First Friday of each month Number of attendees: 9 Included in previous report: Yes Funding requested: No How chapter funding was spent: No money was spent. Description:

Nine meetings have been held within the May 2016 - April 2017 academic year. Members used this time to organize events and outreach activities. The minutes for each of these meetings can be found on our website: https://sites.google.com/a/g.rit.edu/spie-student-chapter-at-rit/meeting-minutes/2016-2017-Academic-Year 4. Planned Activities for 2017-2018 Imagine RIT Outreach Event Date: May 6, 2017 Description: The chapter is planning to present our Schlieren Imaging System and new optics demonstrations at the Imagine RIT event to other students, faculty, staff, and members of the Rochester community. The event should be engaging for persons of all ages, where attendees can learn about optics in an exciting, interactive setting. We plan to debut our newly prepared demonstrations from Spring 2017. Funds will be spent to re-supply the heat sources for the Schlieren System and finalize implementation of the prepared demonstrations. Expected total: $50 SPIE contribution: $50 Camera Lesson and BATCAM Work (Outreach) Date: Summer 2017 Description: We plan to set up a second bat house and BATCAM system on the RIT Campus to continue our outreach involvement with the Cherry Road Elementary School. Expected total: $500 (funded by OSA) SPIE Contribution: $0 Recruitment Event Date: Early Fall 2017 Description: In order to increase the number of active members in our chapter, we plan to host a recruitment event on the RIT campus. We plan to host a cookout with games on the lawn in front of the Center for Imaging Science at to attract students studying optics, imaging, and photonics. During this event, we will collect contact information from interested students and have informal discussions about the ongoing activities of our chapter. We will follow up with interested students and provide them with promotional material about the benefits of SPIE student membership as well as participation in the RIT Student Chapter. Expected total: $200 SPIE contribution: $200 Collaborative Event with University of Rochester Student Chapter Date: Tentatively Fall 2017

Description: To encourage interaction with local optics peers, we plan to host another collaborative event with the student chapter at the University of Rochester. We are planning to host another social gathering - tentatively a meetup at a local restaurant, a LaserTron event, or a barbeque - to further facilitate camaraderie, collaboration, and intellectual exchange between chapter members from both universities. Expected total: $200 SPIE contribution: $150 Guest Speakers Date: Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 Description: We plan to invite two speakers (one in the fall and one in the spring) through the SPIE Visiting Lecturer Program to give a talk to the chapter members and optics community at RIT. We plan to use chapter funds to take the speakers and several interested chapter members to dinner and encourage exchange between the lecturer and rising scientists studying imaging, optics, and photonics. Expected total: $300 ($150 per speaker event) SPIE contribution: $300 Imaging-Science-Related Academic/Professional Development Workshops Date: Summer 2017 - Spring 2018 Description: In partnership with the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, we plan to help host several academic and professional development workshops for students studying imaging and optics-related fields at RIT. Potential workshops topics include, “A day in the life of a graduate researcher,” “Framing plans and goals for research,” and “Important writing skills and effective figures.” These events will be funded by the Center for Imaging Science. Expected total: $500 (Funded by RIT CIS) SPIE Contribution: $0 Interactive Science Kit Competition (Outreach) Date: Fall 2017 Description: We plan to carry out the outreach portion of the Interactive Science Kit Competition from the 2016-2017 academic year. This will involve finalizing purchases, constructing kits, and implementing an outreach event for a class of 8th grade students at the Honeoye Falls-Lima Middle School. The RIT Center for Imaging Science is funding up to $350 of kit implementation costs. SPIE funding will be spent on kit enhancements and miscellaneous implementation costs (kit carriers, printing materials, etc.). Expected total: $450 SPIE contribution: $100 Student Talk Competitions

Date: Full academic year Description: For the fourth year in a row, the chapter is planning to organize talk competitions for both graduate and undergraduate students. These competitions will be a venue for students to practice presentation skills and share their research with their peers. Funding will be put towards prizes for the first and second place winners. Expected total: $200

Budget breakdown: Undergraduate competition - $100 Graduate competition - $100

SPIE Contribution: $100 RMSC Featured Presenters and School STEM Events (Outreach) Date: TBD Description: We plan to demonstrate our Schlieren Imaging System and newly developed optics demonstrations at the Rochester Museum and Science Center and local school STEM events, as in previous years. The demonstrations will be engaging, interactive learning experiences for children and parents of the Rochester community. Funds will be spent to acquire supplies needed for demonstrations including light sources, optic mounts, air duster, etc. We plan to build on the demonstration preparation activity held in Spring 2017 to construct a water-droplet demonstration using a strobe light to create the illusion that the water droplets are standing still or moving against gravity. Expected total: $250 SPIE contribution: $250 Holiday Social / End of the Semester Party Date: December 2017 Description: We plan to throw a Holiday party for the RIT SPIE Student chapter members and peers/friends in the local optics community. This event will likely be subsidized by an OSA grant. Expected total: $300 SPIE contribution: $150 4th Annual Writing Retreat and Workshop Date: January 2018 Description: For the fourth year in a row, we plan to host a student-organized writing retreat to take place at an off-campus location where students can avoid daily distractions and focus on writing. Attendees will focus on a specific technical writing task (conference paper, peer-reviewed article, thesis proposal/dissertation), while building meaningful relationships with their peers. Students will set goals prior to attending and work to develop effective writing skills to meet these goals during the retreat. The work will be guided by a few experts, faculty, and professional writers, as well as through peer review. Funding for this event will be supported by the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT. Expected total: $2000 SPIE contribution: $0

Student Chapter Trip Date: Spring 2018 Description: We plan to host another trip to a local museum such as the George Eastman house or the Corning Museum of Glass for a day of exciting educational fun with our chapter members and celebrate a year of hard work. We will conduct a poll so that student members can decide the location of the trip. This trip will also give newly-inducted members a chance to interact with current members in an informal, fun setting. Funding for this event will be used to offset the admission costs for the elected visit location and reimburse travel fees. Expected total: $200 SPIE contribution: $200 Monthly Happy Hour Date: Second Thursday of every month Description: The chapter will continue to promote social networking between graduate students across the RIT campus through this monthly gathering. No chapter funds will be spent for this event. Expected total: $0 SPIE contribution: $0 5. Finances

Deposits

Date Funding Source Comments Amount (USD)

Remaining from last term $1,984.22

9/28/2017 SPIE grant For Chapter Management $1,300.00

1/16/2017 RIT Center for Imaging Science Writing Retreat Grant $1,496.89

2/8/2017 OSA grant For Chapter Management $350.00

2/22/2017 RIT Center for Imaging Science Prize for first place winners of kit competition $500.00

Total Deposits $5,631.11

Expenditures

Event Date Event Comments Amount (USD)

Funding Source

5/6/2017 Imagine RIT $123.79 SPIE Grant

5/8/2016 Corning Museum Trip Admission for Student Member Attendees $108.90 SPIE Grant

9/30/2016 Barbecue with Univ. of Rochester SPIE Chapter Food Supplies $147.35 SPIE Grant

10/14/2016 Student Talk Competition Graduate $100.00 SPIE Grant

10/26/2016 Patrick Oden Invited Speaker Breakfast and Dinner for Dr. Oden $39.14 SPIE Grant

Chapter Lunch $42.99 SPIE Grant

10/26/2016 Lunch with Univ. of Fukui SPIE Chapter $31.86 SPIE Grant

10/31/2016 Lunch with Pantazis Mouroulis (SPIE Visiting Lecturer) $42.99 SPIE Grant

12/15/2016 Student Chapter Holiday Party $100.00 OSA Grant

$114.49 SPIE Grant

1/16/2017 Writing Retreat Lodging $950.00

RIT Center for Imaging Science

Food $546.89

RIT Center for Imaging Science

2/4/2017 RIT Girls Soaring in STEM Fair Outreach $21.58 SPIE Grant

2/16/2017 Northside Elementary School STEM Night Outreach $31.31 SPIE Grant

2/22/2017 Interactive Science Kit Competition First Prize $500.00

RIT Center for Imaging Science

3/24/2017 Student Talk Competition Undergraduate $100.00 OSA Grant

3/25/2017 RMSC Featured Presenter Outreach $43.18 SPIE Grant

4/15/2017 Preparing New Demonstrations (Purchase of Items)

$150.00 OSA Grant

$452.42 SPIE Grant

$76.64

Remaining funding from last term

Total Expenditures $3,723.53

6. Additional Information Chapter Website: https://sites.google.com/a/g.rit.edu/spie-student-chapter-at-rit/ Chapter Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/100489154274/

Chapter Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/spieosa_rit Chapter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spieosa_rit/