Events

Thorlabs Mobile Photonics Lab - January 17th - 18th, 2024

1/17/2024

We were honored to host the Thorlabs Mobile Photonics Lab on their inaugural cross-country tour from Newton, NJ to San Francisco, CA. The Mobile Lab provided students with the opportunity to experience hands-on photonics demos including biomedical optics and imaging, spectroscopy, and optical communications.

Women in Photonics Day 2023

3/14/2023

On March 18th, the Photonics society held its 5th Women in Photonics event! The day kicked off with a plenary talk from Michelle O'Toole, an engineer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Then, the 20 high school participants went on a series of lab and cleanroom tours hosted by UCSB Photonics Society members, and in the afternoon had hands-on photonics labs.

SBMA Color Mixing Outreach Event

4/8/2022

As part of the SBMA Free Community Day on April 7, 2022, the Photonics Society hosted a color mixing activity on the terrace in front of the art museum. Guests learned about additive and subtractive color mixing while having fun mixing paints. Several guests proved to be talented young artists, making beautiful recreations of Van Gogh paintings by mixing cyan, magenta, and yellow paint to create a variety of colors.

Women in Photonics Week 2018

11/11/2018

Women in Photonics 2018
Hosted by Photonics Society @ UCSB
October 29 - November 10

Between October 29 and November 10, the Photonics Society at UCSB held its third annual Women in Photonics event, a week of events promoting Women in Engineering and Science! This year, we held a total of five events for the UCSB, Goleta, and Santa Barbara communities, and hosted an international visitor. We sent local scientists to give talks at local K-12 schools, hosted a lecture given by Dr. Caroline Lai from Rockley Photonics, and hosted two Nanofab tours led by the women who work there.

UCSB Nanofabrication Facility Tours

We organized a tour of the UCSB nanofabrication facility on Saturday November 3rd from 1 - 3 pm led by female UCSB graduate students and local industry professionals for November 3.

Tours were led by:
Paula Heu of Innovative III-V Solutions
Cheyenne Lynsky from UCSB Solid-State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center
Victoria Rosborough from the research group of Prof. Jonathan Klamkin

Tour leaders showed attendees how to gown up in a bunny suit before walking them through the facility. Tours covered the various tools and techniques used in a cleanroom, as well as the many types of devices that are fabricated in the UCSB cleanroom.

Above: Paula Heu from Innovative III-V Solutions demonstrates photolithography in the UCSB nanofabrication facility

Local Company Tour

In collaboration with women scientists and engineers from Freedom Photonics--a local photonics company--we organized an event at Freedom Photonics’ facility on October 30 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm. This event included a tour of the nanofabrication facility, a short lecture on photonic applications, the career paths of the Freedom Photonics scientists and engineers, and several hands-on activities including a demonstration of a handheld infrared camera, a DVD spectrometer activity, and the principles of photolithography using sidewalk chalk and stencils.

Above: Aligned stencil patterns from Freedom Photonics’ photolithography activity.

Talks by Photonics Researchers

On Friday, November 2 and Friday, November 9, the Photonics Society organized talks at local middle schools by women graduate students in photonics-related fields at UCSB. In these talks, the graduate students discussed their work, their interest in science, and their educational paths through college and graduate school.

Dr. Caroline Lai from Rockley Photonics in Pasadena came to speak to photonics graduate students on Thursday, November 8. She spoke about Rockley Photonics’ history and gave a technical overview of the range of technologies on which the company works. She concluded by touching on her career thus far and the importance of having female mentors.

Rockley Photonics' Vision of In-Package Optics for the Future of Datacenter Networking
Abstract: Rockley Photonics is a silicon photonics company based in Pasadena, CA, that is a fabless supplier of silicon photonics chipsets, IP, and custom designs for high-volume optics applications. One of our goals is to enable in-package optics to create an optical switching solution for datacenter network applications. In this seminar, I will give an overview of Rockley Photonics, outlining our core technology platform and key strengths.

Above: Dr. Caroline Lai from Rockley Photonics speaks at UCSB.

High School Outreach

On Saturday November 10, female members of the Photonics Society participated in the annual I HEART STEM conference. The conference was jointly organized by the UCSB Women’s Center and Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) student organization and is intended to encourage high-school-aged young women to pursue STEM fields when they enter college through hands-on STEM workshops and a keynote address about the difficulties they may face as a woman in STEM. All attendees and workshop facilitators were women. The Photonics Society led a hands-on workshop where attendees explored different optical phenomena such as polarization and color perception.

Above: Photonics Society Secretary Victoria Rosborough leads participants in an activity at I HEART STEM

International Collaboration

Finally, this year, the Photonics Society hosted an international visitor for Women in Photonics Week. Miki Igarashi is a general science communicator in Japan. In addition to hosting her own YouTube science channel and running science education outreach events for children, she is a graduate student at the University of Tokyo studying science communication with a focus on women in STEM. We invited her to observe I HEART STEM workshops and talks. In addition, some members of the Photonics Society visited MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, in downtown Santa Barbara with her as well as to find inspiration through the exhibits and demonstrations for our own photonics-related educational outreach activities. She wrote a blog about her experience with I HEART STEM and MOXI on her website. Finally, we gave her our color-mixing activity (available through the FUSE website) with instructions that we had translated into Japanese with the help of a UCSB Japanese-American student. We plan to send her our other educational outreach kits with translated instructions later in the academic year.

Above: From left to right, a student volunteer, Miki Igarashi, and Photonics Society President Takako Hirokawa after I HEART STEM 2018.

Women In Photonics Week 2017

10/13/2017

When: Week of Monday October 23rd – Saturday Oct. 28th

PhoSoc @ UCSB is organized a week of events promoting Women in Engineering and Science.

We sent local scientists to give talks at schools, took light-based science activities to Girls Inc., and hosted two company tours led by the women who work there.

The following events occurred:

Contact [email protected] with questions.

Led by women, open to everyone

Freedom Photonics Tour
Friday Oct. 27th, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Location: 41 Aero Camino, Goleta, CA 93117 (map)
Age Limit: Junior High and up

The women at Freedom Photonics hosted hands-on photonics (light-science) demos and gave a tour of their cleanroom.

Schedule
– 3:30pm – 3:45pm: Welcome & Check-In
– 3:45pm – 4:15pm: Presentation (open to public)
– 4:15pm – 5:00pm: Cleanroom Tour (U.S. Persons ONLY)

Engineers Jes, Raphaella & Isabella

UCSB NanoFab Tour
Mon. Oct. 23rd, 3:30pm – 5:30pm
Tour Location: UCSB Engineering Sciences Building (map),
Age Limit: Grade 6 and up

UCSB Scientists gave tours of the UCSB Nanofabrication Facility, where many types of cutting-edge microchips are produced. Women leading the tours talked about the light-science research they perform in the facility, and attendees got to gown up in "bunny suits" and go inside the cleanroom.

Tour Leaders:

Paula Heu, Crystalline Mirror Solutions
Cheyenne Lynsky, UCSB's Solid-State Lighting/Display/Energy Center

Schedule:
– 3:30pm – 3:45pm: Welcome & Introduction
– 3:45pm – 4:15pm: Tour outside the cleanroom
– 4:15pm – 5:00pm: Tour inside the cleanroom (groups of 5)

I HEART ❤️ STEM
Sat. Oct. 28th, 9:30am – 3:00pm
Location: UCSB Student Resource Building, Room 1120 (map)
Women in Grades 9 – 12

Organized by UCSB's Women In Science & Engineering (WISE) group, I ❤️ STEM is a one-day conference for women in 9-12th grades. UCSB scientists & graduate students held hands-on workshops on numerous scientific disciplines, including photonics, the science of light.

Victoria Rosborough & Takako Hirokawa of the Photonics Society @ UCSB hosted a light-science workshop at the conference!

Girls Inc. Goleta
The Girls Inc. science activity is being held at the Teen Center at Girls Inc. Goleta, for girls who are already part of this group.
This year, women scientists hosted our new hands-on science activity "Color Mixing", which teaches students about how we see color, and how we can use only three ink colors to reproduce all the colors of the rainbow.

Women in Photonics Week 2016

9/7/2016

When: Mon Oct 3rd – Fri Oct 7th

Coinciding with the IEEE Photonics Society’s “Introduce a Girl to Photonics” Day & Manufacturing Day, the Photonics Society at UCSB encourages local women in photonics to participate this week by giving talks at local schools or leading a tour of your company.

Read some of the articles written about this week!
– The UCSB Current: Girl Power by Tanya Das
– The S.B. Independent: Photonics Soc. Encourages Women to Study the Science of Light
– The Daily Nexus: Inspiring Photonics for the Future

The following events were scheduled:

Women at local photonics companies gave tours of their companies/groups.
- Reserve your spot at one of these tours, below.
- Contact [email protected] to get your company involved!

Women from local photonics companies and UCSB groups gave talks at schools.

Hands-On Photonics activity "Light-Pipes: controlling light" was run at Girls Inc., Goleta.
- Run in their normally-scheduled 3/4th & 5/6th grade STEM classes.
- See the CSEP page for more info.

Tours for Women in Photonics Week:

Freedom Photonics LLC: Friday Oct. 7th, 3:30pm–5:00pm
Maximum 18 attendees.
Juniour High and up.
Click Here to Reserve your spot at EventBrite.
or email [email protected].

All Tour attendees must be U.S. Persons!

Schedule
– 3:30pm – 3:45pm: Welcome & Check-In
– 3:45pm – 4:15pm: Presentation (open to public)
– 4:15pm – 5:00pm: Facility Tour & Laser Demonstration (U.S. Persons ONLY)

Location: 41 Aero Camino, Goleta, CA 93117 (click for map)

UCSB Nanofabrication Facility (Cleanroom): Thursday Oct. 6th, 3:40–5:00pm
Maximum 15 attendees.
Grade 6 and up. Open to the public.
Click Here to reserve your spot at EventBrite.
or email [email protected].

Tours will be in groups of 5, led by:
• Paula Heu from Crystalline Mirror Solutions
• Leah Kuritzky from the UCSB research group of Prof. Shuji Nakamura
• Biljana Stamenic, UCSB Nanofab engineering staff

Schedule:
– 3:30pm – 3:45pm: Welcome & Introduction
– 3:45pm – 4:15pm: Tour outside the cleanroom
– 4:15pm – 5:00pm: Tour inside the cleanroom (groups of 5)

Location: Engineering Sciences Building (Parking lot #10) (click for map), University of California Santa Barbara

Women in photonics week is made possible by collaboration with the following UCSB organizations, in particular Wendy Ibsen:

Download the flyer for Women in Photonics Week
File Size:	415 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Download the flyer for the two Tours
File Size:	561 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Thorlabs Mobile Photonics Lab - January 17th - 18th, 2024

Women in Photonics Day 2023

SBMA Color Mixing Outreach Event

Women in Photonics Week 2018

Women in Photonics 2018
Hosted by Photonics Society @ UCSB
October 29 - November 10

UCSB Nanofabrication Facility Tours

Local Company Tour

Talks by Photonics Researchers

High School Outreach

International Collaboration

Women In Photonics Week 2017

Led by women, open to everyone

Women in Photonics Week 2016

Tours for Women in Photonics Week:

Mailing List

Supported By

Archives

Categories

Thorlabs Mobile Photonics Lab - January 17th - 18th, 2024

Women in Photonics Day 2023

SBMA Color Mixing Outreach Event

Women in Photonics Week 2018

Women in Photonics 2018Hosted by Photonics Society @ UCSBOctober 29 - November 10

UCSB Nanofabrication Facility Tours

Local Company Tour

Talks by Photonics Researchers

High School Outreach​

International Collaboration

Women In Photonics Week 2017

Led by women, open to everyone

Women in Photonics Week 2016

Tours for Women in Photonics Week:

Mailing List

Supported By

Archives

Categories

Women in Photonics 2018
Hosted by Photonics Society @ UCSB
October 29 - November 10

High School Outreach