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Today 31 years ago the speed of light was set to 299,792.458 km/s. It happened in the 17th edition of the “General Conference on Weights and Measures” on October 21, 1983.
EPIC – The European Photonics Industry Consortium – sets today as the first commemoration of that event, framed by the coming International Year of Light, 2015. Learn more about this initiative here.
We encourage all of you to think about how many things you have around right now that are enabled by the power of light. First of all, you wouldn’t be reading these words in this particular format!
Cheers to light!

Come join us for tapas and share your academic journey as women – the challenges, the hurdles and the satisfaction of overcoming them all! We will be joined by Dr. Anita Mahadevan-Jansen from Vanderbilt University.
Time: Thursday 16 October, 2014 at 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Place: Beckman Laser Insititute library
RSVP in our Facebook site and spread the word to your colleagues and friends (Women_in_acedemia_flyer).

We are back one more year! This is a very special year, since on 2015 we will all celebrate the International Year of Light. So stay tuned for a bunch of activities!
We will start with a party to welcome the new academic year. Join us at the Beckman Laser Institute Library at 5:00pm on Thursday 9 October.
There will be food, drinks, and fun things to play with, talks and a contest.
That is right, to win some goodies bring a list of quotidian objects that work with NO LIGHT. We want to raise awareness of how important light is in our everyday lives. Prizes will be for the longer lists of the night.
Hope to see you all!!
Photonics@UCI team.

The winners of the contest have been announced, find them here. Congratulations to the winners!
We didn’t make it this time, but we deeply thank you all for your support. Despite not being in the top five, we will continue to make our ideas come true during the next year. So get ready to explore light with us!
 

At Photonics@UCI we need a logo. Help us create one!
We have an idea: laser pointers and long exposure photography.
Join us in trying different combinations on Thursday 22nd, 6:30pm, in the front entrance of Natural Sciences 2.
 

Friends and helpers of Photonics@UCI,
This Saturday, March 22, we will be debuting the latest and greatest version of our spectrometer kits – Version 2.0. Please join us and help assemble kits to give to the kids. There will be pizza!
Unlike last year, there is no major cutting, splicing, dicing, or soldering! The boxes are pre-cut and simply need to be put in envelopes with the other kit accessories.
If you’re able to, please let us know that you’ll be coming so we can order enough pizza.
For all OSA/SPIE chapter members and CaSTL members: Please also feel free to express interest in volunteering at the fair in San Diego on Saturday. See photos of last year event here.
When: Thursday, March 20, 2014 17:00
Where: NS2 Rm. 2120
If needed we will have a second session on Friday afternoon (with more pizza), so if you aren’t able to make it on Thursday, look out for an email about the time/place for Friday.
We hope to see you there!!

 

Hey there!
The San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering is coming up one more year. We will be there on March 22, 2014 to share light experiences with kids and families!
BUT before going to San Diego, we need to get to work and prepare the material for the children. Since last year event was a complete success, we’re repeating with Kaleidoscopes and Spectrometers.
On Thursday 27, join us put together the kaleidoscope kits!
When: Thursday 27, February 2014 at 5:00pm.
Where: second floor of Natural Sciences 2.
Refreshments and snacks will be served!
Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Happy 2014 from Photonics@UCI ! !
In preparation for the approaching conference season, including Photonics West, we invite you to join us at our first social of the year on Thursday, January 23rd.
We will be screening selections of Dr. Jean-luc Doumont ‘s video lectures followed by time for practice talks by those interested. If needed, we have planned an additional time for presentations on Monday, January 27th.  If you are presenting at the 2014 Photonics West, this is a great opportunity to receive some feedback from your peers in a relaxed setting and polish your presentation! As always, snacks will be provided.
What: Photonics@UCI January Socials
Where:  Beckman Laser Institute (BLI)
When: 23rd January, 5:30 pm (+ 27th January, 5:30pm)
If you are interested in giving a practice talk, please let us know which date you would prefer at photonics@uci.edu.

Our colleagues of the Optical Society of Southern California (OSSC) will hold an event at UCI next week.
There will be exhibits by OSSC corporate members and a special presentation on the state of the optics industry: