Read About Frontiers in Optics as it Happens!

OSA is proud to present blogs posted by members attending Frontiers in Optics 2009. Please view the latest blog postings below, check out the latest buzz on Twitter, or join in the conversation using the FiO hashtag #FiO09! Curious about Twitter? Watch a video introduction and how-to instructions.

Three OSA Young Professionals are covering Frontiers in Optics on their personal blogs. They are covering everything from pre-planning, on-site sessions, and hot topics to travel tips and restaurant recommendations. Please view these blogs using the links below – they will all be updated at least once a day during the conference!

• Adam Zysk, Senior Research Associate in medical imaging at the Illinois Institute of Technology: http://adamfio.blogspot.com/
• Bob Schoonover, an electrical engineering graduate student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: http://osastudent.blogspot.com
• Shalin Mehta, a doctoral candidate in optical bio-imaging at the National University of Singapore Graduate School for Integrative Sciences & Engineering: http://shalin.wordpress.com/posts/

Thank you for your time and attention. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact KiKi L’Italien at klital@osa.org.

Latest from FiO Bloggers FiO/OSA Blog: The Conference is Over; Long Live the Conference It was a good conference for me - I got some work done (but not as much as I wanted); I saw some good talks (but missed a couple I should have gone to); and I got to see my good friends and meet new potential collaborators. All in all, I couldn't ask for much better. Wrap-up of FiO/LS 09 « Reflections The last day was fun. Well, not because I was waiting for the conference to end; but because apart from interesting talks, I had great time meeting Jim Fienup%u2019s group over lunch and guys from different labs before we left San Jose. Wednesday at FiO %u2013 More computational imaging, phase-space anlaysis, and phase-retrieval « Reflections Wednesday’s program convinced me that parallel universes do exist. I was shuttling between ground floor and first floor (aka banquet floor) trying to pop-in and pop-out of talks at right times. Keeping with theme of last post, I will point out one talk each from above three areas. As a bonus, I also point out how my talk went. FiO/OSA Blog: Sessions, sessions, sessions Our session, Coherence and Fundamental Optics (I think) had seven talks. Prof. Boris Zeldovich from CREOL was our presider. I Adam's FiO Blog: Slow Science There were some interesting talks on phase and polarization singularities, high NA focusing, cyclostationary fields, and scattering measurements. FiO/OSA Blog A few scattered thoughts from yesterday - apologies to all of you that were expecting the Tuesday post on Tuesday High Noon at the FiO Racetrack Just as the Tuesday morning Frontiers in Optics (FiO) sessions wrapped up, the final round of the first-ever OSA Student Chapter International Solar Car Race hit the ballroom floor in the exhibit hall. FiO/LS Day 3: Computational photography, phase-space analysis and phase-retrieval « Reflections I attended talks related to computational photography and microscopy, phase-space analysis and phase-retrieval. The trend I am likely to continue for the rest of the two days. There were quite a few I had to miss due to overlap. Adam's FiO Blog: Not Just Eyeglasses: Lobbyists, Rogue Waves, and X-ray Lasers Sometimes, when you tell non-scientists that you're attending an optics conference, they ask if you work on eyeglasses. Those people would be shocked by my day. FiO/LS Day 2: Switching Into High Gear On Monday, OSA's annual meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO), kicked into high gear with an excellent set of plenary talks, plus award ceremonies for both OSA and the American Physical Society (APS). Solar-Car Racing Images from FiO OPN Managing Editor Christina Folz took these photos at Sunday's inaugural heat of the OSA International Student Chapter Solar Car Race. We all hope this will become an annual event at OSA's annual meeting. Adam's FiO Blog: Three-Dimensional Cinema I just saw a really cool presentation about three-dimensional technology in the movie theater. Rod Archer from a company called RealD just spoke about the revolution underway in 3D movies and the future of in-home 3D viewing. I FiO/OSA Blog: Live-ish updates from the Plenary Session Plenary Session Retroactive Live Blog The day 2 - fascinating plenaries, informative sessions and student reception « Reflections The second day at FiO turned busy and occupying. So busy that at the end of the day I had to crash in the bed. This blog is therefore coming little late. Greetings from FiO -- Report on Day 1 Greetings from San Jose! OSA%u2019s 93rd annual meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO), has begun in the capital of California%u2019s Silicon Valley. Adam's FiO Blog: Award Presentations The award presentations began bright and early this morning. Keynote by Milton Chang- Straight talk about entrepreureship « Reflections FiO has been eventful from the very first day %u2013 the highlight of the morning for me was the keynote of Milton Chang at student chapter leadership meeting and the meeting itself. Adam's FiO Blog There are definitely a lot of students around already. The student leadership meetings are being held today and the first mini solar car race took place this afternoon. FiO/OSA Blog: FiO: Sunday Night Reception The conference has officially begun. Before the start of Frontiers in Optics %u2013 travel and lab visits « Reflections Before the conference started, I meant to post one more discussion about phase-space optics describing and simulating the notion of instantaneous frequency. Adam's FiO Blog: Crunch Time Whether you're a student, a professor, or a post-doc, a lot rides on your talks. It's one of the few times that the outside scientific community hears about your work. The way ideas develop « Reflections Adam made a solid point on his blog that people are the key reason academia is so much fun. We all know that research results come out only after following a rather circuitous path and often it happens that interaction with an insightful colleague (mostly our adviser) points us to a shortcut. One of the presentation that I am going to give at FiO has such an incidence behind it. FiO/OSA Blog: Last thoughts before the conference starts This should be my last post before I land in San Jose - that is where FiO is this year, right? Well, either way, I'll be blogging from San Jose next week. FiO/OSA Blog: My Talks I mentioned earlier that I'm giving two talks this year at FiO. I'm pretty entertained by this, since they're in the same session, but the papers upon which the talks are based are with different advisors. Adam's FiO Blog: Travel So, I'm all ready to travel to the FiO conference. I wish I didn't have to wait four more weeks! I recently made all of my travel arrangements. Adam's FiO Blog: Public Policy "So, Adam, why are you going to the FiO meeting this year?" Well, I'm glad you asked, fictitious interested party. I'm not giving a talk at the meeting this year (maybe next year when I have something a bit more interesting to talk about), presiding over a session, or joining in the student activities -- all fun things that I've done at past meetings. Instead, I'll be participating in a public policy event Adam's FiO Blog: Academics People. Someone once told me that the people are the best reason to work in academia. I have to say that I think he was right. FiO/OSA Blog: The OSA job I don't want I've been thinking a lot about how much fun certain jobs would be in terms of organizing a conference. Some things, like picking the site and making sure enough rooms are blocked off, are rather perfunctory but important. Others, like moderating a session, are short-lived but possibly a pain. However, being part of the group which has to pick which submissions to make talks, which to make posters, and which to reject, has to be the I'm the least well-suited for. FiO/OSA Blog: My first OSA talk It's quite possible that you if you're reading this, you'll be giving your first talk or poster presentation at a major international conference. I'm going to write a little bit about my first talk and how it wasn't a disaster. FiO/OSA Blog: My itenerary for FiO 2009 I've been going through the conference program and looking for the talks I'm interested in seeing. This plan will last about three hours into the conference, if the last few years are any indication, but I still make one every year. Phase-space optics 2: Instantaneous correlation and pseudo-symbolic computation in MATLAB « Reflections As I noted in the previous post about FiO, I wish to share some of the simulations and basics about phase-space signal analysis. Phase-space optics 1: Introduction « Reflections As noted in the last post about Frontiers in Optics (FiO), one of the interesting things that will happen at the conference is the special symposium on phase-space optics. Visa to the US for conference « Reflections A tidbit on the US visa may be helpful to some. If you are interested in optics or biomedical conference or exchange visit, and are a national of certain countries (India in my case, China in my friends’ case), it is rather important to start the process early. Earlier than what the embassy website usually advises.

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