Congratulations to the Edmund Optics 2013 Higher Education Award Recipients
Helping to Accelerate Optical Innovation
Barrington, NJ – Edmund Optics® (EO), the premier provider of optical components to both industry and academia, announced the winners of its 2013 Higher Education Global Grant Program. This award is given in recognition of outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at non-profit colleges and universities worldwide. Over $85,000 USD in EO products will be awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place winners in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, in support of their research and education activities.
"The originality, ingenuity, and vision put forth in so many of these projects is very impressive," said Kirsten Bjork-Jones, Director of Global Marketing Communications. "Edmund Optics remains a very proud supporter and advocate for these resourceful and talented university researchers dedicated to furthering the science of optical innovation."
After evaluating over 800 applications, the EO Grant Team selected 45 finalists from 21 countries who submitted applications ranging from developing handheld optical coherence tomography (OCT) probes for non-invasive diagnostics in primary healthcare to real-time optical detectors for airborne asbestos detection. The finalists were chosen based on two criteria: (1) Technical Merit, which is the application of optics in the programs, and (2) the innovative use of optics in the lab or research setting. After securing more in-depth information about the programs, the Team selected the final award recipients.
Meet the Award Recipients: In the Americas, the first place award of $10,000 in EO products was given to University of Illinois at Chicago, submitted by Simon Alford, for developing a novel approach to protein-protein interactions using a combination of total internal reflection microscopy and fluorescence anisotropy.
Second place award of $7,500 in EO products went to The Pennsylvania State University, submitted by Jennifer Yang, for an innovative laser ablation tomography (LAT) and serial imaging system for a high-throughput plant phenotyping project.
The University of Pittsburgh, submitted by Yang Liu, was recognized as our third place recipient of $5,000 in EO products for developing a clinically applicable optical microscopy system which integrates seamlessly into the standard pathology laboratory for the analysis of standard cell and tissue biopsies of human patients.
In Asia, the first place award of $10,000 USD in EO products was awarded to YongKeun Park from KAIST (South Korea) for the development of holography-based imaging techniques designed to study human disease including the investigation of malaria, cancer, and other neuro-diseases.
Li Heng from Shenzhen University (China) is the second place award recipient of $7,500 USD in EO products for the development of super-resolution fluorescence imaging used in the analysis and nano-positioning of intact cells to achieve dynamic tracking methods.
Third-place award of $5,000 USD in EO products was awarded to the Indian Institute of Science (India), submitted by Shilpa Dilipkumar, for research that is focused on the development of new fluorescence microscopy techniques capable of both temporal and spatial super-resolution such as Multiple Excitation Spot Optical (MESO) microscopy.
In Europe, the first place recipient of Euros7,000 in EO products is the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), submitted by Craig Mackay, for building a new kind of instrument intended for the largest ground-based optical telescopes which will deliver much higher angular resolution than any space-based images by combining a 5-10 meter class telescope with both Lucky Imaging and adaptive optics systems.
Sarah Isabelle Ksourifrom Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany) was selected to receive Euros5,000 in EO products as the second-place European recipient for developing new assembling techniques required to fulfill specifications in increasingly complex, and smaller, microsystems.
The third-place European recipient is Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata" (Italy), submitted by Luca Giovannelli. The award of Euros3,000 in EO products was presented for developing a Fabry-Pérot Capacitance Stabilized Etalon (CSE), based on a monolithic approach, optimized for a satellite application.
"We offer our deepest congratulations to the winners and finalists of our 2013 Global Grant program! Your research is on the forefront of advancing optical science. We would also like to congratulate and thank all of the researchers who submitted an application this year. It was an honor and inspiration for the EO Team to review every project submitted," said Bjork-Jones.
To read more information about these award-winning applications or to view a list of all 2013 finalists with links to their programs, please visit www.edmundoptics.com/grant.
Don't forget to check back on October 9th to see who will receive the Norman Edmund Inspiration Award. An additional $5,000 USD in products will be awarded to the program that best embodies the legacy of Edmund Optics' founder Norman Edmund.
About EO:
Edmund Optics® (EO) is a leading producer of optics, imaging, and photonics technology for RD, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and military markets around the globe. EO is the world's largest supplier of off-the-shelf optical components. Customers can purchase items by contacting EO at 1-800-363-1992, via the catalog, or via the website at www.edmundoptics.com
Company Contact:
Kirsten Bjork-Jones
Director Global Marketing Communications
Edmund Optics®, Inc.
101 East Gloucester Pike
Barrington, NJ 08007 U.S.A.
Phone: 1-800-363-1992
Fax: 1-856-573-6295
email: kbjork-jones@edmundoptics.com
Editorial Contact:
James Liolin
Media Relations/Content Marketing
Lion Associates 550 Mamaroneck Avenue
Harrison, NY 10528
Phone: 1-914-670-0138
Fax: 1-914-670-0596
email: jliolin@lionadv.com
European Contact:
Agnes Huebscher
Director European Marketing
Edmund Optics
Zur Giesserei 8
76227 Karlsruhe, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)721-62737-38
Fax: +49 (0) 721 6273750
E-Mail: AHuebscher@edmundoptics.de
