Edmund Optics® Higher Education Grant Program Goes Global


March 1, 2011, Barrington, NJ - Edmund Optics®, the premier provider of optical components, announced the global expansion of their 3rd Annual Higher Education Grant Program. This program, now reaching out to include university optics programs in the Americas, Europe and Asia, will be giving away over $60,000 worth of product awards.

"Due to the overwhelming success of this program in the US and Asia last year, we have increased the funding to extend the grant program worldwide," said Kirsten Bjork-Jones, Director of Global Marketing Communications. "We are very pleased and encouraged by the success of this program and remain solidly committed to supporting research and innovation at non-profit colleges and universities."

In addition to the $22,500 award for the Americas, grant awards will be also be given to University programs in Europe totaling 10,000 Euros in EO products (plus a trip to the Vision 2011 trade show in Stuttgart, Germany) and products totaling $22,500 US dollars in Asia.

EO's first grant program in 2009, the EO University Bursary Grant Program, originated as part of the Singapore campaign for Southeast Asia. Monash University School of Physics in Victoria, Australia, was awarded S$5,000 (SGD) in EO products for their optical and astronomical research and teaching programs. The second grant of S$10,000 (SGD) of EO product was awarded in 2010 to the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.

Edmund Optics will again award grants totaling $22,500 in EO product to three such programs in the Americas in a continuing effort to support outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at non-profit colleges and universities. Criteria for the awards encompass the number of students and courses involved in the study of optics, specific projects, and the types of products which would be most useful. In the Americas, three will grants will be awarded in the following amounts:

o First Grant Award - $10,000 in products
o Second Grant Award - $7,500 in products
o Third Grant Award - $5,000 in products

Last year's grant awardees included:

First place, Dr. Lori Goldner, Physics professor from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is developing state-of-the-art optical equipment that allows microscopic examination of single biomolecules and their interactions with their environment.

Second-place , Dr. Armand Tanguay, Jr. from the University of Southern California, is developing an ultra-miniature camera that can be implanted in the human eye and connected via a microelectrode array to the retina, with the ultimate goals of restoring sight to the blind.

Third-place, Corey Shemelya from Tufts University, is a graduate student working on the development of optical tools for the evaluation of materials used in photovoltaic and thermophotovoltaic power generation.

Grant applications can be found at www.edmundoptics.com/grant and must be submitted by June 30, 2011. Grant awards will be announced on October 1, 2011.

Complete Terms and Conditions online at www.edmundoptics.com/grant.

About EO:
Edmund Optics® (EO) is a leading producer of optics, imaging, and photonics technology for R&D, 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 (800) 363-1992, via the new interactive catalog, the website at www.edmundoptics.com, or requesting their print catalog.

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

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