Three Rivers Students Attend SPIE Annual Meeting in San Diego

            Three Rivers SPIE Student Chapter President Daniel Spicer (Preston) and Vice-President Gregory Doyon, Jr. (Moosup) the Annual Meeting of SPIE, the international society of optics and photonics, held in San Diego, CA from August 9 - 14. The TRCC students joined approximately 120 SPIE student chapter leaders from colleges and universities in 18 states and 22 different countries. Travel and accommodations for the Three Rivers students were provided by a grant from SPIE.
            On Saturday August 9, students from across the globe attended a leadership workshop to learn how to create and sustain an SPIE Student Chapter. They exchanged ideas about how to motivate colleagues at their respective colleges and universities to participate in outreach and professional development activities. They also heard from Sanjay Krishna, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico (USA), and SPIE President Kevin Harding, Optical Metrology Leader at GE Global Research in New York (USA) who spoke about career paths and the importance of networking.
            On Sunday about a dozen optics educators and other professionals offered student attendees career advice and tips on giving effective presentations, job interviewing, writing proposals and journal articles, and spreading the word about the importance of science education. SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs addressed students during a luncheon program, emphasizing the vast array of opportunities in the field of optics and photonics and the growing need for, and shortage of, technical professionals to solve climate, energy, health, manufacturing, and other problems affecting humanity.
            Other activities during the week included a "student lunch with the experts" that allowed students to network with industry and academic leaders and social activities in and around the meeting venue planned by and for the students. Doyon and Spicer also manned a Three Rivers Student Chapter table at the Optics and Photonics industry exhibition, which allowed further interaction with industry attendees.

8-21-08
some material from http://spie.org/x6692.xml

Greg Doyon and Dan Spicer at the Three Rivers SPIE Student Chapter table at the industry exhibition in San Diego.	Greg Doyon and Dan Spicer relax with Himanshu Raja, a student from Delhi College of Engineering (India)