OSA (the Optical Society of America) and SPIE (the international society for optics and photonics) are two separate professional societies for the worldwide Optics and Photonics community: scientists, educators, engineers, technicians, students and business leaders. Members of both societies have access to a range of benefits and valuable career-building opportunities, like travel grants, scholar
ships, scientific journals, and networking opportunities. Both societies support Student Chapters, networks of students from a particular institution or country with an interest in optics and photonics who come together to organise and participate in professional development, social and outreach activities locally, nationally and globally. OSA and SPIE support their respective student chapters primarily by providing funding for these activities, as well as guidance and support. In the Physics Department here at Otago we first became involved with OSA when the University OSA Student Chapter was established in 2009. The chapter ran lots of events, including student symposiums, pizza parties, sangria nights and most notably, IONS KOALA 2010. In 2012, the executive committee discovered SPIE and
decided to establish the Otago University SPIE Student Chapter (the first and only SPIE chapter in NZ!) Initially the two chapters were co-run, but held some events separately. More recently we have “re-branded” as a single joint entity, the Otago Optics Chapter, and events are typically jointly funded by both societies. The aims of the chapter are to enhance the promotion of optics and photonics at Otago and beyond through a strong student community. We run social events like pizza parties and pool competitions, optics outreach programmes and festivals within the University of Otago and the wider community, and professional development events like student symposiums and (occasionally) larger conferences, like IONS KOALA 2015! Our biggest annual community events are the Capture Science Photo Competition and the Optics Outreach Trip to rural and low decile primary schools in the South Island, where we explore the "colours in white light" theme and get children excited about science in general. Members of OSA and SPIE are invited to (and encouraged to help organise) all of our events, and additionally are entitled to apply for various student grants and discounts on conference registrations, have access to a range of online journals, and become part of an international optics and photonics community which provides all kinds of professional support. It's also a lot of fun and you'll make some great friends :)
If you work in optics/photonics related fields at the University of Otago and are interested in joining our chapter or becoming involved in some other way, please feel free to message us on here or send us an email: [email protected]
Also feel free to contact us if you'd like to talk to us about community outreach, visits to our labs, or anything else!
