Edmund Optics®, a leading global manufacturer and supplier of optical components, announces the recipients of its 2022 Educational Award program. This award is given in recognition of outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs at non-profit colleges and universities worldwide.
$47,000 USD in Edmund Optics products will be awarded to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in the Americas and Europe to support their research. The remaining twenty-three finalists will receive a $500 product award. The recipient of the Norman Edmund Inspiration Award, which best embodies the legacy of Edmund Optics’ founder, Norman Edmund, is also chosen from the 30 global finalists and will receive an additional $5,000 in Edmund Optics products.
Meet the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award Recipients
In the Americas, the Gold Award was awarded to Nathaniel Fried at University of North Carolina - Charlotte, USA for the use of an IR beam expander and IR lenses to enlarge, collimate, and focus the beam from a Thulium fiber laser into small, flexible, 50-micrometer-core, optical fibers, for fragmenting kidney stones.
The Silver Award was awarded to Roberto Carlos Barragán Campos at Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico for a system to measure the heating value of vegetation employing the absorption of cellulose and thermal difference.
The Bronze Award was awarded to Dennis Hore at University of Victoria, Canada for the development of a portable, low-cost, real-time analysis platform for street drugs, coupled with integrated harm-reduction messaging.
In Europe, the Gold Award was awarded to Miriam Reh and Christina Schwarz at Institute for Ophthalmic Research Tuebingen, Germany for projects focusing on the development of a 2-photon adaptive optics ophthalmoscope for detecting retinal diseases at an early stage to allow proper treatment - one in in-vivo, and the other in ex-vivo environments.
The Silver Award was awarded to Michaela Taylor-Williams at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom for the setup of a novel multispectral fluorescent in-vitro and in-vivo imaging system to develop tissue-engineered oesophagi for transplantation into infants, without the risk of tissue rejection.
The Bronze Award was awarded to Ya Jie Knöbl at University of Complutense Madrid, Spain for the development of a miniaturized fiber and filter-based sensing device that measures the pH value of water molecules. Depending on molecule luminescence lifetime, the level of water pH and pollution can be measured to maintain a cleaner environment.
Meet the Norman Edmund Inspiration Award Recipient
The Norman Edmund Inspiration Award was awarded to Jamal Ali at BMCC - CUNY, USA for involving young students from high schools and CUNY colleges in taking measurements and participating in photonics techniques. Their project intends to investigate the optical properties of human gray matter in the cerebral cortex of human brains. Many of their students enjoy photonics research and want to help people with brain diseases in the future.
