SPIE regularly offers education and travel grants to young scientists showing promising research in optics, photonics and converging areas. Solveiga Azbite, a bachelor’s student at the Photonics and Optoinformatics Department, and Azalia Saitgalina, a master’s student at the Laser and Light Engineering Department, received the grants based on the results of first half of 2015. They’re planning to visit Optics + Photonics conference in San Diego, USA on Aug. 2 – Sept. 1, 2016.
Solveiga Azbite will deliver a presentation on magnetic plasmonics at the conference. She’s currently studying the effects of the magnetic field on optical systems and is hoping to use the results her research for a variety of applications, including a terahertz laser. She heads an SPIE Student Chapter at ITMO. While at the event, she’s planning to participate in a chapter leaders meeting to brainstorm member engagement and learn about the chapters around the world.
Azalia Saitgalina heads a Student Optical Engineering Laboratory and also plans to present at a poster session with her project about making equipment for student optics labs with 3D printers.
Earlier, a SPIE travel grant went to Alisa Pshenova, a student at the Photonics and Optoinformatics Department. Students of the same department Alaudi Denisultanov and Maria Borovkova received a prestigious award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Microwave Theory and Techniques Society last summer.
Also, in October 2015 ITMO University’s Optics Chapter became the best student chapter of the Optical Society of America.
