Edmund Optics announces 2015 Educational Award winners

Edmund Optics’ has announced the winners of its 2015 Educational Awards, which acknowledge novel projects involving optics that will have an impact on future applications, and is given annually to undergraduate and graduate programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at non-profit colleges and universities working on projects involving optics.

More than $85,000 (USD) in Edmund Optics products will be awarded to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in each of the regions: Americas, Asia, and Europe. All remaining finalists will receive a $500 product matching grant to assist in their research while the Normand Edmund Inspiration Award, which is given to the optics program that best embodies the legacy of Norman Edmund, will receive $5,000 in products. The Inspiration Award winner will be given to one of the global finalists on November 11, 2015.

Edmund Optic’s Educational Award team evaluated more than 800 applications to narrow the field down to 45 global finalists with applications ranging from the creation of avision system to detect forest fires and the advancement of optical techniques to investigate alternative energy sources to discovering new non-invasive methods for pneumothorax diagnosis in premature babies and the development of a smartphone spectrometer for real-time environmental monitoring or health diagnostics such as Ebola detection.

The 2015 Educational Award winners are as follows:

The Americas

• Gold ($10,000 in EO products):Jarred Swalwell and a University of Washington team for developing flow cytometers for marine research with an optical technology that makes it possible to perform continuous flow cytometric analysis on sea water without the need for clean water.
• Silver ($7,500 in EO products): Vira Oleksyuk and a Temple University team for non-invasive breast cancer diagnostics using a multimodal imaging system which combines tactile and hyperspectral capabilities to discern malignant and benign tumors.
• Bronze ($5,000 in EO products): Michael Stahlwas and the Schepens Eye Research Institute for the development of an innovative device that uses both infrared structured light and visible green structured light to first sense and highlights hazards for the visually impaired.

Europe

·Gold (€7,000 in EO products):Outi Supponen and a Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) team for research focused on the dynamics of collapsing cavitation bubbles for such applications as needle-free injections, microfluidic pumps, new printing technologies, and transportation.

• Silver (€5,000 in EO products): Peter Christian Bakker and a Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) team for research on the topic of internal combustion engines, specifically the burn-out phase, which will be used to help increase the energy efficiency of diesel engines and will be used by one of the major oil companies to redesign their diesel fuel.
• Bronze (€3,000 in EO products): Dmtiry Postnov and a University of Copenhagen in Denmark team for research in in Laser Speckle Imaging (LSI) of renal, brain, and retinal blood flow for the purpose of adapting and improving the technology for physiological research.

Asia

• Gold ($10,000 in EO products):.Dr. Masahito Yamanaka and a Nagoya University (Japan) team for the development of super resolution 3D imaging technology which uses the high-brightness of rare-earth metals and nanoparticles along with highly nonlinear optical emissions.
• Silver ($7,500 in EO products):Dr. Dasol Lee of Pohang University of Science and Technology (South Korea), for research into the development of a new imaging system for bio samples and nano-size structures imaging beyond the sub-wavelength size.
• Bronze ($5,000 in EO products):Prof. John Canning of the University of Sydney (Australia) for the development of smartphone spectrometer which utilizes a UV LED integrated onto the phone with the use of a collimating lens to act as the source of the fluorimeter.

"We continue to be extremely impressed by the ingenious use of optics in these highly technical, life-changing applications," said Kirsten Bjork-Jones, Director of Global Marketing Communications. "It is very satisfying to help support cutting-edge research and recognize the researchers dedicated to furthering optical innovation."

View more information on theawards.

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