About
21 April 2010
Capitol Hill Exhibit and Congressional Briefing to Highlight Importance of Laser Technology
**MEDIA ADVISORY**
Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
Capitol Hill Exhibit and Congressional Briefing to Highlight Importance of Laser Technology
OSA, Science-Engineering-Technology Working Group and Task Force on American Innovation partner on events to highlight 50th Anniversary of the Laser
The events will begin with a Congressional R&D Caucus Briefing titled Forum on Innovation: Technology, Lasers and Jobs, highlighting the economic impact of the laser—an invention that was the direct result of federally funded research—over the last 50 years. Thomas M. Baer, executive director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center, will discuss the impact of the laser on industries such as health care, manufacturing and telecommunications. Mike Rinn, vice president and program director of the Airborne Laser Test Bed at Boeing will discuss the impact of lasers in the defense industry. The briefing is designed to underscore the importance of investments in research and development funding and its long-term effects.
| What: | Laser Events on Capitol Hill |
| When: | Wednesday, April 28, 2010 |
| Where: | Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC |
| Who: | OSA, SET Working Group, Task Force on American Innovation |
| Details: | |
|
Congressional R&D Caucus Briefing: Forum on Innovation: Technology, Lasers and Jobs
Wednesday, April 28, 12 – 1:15 p.m. (Lunch will be provided.)
Hosted by OSA, the Task Force on American Innovation and the Science-Engineering-Technology Work Group in conjunction with The House Congressional Research & Development Caucus. 2010 Science-Engineering-Technology Capitol Hill Laser Exhibit and Reception
Wednesday, April 28, 4 – 7 p.m. Booth demonstrations will include LASIK surgery demos, visualizations of LIDAR data showing active geological features pertaining to recent events in Haiti and other countries, educational experiments demonstrating how lasers work, and other hands-on activities and laser innovations. |
|
About OSA
Uniting more than 106,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
About the SET Working Group
The SET Working Group is an information network comprising professional, scientific, and engineering societies, higher education associations, institutions of higher learning, trade associations, and individual companies. The Working Group is concerned about the future vitality of the US science, mathematics, and engineering enterprise.
About the Task Force on American Innovation
The Task Force on American Innovation, a coalition of businesses and business organizations, scientific societies, and higher education associations, was founded in 2004 to advocate greater federal investments for basic research in the physical sciences and engineering. The group focuses on the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, the Department of Defense research budget, the National Institute of Standards and Technology labs at the Department of Commerce, and NASA.
###
