Optica celebrates World Engineering Day
Sammi Bradley, Digital Communications Coordinator, Optica
From biophotonics and quantum computing to renewable energy and material science, optical engineers harness the power of light to change the world. We join UNESCO in celebrating the World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development and recognizing the contributions of the engineers of Optica who are shaping a brighter future.
We also celebrated engineers during US Engineers Week, 19 to 23 February. Special programming, organized by Optica’s Membership Engagement team, brought physicists, congressional advocates and engineers of all types together.
We asked seven attendees to share how they support the field of engineering and how their work solves real-world challenges.
Chinonso Ezeobi, University of Maryland
As an optical engineer, Chinonso Ezeobi uses laser systems to characterize semiconductor materials, ensuring they perform according to manufacturers' specifications.
Ezeobi emphasizes the rigorous process engineers undertake to blend end-user perspectives, scientific inquiry and manufacturing processes for practical solutions.
Larry Goldberg, National Science Foundation and the Naval Research Laboratory (retired)
Optica Fellow Lawrence S. Goldberg has spent his career at the forefront of ultrafast lasers, optoelectronics and nanotechnology.
Originally a researcher at the Naval Research Laboratory, he highlights how he has experienced the ultrafast laser field’s evolution from operating at picosecond speeds to attosecond speeds.
To this end, Goldberg says that engineering is an avenue for creativity and new directions for society.
Lee Feinberg, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
While working as the Optical Telescope Element Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, Lee Feinberg was part of a team creating an amazing feat of engineering.
He compares engineering to navigating a maze, especially with large-scale space telescopes. Feinberg now chairs the Ultra-stable Observatory Roadmap team for the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
This Observatory will look for Earth-like planets around stars just like our sun, search for life signatures and perform a variety of other observations beyond the JWST’s capabilities.
Adriana Bankston, Federation of American Scientists (former)
Adriana Bankston is an engineering advocate who bridges the gap between science and public policy by communicating the field’s needs at the federal level.
Bankston says she enjoys engineering as a process of discovery, but felt that she could make a bigger impact advancing policies supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. As a federal advocate, she is also a vocal proponent of university research initiatives to prepare the next generation of engineers for a rapidly changing field.
Anel Garza, Vitro Automotriz
Anel Garza’s keys to engineering success are innovation, research, and lifelong learning. Garza is an optics specialist at Vitro Automotriz pioneering the automotive glazing industry with expertise in design, optomechanical simulation, big data systems and more.
Garza believes that passion for the process and end products is the most important part of being an engineer. With an eye to the future, she says material science will provide huge advances for optical engineering.
Eslin Ustun, University of Ottawa
Engineering is collaboration and imagination, says Optica Student Member Eslin Ustun.
She is a PhD student in electrical engineering at the University of Ottawa with experience in bioengineering and neuroscience.
As an engineer with multidisciplinary research, Ustun uses creative imagination and multifunctional thinking for her work simulating optogenetic materials with electricity.
Arlene Maclin, MacSmith STEM Enterprises
Arlene Maclin, an educator, researcher, and mentor, has over five decades of experience in optics. Although she has many optics achievements to her name, she says she is most proud of developing optical engineering degree programs for the next generation of engineers.
Maclin believes diversity plays a vital role in driving innovation and expanding optical engineering and continues to work to grow the interest in STEM fields among women and minorities.
