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07 February 2012
OSA Names Inaugural Outstanding Young Professionals
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
OSA Names Inaugural Outstanding Young Professionals
Giovanni Volpe
Laura Waller
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 – The Optical Society (OSA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the first annual Outstanding Young Professional Recognition. This honor acknowledges significant contributions made by an OSA Young Professional through volunteer activities completed as part of the Young Professionals Program.
The 2012 Outstanding Young Professionals are:
- Giovanni Volpe, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- Laura Waller, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
Volpe has been an active OSA member for many years, as a student and a young professional. He helped establish an OSA Student Chapter at the Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques in Barcelona, Spain; was a founding member of the International OSA Network of Students (IONS); represented OSA on the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Science Writing Committee; serves on the OSA Board of Meetings and edits OSA’s Optics & Photonics Focus.
Waller has also been active in OSA as a student and post-graduation. She was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OSA Student Chapter; has served as a reviewer on several OSA journals; is a founder of an annual optics outreach event as part of the Cambridge Science Festival; and served as part of AIP’s “Adopt a Physicist” program to promote science to high school students.
“The Young Professionals program has rapidly grown from just a handful of individuals at its start to hundreds of active participants from around the globe,” said OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan. “We are pleased to honor Giovanni and Laura for their outstanding contributions to OSA and the optics and photonics community as a whole. They are wonderful examples of what it means to be a dedicated OSA member and are clearly deserving of this recognition and our congratulations.”
Volpe and Waller will be recognized during OSA’s 2012 Winter Leadership Meeting in Washington, D.C. this week. Candidates are self-nominated, and must have been active in the Young Professionals Program for at least one year and have two references submit endorsements. Winners are chosen by the Awards and Grants Subcommittee of the OSA Member and Education Services Council.
The Young Professionals program began in 2008, and matches members who are in the early years of their careers with volunteer activities that align with their areas of interest. These placements provide valuable, career-building experiences and facilitate networking with top researchers and business leaders from around the world. More information on the program, including how to join, is available on the OSA website.
About OSA
Uniting more than 130,000 professionals from 175 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.
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