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CREOL Inspired New Career Trajectory for ’22 Distinguished Alumna

March 7, 2022
Taking chances on a new experiences has yielded multiple rewards for Félicie Albert, Ph.D., including a new title as 2022 Distinguished Alumna of the Year from CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics. The French-born physicist’s first encounter with risk took place at the Ecole Centrale de Marseille of Marseille, France, where she was finishing…

Alumna Sees Promise, Then Fulfillment of LASER Potential

January 25, 2022
Edesly Canto-Said, Ph.D ’89, has been watching the evolution of laser technology since the early 80s, when she was one of the first group of students to attend the newly formed CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics. Thirty-four years later, Canto-Said is now serving as the chief technology officer (CTO) of laser-based solutions company…

Cancer Imaging Research Gains Alumnus SPIE Award

January 12, 2022
A CREOL’s alumnus’ groundbreaking work in the field of quantitative phase imaging recently earned him the Dennis Gabor Award in Diffractive Optics from the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). SPIE cited multiple achievements by Gabriel Popescu, Ph.D., ’02, as the basis for the win, including Popescu’s advancements in the technology that study live…

Optics Unlocks Opportunities To Improve Eyesight of People With Cataracts

December 2, 2021
A passion for helping others and the technical expertise to make it happen recently earned a global prize for CREOL graduate Ceyhun Akcay, Ph.D., ’05. As senior director of research and development at medical technology company Alcon, Akcay builds lenses to correct cataracts, the leading cause of preventable blindness. The implantable lens developed by Akcay…

Classroom Legacy Greatest Source of Pride For CREOL Alumnus

November 17, 2021
Brian Monacelli, Ph.D., ’05, may have recently helped send a laser-based Raman and fluorescence spectrometer to Mars on the Perseverance rover, but the achievement he’s most proud of might surprise you. Monacelli’s passion is rooted in teaching and supporting technicians to ensure their success in the workplace. His interest in education began as a youth,…

CREOL Degree Provides Launchpad For Career at MIT Lincoln Labs

September 21, 2021
A chance encounter in the workplace is what led Rebecca Venegas, M.S ’20, to find her purpose as an electro-optics engineer. Venegas, a scientist who specializes in integration and characterization of EO systems, was looking for meaning in her work after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Astronautics and Aeronautics.…

Optics Trailblazer Credits Influential Mentors For Successful Career

July 15, 2021
Richard DeSalvo, Ph.D. ‘93, takes wireless communications further into the future every day, but it’s the people of his past that inspire his every step — beginning with Neil Armstrong. DeSalvo credits the 1969 moon landing and his mother for steering him toward the sciences in general, but it would take years of starts and…

Warm Welcome for International Student Produces Innovative Biophotonics Career

June 14, 2021
Leaving his home in Romania wasn’t something Gabriel Popescu, Ph.D ’02, ever expected to do until the opportunity presented itself. Motivated by the chance to make an impact on the world, Popescu packed his bags and left home in 1997 to pursue an American education at the CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics. It’s been…

CREOL Degree Launches Alumna Into Successful Academic Career

June 4, 2021
CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics, often serves as a launchpad for students to decide the direction they want to take their career and studies. And, often, it’s a distinguished and notable direction. That was certainly the case with Latifah Maasarani, who moved on to Duke University for graduate studies in biomedical engineering after successfully…

CREOL Degree Offers New Insights to Experienced Electrical Engineer

June 2, 2021
A deep knowledge of wave band sensors and a sturdy pair of hiking boots are both important to Roger Rose’s job. A self-described “underachiever” in high school, Rose ’21 MS failed intermediate algebra three times in community college. Realizing he needed a change, Rose made a life-changing decision and moved to Tallahassee Community College. There he…

Alumnus Blends Military Experience, CREOL Education For Successful Career

April 29, 2021
The dawn of the Information Age and the advent of high-speed internet coincided right around the time Carl Kutsche, Ph.D., ’98, enrolled in CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics. “I was all about optical systems—self processing, information storage, 3D holography. You could feel the energy buzzing around the growth of this field,” said Kutsche,…

Spectroscopy Innovation Opens Doors for CREOL Alumnus

April 9, 2021
The power of spectroscopy is proving a gamechanger for identifying pollutants in nature and building a career for Ty Olmstead, Ph.D., ’11. Olmstead was first hired at Ocean Insight five years ago as an application scientist with a Ph.D from CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, supporting the endeavor. He was recently promoted to…