University Teaching and Research: Transferring Knowledge to the Next Generation

María J. Yzuel

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Professor John Greivenkamp was an excellent model of a university professor and an inspiration for all, both professors and students.

We are teachers of optics, one the most wonderful and interesting branches of physics and in engineering. In my case, I taught in the Physics degree program, and my courses ranged from the fundamentals to the applications of optics. It is very important to students that their university professors also be researchers who can discuss with other professors, researchers, and students edge-cutting fields of research and high technologies in optics, as well as their applications. One of the most interesting aspects of our work is the supervision of PhD students, including the orientation and recommendation we can provide them as mentors to continue working in the field if they are so interested.

Optics has a very important role in developing fields such as environmental sciences, human health, and energy. Reading the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, one can identify many light-based technologies that will help the optics community reach several of these goals. This idea can also be an inspiration for our students: Photonics is a discipline, but it is also an enabling technology that is crucial for the progress of other technologies.

An extensive, ongoing discussion at universities and professional societies is whether we need more students in science and engineering, as the number has been decreasing in recent years. My answer is yes, we need very well-trained and very motivated scientists and engineers because optics is an enabling technology that provides solutions to many other fields of science and technology that are advancing the quality and comfort in our lives.

Moreover, the percentage of female students pursuing physics and engineering degrees is much smaller than the percentage for other degrees. This general concern leads to a need to identify actions that could increase the number of female students, mainly in fields like optics and photonics, and could encourage young, talented students to continue in the field after they finish their degrees or their PhD studies.

I mention here two international conferences that are excellent forums for meeting colleagues interested in optics education and for presenting innovations and activities in this field. In odd years, the Education and Training in Optics and Photonics (ETOP) Conference is held in collaboration with the major professional societies in optics and the International Commission for Optics. This conference started in 1991 and has been held in many different countries around the world. In even years, SPIE organizes the Optics Education and Outreach Conference as a track of the SPIE Optics + Photonics Symposium in San Diego, California, US.

I am finishing my writing for this piece on the International Day of Light (IDL), which is a great opportunity for outreach activities. The IDL was declared by UNESCO as a legacy of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies held in 2015 and is celebrated worldwide on the 16^th of May. Many student chapters organize hands-on activities for students at primary and secondary schools on this day.

We need to make society aware of the importance of light and light-based technologies in our lives. By appealing to the young generation of students, we might convince them of the beauty in optics and photonics.