Generous Funding for SPIE's Bar-Ilan Student Chapter

SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, awarded Bar-Ilan's student chapter a $1,500 grant, the highest amount allocated by the organization to student chapter activities. "This budget is essential for us to be able to continue carrying out various activities, aimed at developing us, graduate and postgraduate students of the electro-optics track," says Alon Tzroya, president of Bar-Ilan's SPIE chapter.

SPIE is a nonprofit professional society whose purpose is to advance science and technology based on applications involving light. The society connects engineers, scientists, students, and industry leaders from around the world through organizing international technical conferences, managing a digital library with over 600,000 articles and publications, publishing research journals and books, and offering professional development programs. Beyond its scientific activities, SPIE actively supports the global community through scholarships, research grants, and investment in technological innovation.

As part of its support for the global community, SPIE encourages the formation and operation of student chapters, which are local organizations operating within academic institutions, whose purpose is to connect students to the professional world. "These chapters, like ours at Bar-Ilan, provide students with access to travel grants for conferences and additional learning resources, and serve as a bridge enabling connections with global experts and skills development. In Israel, only two student chapters operate on behalf of the society: at our university and at Tel Aviv University," says Tzroya. Bar-Ilan's student chapter is run by President Tzroya, Vice President Chana Shapira, Secretary Michal Katan, and Treasurer Bar Atuar. The chapter's academic advisor is Prof. Dror Fixler.

Over the past year, Bar-Ilan's SPIE student chapter spearheaded numerous activities, including professional development workshops for young researchers, networking events to strengthen ties among optics students, lectures by industry professionals, and travel grants to enable students to attend the organization's international conference and present the research conducted at Bar-Ilan's optics and photonics labs. "The funding we received this year is the highest tier that the society provides, and it recognizes the scope of our activities and our contribution to the electro-optics student community," concludes Tzroya.