Annual Report 2012-2013 - SPIE · PDF fileAnnual Report 2012-2013 Student chapter: KU Leuven, Belgium Chapter advisor: Prof Dr Koen Clays Chapter ID: 1052438 1. Chapter Members ...

Annual Report 2012-2013

Student chapter: KU Leuven, Belgium Chapter advisor: Prof Dr Koen Clays Chapter ID: 1052438

1. Chapter Members

At the end of the working year our chapter had 28 members. An active recruiting campaign in

all of our activities, reaching out to different departments at our university, has led to an

increase in the number of members. Organizing activities beyond our own student chapter,

improve the connection with these other departments. In comparison with last year 13 new

members were acquired while 9 members left the student chapter, due to finishing their PhD

and loss of interest in the Student Chapter

2013 Chapter Officers

Function Name E-mail SPIE ID

President Maarten Vanbel [email protected] 3381072

Vice-President

Ward Brullot [email protected] 3381062

Secretary Kenens Bart [email protected] 3443242

Treasurer Stefaan Vandendriessche

[email protected] 3380927

Members (09-09-2013)

Paula Acuna Raf De Dier Karen Markey

Ben Aernouts Steven Deckers Koen Nuyts

Remko Aubert Jochem Deen Tristan Putzeys

Yannick Baeten Pieter-Jan Demeyer Wouter Sempels

Maarten Bloemen Denitza Denkova Tomas Smets

Kevin Bogaerts Griet Depotter Maarten Vanbel

Doortje Borrenberghs Barbara Gysbrechts Stefaan Vandendriessche

Ward Brullot Bart Kenens Jeroen Vangindertael

Sophie Carron Janos Keresztes Bram Vanroy

Arvid Cloet

2. Activities We organized activities on a regular basis. Our aim was to do at least one activity each

month. All these events were announced via regular emails and via our website

(www.spiekul.be). A more elaborate description of the events can be found below.

Board Elections (28-09-2012)

Goal: Elect a new board by voting.

As written in the voting rules, the previous board was not allowed to vote. Votes were

collected and counted by the voting supervisor, Wim Libaers.

11 voting members were present. The new board was elected with 8 people in favor and

3 abstinence.

President: Maarten Vanbel

Vice-President: Ward Brullot

Treasurer: Stefaan Vandendriessche

Secretary: Bart Kenens

After the voting ceremony, the student chapter provided lunch. A discussion with fresh

ideas for the upcoming year was started and multiple suggestions, e.g. speakers,

company visits, were discussed.

SPIE invited Lecture: Jean-Luc Doumont (03-12-2012)

On Monday 3 December 2012, SPIE student chapter KU Leuven organized a lecture

given by Dr. Jean-Luc Doumont. After the successful session of last year, 'Making the

best of your Presentation', high hopes were set on this year's edition, "Structuring your

scientific paper". Inviting all scientific departments and their students of the university

was done by e-mails and by distributing posters.

With an attendance of more than 320 people, the lecture can be considered a great

success. Not only people from the academic world, like master students, PhD students

and professors were present, also people from the industry showed up, invited by Jean-

Luc Doumont.

The lecture included how to write a clearly structured scientific paper. A paper that looks

interesting from the first glance. Special interest went to the abstract and captions under

images in a paper. The goal of Dr. Doumont was not only to show the audience how to

write down your research so that everyone understands your line of thoughts, but also to

create a paper of high quality that it is easily accepted by journals.

Our President, Maarten Vanbel, gave a short introduction to the talk, mentioning the

Chapter.

Recruitment Activity: Pool-evening (13-12-2012)

The goal of this activity was to recruit new members. The Chapter provided pool tables

for 2 hours. 15 persons were present at the activity. Benefits of student membership of

SPIE were explained and the Chapter promoted. Outcome: 5 new member joined our

Chapter. The overall response was very positive.

Publicity was made on the website of SPIE student chapter Leuven and through e-mail.

Possible new members were informed personally.

Moreover, to our great surprise and joy the picture of this event was used to announce

the OSA student event at CLEO 2013, San Jose.

PhD symposium: "Optics: Fundamentals and Applications" (15/16-01-2013)

We organized a two-day course day with the goal of increasing the knowledge on basic

optics for PhD students. This activity was not limited to Chapter members only, but was

open for all PhD students. Study credit, accredited by the KU Leuven Arenberg Doctoral

School, could be earned by completing an exercise task. All student were able to attend

for free. The number of participants was 43.

The basic optics course was given by Prof. Gerasimov, a visiting lecturer from the

Odessa State University of Environment, Ukraine. The course started with the basics of

the Maxwell equations evolving into more elaborate topics concerning scatterings,

absorption in linear media, optics in solids and semi-conductors... Besides theory,

exercises were given by Prof. Gerasimov.

Two extra lectures were given by Prof. Hiroshi Uji-I and Prof. Thierry Verbiest. Prof. Uji-I

introduced us to geometrical optics. He also gave some small exercises to calculate

focus lengths etc... Prof. Verbiest introduced the basics of Second Harmonic Generation.

Furthermore, he explained some of the work done in his lab.

A poster competition was organized during the lunch break of the second symposium

day. Prizes for the best three posters were awarded. Award winners were Wouter

Sempels (1), Pieter-Jan Demeyer (2) and Tomas Smets (3). As part of the prize, the 3

laureates received a year-long SPIE student membership

Coffee breaks were paid by the SPIE KULeuven Student Chapter as well as the lunch

for the second day. This was catered by Alma Catering. Extra funding was donated by

the Arenberg Docteral School and the department of chemistry covering the travel and

accommodation expenses of Prof. Gerasimov.

Publicity through the Chapter’s website, posters and flyers was made. Lunch and coffee

breaks were provided in a reception hall. Publicity for SPIE was made and participants

could subscribe for SPIE

SPIEzza Meeting (18-02-2013)

In this meeting, 2 members present their latest work and planned experiments.

Discussion about their work, solutions to their problems and possible new ideas to

explore was held.

More information about the company visit to Umicore was distributed.

Barbara Ghysbrechts explained her work on theoretical calculations to obtain photon

propagations in the human brain in her presentation titled "Monte Carlo simulation of

photon propagation in brain tissue."

Karen Markey presented her work with on metal-organic frameworks with a reversible

electric polarization in her presentation entitled "Next generation ferroelectric materials:

metal-organic frameworks"

Company Visit: Umicore (11-03-2013)

The goal of this company visit was to see and experience the industrial side of optical

materials. The importance of recycling materials and researching new durable materials

was thoroughly stressed during this visit. We discovered how optical materials are

processed and saw the cost (both economical and environmental) of these materials.

This company visit at an international company gave us a better idea of what we can

expect after our academic career.

11 SPIE members participated in the company visit. Publicity was done via the website

and at SPIEzza meetings. The overall response was positive.

The Student chapter visited Umicore Olen, a division of the Umicore Group. The

Umicore Group has industrial operations on all continents and serves a global customer

base; it generated a turnover of € 12.5 billion (€ 2.4 billion excluding metal) in 2012 and

currently employs some 14,400 people. Umicore started in Belgium as a mining

company under the name Union Miniere. With a history of over 200 years it is one of the

most important chemical companies located in Belgium. Nowadays, since mining has

become more expensive and even more important it is shown to be very polluting,

Umicore changed their strategy to a more environmentally friendly one: Catalysis,

Energy Materials, Performance Materials and Recycling of Metals. One of these metals

is germanium, which is frequently used in optical devices, lenses and solar cells.

Umicore Olen welcomed the group with coffee, cookies and a short introduction about

the company, the history and what the core businesses of the company are. After this

interesting introduction, a guide showed us their R&D department. This department on

Olen employs over 200 people and has about 100 students and internships annually. It

is the research centre of Umicore all over the globe. Here, they research new

technologies for storing energy in a green way. Rechargeable batteries based on

recycled metals is one of the most important research topic of Umicore. Further, they are

looking for new and environmentally positive ways to recycle metals from waste without

losing the excellent properties of the metals. Process and research approaches were

explained. Some special equipment was explained.

After visiting the R&D department, Umicore provide lunch during which we had some

time to discuss with employees.

The next stop, was the Electro-Optics Material department. The department for recycling

Ge of Umicore Olen is the largest producer of Ge. As germanium is expensive, recycling

germanium is economically important. Several recycling techniques were shown, where,

with simple methods, a large efficiency can be reached concerning Ge-recycling. To

reach an even higher purity, extra refining processes like zone-refining are used. The

quality of the recycled germanium can be extremely high allowing to use in optical

lenses, solar panels, optical fibers, LED lights.

The final part of the tour, was the analytic lab. Here, analysis on products from both R&D

and the production department is done. Several techniques like Atomic Absorption

Spectroscopy, Electromagnetic Microscopy, several types of chromatography, X-Ray

analysis, ... were shown. Explanation of all the equipment was given by a local

technician.

A fun game of laser tag was planned after the company visit. Despite the heavy snowfall

it was a fun experience. Afterwards, snacks and drinks were given by the Student

Chapter to warm up the members.

SPIEzza Meeting (29-03-2013)

During this meeting, 2 members presented their latest work and planned experiments.

Discussion about their work, solutions to their problems and possible new ideas to

explore was held.

Bram Vanroy presented his work on the crystal formation of PET polymers and how it

can be followed using Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy in his presentation :"

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy to monitor the crystallization of confined PET."

Pieter-Jan Demeyer presented his work photonic crystals were he uses laser excitation

to investigate the linear and non-linear optical effects of these crystal. The presentation

was called "Linear and Non-linear optical effects in Photonic Crystals"

More information about the OSA CEO and CSO visit was given.

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Science Officer of OSA visiting (29-04-2013)

We had the honor to welcome the CEO , Elizabeth Rogan, and CSO, Anne Matsuura, of

the Optical Society of America (ASO) visited our student chapter on 29 May 2013. The

goal of this visit was to learn more about OSA and for them to learn more about us,

Leuven Student Chapter. The student members enjoyed the fact that they could see the

people behind OSA. The visit illustrated to the members that OSA is more than just “a

company” behind the student chapter. The activities of OSA include much more then

funding student organization, such as organizing conferences, publishing journals,

organizing awards, etc...

17 members participated in the visit. All of them are SPIE members, 7 of them were also

OSA member.

In order to facilitate interaction between OSA and our chapter, we held a social event in

"Het Geel Huis" of Arenberg Park.

Maarten Vanbel, our president, gave a short presentation about the goal of our student

chapter, our activities and future plans. During this event the CEO also explained what

OSA exactly is, what they do and what benefits can be obtained by being an OSA

member. Finally, a number of shotgun presentations were given by the OSA student

members to show their scientific work to the OSA delegation. Discussion was held after

the presentation during coffee and a buffet of deserts made by several OSA student

members. A small gift in the form of a chocolate flag was given to both the CEO and the

science advisor.

The planning of the day:

14:30-14:35 - Welcome

14:35-14:45 - Presentation by M. Vanbel about our Student Chapter

14:45-15:00 - Presentation by OSA delegates

15:00-15:30 - Shotgun presentation by OSA KU Leuven Student Chapter members

about their research

15:30-16:00 - Informal meeting with dessert buffet

SPIEKULographic (31-05-2013)

The goal of this activity is to combine art/culture with science by showing the visualized

results of scientific work. All PhD and master students studying at the KULeuven could

join were free to submit their work. This is an ideal opportunity to promote the SPIE

Student Chapter as well as optics in general.

Jury members

President: Prof. Koen Clays, Laboratory for Molecular Electronics and Photonics,

Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences

Prof. Ann Gils, Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Biology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical

Sciences

Prof. Tom Van Gerven, Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems, Faculty of

Engineering Science

Prof. Thierry Verbiest, Laboratory for Molecular Electronics and Photonics, Dept. of

Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences

Dr. Bart Vandenbussche, Institute of Astronomy, Dept. of Physics, Faculty of

Sciences

Awards and prizes

Ranked 1-10: A2 sized posters were printed and handed over to the authors after

the award ceremony

Ranked 1-5: Authors received a certificate stating the title of submission, the

authors and rank in the competition.

Ranked 1-3: Prizes:

First prize: SPIE membership (15 euro) + FNAC coupon (50 euro)

Second prize: SPIE membership (15 euro) + FNAC coupon (25 euro)

Third prize: SPIE membership (15 euro)

The organizing committee received 21 valid submissions. The jury members have

graded and ranked the submissions received by the organizing committee.

The top 10 submissions:

3th prize: Ivo Stassen

2nd prize: Pieter-Jan Demeyer

1st prize: Maarten Bloemen

SPIEzza Meeting (04-06-2013)

During this meeting, 2 members presented their latest work and planned experiments.

Discussion about their work, solutions to their problems and possible new ideas to

explore was held.

Sophie Carron described about the use of organometals as contrast MRI agents, and

how to use them for optical imaging in her presentation "Potential Bimodal Contrast

Agent for MRI and Optical Imaging"

Tristan Putzeys presented his work, "Polarization distributions in biological systems

studied by Pyroelectric and SHG microscopy"

Board Elections (06-09-2013)

Goal: Elect a new board by voting.

17 voting members were present. The votes were collected and counted by the voting

supervisor, Stijn Van Cleuvenbergen. The following board was elected with 15 people in

favor and 2 abstinences.

President: Bart Kenens

Vice-President: Barbara Gysbrechts

Treasurer: Karen Markey

Secretary: Griet Depotter

After the voting ceremony, lunch was provided by the student chapter, rounded off with

ice cream. A discussion with fresh ideas for the upcoming year was started and multiple

suggestions, e.g. speakers, company visits, were discussed.

3. Planned activities For the election year 2013-2014 the activities are organized by a the newly elected board.

Following activities suggest some planned activities. These are not fixed and new ones can

be organized.

SPIEzza meeting

Student meetings will be held on a regular bases. In these meetings two students

present their current work and a discussion on result, problems and future plans is held.

These meetings will be concluded with lunch provided by the student chapter.

Company Visit

A company visit will be organized. The company is not chosen yet. Current possibilities

are Philips Eindhoven, Amos Lens Design and the Aerospace center in Liege.

Jean-Luc Doumont

After the successful session of last year, "Structuring your Research Paper"., Jean-Luc

Doumont will return to Leuven this year. He did not decide the topic yet, but he has

confirmed for December 4th, 2013. His talk, Traditions, Templates and Group Leaders,

is confirmed for December 4th, 2013. This talk is open to the public.

Photo Contest

The fourth edition of the scientific photo contest, SPIEKULographic will be held in Spring

2013

Quiz

A quiz with main topic Optics will be held. Dates are to be confirmed.

4. Financial Information

Activities Spending in Euros

General Meetings

September 2012 86

February 2012 74,5

March 2012 92

July 2012 109,88

September 2013 124,15

486,53

Recruitment pool

29,4

Umicore company visit

95,87

OSA CEO visit

99,31

Symposium

Promotional 36

Food 440,71

Hotel + vlucht Gerasymov 932,1

Office supplies during 99,57

Poster prizes 122,18

1630,56

Website

43,3

SPIE KULographic

Prizes 87,07

Promotional Material 175

Reception 121,75

383,2

Funding

SPIE funding

Leftover 2012 186,59

2013 SPIE Funding 836,88

Extra funding 250,00

ADS Funding symposium 992,29

2265,76

Financial Result

4,28

General Overview

Spending -2230,17

Funding 2270,04

Balance 39,87