University of Rochester SPIE Student Chapter

It was a pleasure to showcase our optics demos, thanks to Quest Elementary for hosting this event!

The SPIE and Optica Student Chapters at The Institute of Optics are bringing back the Optics Outreach Tent at the 125th Rochester Lilac Festival, May 12 – 21, 2023. Our student teams are hard at work preparing interactive science demonstrations that explore light, color, and optics - fun for all ages! Take a look at the beautiful cell structure of a lilac flower under a microscope, investigate how your eyes perceive color, learn about thermal imaging aboard the James Webb Space Telescope, and more!

Read about our previous outreach event at the 2019 Lilac Festival for a preview of our science demos: https://www.optica.org/en-us/optica_blog/2019/may_2019/international_day_of_light_light_lilacs%E2%80%9D_in_roches/

The Lilac Festival features live music, arts and crafts, food, and family-friendly activities alongside hundreds of varieties of lilacs in full bloom. It attracts over 500,000 people to Rochester’s Highland Park each May and coincides with the UNESCO International Day of Light on May 16.

The Optics Outreach Tent is generously supported by Optimax Systems, Inc., SPIE, and the Optica Foundation.

Institute of Optics
University of Rochester
Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences: University of Rochester
Optimax Systems Inc
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics
Optica
International Day of Light 16 May
Rochester Lilac Festival

Glad to have you join us at the Festival of Lights this past Dec. 18th.

Hope you've found our demos illuminating!

Thanks to Andres Guevara from ASML for giving us a nice little talk about the company!