Baylor Student Awarded 2019 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship

Media Contact: Tonya B. Hudson, Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-710-4656
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by Brooke Hill, student newswriter, Baylor University Media & Public Relations

WACO, Texas (June 27, 2019) - Jingyi Yang, M.A. (Physics) ’17 and Ph.D. candidate in the physics department, has been awarded the 2019 Laser Technology, Engineering and Applications Scholarship by SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, for her potential contributions to the optics and photonics field.

Yang said the scholarship is for her work on developing nanometer-size lenses with other members of her research group. The group is able to put extremely thin lenses on the face of an optical fiber and demonstrate its focusing abilities, which can be applied in laser surgery, medical imaging and optical communication.

Individually, Yang is working on a project related to zero-index photonics, which is a study of what happens when a light’s wavelength is stretched infinitely in a medium.

“It’s a big encouragement for me to stay on the career path of a research scientist. I did not expect to win one of these scholarships from SPIE because they are very competitive,” Yang said.

Yang has been working under the supervision of Baylor assistant professor Howard Lee, Ph.D., since January 2016. Lee said the positive reception of her work indicates her elevated status as a young graduate researcher. She has authored and co-authored more than 10 journal articles and 20 conference proceedings.

“Apart from her academic and research achievement, I am particularly impressed by Jingyi’s personality and research attitudes through my interactions with her in the past three years. She is motivated and highly devoted in her optical researches,” Lee said.

“She is one of the best and talented students I have ever supervised, and she is equipped with experimental skills and knowledge to purse academic research,” he said. "This scholarship is the best recognition of her current and future achievements in optics and photonics research as a graduate researcher. I wish her all the success in the future.”

Yang was the founder and president of the SPIE student chapter at Baylor University. She organized and participated in several outreach and volunteering activities to share knowledge and to attract public interest in optics.
The Society awarded $298,000 in education scholarships to 84 outstanding SPIE student members based on their potential contribution to optics and photonics.

SPIE is an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering and technology. The Society serves 257,000 constituents from 173 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals and the SPIE digital library.

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