IPG Photonics Donates $250K to Siegman Laser School Endowment
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2013 — The OSA (The Optical Society) Foundation has received a $250,000 donation from IPG Photonics Corp. of Oxford, Mass., for the Siegman International Summer School on Lasers Endowment. The gift will help permanently establish the program, modeled after the summer school program that first took place in 2011 at the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics in China.
The fiber laser company’s donation will go toward providing world-class lecturers, important student travel grants and achievement awards as well as other general programming costs. In recognition of the contribution, IPG has been named co-founder of the school.
The program provides an opportunity for graduate students to present their own research to their peers, learn from an international group of accomplished speakers and network with other students in the field of optics. Each year, the school will take place in a different region of the world, bringing education to students who may not have had access to such resources otherwise. Students interested in attending will have their applications reviewed by a program committee for approval.
“The Siegman International School on Lasers will provide students from across the globe with an opportunity to advance their education, foster future collaboration, and promote research and engineering for the optical community,” said Michael Morris, OSA Foundation board chair.
The fundraising campaign for the school, launched in January 2012, is named in honor of Anthony E. Siegman, past president of the OSA and founding member of the OSA Foundation board. Siegman passed away in October 2011 at the age of 79. (See: Laser Pioneer Anthony Siegman Dies at 79)
“The future of the laser industry depends on tomorrow’s scientists and innovators,” said IPG Chairman and CEO Valentin P. Gapontsev. “IPG is happy to provide some of the building blocks for their success.”
The first Siegman International Summer School on Lasers will take place in the summer of 2014.
For more information, visit: www.osa.org/foundation or www.ipgphotonics.com
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