2014 Northwestern University SPIE Chapter – Annual Report
Elected Officers:
President: Lingxuan Peng, LingxuanPeng2016@u.northwestern.edu, Materials Science
Treasurer: Francois Callewaert, franoiscallewaert2017@u.northwestern.edu, Electrical Engineering
Social Chair: Iman Hassani Nia, Imanhassani2014@u.northwestern.edu, Electrical Engineering
Social Chair: Alireza Bonakdar, abonakdar@u.northwestern.edu, Electrical Engineering
Outreach Chair: Mohsen Rezaei, Mohsenrezaei2019@u.northwestern.edu, Electrical Engineering
Outreach Chair: William Gaviria Rojas, gaviria.will@gmail.com, Electrical Engineering
Social Media Chair: Vala Rathipour, valarathipour2016@u.northwestern.edu, Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Bruce Lindvall, b-lindvall@northwestern.edu
Current Student Chapter Members:
Neelanjan Bandyopadhyay
Alireza Bonakdar
Francois Callewaert
Guanxi Chen
Vala Fathipour
William Gaviria Rojas
Peijun Guo
Abbas Haddadi
Iman Hassani Nia
David Heydari
Deep Jariwala
Zhongyang Li
Lingxuan Peng
Mohsen Rezaei
Monica So
Xiaoli Wang
Minchuan Zhou
Wenjia Zhou
Brief description of our student organization:
SPIE Northwestern University Chapter is a student organization whose mission is to increase the
awareness and knowledge of the Northwestern and Evanston community on optics and photonics by
engaging them in educational events, social activities and outreaches.
Details of chapter activities since last report:
Kickoff meetings:
10/2/2014: We introduced our student organization to new students and tried to recruit new student
members and new board members. In the meeting, we introduced our executive board; described our
missions and showed a series of planned events.
Student speaker series:
We invited PhD student and post-doc speakers to present their work on optics and photonics related
topics of recent interest.


3/3/2014: “Desktop Nanofabrication with Massively Multiplexed Near-field Photography”, Xing
Liao, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University
4/2/2014: “Polaron Trapping, Optimal Control, & Photon Assisted Tunneling and their
Application in Photovoltaic Cells, & DNA”, Dr. Guangqi Li, Chemistry, Northwestern University
Professional development series:
11/25/2014: “Developments in Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography & Career Coaching”, Mr. Bill Arnold,
Chief Scientist and Vice President of Technology Development Center, ASML
We invited Mr. Bill Arnold, the chief scientist and vice president of Technology Development Center at
ASML, to give a series of two talks, on “Developments in Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography & Career
Coaching” and “How to build a rewarding career, with the support from scientific societies”. In his first
talk, he talked about the development of EUV lithography and the up-to-date lithography techniques. In
his second talk, he introduced the opportunities in SPIE organization and how to build a rewarding
career based on his own experience. It attracted the audience from EECS, Materials Science and
Chemistry departments.
Faculty speaker series:
5/7/2014: “Novel Infrared Photons Detectors with Extreme Sensitivity” Prof. Hooman Hohseni, EECS,
Northwestern University
We invited Prof. Hooman Hohseni to give a talk on his research. This talk highlighted the recent
breakthroughs in increasing the sensitivity of “Nano-injection Detectors” in the short wavelength infrared
(SWIR) regime. He showed the physics of the operation and the unique properties of these new
devices which have small noise, high internal gain and the ability to form cameras with single-photon
sensitivity above cryogenic temperatures. He also discussed the impact of this new technology on
applications such as medical imaging, night vision and quantum computing, etc.
Social Events:
We invited SPIE members and graduate students from Northwestern University to join our social &
game night. The goal of these events is to allow our members to create supportive networks. The
attendees socialized with friends and met new people with different backgrounds.
 1/24/2014: “Social & Game Night”
 5/30/2014: “Social & Game Night”
Outreach Events:
4/22/2014: “Industry Tour of MicroLink Devices”
4 graduate students from Northwestern University together with a group of graduate students from
University of Notre Dame went to visit the MicroLink Devices at Niles. This is a collaboration with SPIE
Notre Dame Chapter. I was a good opportunity to see how industry works and explore internship
opportunities.
9/15/2014: “Industry Tour of MicroLink Devices”
9 graduate students from Northwestern University went to visit the MicroLink Devices the second time
and learned how industry works and explored internship opportunities.
12/2/2014: “Physics Day” Lincolnwood Elementary school
SPIE student chapter at Northwestern University in Dec 2nd organized an outreach event in Lincoln
Elementary School in Evanston, IL. The goal was to show the basic manipulation of light beams. More
specifically deflection, diffraction, and refraction of light were illustrated using simple optical elements.
Number of 16 students voluntarily stayed at school afternoon to participate in out event.
We used educational part of a commercial game named Khet in order to run our experiments for the
students. With using two light sources we showed to them the difference between white light and laser
light. Also using convex and concave lenses students experimentally saw the refraction of light. At the
end, by using a diffraction grating they saw that white light consists of different colors.
Describe exactly how grant funding was spent:
Our grant funding was mainly used for purchasing food for the audience at different events we
organized. We spent about $100 - $200 for each event, depending on the number of RSVPs. We
usually advertise our events to graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers in
the STEM fields.
Were these activities described in your last request?
Yes.
Details of planned activities for the future:
Student speaker series:
 Invited Speakers: Guanxi Chen (EECS) and Abbas Haddadi (EECS)
Faculty speaker event:
 Invite Professor Mirkin to talk about his research
Club member social and new member recruitment
 Club member social nights are held in Norris Game Room
 Recruit new members through kick-off meeting and social events
Outreach Events
 Local elementary schools
 Industry tours
Professional Development Talk
 Invite guest speaker from SPIE in the fall quarter
Financial Information:
Date
Description
Credit
2014
Opening balance
1100
Debit
Balance
1100
2014/02/14 4 x Laser Game Khet 2 for Outreach events at schools
109.44
990.56
2014/02/14
Food for social event at NU Game room
91.97
898.59
2014/03/03
Food for student speaker event
102.36
796.23
2014/04/02
Food for student speaker event
166.72
629.51
2014/05/19
Student chapter grant for 2014
2014/09/18
Transportation for the visit of MicroLink Devices
2014/10/02
Food for Kickoff meeting
232
1366.28
2014/11/21
Gifts for SPIE Speaker Bill Arnold
87.13
1279.15
1100
1729.51
131.23 1598.28
Selected pictures from our events:
Faculty Speaker Talk:
Student Speaker Series:
Professional Development Series:
Social Events:
Industry Tour to Microlink Devices:
Physics Day -- Lincolnwood Elementary School: