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USAC/ICO ACTIVITIES 

Revisiting Harnessing Light  The ICTP Winter College on Optics  Education and Training Conferences

Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP) Workshops  ICO Triennial Congresses  USAC Annual Meetings

Revisiting Harnessing Light
Over the last year, a major priority for the U.S. Advisory Committee for Optics has been to raise awareness of the need to update the 1998 NRC report Harnessing Light.  That report only captured the importance of optics and photonics but also described the major challenges facing the field. The USAC is working closely with The National Academies’ National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) on this project. 
Read more about the importance of this project...

The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Commission for Optics organize the annual Winter College on Optics in Trieste, Italy. The theme varies from year to year, but the format always features lectures by international experts, internal seminars and group discussions, and laboratory demonstrations.  
For more information about past Winter Colleges, visit the ICTP calendar page...

Education & Training Conferences
Biannual Education and Training in Optics and Photonics (ETOP) conferences bring together leading optics and photonics educators from all leavels to discuss, demonstrate and learn about new developments and approaches to teaching in these fields in these fields. 

The USAC/ICO will join ICO, OSA, SPIE, and IEEE/LEOS in sponsoring the 2009 ETOP conference, which will be held July 5-7, 2009 in St. Asaph, North Wales, UK.  For more information and to register for the 2009 Conference, visit www.etop.org.uk.  

Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP) Workshops
The USAC/ICO has joined UNESCO and the International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE) in sponsoring Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP) workshops. These week-long teacher training events for physics teachers from universities and senior high schools are typically held in developing countries since optics and photonics are among the few experimental physics areas that have been found to be relevant and adaptable to research and educational conditions in those countries. To date, workshops have been held or scheduled in the following countries: Ghana and the Philippines (2004); Tunisia (2005); Morocco and India (2006); Tanzania, Brazil, and Mexico (2007); and Zambia and Cameroon (2008).  Learn more in the attached PowerPoint Presentation (9.9 MB)...

ICO Triennial Congresses
The ICO Congress is a triennial meeting where new officials are elected, new initiatives discussed, and the agenda set for the next three years.  The last Congress (ICO-21) was held in Sydney, Australia in 2008.  Read more about Congress outcomes...

USAC Annual Meetings
The USAC/ICO meets twice a year.  One meeting is usually held in January in conjunction with the SPIE Photonics West meeting; the second meeting, held in the fall, takes place at The Keck Center of The National Academies in Washington, DC.  These meetings focus on USAC/ICO's activities as a national and international liaison to ICO for the U.S. optics community, with the goal of raising the profile of optical sciences and technology.

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