Optica Foundation Challenge

The Optica Foundation recognizes ten early-career professionals with exceptional ideas to leverage optics and photonics and address global challenges. These individuals drive new, impactful scientific discoveries with the potential to transform our world. We consider proposals for problem-solving solutions resulting from basic research and development or enhancements of photonics-based technology in three categories: Environment, Health and Information.

Winners each receive US$100,000 prizes to support addressing the challenge over one to two years. These prizes provide seed money to ideas that may be difficult to fund from other sources.

Categories

ENVIRONMENT

With nearly 8 billion people on earth, problems with polluted air and water, global warming, plastic in the oceans, and energy consumption represent unprecedented challenges to our society and planet. A cleaner, safer future is needed, and various technologies, including optical-based solutions, are urgently needed to address and alleviate the continued growth of these problems. Optics and photonics can provide unique, effective means to monitor our world, provide more energy-efficient devices, and solve environmental challenges.

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HEALTH

Optical technologies have contributed to significant advances in the medical arena. Ultra-high resolution images of the brain, eye, and vascular system have significantly advanced our understanding of the operation and function of these systems. Therapeutic lasers techniques improved the vision of millions of people. Advances in microscopy, spectroscopy and nanotechnology continue to enable us to reach new possibilities for in situ diagnostics. Many challenges face society calling for new, innovative and affordable technology solutions.

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INFORMATION

Modern humanity and the global economy rely on optical infrastructures and technologies to drive our digital society. We will continue to see exponential data traffic. The cost of this growth in communications draws a significant fraction of the energy society uses. New, more energy-efficient approaches and technologies must be developed and adapted to permit continued information growth. Our information and communications lifeline demand innovation and game-changing discoveries to keep up.

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Application Information

How To Apply

Submit an application via apply.optica.org.

Important Dates

Opens 16 May 2023
Closes 21 July 2023

Applicant Requirements

1. Optica members who identify as early-career professionals are welcome to submit proposals as lead investigator. (Members who have completed their highest academic degree program within the last seven years*).
2. Applicants must show support from their employer to participate in the program. Employers need to approve the proposed time and resources required from their employees.
   • University, non-governmental agencies and research institutions must agree to no more than 10% overhead.
   • Corporate employers and governmental agencies must agree to no assessment of overhead.
3. Have a self-directed research position; title of any rank of professor, research scientist, postdoc or equivalent.

*Program requirements recognize and exclude breaks from career timelines (e.g., eldercare; maternity or paternity leave; inability to work due to Covid-19 and lab closures; long-term illness).

Application Requirements

1. Name of Challenge Project   
2. Applicant name, institution and contact information      
3. Applicant CV – no more than four (4) pages*
4. One-page* executive summary highlighting the challenge, proposed project, and intended outcomes
5. Proposal – no more than five (5) pages*
   • Literature Review
   • Problem Statement/Objective
   • Outline of tasks/Work Plan
   • Outcome(s)
   • Impact
6. Budget reflecting anticipated expenses and other sources of funding – must utilize template provided.    
7. Institutional Agreement Letter - Letter to inform the selection committee that the applicant's employer is aware of and supports the submitted proposal. The letter contains a high-level overview of expectations on behalf of the applicant and their employer should the proposal be accepted as one of the 10 to receive the US $100K funding, including approved overhead levels to be assessed. Must utilize template provided.
8. Digitally sign the "Participation Agreement" via the application portal, signifying that if chosen as a recipient of a Challenge Award, you will:
   • Agree to make your application and concepts open and available for being highlighted in promotions and awareness of the challenge winners and project.
   • Participate in at least two review meetings with the Challenge Committee to provide updates on progress and receive advice/guidance (program will pay travel and lodging expenses).
   • Be willing to share progress and results in Optica-organized symposiums.
   • Submit results/progress for publication in Optica open-access journals (the program will cover publishing fees if a manuscript is accepted).

Reviewers will use information submitted as part of the application to evaluate the proposal's merit and by Optica to make the award and monitor the progress. Only complete packets submitted by the deadline and within the stated page requirements will be reviewed.

*These documents must adhere to the following formatting requirements.

• Applicant CV – no more than four (4) pages.
• An executive summary highlighting the challenge, proposed project, and intended outcomes – no more than one (1) page.
• Proposal – no more than five (5) pages.

Formatting Requirements

1. Arial, Times New Roman or Courier New at a font size of 11 points or larger.
2. A font size of less than 11 points may be used for mathematical formulas or equations, figures, table or diagram captions and when using a Symbol font to insert Greek letters or special characters
3. Regardless of font, readability is vital.
4. Paper size should comply with the international standard of A4 (8.3" x 11.7"; 210mmx297mm).
5. Margins, in all directions, must be at least 1" (2.54cm).
6. Use a standard single-column format for text.

If you have questions, please email apply@optica.org.

2023 Recipients

Zaijun Chen

University of Southern California, USA

for "Accelerating Optica Edge Sensing with Photonic Deep Learning." (Information)

Ahmed Dorrah

John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, USA

for "Structured Light Generation and Sensing with Metasurfaces for THz Communications." (Information)

Samantha Grist

The University of British Columbia, Canada

for "Silicon photonic biosensors for low-cost, portable, data-rich measurements of hormone biomarkers relevant to women's health and the menopausal transition." (Health)

Nirosha Murugan

Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

for "Capturing Cancer's in Its Early Glow: Pioneering Early Detection Strategies using Light Based Biomarkers." (Health)

Justus Ndukaife

Vanderbilt University, USA

for "Next-Generation High Throughput Plasmonic Nanotweezers for Nanoplastics Analysis." (Environment)

Alejandro Velez-Zea

Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia

for "Multilayer holographic augmented reality with digital micromirror devices: content pipeline and system implementation." (Information)

Yicheng Wang

Ruhr-Universität-Bochum/Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science (PULS), Germany

for "High-power 2-μm frequency combs for rapid greenhouse gas sensing." (Environment)

Fei Xia

National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France

for "Low-Cost, Stain-free Computational Spectral Flourescence Imager for Diagnosis of Diseased Tissue." (Health)

Ying Xue

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

for "Monolithic III-V active devices in-plane coupled with Si for integrated Si-photonics." (Information)

Fernando Zvietcovich

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Peru

for "Development of a clinical multi-excitation optical coherence elastography system to interrogate biomechanics for the detection and staging of normotensive galucoma." (Health)

Past Recipients

2022

Selection Committee

• Alexandra Boltasseva, Purdue University, USA
• Majid Ebrahim-Zadeh, ICFO - Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Spain
• Andrew Forbes, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Thomas Giallorenzi, USA
• Fumio Koyama, Tokyo Insitute of Technology, Japan
• Xiang Liu, Huawei Technologies, China
• Miles John Padgett, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
• Jannick Rolland, University of Rochester, USA
• Alan Willner, University of Southern California, USA
• Ulrike Woggon, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany