SPIE Student ChapterUniversite Laval

Annual Report2013–2014

We held this summer a non-profit event called “Toolkit” — an entire day ofconferences and workshops organized by students, for students.

SPIE Univ. Laval Chapter — Annual report 2013–2014 2

About us

Our chapter is composed of 44 graduate and undergraduate students in optics andphotonics at Universite Laval (Quebec City, Canada), and of 3 alumni. Combinedwith Universite Laval’s OSA student chapter, we form the REPOL (Regroupementdes Etudiants en Optique et Photonique de Laval), representing about 200 graduatestudents in optics and photonics. Our laboratories and offices are located in theCenter for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL) at Universite Laval. Our websiteis www.repol.copl.ulaval.ca.

The main goal of our chapter is to gather, inform and represent students fromUniversite Laval who are members of SPIE and OSA. More specifically, the REPOLaims to:

• organize conferences and workshops;

• establish a link between university and industry;

• inform students about new developments in optics and photonics;

• organize social, cultural and sportive events;

• promote the science of light to high school students;

• correspond with other OSA and SPIE chapters around the world;

• manage the chapter’s funds.

Although being a member of both OSA and SPIE is encouraged, it is generally nota mandatory criterion to participate in our chapter’s activities. We prefer to includeas many people as possible without forcing anyone to pay membership fees. . . though,as mentioned, it is encouraged.

The number of members in our chapter has remained relatively constant over theyear. This is possible partly thanks to the financial support form the COPL, ourresearch center: COPL and REPOL together have provided free memberships to allgraduate students in optics and photonics who wanted to be part both of OSA andSPIE, to a limit of 40 people — and that limit has been reached in a rather shortamount of time, which shows how much students are interested to join in.

We are presently working to reinstate that partnership for the coming year, sinceit has been a huge success for the COPL, the REPOL, and the students.

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Chapter Officers

Chapter Officers (from October 2013 to September 2014)

Title Name Email address

President Jean-Raphael jean-raphael.carrier.1@ulaval.caCarrier

Vice-President Xavier xavier.dallaire.1@ulaval.caDallaire

Treasurer Simon simon.duval.2@ulaval.caDuval

Outreach Events Anne-Sophie anne-sophie.poulin-girard.1@ulaval.caCoordinator Poulin-GirardCommunications Vincent vincent.marceau.2@ulaval.caOfficer MarceauConference Pascal pascal.hogan-lamarre.1@ulaval.caCoordinator Hogan-Lamarre

Undergrad Evelyne evelyne.brown-dussault.1@ulaval.caRepresentative Brown Dussault

Social Events Mathieu mathieu.boivin.4@ulaval.caCoordinator BoivinSports Denis denis.panneton.1@ulaval.caOfficer PannetonIndustry Olivier olivier.thibault-maheu.1@ulaval.caRepresentative Thibault-Maheu

Chapter Real rvallee@copl.ulaval.caAdvisor Vallee

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The elections for the 2014-2015 committee were held September 26th, 2014. Here-after is the list of the newly elected chapter officers:

Chapter Officers (from October 2014 to September 2015)

Title Name Email address

President Alex alex.cote.1@ulaval.caCote

Vice-President Xavier xavier.dallaire.1@ulaval.caDallaire

Treasurer Sebastien sebastien.magnan-saucier.1@ulaval.caMagnan-Saucier

Outreach Events Jean-Christophe jean-christophe.gauthier.4@ulaval.caCoordinator GauthierCommunications Simon simon.duval.2@ulaval.caOfficer DuvalConference Pascal pascal.hogan-lamarre.1@ulaval.caCoordinator Hogan-Lamarre

Undergrad Samuel samuel.gouin.1@ulaval.caRepresentative Gouin

Social Events Simon simon.duval.2@ulaval.caCoordinator DuvalSports Clement clement.frayssinous.1@ulaval.caOfficer Frayssinous

Industry Clement clement.frayssinous.1@ulaval.caRepresentative Frayssinous

Chapter Real rvallee@copl.ulaval.caAdvisor Vallee

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Chapter Members

Students (44)

• Cleophace Akitegetse

• Siamak Amiralizadeh Asi

• Cheikhou Ba

• Seydou Bassene

• Victor Belanger-Garnier

• Jean-Philippe Berube

• Mathieu Boivin

• Sebastien Bouchard

• Evelyne Brown Dussault

• Charles Brunet

• Jean-Raphael Carrier

• Guang Chen

• Alex Cote

• Xavier Dallaire

• William Deschenes

• Jean-Francois Dion

• Laurent Dusablon

• Simon Duval

• Vincent Fortin

• Clement Frayssinous

• Schadrac Fresnel

• David Helie

• Cang Jin

• Yacine Kassimi

• Simon Lambert-Girard

• Marc-Antoine Langevin

• Jerome Leclerc-Perron

• Stephane Melanson

• Vincent Michaud-Belleau

• Wing-Chau Ng

• Anne-Sophie Poulin-Girard

• Louis Prevost

• Laurie Rousseau-Nepton

• Samir Sahli

• Aravindan Sridharan

• Gabrielle Theriault

• Olivier Thibault-Maheu

• Louis Thibon

• Steven Thomas

• Samuel Tremblay

• Vahe Vardanyan

• Audrey Veillette

• Jing Wang

• Lingyao Yu

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Alumni (3)

• Moulay Akhloufi

• Martin Bernier

• Reno Lessard

Activities

The main strength of our student chapter is the number and diversity of the events weorganize. In 2013-2014 were held traditional activities such as the Photonics Games,the sugar shack outing, the industrial roundtable and the REPOL-COPL Grant(which became this year the Real-Tremblay Grant to honor one great and newly-retired professor), but also new ones such as the “Toolkit”, which was our greatestevent this year. Here are briefly presented all those activities. More information andphotos can be found on our website : www.repol.copl.ulaval.ca.

Toolkit

For the first time, the REPOL organized in May 2014 an event named Toolkit,a one-day student workshop for professional development. Several invited guestsled discussions about oral presentations, efficient article writing, careers in optics,literature review, graduate studies and networking. A cocktail was organized at theend of the day. Participants — they were more than 70! — found the activity veryuseful and worthwhile.

We do not plan to organize a similar activity every year, but since it has beenvery much appreciated by the students, and also by the professors in general, theToolkit may return every two years.

Photonics Games

Founded by our chapter, the Photonic Games is an annual competition where teamsof high school students tackle optical challenges. The sixth edition of the PhotonicsGames (Jeux Photoniques) was held November 30th 2013. Overall, 140 high schoolstudents from 5 schools attended, and no less than 65 undergraduate and graduatestudents volunteered to make this event a great success! More details can be foundon : www.jeuxphotoniques.com.

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The seventh edition will take place October 30th 2014. This edition will be thebiggest ever made, with 194 expected students from 6 different schools!

FEMTO project

Sensing a lack of information about careers in optics, the FEMTO (Framework ofEducative Materials for Teaching Optics) project was started last year, and wasofficially launched in the spring of this year.

FEMTO is divided in four parts:

1. Canadian Photonic Kit upgraded with new experiments;

2. Demonstration laboratory dedicated to outreach and training containing fivesetups (holography, optical fiber, oximeter, optical aberrations, and lasers);

3. Interviews with professionals and information about careers in optics and pho-tonics;

4. Posters and other resources.

Although some work on the FEMTO project is still in progress, the vast majorityof the material is completed and can be accessed since May 2014: www.femto.ca.

Student Paper Contest : the Real-Tremblay Grant

Every year, we hold a student paper competition. Previously called the “REPOL-COPL Grant”, it became this year the “Real-Tremblay Grant” in order to honor andthank Professor Tremblay for his numerous years and contributions in the field ofoptics, but also for his unswerving and well-apreciated involvement in teaching andcommunicating physics.

In May 2014, four participants presented their research to a jury composed ofthree professors. We thank all the applicants for their excellent work and remark-able oral presentations, and hope that many will participate again next year. Fora second year in a row the winner was Vincent Marceau, our all-star now-retiredCommunications Officer.

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Industrial Events

Due to the success of last year’s an industrial roundtable, we organized another sim-ilar activity this year, but with different professionals. The industrial roundtable isa two-hour-or-so event during which students have the opportunity to ask questionsto professionals having a career in optics and to receive some comments and perspec-tives about this field of industry. Again this year it was very well appreciated bothby the students and professionals who took part. A third edition is to be held againnext winter.

Sports

REPOL is proud to support its running club, ice skating club and soccer team,the FC OPL. For a second year in a row, we also organized a friendly petanquetournament, where seven teams competed for top honors. During Sochi’s WinterOlympic Games, we organized a get-together to watch Men’s ice hockey final match.

Social Events

REPOL plans and carries out most of the networking and social events at the COPL.Again this year, many social activities were organized. They allow graduate studentsfrom miscellaneous research groups to interact and know each other, and provide agreat opportunity for undergraduate students to discuss with graduates and profes-sors.

Christmas and Summer parties were both great successes, as well as the tradi-tional outing to a sugar shack.

In addition to traditional events, we organized this year a workshop during whichparticipants learned how to make nice-looking and delectable sushis. 12 participantsattended and were much satisfied by the sushis they made for themselves, thanks tothe chef’s precious advices!

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Financial information

Beginning balance (October 1st, 2013) $2,098

Income Outcome

OSA funding $560SPIE Activity Grant $1,608Universite Laval funding $500Toolkit $832 $822COPL funding $315Christmas party $30Sugar shack $333 $388Summer party $75Petanque tournament $26Industrial roundtable $65 $162Real-Tremblay Grant $656Sushi workshop $250 $260Officers’ activity $488Travel reimbursements (San Diego) $72Membership reimbursements $836Bank fees $270

TOTAL $4,433 $4,085

Ending balance (August 31th, 2014) $2,446