Edmund Optics Announces Educational Award Recipients

Edmund Optics has announced the recipients of its 2019 Educational Award program. The award is given in recognition of outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs at nonprofit colleges and universities worldwide.

The EO Educational Award Team evaluated hundreds of applications to select 20 global finalists. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in the Americas and Europe were awarded Edmund Optics products (totaling $45,000) to support their research. The remaining finalists will all receive a $500 product award. Additionally, the recipient of the Norman Edmund Inspiration Award, which best embodies the legacy of Edmund Optics’ founder Norman Edmund, is chosen from the 20 global finalists and will receive an additional $5000 in EO products.

Americas Awards

The Gold Award of $10,000 in EO products was awarded to Emily Bedell at the University of Colorado Boulder for her design of an in situ fluorimeter for the real-time detection of microbial risk levels in drinking water sources in low-income areas.

The Silver Award of $7500 in EO products was awarded to Travis Sawyer at the University of Arizona for the development of a novel endoscope for early detection of esophageal cancer.

The Bronze Award of $5000 in EO products was awarded to Guanjun Tan of the University of Central Florida for presenting the resolution of several remaining optical challenges in head-mounted display systems, including virtual reality and optical see-through augmented reality.

European Awards

The Gold Award of €7000 in EO products was awarded to Jan Sperrhake of Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Germany, for the development of a multipurpose, contactless medical sensor device for observing the vital signs of newborns.

The Silver Award of €5000 in EO products was awarded to Andreas Riedo of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for the development of a robust and sensitive detector for the reliable detection of signs of life on extraterrestrial bodies within the solar system.

The Bronze Award of €3000 in EO products was awarded to Alejandro Madrid Sánchez of Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium, for the development of a novel 3D-printing solution for wound dressings that reduces printing time by producing tailored voxels, which can enable large-scale 3D structures to be implemented in biomedical applications.

The Norman Edmund Inspiration Award

The Norman Edmund Inspiration Award was awarded to Cobey McGinnis at the University of North Carolina Charlotte for developing a single-pixel hyperspectral imaging camera that can identify malignant tissue and can allow for real-time margin assessment by surgeons.