Merger forms new OSA Industry Development Associates
The Optical Society (OSA) has merged the OSA Corporate Associates and the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) into one membership program as of January 1, 2015. The OSA says that this merger unites more than 250 OIDA and OSA corporate members, who will now have access to a comprehensive set of benefits, a more valuable membership experience, and the opportunity to be part of a larger and more influential alliance.
OSA acquired OIDA in 2011 to support its business and industrial programming. The traditional OIDA programs provide market information, roadmapping, and public policy and government funding activities, which will now be added to the corporate and technical education, recruitment assistance, and networking opportunities of the OSA Corporate Associates program. The decision was made official by the OSA Board of Directors at the OSA Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, held in Tucson, AZ, October 19-23.
For additional information, visit: www.osa.org/en-us/corporate_gateway.
Conard Holton
Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.