WASHINGTON, DC—Dr. Steven Chu and Dr. Arno Penzias, both Nobel Laureates for physics, will be plenary speakers at the OPTOmism 2009 conference and exhibition. OPTOmism will focus on photonic products for green technology and is being co-founded by the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) and Pennwell Corporation (Tulsa, OK). The inaugural event will be held in Santa Clara, CA, May 18—20, 2009.
“We are very excited to welcome these two esteemed scientists—both thought leaders within the green technology space—as plenary speakers at OPTOmism,” said Michael Lebby, CEO of OIDA. “Photonic products ... will play a key role in a developing sustainable energy for the future.”
At OPTOmism, Chu will be speaking about technology, policy, and climate change. “The transition to sustainable energy systems is imperative,” said Chu. “Photonics is one of the key technologies that we should embrace.”
In his plenary presentation, Penzias will address the investment environment, business models, and the role photonics and other key technologies will play in the development of renewable energy solutions. “A growing number of highly-innovative entrepreneurs are making tremendous advances in the clean technology space, and the field has become my primary area of current work and key investment focus,” said Penzias. “There is an urgent need to leverage low-impact sustainable technologies like photonics as we develop the energy technologies that will fuel the next generation and beyond.”
Steven Chu is director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and a professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1997, Chu shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with William D. Phillips, U.S., and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, France, for his work in cooling and trapping atoms with laser light at Bell Labs. Currently, his passion is the development of sustainable energy technologies that will drive national economic prosperity while reducing the threat of global climate change.
Arno Penzias joined New Enterprise Associates in 1997 as a Venture Partner from Bell Labs, where he headed its research organization and served as its chief scientist. His awards include a number of honorary degrees, as well as other awards, for his contributions to science, R&D management and public service - most notably the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in radio astronomy.
For more information, editorial contact for OPTOmism is OIDA’s communications director David Iams. You can reach him at (202) 785—4426 or [email protected].