May 29, 2008--A new professional society serving the needs of Poland's photonics community has been announced by its founders. The Photonics Society of Poland (PSP) will hold its inaugural symposium on May 31 at Warsaw University of Technology, said PSP president Tomasz R. Wolinski, who is on the physics faculty of the university.
The new society has strong ties to SPIE, as many of the founders were leaders in the SPIE Poland regional chapter. SPIE has been transitioning its regional chapter program over the past few years, enabling the networks and activities established by the regional chapters to develop more effective, locally based organizations while maintaining close connections with SPIE.
"The formation of this society speaks very highly of the important and very valuable work in the optics and photonics community of Poland," said SPIE president Kevin Harding, of GE Global Research, in offering SPIE's congratulations to the PSP. The SPIE Poland Chapter was launched in 1988, after several years of association between the local community and SPIE.
"The relationship between SPIE and our friends and colleagues in Poland is not just about conferences, publishing, or leadership, but has many dimensions that extend beyond standard business interactions," said Eugene Arthurs, CEO of SPIE. "SPIE is proud of any role that it may have played in supporting optics and photonics in Poland. The Society is also grateful for the leadership of its first woman president, an exemplar of the future focus of the Polish community." Malgorzata Kujawinska, a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology, was president of SPIE in 2005, and continues to be active in the Society's leadership as well as Photonics21 and other organizations promoting photonics and optics.
Poland's future in photonics research will benefit from strength in the next generation, noted Brian Culshaw, 2007 SPIE president. "The enthusiasm and organization of the students in Poland is striking," he said. "These very bright young people will play an important role in the re-emergence of Polish science and technology." Culshaw, a professor at the University of Strathclyde, will attend the inauguration.
The inaugural symposium will include plenary invited talks, poster session and a reception in the university's Hall of the Faculty of Physics. With 215 members as of February 2008, the PSP is the largest optics-optoelectronics-photonics organization in Poland. It has begun integrating activities with the Committee of Electronics and Telecommunication of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Committee of Optoelectronics of the Society of Polish Electrical Engineers.
In addition to President Wolinski, PSP board members include:
§ Leszek R. Jaroszewicz, Military University of Technology, Warsaw (vice president: Membership and Industry)
§ Andrzej Domanski, Warsaw University of Technology (treasurer)
§ Anna Cysewska-Sobusiak, Technical University of Poznan (secretary)
§ Zbigniew Jaroszewicz, Institute of Applied Optics, Warsaw (conferences coordinator)
§ Bogdan Kosmowski, Technical University of Gdansk (regional liaison for North Poland)
§ Aneta Michalkiewicz, Warsaw University of Technology (student chapters coordinator)
§ Tadeusz Pustelny, Silesian University of Technology (regional liaison for South Poland)
§ Ryszard Romaniuk, Warsaw University of Technology (Photonics Letters editor-in-chief)
§ Waclaw Urbanczyk, Technical University of Wroclaw (Optica Applicata editor-in-chief).
See more information about the symposium and the new Society at www.photonics.pl.