SPIE Student Member Awards

Congratulations to the 2026 recipient and runners-up

We are pleased to announce that the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) SPIE Student Chapter (Canada) has been selected to receive the 2026 Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter. SPIE Julie Bentley chose the uOttawa Chapter as this year’s recipient in recognition of the creativity and effort behind its activities, noting that its fresh ideas could inspire chapters across the SPIE community.

The first runner-up, the Montana State University (MSU) SPIE Student Chapter (United States), and second runner-up, the Universidade do Porto SPIE Student Chapter (Portugal), were close behind and demonstrated similar strengths in outreach, professional development, technical dissemination, and community-building.

Across Canada, Europe, and the United States, the three top chapters delivered ambitious programs that reached audiences spanning elementary school students to postgraduate researchers, while fostering inclusive, energized, and well-organized student communities.

The uOttawa SPIE Student Chapter stood out for its creativity and breadth of programming, with initiatives designed to support both research-focused students and the broader community. Signature activities included:

• A 3-Minute Thesis–style science communication competition (“Who Said It Best?”) that helped graduate students refine presentation skills in an engaging, peer-driven format.
• A multi-day International Day of Light program, combining a summer intensive for new research students, technical talks, lab visits, and a chapter-led optics photo contest.
• Hands-on community outreach at local community centers and high schools, offering bilingual (English and French) activities for younger students.
• Innovative community-building efforts such as “Bring Your Own Mug” coffee meetings, emphasizing sustainability while encouraging regular collaboration among members.

The MSU SPIE Student Chapter earned distinction for sustaining an unusually high level of activity throughout the year and exceeding expectations for scope and reach. Highlights from their programming included:

• A large-scale International Day of Light celebration, featuring a guest speaker from industry, student research posters, interactive demonstrations, and a public-facing banquet.
• Extensive K–12 outreach, including museum STEM nights, family science days, field trips, and after-school programs that introduced optics concepts through hands-on demonstrations.
• A well-established Optics and Photonics Society (OPS) Colloquium series, bringing in speakers from academia and industry to discuss topics ranging from hyperspectral imaging and mirror fabrication to career pathways.
• An industry facility tour at Teledyne FLIR, offering students firsthand exposure to optics manufacturing beyond the academic environment.

The Universidade do Porto SPIE Student Chapter delivered a particularly strong showing through large-scale event involvement and independent leadership, and received funding solely through SPIE. Their standout activities included:

• Organizing the first University of Porto International Day of Light Conference, a hybrid event that brought together participants from academia and industry across Europe and created a new annual platform for scientific exchange.
• Playing a key organizational role in the International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors (OFS29), supporting logistics, poster sessions, and participant coordination for nearly 700 attendees.
• Running a poster competition in collaboration with EPS Young Minds, engaging students across physics and photonics disciplines and drawing broad campus participation.
• Delivering sustained secondary-school outreach, including physics days, summer schools, and laboratory visits that introduced students to photonics research and hands-on experimentation.

Taken together, the 2026 Presidential Award honorees illustrate how student chapters can excel in different but equally impactful ways — through creative programming, ambitious outreach, rigorous technical engagement, and thoughtful community-building. Their work reflects not only strong leadership and organization, butialso a shared commitment to inclusion, enthusiasm, and service to the optics and photonics community.

SPIE congratulates the University of Ottawa, Montana State University, and Universidade do Porto student chapters on their outstanding achievements and thanks them for setting a high standard for student-led engagement worldwide.

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Award criteria

To be considered for this award, SPIE Student Chapters must:

• Submit their annual report by the 1 December deadline of the previous year.
• Have a minimum of 10 members.
• Have an SPIE Member as a faculty advisor.
• Have undertaken innovative and impactful activities in the following areas:
  • Community involvement — can include activities such as outreach to undergraduate students with a focus on increasing awareness about the fields of optics and photonics, community service engaging undergraduate students on campus, and community service with the local community or with SPIE.
  • Technical dissemination — technical activities such as company visits, research programs, symposiums, technical presentations, speaker series, and training courses.
  • Engaging, retaining, and growing membership — programs such as awards, alumni engagement, welcome activities for new members, and volunteer recognition. Also, initiatives to grow the Student Chapter and to support the student-to-professional conversion.
  • Operations and planning — development of annual goals, strategies to engage current members, communications, and promotional campaigns, etc.
  • Participation and enthusiasm — high participation of membership at events on or off campus, high attendance at SPIE events or conferences (in person or virtual), and innovative activities to further passion for optics and photonics.

 

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Previous recipients

The National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) SPIE Student Chapter, of Tainan, Taiwan, was awarded the 2025 Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter. 2025 SPIE President Peter de Groot recognized the chapter for the impressive reach and scope of its activities, noting its strong impact across education, outreach, and professional development. With 44 members, the chapter organized 10 major outreach programs throughout the year, engaging audiences from elementary school students to high school girls through hands-on optoelectronics education and scientific experimentation, collectively reaching more than 10,000 participants. The chapter also supported member development through company site visits, intercollegiate exchanges, and guest lectures by academic professionals.

The OASIS University of Guanajuato SPIE Student Chapter, of Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico, was awarded the 2024 Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter. 2024 SPIE President Jennifer Barton reported that the chapter stood out because of its exceptional accomplishments in 2023, including founding an astronomy club inside the SPIE chapter to broaden reach and increase membership; orchestrating many creative activities that combine outreach, technical knowledge, and professional development; and initiating the Optics and Photonics for Applications conference, which brought together students and accomplished senior investigators. She noted, “Their enthusiasm for SPIE and all things optics shines in the Annual Report — in both words and pictures."

The OSKar (Optics Students of Karlsruhe) SPIE Student Chapter of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany, was awarded the 2023 Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter. 2023 SPIE President Bernard Kress reported that the chapter stood out because of its breadth of activities, including International Day of Light observations, industry visits, and social and networking events.

The SPIE Student Chapter at Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE) in Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico, earned the first-ever Presidential Award for Outstanding Student Chapter in 2022. Read the full press release.