Thank you, friends in photonics, for supporting the New York Photonics Annual Meeting and our economic development agenda.
A special thank-you to our sponsors, without whom we would not be in a position to advocate for the region’s optics, photonics & imaging industry.
We hope that you enjoyed hearing from Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, senator Chuck Schumer and congresswoman Louise Slaughter, and we hope that you recognize what tremendous advocates we have for our industry in Washington.
To reiterate this year’s priorities from the meeting:
- Our region has a legacy in optics, photonics and imaging like no place else in America, and we have won numerous opportunities for leveraging our strategic advantages for the future. At this stage, it is up to the community stakeholders – the region’s economic development partners and the industry – to make that happen. The New York Photonics ecosystem is robust and prime for further development.
- We are advocates – and we hope that we can count on your support – for the Rochester Museum & Science Center’s capital campaign, Gateway Project, and Strasenburgh Planetarium upgrades. We see the RMSC as the point where all vectors intersect: education, tourism, economic development, and the arts. We envision the RMSC campus as an international center for light, astronomy, multimedia and education, and we feel that this project deserves the support of the Finger Lakes Regional Council and the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, Finger Lakes Forward.
- The Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster envisions an annual event focused on the RMSC highlighting our region’s strength in optics, photonics and imaging.
- Also as part of Finger Lakes Forward, we continue to advocate for the Finger Lakes Regional Center for Optics Manufacturing, a national center for manufacturing innovation and problem solving for America’s optics, photonics & imaging industry and national security. We cannot imagine another effort that will more effectively leverage our strategic advantages in optics, photonics and imaging. You will be hearing more about this center in the future.
The Demo
People seemed to enjoy the demonstration of state-of-the-art planetarium projection technology! Some clarification is needed, however.
The system that we experienced on the 27th was a demonstration of what is possible. What we saw was a 4K projection system, meaning that we experienced 4,000 pixels from horizon to horizon through the zenith of the dome. This is the entry level for what we would like to see in the Strasenburgh Planetarium, including filling the central pit, expanded seating, and a new projection surface for the dome.
We see it as the beginning of new possibilities for Rochester’s planetarium in addition to the brilliant astronomy that will already enjoy, only in HD – including multimedia events and new kinds of full-dome programming – all of course, accelerated by integrated photonics!
Handouts, or are they E-outs?
For more about planetarium full dome possibilities, click here.
For those of you who requested the presentations from the Planetarium portion of the meeting, you can find them here. For the animations to work from my presentation you will need to download it. We are unable to share Ed White’s AIM Photonics presentation for security reasons.
Photographs from the event can be found here. You may find yourself somewhere in these shots!
News about the awards is here.
Thank you again for joining us on the 27th and thank you for your continued support!