News & Events

The Apollo program featured the newest, most high-tech science innovations we’ve ever seen to make the moon landing successful, as well as one of the oldest and simplest devices. Going back hundreds of years, sailors lost at sea used a small metal device to determine their position. With the look of a protractor and the utility of a supercomputer, a sextant measures the angular distance between two stars. With a...Continue Reading

No turkey here. Photonics industry employs up to 18,000 people July 03, 2019 11:21 AM ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — News10NBC investigators exposed a laughable situation with a empty building that doesn’t pay a penny in school taxes. When we were there, we found a wild turkey nesting outside the front of the building. The building located at 115 Canal Landing Blvd. is owned by an entity called Fuller Road Management Corporation. Fuller...Continue Reading

Be sure to join us! Tuesday, July 9th at Blades Bar & Grill (formerly Pomodoro), for a fun after-work learning and networking session on the patio. Our friends at Photonics Media are hosting. Tim Dupree of Photonics Media has been helping B2B companies brand themselves and grow sales for the past 20 years via his portfolio of inbound and outbound products. We’ll begin with a brief presentation from the experts about The Secrets...Continue Reading

Ovitz, a Rochester, New York-based company received top honors at Luminate NY’s “Light Tomorrow with Today” Demo Day competition, held in the main tent at the CGI International Jazz Festival in downtown Rochester.   The company will receive $1 million in follow-on funding from New York State through the Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative. As required by the award, all winners of the competition will commit to establishing operations...Continue Reading

By Isabella Farr OZY.com WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Data centers consume the energy of 50 power plants and spew out more greenhouse gases than 140 countries. Now, space could save the day. When scientist and entrepreneur Ohad Harlev was looking for new ways to store data in 2015, he thought his best idea was out of reach. Instead of keeping hard drives in a large data center, he wanted to...Continue Reading

Getting young people into the optics and photonics field is vital to the fast growing industry. On June 19th, Alexis Vogt, PhD, Endowed Chair & Associate Professor of Optics at Monroe Community College, worked with local Physics teachers on their high school optics and photonics recruitment and curriculum strategies. The day included a visit to the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The number of students completing the programs at MCC and the UR...Continue Reading

Accelerator Aims to Bring Visionary Optics, Photonics and Imaging Companies and Emerging Technologies to the Finger Lakes Region Applications Will Be Accepted Through September 23, 2019 Luminate NY is a Key Initiative in “Finger Lakes Forward” – The Region’s Comprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Communities and Grow the Economy ALBANY, N.Y., June 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Luminate NY—the world’s largest business accelerator for startup...Continue Reading

Two different-yet-related problems. First, America needs to become more productive to grow the American economy faster. Second, some regions seem to benefit from growth a lot more than others. Indeed, the reality of the latter problem risks undercutting political support for policies to fix the former. Why should politicians and voters in the Rust Belt care about policies whose benefits will be heavily concentrated in New York City, San Francisco,...Continue Reading

RIT experts will help Rochester push the edge of light- and sound-based technologies at the Light and Sound Interactive (LSI) conference June 25–27 in downtown Rochester. The two-and-a-half-day event aims to spur economic growth, as leading technologists and innovators come to Rochester for collaboration on the future of light- and sound-based technologies, applications and emerging industries. Four members of the RIT community will lead tracks in their respective areas, highlighting...Continue Reading

Full Video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXDAGH_PTSA Congratulations to Michael Mandina, President of Optimax Systems, and Richard Plympton, CEO of Optimax Systems, for receiving the Herbert W. Vanden Bul Entrepreneurial Award at RIT on June 5th! The Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award was created in 1984 through an endowment fund established by Mr. Vanden Brul in conjunction with RIT’s Saunders College of Business. The award is presented annually to an individual or...Continue Reading