Student Programs

Student Travel Grants & Awards
Career Services

Students, recent graduates and early-career professionals are encouraged to take advantage of CLEO/QELS Student Programs and Career Services. Several Travel Grant and Award opportunities are highlighted below, along with their associated requirements and deadlines.

Student Travel Grants & Awards

APS/DLS

For information on the DLS student travel grants, visit the at “DLS Student Travel Grant” page.

IEEE Photonics Society

CLEO Student Travel Grants
The Photonics Society provides 16 Travel Grants annually of up to $2500 each to enable students who present papers to travel to the following conferences: Photonics Society Annual Meeting, OFC (Optical Fiber Communication Conference), CLEO (Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics), CLEO/Pacific Rim, CLEO/Europe, OECC (Optoelectronics and Communications Conference) and ECOC (European Conference on Optical Communication).

A recipient should be a full time degree-seeking student, sponsored by a Society member, who is the first author and presenter of the paper.

Applications are due approximately 2-3 months before the particular meeting. Applicants should include a sponsorship letter from the faculty advisor, a short statement (200 words or less), describing the significance of the work to be presented, and a travel budget indicating the availability of sufficient funds to supplement the Society award. Applicants should indicate their Society membership status. Preference will be given to Society student members. The recipients will each receive a minimum of $500 and up to $2500 towards travel and lodging expenses to the conference location and a complementary conference registration.

The Photonics Society Students Travel Grants committee will notify the recipients about six weeks prior to the conference date.

For more information contact: leosconferences@ieee.org.

Incubic/Milton Chang Travel Grant

Application Deadline: March 15, 2010

Funded by an endowment from Milton and Rosalind Chang, this program provides 10 travel grants of US $500 each to students presenting papers at CLEO (Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics). Travel grants are awarded to the presenter and usually the first author of the paper.

All of the following information MUST be included in the grant application:

A letter of support from the student
A letter of support from the student's advisor
An estimated budget for the trip
A copy of the paper abstract

Click here to view a sample application

Students should also include home mailing address and email address. US students should include their social security number, which is required to process the check. Both letters of support should describe the importance of the student's work and must clearly demonstrate the need for the grant. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

The deadline for grant applications for CLEO is March 15, 2010. Note: These grants are not available to students who present at QELS.

Email your application to:
IncubicMiltonChangTravelGrant@osa.org

If you do not have email access, you may mail your application to:
Incubic/Milton Chang Student Travel Grant Committee
Optical Society of America
2010 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA

OSA Foundation: Maiman Student Paper Competition

The Maiman Student Paper Competition honors Theodore Maiman for his amazing invention, the first working laser, and his other outstanding contributions to optics and photonics, and recognizes the innovation, research excellence and presentation skills in the areas of laser technology and electro-optics of a student. The award is endowed by a grant from by HRL Laboratories, LLC, IEEE Photonics Society (formerly LEOS) and APS Division of Laser Science and is administered by the OSA Foundation. Papers submitted to the CLEO/QELS Conference during the regular “call for papers” are eligible for entry. Students must opt-in to the competition during the submissions process.

The finalists will present their papers to a panel of judges in a private session during CLEO/QELS. The top prize winner receives $3,000 USD, two honorable mention recipients each receive a certificate. The results will be announced on-site during the Plenary Session, and award presented during the OSA Foundation Luncheon.

Criteria for eligibility
All the following criteria must be met:

The presenting author must be an undergraduate or graduate student of an educational institution of collegiate grade who is devoting more than half-time to studies within the institution, at the time the paper was written.
Submitting authors must opt-in to the competition during the regular submission process and follow all the instructions provided on the submission site.
The student must be listed as the first presenting author of the paper.
Papers must be submitted and accepted during the regular “call for papers” process for CLEO/QELS (Note: Postdeadline Papers are not part of this competition).
Student must present the paper during CLEO/QELS.

Selection process:

All properly submitted papers are reviewed and scored according to standard CLEO/QELS Technical Program Committee review criteria.
The highest scoring student papers from each submission category (currently, there are [23] twenty-three categories) will be considered semi-finalists.
The Maiman Student Paper Award Review Committee will review all semi-finalists and select three – five finalist.
Finalists are judged on innovation, research excellence and presentation skills. Each finalist will present their paper to the Review Committee in a private session.
The top prize winner receives $3,000 USD, two honorable mention recipients each receive a certificate.

Career Services

The CLEO/QELS Career Center features free onsite and online services, including resume posting, job listings, a career workshop and on-site interview opportunities.

For more information, please contact Daphne Greenwood at +1 202.416.1402 or cleocareer@osa.org.