Congratulations 2019 Educational Award Winners!

Norman Edmund Inspiration Award Winner

The Norman Edmund Inspiration Award is awarded to the program that best embodies the legacy of Edmund Optics' founder Norman Edmund.

University of North Carolina Charlotte, USA – submitted by Cobey McGinnis

This project focuses on developing a single-pixel hyperspectral imaging camera that can identify malignant tissue and allow for real-time margin assessment by surgeons. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.7 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2019 and that over 600,000 people will die from the disease. Surgery remains the primary treatment for solid mass tumors with the objective being to remove malignant tissue while minimizing damage to adjacent healthy tissue. This project demonstrates an impactful, applicable research opportunity in the field of optics that could lead to more positive outcomes for cancer patients who require surgery.

  America — $10,000 in Products

University of Colorado Boulder, USA – submitted by Emily Bedell

For the design of an in-situ fluorimeter to detect microbial risk levels in drinking water sources in real-time. The application will be in low-income contexts where fecal contamination of drinking water is prevalent. Currently, approximately 780 million people in the world lack access to an improved water source, and unsafe drinking water is a leading cause of preventable disease and higher mortality. Cost effective, real-time assessment of microbial water quality is needed to provide early warning alarms of contamination risk. View a summary of this research here.

  Europe — €7,000 in Products

Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Germany – submitted by Jan Sperrhake

In neonatology and pediatric intensive care medicine, it is very important to continuously observe the vital signs of newborns. But existing technology relies on sensors that have to be attached to newborns, which cause restriction of movement and sometimes even painful skin irritations. Reliable data on vital signs is essential in order to prevent lung and heart failure or even sudden child death. The project aims to solve these problems through the development of an all-new multipurpose, contactless medical sensor device. A high-resolution 3D imaging system is being developed that allows collecting data on the movement of patients. Additionally, spatially resolved multi-spectral imaging is being used to detect and map different vital signs at once. The success of this project could be a door opener for more contactless medical technology, revolutionizing many processes currently in place.

  Americas — $7,500 in Products

University of Arizona, USA – submitted by Travis Sawyer

For the development of a novel endoscope for early detection of esophageal cancer. The device uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) to analyze tissue structure and hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to probe metabolism. This endoscope will be the first to integrate OCT and HSI in a clinically-translatable device for esophageal cancer screening.

  Europe — €5,000 in Products

University of Bern, Switzerland – submitted by Andreas Riedo

Reliable in-situ detection of signatures of life on extra-terrestrial bodies within the solar system is extremely challenging and depends on various parameters, including the application of robust and sensitive measurement techniques for the detection of biological signatures. This project aims to develop a robust and sensitive detector for the reliable in-situ detection of such signatures of life on these bodies within the solar system. This will be done using a novel and sensitive miniature laser desorption mass spectrometer, a system not yet applied in space science, which is coupled with a nanosecond laser system operated in the UV. Amino acids relevant to life, drop casted on a stainless-steel substrate, can be gently desorbed and identified down to trace level concentrations. The sensitivity and robustness of the system is being designed to outperform other available space systems designed for life detection and is being considered by NASA for its upcoming mission to Europa.

  Americas — $5,000 in Products

University of Central Florida, USA – submitted by Guanjun Tan

For the resolution of several remaining optical challenges in head-mounted display systems, including virtual reality and optical see-through augmented reality. This project uses advanced active liquid crystal elements to solve several challenging issues of near-eye displays.

  Europe — €3,000 in Products

Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium – submitted by Alejandro Madrid Sánchez

The slow speed of current two-photon polymerization (TPP) for printing 3D structures makes it an inefficient technique for manufacturing wound dressings at a centimetre scale. This project proposes a novel solution to reduce the printing time by producing tailored voxels which can enable large-scale 3D structures to be implemented in biomedical applications. The idea is to use beam shaping optics to redistribute the irradiance profile of the laser beam, optimize the use of the laser energy, and produce larger voxels that compose larger 3D structures. This has the potential to lead to a substantial increase in 3D printing speed and could have wide-reaching impact across many different sectors.

15 Regional Finalists | Americas

•  Arizona State University, United States, submitted by Jnaneshwar Das
•  BMCC – CUNY, United States, submitted by Jamal Ali
•  Centro de Investigaciones Ópticas, Argentina, submitted by Damián Presti
•  Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, United States, submitted by Troy Henderson
•  Johns Hopkins University, United States, submitted by Gregory McKay
•  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, submitted by Long Ju
•  Rutgers University Camden, United States, submitted by Nathan Fried
•  Technion - Israel institute of Technology, Israel, submitted by Oleg Zgadzai
•  Texas A&M University, United States, submitted by Sakina Mohammed Mota
•  University of Arizona, United States, submitted by Wenjun Kang
•  University of Arizona, United States, submitted by Travis Sawyer
•  University of Central Florida, United States, submitted by Guanjun Tan
•  University of Colorado Boulder, United States, submitted by Emily Bedell
•  University of North Carolina Charlotte, United States, submitted by Cobey McGinnis
•  The University of Texas at Austin, United States, submitted by Dipankar Behera

15 Regional Finalists | Europe

•  CNR Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, Italy, submitted by Rajeev Ranjan
•  Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, Scientific and Technological Center of Unique Instrumentation, Russia, submitted by Liudmila Burmak
•  Forschungsinstitut Caesar, Germany, submitted by Monika Scholz
•  Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Germany, submitted by Jan Sperrhake
•  Institut für Angewandte Physik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, submitted by Dominik Schäffner
•  Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky Univeristy of Oldenburg, Germany, submitted by Garaba Shungudzemwoyo
•  Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), Spain, submitted by Noelia Martínez Rey
•  National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, submitted by Rajib Dey
•  NCSR "Demokritos", Greece, submitted by Grigoris Zisis
•  The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, submitted by Danial Chitnis
•  University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands, submitted by Yori Ong
•  University of Bern, Switzerland, submitted by Andreas Riedo
•  Unversity of Oxford, United Kingdom, submitted by Karen Hampson
•  Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium, submitted by Alejandro Madrid Sánchez
•  Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland, submitted by Mateusz Szatkowski