2018 Educational Award

  America — $10,000 in Products

Northeastern University, USA – submitted by Yongmin Liu

For the development of ultra-thin metasurfaces to create a new type of augmented reality glasses with small form factor, wide field of view (FOV), high coupling efficiency, and suppressed chromatic aberration. Metasurfaces enable arbitrary wave shaping with unprecedented efficiency and flexibility at a thickness comparable to, or smaller than, the wavelength of light. By consolidating photonic metasurfaces and thin-film optical waveguides, the goal is to develop highly compact and integrated imaging systems for near-eye optics that are applicable to AR. This project serves as a unique platform to transform fundamental research into new AR technologies that will significantly impact many fields, including health care, military, navigation, and entertainment.

  Europe — €7,000 in Products

Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Quantenoptik, Germany – submitted by Dr. Stefan Kalies

The project combines imaging and manipulation of cardiac aggregates or intestinal organoids to study cell regeneration with a micro-to-mesoscopic optical manipulation platform. Through building a novel system involving light sheet microscopy and femtosecond laser surgery under defined biological conditions (temperature, CO2,…) an in vivo situation can be mimicked to allow the fast and continuous observation of cells, thus enabling fast imaging (e.g. calcium dynamics in heart cells), and the capability to manipulate specific cells.

  Americas — $7,500 in Products

University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA – submitted by Tyler Iorizzo

For the development of an imaging device to identify nonmelanoma skin cancer. Tumor boundaries associated with NMSC are difficult to detect based on visual assessment alone. This results in poor margin control during surgeries to excise the problematic lesion. Insufficient removal of cancer creates the need for repetitive procedures that are expensive and time consuming. The polarization enhanced optical imaging system we propose can identify disruptions in dermal collagen structure caused by tumors, allowing for in vivo mapping of NMSCs prior to surgery. Development of this product would offer the only tool available for preoperative margin control in dermatologic surgery.

  Europe — €5,000 in Products

University of Birmingham, United Kingdom – submitted by Jamie Vovrosh

The project is focused on making a portable quantum gravity gradiometer, turning a bulky and heavy lab-based system into a portable system, while maintaining the sensitivity achieved in the lab. Cold atom gradiometers have the potential to outperform more traditional gravimeters; underground objects and features could be detected faster and to a higher degree of accuracy, bringing benefits to numerous applications such as civil engineering, archaeology and geology for example, as well as many others.

  Americas — $5,000 in Products

Iowa State University, USA – submitted by Anthony LoCurto

For the development of a fluorescence microscope setup to detect microplastic levels for different water samples. The rise in microplastic contamination has presented increased concern over the recent years due to their effect on the environment and human health. They have been found to be distributed both geographically (lakes and oceans) as well as from surface water to deep sea beds. The design of a gauge system to measure microplastics as well as multiple pollutant levels simultaneously would allow samples to be taken from across the country with the results of the sample sites being uploaded to a map in order to show the public the current state of our water system.

  Europe — €3,000 in Products

European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy and University of Florence, Italy – submitted by Alessandra Franceschini

The project is to build a novel dual-view inverted dual-slit confocal light-sheet fluorescence microscope for fast high-resolution imaging of centimetre-sized tissues. The device is designed to provide unique insight into neuro-anatomy by recording large volumes of brain tissue with sub-cellular resolution. The completed microscope system will be used to map the whole Hippocampus and then investigate micro and macro alterations induced by neuro-degenerative diseases.

15 Regional Finalists | Americas

•  Arizona State University, United States – submitted by Andrew Nelson
•  Boston University, United States – submitted by Timothy Weber
•  California Institute of Technology, United States – submitted by Scott Cushing
•  Iowa State University, United States – submitted by Anthony LoCurto
•  Ithaca College, United States – submitted by Jerome Fung
•  Louisiana State University, United States – submitted by Kevin McPeak
•  Northeastern University, United States – submitted by Yongmin Liu
•  Ohio State University, United States – submitted by Shamsul Arafin
•  Penn State University, United States – submitted by Peter Ilhardt
•  Saint Mary's University, Canada – submitted by Danielle Tokarz
•  University of Arizona, United States – submitted by Jeffrey Melzer
•  University of California San Diego, United States – submitted by Thomas Dawkins
•  University of Massachusetts Lowell, United States – submitted by Tyler Iorizzo
•  University of South Florida, United States – submitted by Michael Cai Wang
•  University of Waterloo, Canada – submitted by Zohreh Hosseinaee

5 Regional Finalists | Europe

•  University of Birmingham, United Kingdom – submitted by Jamie Vovrosh
•  University of Florence, Italy – submitted by Alessandra Franceschin
•  Leibniz University Hannover, Germany – submitted by Stefan Kalies
•  University of Navarra, Spain – submitted by Diego Borro
•  Sofia University, Bulgaria – submitted by Lyubomir Stoyanov