Zhejiang University hosts ETOP 2017, with SPIE among sponsors 

Conference chair Xu Liu (at left) and committee member Yaocheng Shi, from Zhejiang University

Participants, from left, Mourad Zghal, Joe Niemela, Vengu Lakshminarayanan, Eugene Arthurs, and Julie Bentley

Zhejiang University in Hangzhou hosted the 2017 ETOP (Education and Training in Optics and Photonics) conference 29-31 May, bringing together educators from around the world for the biennial conference on the practice of teaching optics at all levels.

Ultrashort-laser-pulse expert and interactive-teaching advocate Eric Mazur of Harvard University gave the event's plenary talk, and three keynote talks also highlighted the more than 250 talks and poster presentation.

SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs was among speakers, and noted that the meeting’s focus is “explicitly close to our chartered mission as an educational charity.”

Arthurs also expressed the society’s concern about global inequity in education.

“As noted in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, many children still do not have access to quality education, and in many nations, girls do not have the same educational opportunities as boys,” Arthurs said. “I am delighted to see here at ETOP some who have taken up the challenge to address this imbalance.”

The goal of ETOP is to bring together leading optics and photonics educators from all levels and orientations to discuss, demonstrate, and learn about new developments and approaches to teaching in these fields. The event addresses topics at the pre-college, technician and two-year, four-year, and graduate-equivalent levels.

All Proceedings of ETOP conferences are freely available as PDFs online.