STUDENTS CHAPTER REPORT – June 2011 – May 2012

Name of the Chapter: Nicolaus Copernicus University Chapter SPIE Person completing report: Karolina Słowik karolina@fizyka.umk.pl Number of members in Chapter: 24 Names and e-mail addresses of Chapter Officers: President Karolina Słowik karolina@fizyka.umk.pl Vice President Karol Karnowski karnow@fizyka.umk.pl Secretary Agnieszka Górska agorska@fizyka.umk.pl Treasurer Jakub Korociński j.koro@fizyka.umk.pl Chair of Education Committee Krzysztof Szulżycki k.szulzycki.s01@fizyka.umk.pl Other chapter members and followers: Danuta Bukowska Adam Buksztel Artur Czerwiński Paulina Grochowska Daniel Gustaw Ewa Kaszewska Sylwia Maliszewska Karolina Mikulska Bartosz Pałucki Marta Pelc Rafal Pukownik Daniel Ruminski Piotr Strzelewicz Marcin Sylwestrzak Łukasz Syrocki Daniel Szlag Dariusz Świerad Szymon Tamborski Filip Wudarski Mariusz Dazinski Bartosz Krajnik Magdalena Iwanicka Joanna Zielinska Michał Horka Anna Kozłowska Krzysztof Milaszewski Marcin Witkowski Most important work meetings May, 27th 2011 – Meeting summarizing the OPTO Meeting for Young Researchers and VIth International SPIE Student Chapters' Meeting This year we teamed up with Ukraine to organize the OPTO Meeting for Young Researchers & VI International SPIE Student Chapters' Meeting and we were happy to welcome participants from all over Poland and the rest of the world on the 11th of May in Toruń. Again we were surprised by the number of undergraduate and PhD students and professors that were eager to take part in our event. Apart from ten sessions of oral presentations and one poster session (almost each followed by

the coffee break filled with delicious cakes and cookies from the befriended and trusted confectionary in the town), our visitors could see some parts of our university and of course have fun. We prepared some classes in traditional dances, a visit in the Toruń Centre for Astronomy, lab tours and as usual in the evening on the last day - the official banquet. We hope that everyone liked the conference, our Polish food, Polish weather in May and the atmosphere of the whole event. June, 14th 2011 – Meeting summarizing the academic year that had just ended We summarized the academic year at a pizza party. There was plenty to talk about, as the year was filled with our chapter activities. All of the chapter members did wonderful job and made deep commitment. September, 13th 2011 – new academic year was about to start – we voted for new chapter officers As usually, a new academic year means a new board at our chapter. The old president Karol Karnowski was replaced by a new one. Karolina Słowik was elected for this position. Traditionally, in our chapter the former president becomes a vice-president to support the new one with his or hers advice and experience. Thus, Karol was nominated the vice-president for the year 2011/12. We also elected new secretary (Agnieszka Górska), treasurer (Jakub Korociński) and chair of the education commitee (Krzysztof Szulżycki). At the same meeting, we discussed the outreach activities we would present at the European Scientist Night (see below). We also decided to:

organize again the winter outreach in the Konin area in February 2012,

organize our Chapter's birthday party in April 2012,

take part in the Toruń Art and Science Festival in April 2012,

co-organize the conferences: OPTO Meeting for Young Researchers and VIIth International SPIE Student Chapters' Meeting in Gliwice, Poland, May 2012 and the International Student Conference on Photonics, Sinaia, Romania, May 2012

organize a few smaller outreach events (see a list below) January, 4th 2012 - details of the Konin winter outreach programme This would be the third time in a row when we visit junior high schools in little towns around Konin with our outreach programme - of course, the latter changes every year. Thus, we met to discuss the new hands-on experiments we would perform together with the students (see below). February, 20th 2012 - final decisions on the Birthday Party and the Art and Science Festival We discussed the details of the two events and decided to hold the birthday party at the very same time as the Festival. Even though we understood it would be exhaustive, but at the same time it might be attractive for our birthday guests. We made a list of guests, invited speakers and planned the preparations in detail. We also distributed tasks among each other to efficiently prepare both the birthday party and the festival. Below you can find brief reports. March, 19th - President elections We met to elect the President for the academic year 2012/2013. The President-to-be is Adam Buksztel, who will participate in the SPIE Optics + Photonics 2012 conference and the Chapter Leadership Workshop in San Diego, California in August 2012. May, 10th 2012 - cooperation with Gimnazjum im. Jana Dalkowskiego in Strzelno, Poland The partnership with the Gimnazjum im. Jana Dałkowskiego in Strzelno was established a few years ago. Since that time the pupils from Strzelno have participated in numerous workshops and outreach activities organised by our chapter both in Strzelno and in Torun.

Following Dirk Fabian's advice, we met to discuss a project whose purpose was to encourage the students from Strzelno and provide them with opportunities to take up actions that would increase their interest in science, particularly in optics, as well as their practical skills and teamwork abilities. The meeting was followed by an application for an SPIE Education Outreach Grant for the project. The person managing it is Adam Buksztel. Selected outreach events and SPIE conferences we took part in Participation in the ISWLA 2011 conference, Bran, Romania

Having good memories about previous year`s edition of this conference, we couldn`t wait to go to the International Student Workshop on Laser Applications 2011, Bran, Romania May, 31st - June, 4th 2011. This time Karol Karnowski, Sylwia Maliszewska and her husband Krzysztof Maliszewski decided to get on a Fiat Seicento and spent two days in it to get to Bran. The resort got even nicer

and richer in leisure activities from the day when Sylwia and boys from our chapter had seen it last time. The hospitality of the organizers and the quality of the conference sessions as well as the non-scientific events sufficed to say that the time spent during this conference was memorable and taught us new things. San Diego conference and workshops

Karolina Słowik represented our chapter at the SPIE Optics + Photonics 2011 conference and the Chapter Leadership Workshop in San Diego, California. It was time to make friends and share ideas and experiences with members of other chapters around the world. It was also an opportunity to present our Illusion of Depth workshop at a contest for the best outreach activity.

European Scientist Night September, 23rd 2011 This year we were very determined to give some depth to European Scientist Night, or at least to the presented ideas and physical phenomena - that's why we focused on showing the third dimension in places where it seemingly shouldn't exist, for example on a sheet of paper. People arriving at our stand could train their eyes to see depth in special pictures called stereograms with Marta Pelc and Daniel Gustaw to help them. On the other hand, a strong team of boys, Karol Karnowski, Szymon Tamborski, Krzysztof Szulżycki and Marcin Sylwestrzak, equipped with two cameras, laptops and a printer were ready to take a 3D photo of anyone who was interested in experiencing the third dimension

himself/herself. After putting on special polarizing glasses every single child, teenager or adult in that room looked in awe at how their own image starts to "walk out of" the photo. Of course, our chapter's members were eager to provide an explanation of how the illusion works and how to create it on your own. The depth presented that night was a bit emotional as well, because we also decided to make an exposition of toys for blind and partially sighted children, the toys we gathered during the nationwide Art of Seeing contest organized by Torun SPIE chapter. Everyone, regardless of age, could play with 43 very interesting toys created by young people all over Poland and talk to the main organizers of the contest: Danka Bukowska and Ewa Kaszewska. Prize ceremony of the Art of Seeing contest

The ceremony was held in September 2011 during an official banquet. The winners are:

First prize: Adrian Kępka, Michał Mateusz Pełka and Jan Andrzej Szczepanek from the Technical University of Warsaw for their project ColorMEMO.

Second prize: Artur Borkowski, Łukasz Huchel and Maksymilian Klimontowicz from Silesian Technical University for the project Happy Flower.

Third prize: Nikodem Szpunar and Kamila Niedźwiedzka from The Academy of Fine Artsin Warsaw for the project Magic Table.

The jury decided to additionally acknowledge the projects:

Catch me in a net by Robert Szwarczyński

Kropek by Anna Wachowicz

Orange Tree by Marta Świętoń, Piotr Dąbrowski, Agnieszka Skąpska and Weronika Wolańska Congratulations!

Marie Curie day in Inowrocław Marie Skłodowska - Curie day at Primary School No. 9 in Inowrocław - a town nearby Toruń, was a wonderful opportunity for the kids and for Marta Pelc, Karolina Słowik, Jakub Korociński and our friend Marcin Witkowski to play, performing physical experiments, and to learn about the fascinating world around us in this way. Science Day in Wągrowiec There is not much optics in experiments with liquid nitrogene... But so

much fun! This was Marta Pelc's, Karolina Słowik's and a friend of ours - Waldek Krychowiak's contribution to the Science Day of Wągrowiec county, the 13th of October 2011.

Workshops in Warsaw On Saturday the 26th of November Dariusz Świerad, Daniel Gustaw and Karolina Słowik took part in a stimulating workshop given by prof. Chandrasekhar Roychoudhuri on Basic Classical and Quantum Optics in light of Non-Interaction of Waves. We would like to thank the organizers of the lecture - the OSA Student Chapter from the University of Warsaw, for the invitation and the opportunity to participate in this event. 1000 kids met physics On Friday the 9th of December Karolina Słowik, Jakub Korociński and Adam Buksztel presented lectures for over a thousand high school students. It was a part of the Meetings with Physics programme at our university. From reflection law to bending of light rays in inhomogeneous media, the show covered the topic of geometrical optics. Our favourite part was creating a giant rainbow in the lecture hall. Winter outreach activities in towns around Konin We visited children from Konin area. The purpose was to broaden the pupils' scientific skills. We were hosted by the Regional Development Agency in Konin, which is an organization responsible for improving knowledge. The main idea of those meetings was to demonstrate the nature of the scientific enterprise through the process of prediction, experimentation, observation and explanation. The success key is to give pupils a chance to do all the activities themselves, discuss problems and exchange ideas on how to solve them. Preparing the program we had decided to use cheap and commonplace materials, which would allow performing the experiments again at home. The results of all the activities were also recorded on worksheets. After each experiment, a brief discussion arriving at an explanation of what had happened ended the activity. The program of the classes consisted of two parts: one hour performance and two hours hands-on workshop. Hitting targets again In February a befriended physicist, and a teacher at High School number 7 in Torun, invited Krzysztof Szulżycki, Adam Buksztel and Karolina Słowik to carry out the 'Hit the target' workshops with his students. Inowrocław revisited Once again Jakub Korociński, Adam Buksztel, Karolina Słowik and our friend Marcin Witkowski visited a school in Inowrocław. This time our hosts were teachers and pupils from the Primary School no. 4. We are grateful for the fun, the enthusiasm and the delicious donuts! Nicolaus Copernicus day in Elbląg Nicolaus Copernicus is the patron of both, the Primary School no. 21 in Elbląg, and our University. Such a link turned out to be sufficient to organize a physics day at the Elbląg school. Sylwia Maliszewska, Daniel Gustaw, Dariusz Świerad and Bartosz Pałucki enjoyed their visit just as much the kids. Welcoming the spring The first day of the spring is when polish pupils like to play truant. However, the 2nd High School in Kwidzyn opened its doors for junior students that day, and tempted them with both,

amusing activities and sweets. The pupils performed fun physical experiments with Karolina Słowik and Filip Wudarski. As always, the bottle rocket turned out to be the favourite one. Discoveries in kindergarten Ewa Kaszewska and Karol Karnowski visited the befriended Jan Brzechwa Kindergarten in Torun for the pupils to discover how stimulating and thought-provoking simple physical phenomena can be. Find us on Facebook Thanks to Dariusz Świerad you can now visit our chapter's facebook page: facebook.com/spietorun

10 years of NCU SPIE Student Chapter & Toruń Festival of Science and Art The 10th anniversary of our chapter establishing had to be celebrated! We organized a birthday event with notable guests (SPIE Officer's from USA and Poland, VIPs from the Niculaus Copernicus University and our former and present Members). The event consisted of a scientific session

Professor Andrzej Kowalczyk (our chapter Advisor) officially opened the anniversary

Professor Jarosław Zaremba Intense and weak laser pulses - new domains in the study of light-matter interactions

Professor Wiesław Nowak Stressful life of proteins

Karolina Słowik 10 years of SPIE in Toruń

Dirk Fabian followed by an official banquet. The anniversary celebration was held during the Toruń Festival of Science and Art. Since the very beginning of the existence of our chapter we have regularly organised festival workshops and demonstrations promoting science and - particularly - optics. This year we organised 3 events:

Get a 3D picture of yours - Karol Karnowski, Szymon Tamborski, Bartosz Pałucki and Krzysztof Szulżycki

A physicist, a sorceress and an old chest - Danuta Bukowska, Marta Pelc, Jakub Korociński, Agnieszka Górska, Adam Buksztel, Karolina Słowik

How many sides does a piece of paper have? - Daniel Gustaw and Sylwia Maliszewska

Our members participate in the International Student Conference on Photonics in Sinaia, Romania Dariusz Świerad and Daniel Gustaw drove all the way to the beautiful town of Sinaia in Romania to take active part in the ISCP 2012 conference. The trip was long, but the meeting was well worth it: so much to learn, so many friends to make, and views so breathtaking! Our members participate in the OPTO Meeting for Young Researchers and VIIth International SPIE Student Chapters' Meeting in Gliwice, Poland

This year’s OPTO Meeting for Young Researchers and International SPIE Student's Chapter Meeting moved to Gliwice and was held there on 17-20 May. It was a great honor and even greater pleasure for our chapter to have an opportunity to attend this event, so eight of us, Danka Bukowska, Ewa Kaszewska, Szymon Tamborski, Łukasz Syrocki, Sylwia Maliszewska, Bartek Pałucki, Darek Świerad, Daniel Gustaw, took that opportunity and when time came, they went to Torun train station, board a train and travelled over 8 hours to the conference site. As we expected OPTO meeting was a big success – we could listen to very interesting talks given by the specialists from all over the world. We learned about 3D optical metrology from Małgorzata Kujawińska from Warsaw University of Technology, Professor Brian Culshaw from University of Strathclyde in United Kingdom told us about fiber optic sensors and Professor Markus W. Sigrist from ETH Zurich (the actual alma mater of Albert Einstein) introduced us to the world of tunable lasers. On the other hand, there were many nice presentations given by students and PhD students in the morning and afternoon and a great deal of the situations to get to know each other closer in the evening. We had fun at the welcome party on the first day, visited a Silesian coal mine the following day and attended the official banquet in the fancy restaurant on the third day. Our chapter members came back to Torun with a lot of great memories, positive emotions, broadened scientific horizons and of course some new friendships. Future plans

Our Chapter President for academic Year 2012/13 – Adam Buksztel will take part in 57th SPIE Annual Meeting in San Diego

Our members will take part in next Torun’s edition of Scientists Night

We will prepare for sure some events for XIIIth Fextival of Art and Science

We are going to continue cooperation with students from Strzelno (its form depends on the funding we can obtain for this purpose)

How we used the chapter funds? We spent money on:

Participation of our members in the students conference in Romania – 300 USD

Participation of our members in the students conference in Gliwice – 900 USD

Chapter's Birthday Anniversary - 1500 USD

Chapter Meetings (pizza & cookies) – 80 USD

outreach events - 300 USD