The OSA Foundation, in conjunction with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine launched the OSA Foundation Fellowship. The OSA Foundation inspires future optics innovators, supports career development for optics students, recent graduates, and young professionals and recognizes distinguished achievement in the field through the presentation of awards and honors.

OSAF Fellowships were intended to provide career enhancing experiences to recent Ph.D.s (applicants must have already held a Ph.D. prior to the application deadline) through postdoctoral research at an OSAF sponsoring company. The program was designed to provide emerging professionals with a unique, fully-funded employment opportunity at sponsoring OSA Corporate Member research/development facilities across the United States.
The inaugural Fellowship program was looking to pair a qualified early career professional with Thorlabs, Inc for research in Advanced Imaging Systems and Novel Optoelectronic Devices. Founded in 1989, Thorlabs is a vertically integrated photonics products manufacturer. Originally created to serve the laser and electro-optics research market, Thorlabs has extended its product portfolio to play an ever increasing role serving the photonics industry in the areas of research and education, as well as in industry, life sciences, medicine, and defense. Thorlabs’ highly integrated and diverse manufacturing assets include end-to-end semiconductor fabrication including MBE/MOCVD epitaxial wafer growth reactors, fiber towers for drawing glass optical fibers (silica, fluoride, tellurite, and hollow core), extensive glass and metal fabrication, advanced thin film deposition, and optomechanical and optoelectronic design and manufacturing.

The OSAF Fellowships are no longer active. These were the required application components:

Application Form

List your educational and employment history, any honors or awards you have received, contact information for three recommendation writers, and the research opportunity to which you are applying.

Statement of Purpose

Describe your career goals and how these goals will be benefited by the fellowship. Limit two pages, 12-point font, single-spaced

Summary of Previous Research

Describe the highlights of your recent research along with a description of how your background will contribute to successful research on one of the Research Opportunities of the OSAF Fellowships. Limit two pages, 12-point font, single-space

Scholarly Productivity

List your publications, presentations, and patents. Limit two pages, 12-point font, single-spaced

Eligibility

Was open to all nationalities; subject to visa requirements. Foreign nationals were to be sponsored under a J-1 visa by the National Academy of Sciences.

Award Details

Tenure: One year with the possibility of renewal for additional year(s) based on adequate research progress and availability of funds.
Location: On-site at an OSAF sponsoring company.
Benefits: Stipend, health insurance allowance, relocation reimbursement, and funding for attendance and participation in OSA meetings and committees.

Sponsoring Company - Thorlabs

OSA Foundation Fellowships that were available at Thorlabs were in the fields of optical coherence tomography, fluorescence lifetime imaging, in vivo adaptive optics multi-photon imaging, and mid-IR semiconductor devices. Thorlabs was seeking highly-motivated individuals who were interested in gaining experience in the industrial sector of photonics research and development. Fellows would get to experience the design and decision making process from prototype to production stages of development. Additionally, Fellows had the opportunity to present their work at major conferences, attend workshops, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and participate in patent submissions, when applicable. At the conclusion of the Fellowship, candidates would be eligible for full-time employment at Thorlabs.
Locations:
Newton, NJ
Jessup, MD
Sterling, VA

Research Opportunities (RO)

RO Title: Development of Novel Metrology Imaging Technologies
RO Number: OSAFF.TL.1
Location: Newton, NJ

Located at its headquarters in New Jersey, Thorlabs’ Research Lab conducts early stage research and development of advanced imaging technologies. Through this lab, Thorlabs has developed a high-speed MEMS-VCSEL swept laser for optical coherence tomography (OCT) and spectroscopy applications. This opportunity will entail applying Thorlabs MEMS-VCSEL OCT for high-speed three-dimensional imaging of engineered objects. This fellowship will work closely with Thorlabs Senior Scientists and Engineers in creating and demonstrating prototype imaging systems for industrial applications. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to provide conference presentations, publish results in peer-reviewed journals, and participate in patent submissions based on the technology. Strong analytical skills and proficiency in programming are desired.

RO Title: Applications of Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Systems (FLIM)
RO Number: OSAFF.TL.2
Location: Newton, NJ

Located at its headquarters in New Jersey, Thorlabs’ Research Lab conducts early stage research and development of advanced imaging technologies. This opportunity entails developing novel confocal imaging technologies for fluorescence lifetime imaging and apply the technology to study FRET and FRAP in a variety of samples. This fellowship will work closely with Thorlabs Senior Scientists and Engineers in creating and demonstrating prototype imaging systems. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to provide conference presentations, publish results in peer-reviewed journals, and participate in patent submissions based on the technology. Strong analytical skills and proficiency in programming are desired.

RO Title: High Resolution Multi-photon Imaging
RO Number: OSAFF.TL.3
Location: Sterling, VA

Located in Sterling, Virginia, Thorlabs Imaging Systems has research opportunities related to the development of new imaging systems that demonstrate significant lateral and axial resolution improvements in deep brain in-vivo multiphoton imaging. Currently we are working on the implementation of an adaptive optics solution. The fellowship will focus on analyzing existing approaches and then recommending, developing and testing, one or more methods. The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary team of engineers and scientists with backgrounds in imaging, optics/photonics, software, and electronics.
RO Title: From Prototype to Production: Development of Novel Optoelectronic Devices
RO Number: OSAFF.TL.4
Location: Jessup, MD
TQE is a vertically integrated company with a full complement of semiconductor design, fabrication, and manufacturing tools. Located in Jessup, Maryland the mid-infrared semiconductor laser group at Thorlabs Quantum Electronics (TQE) is currently developing a wide range of optical products across the mid-IR spectrum. Present mid-IR products in development include interband cascade lasers, quantum cascade lasers, and Type I quantum well lasers covering a wide wavelength range between 2 and 12 microns. TQE is interested in expanding our product line to include additional mid-IR products including LEDs, SLEDs, tunable surface and edge emitters including VCSELs, external cavity tunable lasers, and electronically tunable lasers. We are also interested in expanding our wavelength coverage to include THz devices. This fellowship entails design and development of a broad range of mid-IR semiconductor lasers. The successful candidate will work closely with research scientists, design engineers, and manufacturing engineers through the entire product development lifecycle; from prototype to market release.

Compensation: An annual stipend of $67,000 was paid to the Fellow. In addition, the Fellow recieved an allowance of $8,000 to be used toward the cost of health insurance. Please note that the Fellow had to secure their own health insurance.

Benefits: Relocation reimbursement