The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will welcome some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government on Jan. 21 as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research."

CASPR, a new center funded by a June, 2002 NASA grant, is managed under the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center's Engineering Directorate. The creation of CASPR builds upon research that has been conducted at several UMBC departments for many years. Eight research projects from UMBC's departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Physics and Mathematics/Statistics were chosen as CASPR's inaugural programs.

A prestigious list of speakers is scheduled for the forum. Corvis Corp. CEO David Huber and former American Optical Society president Anthony Johnson are among those scheduled to discuss the future of research in fields such as optical communications, optical sensing, and quantum optics and how it will impact the Baltimore/Washington economy.

Scheduled speakers include:

*Dennis Andrucyk, program director, Mission and Science Measurement Technologies, NASA Headquarters
*Dr. Thomas Giallorenzi, superintendent, Optical Sciences Division, Naval Research Laboratories
*Dr. David Huber, chairman and CEO, Corvis Corp.
*Dr. Erich Ippen, Elihu Thomson professor electrical engineering and physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*Dr. Anthony M. Johnson, foundation professor of optics and photonics and distinguished professor of physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology and former president, Optical Society of America
*Dr. Curtis Menyuk, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, UMBC
*Dr. Morton Rubin, professor of physics, UMBC
*Dr. Terrance Worchesky, associate professor of physics, UMBC

"CASPR is an outgrowth of years of ground-breaking photonics research at UMBC that is being supported by the federal government and the excellent private companies in the Baltimore-Washington corridor," says Dr. Robert Schiffer, interim administrator of CASPR. "The fact that such a prestigious group of scientists is gathering here speaks volumes about how UMBC and this region are increasingly being seen as the place to be for the future of photonics research."

"Frontiers of Photonics Research" will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in UMBC's University Center Ballroom on Tuesday, Jan. 21. The invited speakers, UMBC officials, and photonics faculty researchers will give talks and presentations throughout the day, which will conclude with tours of UMBC's photonics research facilities. For registration information, click here.