Skills in photonics
A series of video interviews with photonicists in academia, industry and beyond. They highlight what, in their opinion, are the most useful skills for a career in their fields.
- Academia
- Industry
- Other
- Engineering
- Telecommunications
- Health
- Agrifood
- Art
- Energy
- Research
- Technology-Transfer
- Business-Development
- Communication
- IP
- Technical
- Diversity
- Women
- Skills
Dr. David Paredes - Communication
We asked physicist Dr. David Paredes what are the skills that he found to be most relevant for his career in photonics. David is currently Head of Applications at Aistech Space, a geospatial intelligence company!
Prof. Paul Hartmann - Readiness to learn, open minded and up to date
We asked Prof. Paul Hartmann what are the skills that he found to be most relevant for a career in photonics. Paul, a physicist with consolidated experience in the lighting industry, is the director of JOANNEUM RESEARCH MATERIALS, the institute for surface technology and photonics in Austria.
Dr. Neysha Lobo Ploch - Vision, knowledge and communication
We asked Dr. Neysha Lobo Ploch what are the skills that she considers to be most relevant for a career in photonics. Neysha is a physicist at FBH (Berlin) and the founder and CEO of UVphotonics NT GmbH, a company offering customizable UV LEDs that can be used, among others, for water purification, disinfection, medical diagnostics, phototherapy, UV curing, and sensing.
Dr. Caterina Vozzi - Technical competence and knowledge, curiosity, creativity, determination, passion
We asked Dr. Caterina Vozzi what are the skills that she found to be most relevant for a career in photonics. Caterina is a Research Director at the Italian National Research Council (CNR), where she also leads the Ultrafast Dynamics in Matter group at the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies (IFN-CNR).
Dr. Tibor Teplicky - Curiosity and ability to explore new ideas
Dr. Tibor Teplicky tells us what are the skills that he found to be most relevant for a career in photonics! Tibor is a biomedical physicist who works as a researcher at the Comenius University in cooperation with the International Laser Centre (Bratislava) on laser micro and nano-lithography scaffold fabrication applied to cancer research.
Dr. Lien Smeesters - Creativity, interdisciplinarity, communication
Dr. Lien Smeesters is a postdoctoral researcher at the B-PHOT Brussels Photonics team at the Faculty of Engineering of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In the past she worked on the optical screening of toxins in food, as acrylamide in French fries and mycotoxins in cereals, and their integration into in-line laser-based food sorting machines. Now her research focuses on multidisciplinary and applied-oriented research in the field of optical design and optical spectroscopy, for example designing lenses for the laser head set of a laser cutter.
Dr. Martijn Boerkamp - Curiosity and immagination
We asked Dr. Martijn Boerkamp, CTO and co-founder of inPhocal, what are the skills that he considers most relevant for a career in photonics.
Martijn got his PhD from the University of New England (Australia) in 2009 focusing on optical fibre sensors. He worked in the Netherlands on optical sensor for tumours detection at TNO, on optical trapping at TUDelft and at the start-up Inkless on the development of a laser-based ink-free printing device. He then joined and co-founded two photonics startups, Aircision and inPhocal, both specialized on laser beam shaping for telecommunications and marking.
Moreover, since September 2020 Martijn has started writing professionally as a science journalist!
Dr. Elena Vasileva - Knowledge, fast learning and communication
Dr. Elena Vasileva holds two Master’s degrees, one in Nano and Microelectronics from St. Petersburg Electrotechinal University LETI (Russia), and one in Technical Physics from LUT Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland).
She is currently working for Hübner Photonics (Cobolt AB) as product manager of pulse lasers and regional sales representative in the Nordic countries and the UK. Elena has recently joined the company after her PhD and a Postdoc at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm (Sweden). Having experienced the academic career path, she wanted to have the industry take, and here she is now, working for a laser manufacturer!
Elena is also a supporter of CARLA and participated in the diversity workshop to identify needs and opportunities to empower diversity both in events and in the photonics field
Dr. Chaitanya Kumar Suddapalli - Curiosity and innovation
We asked physicist Dr. Chaitanya Kumar Suddapalli what are the skills that he found to be most relevant for his career in photonics.
Chaitanya did his BSc and MSc in physics in India before moving to Barcelona for his PhD in photonics. He is currently working as a Research Fellow at ICFO and Laser Scientist in the R&D division at Radiantis, a world leading specialist company in developing widely tunable sources of coherent radiation based on nonlinear frequency conversion. Such sources are critical for a variety of applications ranging from trace gas sensing to cancer detection.
Dr. Aziza Sudirman - Growth mindset, search for meaning and passion
Dr. Aziza Sudirman shares with us important insights on the most relevant skills for a career in photonics. She has herself followed an interesting career path!
Aziza holds a PhD in Applied Physics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where she worked with fiber based optical sensors. After spending some years in academia, she joined the lasers manufacturer Cobolt lasers and discovered the world of business, also finding an opportunity to leverage her technical and “people” skills. She then moved to Qbtech, a medical technology company, as Business Manager. Her tasks included close collaboration with product development and marketing to identify customer needs. Additionally, she dealt with the company branding and global product marketing.
Aziza is currently working at Proximion, a world leader in design, development and manufacturing of advanced fiber optic systems with applications in telecommunications. She is the Director of Business Development and manages international sales with focus on maintaining important business relations with existing key customers, as well as expanding
to new opportunities.
When not working with advanced fiber optic technology, she spends her free time on TEDxStockholm, where she leads a team of 17 volunteers responsible for finding and coaching interesting speakers for the events.
Dr. Orly Tarun - Courage, diligence and discipline
Dr. Orly Tarun holds a PhD in photonics from EPFL and is the founder of the startup ORYL Photonics (www.orylphotonics.com). The company is focused on innovation around nonlinear optical microscopes and nonlinear light scattering devices to empower customer’s research and development in the field of life sciences, semiconductors, and medicine.
Dr. Bernhard Hesse - Curiosity and motivation
In this video we have Dr. Bernhard Hesse, CEO and co-founder of Xploraytion, talking about important skills for a career in photonics.
After a PhD and a postdoc on Synchrotron based applications in life sciences, Bernhard and two other parties founded the company Xploraytion to provide synchrotron-μCT and x-ray spectroscopy analysis as a service with the aim to bridge the gap between synchrotron-based analytics and R&D demand.
Simone Iovenitti - Passion and creativity
We asked Simone Iovenitti what are the most relevant skills of a science communicator.
Simone is an astrophysicist, working on the novel ASTRI telescope with Milano University and Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). Simone is also the president of physicalpub, a cultural association for scientific dissemination, organizing every year courses, conferences, and educational events for astronomy lovers.