 | Newsletter Volume 30, Number 9
May 2026 | | |
| Table of Contents
- From the President
- May OSSC Meeting - Virginia Ford
- OSSC Election - Final Call for Nominations
- Registration For Mount Wilson Viewing Opens May 14
- June Meeting - History of OSSC
- DIAG USA - Apprenticeship Network
- VITAL Link - Empowering Futures
- Optricks! - Adelson Checker Shadow Illusion
- AAPT Physics Education Summer Meeting
- Outreach Activities
- Optics Education
- Attention Students
- OSSC Website Sponsors
- OSSC Corporate Members
- Welcome New OSSC Members
| | | From The President
Donn Silberman
| |
Hello OSSC Members and Friends,
Welcome to the OSSC May Newsletter. I hope you can attend our May meeting at the Raffi’s Catering and Banquet in Pasadena to enjoy the friendship of your fellow OSSC members and other guests. While we have had events here several times over the past few years, this event will be headlined by my friend Virginia "Ginny" Ford, Director of Engineering, Eidetic Optical Systems in Valencia, CA. Ginny will tell us about her 47-year journey as an Optomechanical Engineer, most of her career at JPL, including eight terms working on the Thirty Meter Telescope. For the past 3 years, she has worked with her husband Eric, and their son Patrick at Eidetic, which Eric founded about 30 years ago. Read More> | | | Upcoming OSSC Election
Final Call for Nominations | | OSSC will hold its next election for officers soon.
Final call For nominations for candidates for elected office will at the May 13 Meeting.
You must be a member to vote, so it's a great time to renew your membership. Final votes will be counted and the results announced at our June meeting.
We would love for you to join the OSSC Leadership Team either by running for elected office by serving as a volunteer!
The Leadership Team guides our Society through all of our activities including regular monthly meetings, special events, and education & outreach activities. The team also manages the Society's membership and finances and communicates with our members through our website, newsletter, emails, and via social media.
If you are interested in running for office or volunteering in any capacity, please contact OSSC President Donn Silberman at President@ossc.org. | Registration For Mount Wilson Viewing
Opens May 14 | | The OSSC is finalizing the details of our next viewing party at the Mount Wilson Observatory where we will spend half the night viewing astronomical object using the famed Hooker 100-inch telescope. The event will take place on August 8 and will include an engineering tour, pot-luck dinner, and the chance to spend the night at the Monastery Dormitory where Albert Einstein and Edwin Hubble slept.
Registration for the 20 available spots opens on May 14 at 6:00 AM!
| DIAG USA - Apprenticeship Network | | by Azucena (Suzy)Angulo
DIAG USA and its Industry-Centered Apprenticeship Network is a workforce development organization dedicated to building strong talent pipelines through high quality, industry driven apprenticeship programs. DIAG USA's mission is to strengthen businesses and empower a skilled workforce. In close partnership with employers, colleges, and community organizations, DIAG USA connects individuals to meaningful career pathways in advanced manufacturing, IT, healthcare, and other high demand sectors. Each program is designed with direct employer input, ensuring that training aligns with industry needs and evolving skill requirements.
| | | VITAL Link - Empowering Futures |
If you do not know about Vital Link, now is the time to discover an organization that is actively investing in the future workforce. Vital Link is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing students for future careers by connecting education with real-world industry experiences. Through hands-on programs, students are introduced to fields such as robotics, engineering, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, computer programming, digital media arts, drone technology, and entrepreneurship.
Vital Link especially transforms STEM education into something real and tangible, not only theory in a classroom, but experiences that students can see, touch, and imagine themselves being part of. Read More >
| | | Optricks!
Adelson Checker Shadow Illusion | |
The Checker Shadow illusion is a an optical contrast illusion consisting of an angled checkerboard of light and dark squares. Region A appears darker than region B, even though they are the exact same shade. The illusion was published by Edward H. Adelson, professor of vision science at MIT, in 1995.
Adelson's illusion is a famous optical contrast illusions where the perceived shade of a region depends on the shade of the surrounding regions. For example, a gray square of average intensity will appear lighter when surrounded by a thick dark border and darker with a lighter boarder. In the Checker Shadow Illusion, regions A is surrounded by lighter squares making it appear darker, and region B by darker squares making it appear lighter. Adelson's illusion is enhanced by the pattern of alternating dark and light diagonals, the fuzzy boarder created by the shadow caste by the green cylinder, and the angle from which the checkerboard is viewed.
| AAPT Physics Education
Summer Meeting |
Be part of the American Association of Physics Teachers community at the 2026 AAPT Summer Meeting, where educators, researchers, and students come together to exchange innovative teaching strategies, research, and best practices in physics education. Join us in Pasadena, California, July 19–22, 2026, for an engaging and transformative experience.
| Outreach Opportunities
The OSSC seeks volunteers for upcoming events being organized by our friends at Vital Link and The Girl Scouts of Orange County and many more. If you are interested please contact us at Outreach@ossc.org.
| | | Final Notes
We love publishing news from our members including profiles, activities, white papers, and new products from our OSSC Corporate Members. Send your input to Newsletter@ossc.org. Please include the word "newsletter" in the subject line of your email. | Learn more about professional education opportunities on the OSSC website. | Students Members receive a meal discount at our regular meetings. If you qualify as a Student Member but do not see the discount, your membership probably needs to be updated. Please contact Memberships@ossc.org to have your membership changed to Student Member before registering for the next meeting.
Student Members are Individual Members who are currently enrolled in school at least part-time and are not working full-time.
| | | Ablimit Ablez
Suzy Angulo
Ace Calvert
Keyla Chavez
Nicolas I Colon
Anthony B Davis
Anthony DeLaCruz
Gabriel Delao
Alan Distancia
Alberto Duron
Hrag Ekmekjian
Theophile Ewing
Taylor Ford
Virginia Ford
Jason Fucik
Aidan Garcia
George Ellery Hale
Helen Hoblitzelle
David Ibanez
Prateek Jain
Ziqi Jin
Friedrich W Kunzler
| | Yingshuo Lyu
Asad Mahmood
Alex Merino
Daniel Moreno
Seth MyLymuk
Charles D Norton
David E O'Ryan
David Perez
Scott Richman
Isaac Sanchez
Reed A Schmell
Vahan Senekerimyan
Kadin Severs
Roger Smith
Annie Tran
Brandon Turk
Lucas Valdez
Derek Wan
Jin Yan
GUIRONG ZHOU
Chelsea Zonick
| | | We value your membership and appreciate your support! | Optical Society of Southern California
www.ossc.org
Box 228, 2312 Park Avenue
Tustin, California 92782
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