Welcome to another issue of IEEE Photonics Society News! We hope you enjoy this latest issue!

In this edition of the Newsletter, we’ve got a great lineup of articles focusing on the happenings and expertise across the Society. The International Day of Light was on June 16th, and there were a multitude of exciting events associated with the celebration. Check out all the cool activities that were held at the Abdullah Gul University in Turkey and look for more exciting chapter happenings in the next issue.

As always, we have an excellent piece in our Industry Engagement series, this one written by Mark Beranek of the Naval Air Warfare Center. In the article, he describes the engagements between small businesses and defense. The SBIR and STTR programs provide the funding necessary for small businesses to develop unique technologies to address needs for defense photonics. A few examples of projects made possible through the SBIR and STTR programs are presented, and it’s a great article to learn about these funding opportunities and what they make possible.

Other mainstays of the Newsletter are available in this issue as well. The interview series “Get to Know Your IEEE Photonics Society Leadership” profiles AVP of Chapter Relations Kithinji Muriungi. The WaveJobs interview features a conversation with a young and active member of the photonics community, Uliana Pylypenko. And we’re featuring a Women in Photonics Q&A with Hani Nejadriahi, who is the IEEE Women in Photonics Task Force Chair.

Check out all these articles plus more society news and announcements in this June issue! And as always, we encourage you to read this issue and much more on the web at photonicssocietynews.org.. Thank you for reading, and feel free to contact us through the website or by emailing ipsnewsletter@ieee.org. We look forward to hearing from you!