UConn Physics Colloquium
Event Details:
Date: Friday, April 21st, 2023
Time: 3:30PM
Location: GW-002
Chapter of Optica, UConn presents
“Career paths for students and early-career professionals”
Dr. Gregory Quarles, Applied Energetics, Inc
*Cookies and refreshments served in the Gant Light Court prior to the colloquium*
The goal of my presentation will be to give you a glimpse of my 30 plus years of a career path across academia, industry and government lab research. The focus will be on the choices an early career professional in optics and photonics might encounter and some of the skills and opportunities that are needed for success in pursuing your dreams. These topics will include willingness and skill at pivoting in your research, coping with hearing “no”, the necessity of setting boundaries, developing the ability to hone soft skills such as your elevator pitch, and expanding your education to learn critical areas, including finance and marketing. It has been a wonderful and exciting journey for me, and I look forward to sharing how you too can become a leader with your physics and engineering degrees, with some knowledge of optics and photonics.
Dr. Gregory Quarles was hired in May 2019 as the CEO and Board member for Tucson-based Applied Energetics, Inc, a recognized leading company developing ultrashort-pulse lasers, frequency agile optical sources, and laser guided energy technologies for national security, biomedical imaging and advanced manufacturing. Prior to joining Applied Energetics, Dr. Quarles served as the Chief Scientific Officer for Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America) since November of 2015. He is an experienced Chief Executive Officer, Board Member and renowned physicist with 30 years of experience driving cutting-edge laser, optics, directed energy devices, and photonics technology development and operations. Greg is a globally recognized leader for his strategic partnerships with the Department of Defense, the U.S. Congress, and has spent the past fifteen years interacting with global leaders in the optics, photonics, and academic communities discussing policy opportunities. Greg has been awarded five patents related to his research in solid-state lasers, has twelve pending, and has published over 130 peer-reviewed and conference publications. Dr. Quarles is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and holds a Ph.D. and MS in Physics, and a dual BS in Math and Physics. He has served as Assistant Editor for both Optical Engineering and the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics and is a Fellow of both the Optica and SPIE and a Senior Member of IEEE.
For more information, contact: Zhanna Rodnova at zhanna.rodnova@uconn.edu