Congress Prizes

 

The Optica Foundation Student Paper Competition 

The congress recognizes the next generation of scientists through a student presentation competition. To qualify for an award, the paper must have been presented by an undergraduate or graduate student of an educational institution of collegiate grade.

The papers submitted to the competition were reviewed during the standard Technical Program Committee (TPC) review process and up to 4 finalists were selected. After the papers are presented, the Program Committee members will make their selections based on content quality, value to the technical community of interest and the students' presentation skills.

Congratulations to the Finalists!

 

Clinical and Translational Biophotonics (Translational)

Ana Flavia Borges de Almeida Barreto, University of Notre Dame, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 8:30 -  8:45 AM
Photodynamic Therapy of Murine Breast Tumor Model Using Wireless Light-Emitting Implant

Aarohi MahEsh Mehendale, Boston University, USA
Tuesday, April 28, 2026  8:30 - 8:45 AM
Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) for the Assessment of Skin Involvement in Scleroderma

Wesley Poon, Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center, Texas A&M Health Science Center, USA
Monday, April 27, 2026, 8:30 - 8:45 AM
Label-Free Multimodal Multiphoton Imaging Enables Accurate Identification of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Chloe T. Zhang, University of Rochester, USA
Sunday, April 26, 2026    8:30 - 8:45 AM
Multi-modal Neuromonitoring with Diffuse Optics and EEG for Early Detection of Brain Injury in Adults on Veno-arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

 

Microscopy, Histopathology and Analytics (Microscopy)

Marvin Edelmann, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Sunday, April 26, 18:45 - 19:00
Simulation-Guided Spectral Engineering Enables Three-Color Multiplexed Two-Photon Brain Imaging

Zhi Ling, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 14:15 - 14:30
LFC-plus: Simultaneous Multicolor Volume Cytometry for High-Throughput Single-Cell Analysis

Juyeon Park, Korea Advanced Inst of Science & Tech, South Korea
Monday, April 27, 14:45 - 15:00
3D Histopathology Enabled by Label-Free Holotomography and Deep Learning

Shuyuan Zheng, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 14:45 - 15:00
Sequential Single-Fluorophore STORM for Highly Multiplexed Nanoscale Protein Mapping

 

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)

Emi Hughes, The University of Adelaide, Australia
Monday, April 27, 14:30-14:45
Improving Contrast at Depth using Spatially-Offset Optical Coherence Tomography (SO-OCT)

Klaudia Nowacka-Pieszak, Institute of Physical Chemistry (ICHF), International Centre for Translational Eye Research, Poland 
Monday, April 27, 14:00 - 14:15 
Enhancing OCT Imaging Through Highly Scattering Media (DLS-OCT)

Sharon Shajan, University of Houston, USA 
Monday, April 27, 08:30 - 08:45 
Non-Destructive Assessment of Corneal Biomechanics in a Porcine Model of Keratoconus Using Optical Coherence Elastography

Keerthana Soman, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
Tuesday, April 28, 09:15 - 09:30 
Full-Eye-Length OCT and Machine Learning to Assess the Geometry of Accommodating Eyes

 

Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy (OT&S)

Wenxing Bai, School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, China
Tuesday, April 28, 15:30 - 15:30
Camera-Free NIR-II Fluorescence Molecular Tomography via Single-Pixel Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging

Jodee Frias, Tufts University, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 09:00 - 09:15
Dual-slope Frequency-domain fNIRS Data Interpreted with Two- and Three-layer Models

Martin Goessweiner, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 09:30 - 09:45 
Scattering-Insensitive Estimation of Tissue Oxygen Saturation via Spatial Slope Ratios in CW-NIRS

Ana Perez, Boston University, USA
Tuesday, April 28, 09:15 - 09:30
Parameter Optimization for Wearable and Fiber-less Speckle Contrast Optical Spectroscopy

Zixiao Zhang, University of California Davis, USA
Sunday, April 26, 09:15 - 09:30
Dual-Wavelength Interferometric Diffusing Wave Spectroscopy with a Time-of-Flight Filter (TOF-iDWS) for Tissue Oxygenation and Perfusion Assessment

 

Optics and the Brain (Brain)

Pin Hao Cheng, University of Minnesota, USA
Sunday, April 26, 09:15 - 09:30
Robotic-2p: A Robotically Actuated Microscope for Advanced Two-Photon Imaging in Freely Locomoting Mice

Tenesha Connor, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland State University, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 08:45 - 09:00
Disentangling Hemodynamic Contamination from Neural Calcium Signals in Mesoscale Widefield Imaging Using Dual Wavelength Regression

Caitlyn Davis, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Sunday, April 26, 14:45 - 15:00
Using Advanced Diffuse Optical Spectroscopies to Investigate the Link Between Fetal and Postnatal Cerebral Hemodynamics

Ömer Dinc, Cleveland State University, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA
Wednesday, April 29, 08:30 - 08:45
Optical Brain–Machine Interface for Real-Time Imaging and Modulation of Brain Activity

Sung Min Park, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
Sunday, April 26, 15:15 - 15:30
Assessing Low-frequency Power Asymmetry in Pediatric Patients on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation using High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography

 

Optica Emerging Economy Paper Prize  

Individuals from emerging economies can opt in during the submission process of any Optica meeting to be considered for special recognition of their presentation.  Honorees will be featured on the meetings website and in an upcoming issue of the OPN Journal.  Highly scored presenters from emerging economies will be selected for the recognition.

Tugba Nur Bozkurt, Yeditepe Universitesi, Turkey
Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 15:30 - 17:00
Performance Disparities in Very Deep Super-Resolution Learning for Malignant versus Benign Breast Histopathological Images

Nishant Goyal, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
Tuesday, April 28, 2026  15:30 - 17:00
Axial Structured Illumination Tomography (ASIT): A 3D Label-free Phase Imaging Technique

Muskan Kularia, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
Tuesday, April 28, 2026  15:30 - 17:00
A Regularization Penalty Based on Laguerre-Gaussian Hilbert Transform for Artifact-Free Image Reconstruction

Favour Oluwafemi Oni, Achievers University, Nigeria
Monday, April 27, 2026  15:30- 17:00
LumiCare: A Low-Cost Machine Learning–Based Optical Imaging Framework Integrating Skin and Sclera Features for Non-Invasive Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia Detection