Welcome to Photobears!

Last updated: March 2024

We are the joint student chapter of the SPIE (International Society for Optical Engineering), Optica (formerly, Optical Society of America), and the IEEE Photonics Society at the University of California, Berkeley. The club is operated by students who are dedicated to advancing the field of optics. Our members are affiliated with several departments on campus including Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Astronomy, Vision Science and Optometry. We are committed to promoting the optics community on campus. To become involved in PhotoBears, attend a PhotoBears meeting or contact the current members.

Get involved!

  1. Join our mailing lists to hear about upcoming events: To receive Photobears news, subscribe to our Photobears google group.
    You can also subscribe to the optics mailing list at UC Berkeley (list name: “optics”) through bConnected Lists.
  2. Attend our events. See upcoming events below or subscribe to our Google Calendar!
  3. Help plan events! We need more exec officers to make our events happen! Join the exec team by emailing officers@photobears.studentorg.berkeley.edu

Upcoming events – Save the Dates!

Please see the schedule below for the time and location of our events. Keep a look out over email for event details.

Spring 2024

Spring Social Lunch

Thursday, March 21st, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Location: Cory Courtyard, RSVP

CRS Day of Science Outreach

Friday, March 15th, 9:00 am – 2:30 pm

Location: Sign up here

Computational Imaging Lunch Seminar

Monday, February 12th, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Location: Soda 510 and https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/6061850180 

Presenter: Tanner Fadero, light microscopist at Altos Labs

Title: NIR light sheet co-illumination reduces photobleaching in green fluorescent proteins

Photobears Exec Planning Meetings (Recurring)

Help us plan the fall seminar series featuring research and industry talks!

Email us at officers [at] photobears.studentorg.berkeley.edu to join in person or over zoom!

We are looking for seminar speakers to launch our fall Optics+Imaging+Lightning talk series!

Visit the Past Events Page to see past events.

UC Berkeley students: sure to select Photobears as your student chapter in your Optica membership. This helps us maintain our status for funding these awesome events!

Our sponsors