26 January 2025
San Francisco, California, US

Join us in San Francisco this January

On 26 January 2025 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, women from around the world will come together for A Celebration of Women in Optics. This one-day event, held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, will include keynotes, panels, and networking to celebrate twenty years of our Women in Optics planner. During that time, we’ve shared the stories of over 500 game-changing women working in optics and photonics. Our distinguished speakers will share their wisdom on superpowers, resilience, building the best teams and navigating the hidden curriculum. They cover a broad array of careers, from industry to academia and policy to publishing.

#CelebrateWiO Twitter logo Facebook logo Instagram logo Youtube logo Linkedin logo

A great lineup of speakers, panelists, and topics


Simone Barker

Simone Eizagirre Barker

Product Manager, Nu Quantum

Jennifer Barton

Jennifer Barton

2024 SPIE President
Professor and Director, BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona

Muyinatu Bell

Muyinatu "Bisi" Bell

John C. Malone Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Ulrike Boehm

Ulrike Boehm

R&D Scientist, ZEISS Group

Caroline Boudoux

Co-Founder and Co-President, Castor Optics
Professor, École Polytechnique de Montréal

Barbara Buades

Bárbara Buades

Co-Founder & CEO, MEETOPTICS

Marla Dowell

Director, CHIPS R&D Metrology Program and NIST Boulder Lab

Marisa Edmund

Marisa Edmund

Chairman and CEO, Edmund Optics

Amy Eskilson

Amy Eskilson

President, Inrad Optics

Tara Fortier

Project Leader, NIST

Debbie Gustafson

Debbie Gustafson

CEO, Energetiq Technology, Inc.

Sona Hosseini

Sona Hosseini

Research and Instrument Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Ursula Keller

Ursula Keller

Physics Professor, ETH Zürich

Jen Kruschwitz

Jennifer Kruschwitz

Associate Professor, University of Rochester

Anita Mahadevan-Jansen

Anita Mahadevan-Jansen

Professor, Vanderbilt University

Kate Medicus

Kate Medicus

Chief Executive Officer, Ruda Optical

Margaret Murnane

Professor of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder

Kyle Myers

Kyle Myers

Puente Solutions LLC

Jessica Nelson

Jessica DeGroote Nelson

Vice President of Precision Optics and Technology Development, Edmund Optics

Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop

Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop

Professor, Deputy Director of ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, The University of Queensland

Cather Simpson

Cather Simpson

Chief Executive Officer, Orbis Diagnostics Professor of Physics & Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland

Alexis Vogt

Endowed Chair & Professor of Optics, Monroe Community College

Jess Wade

Jess Wade

Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Functional Materials, Imperial College London

Rachel Won

Rachel Won

International Editor of Nature Photonics, Nature Publishing Group

Thank you to our sponsors


2025 Women in Optics notebook

This special 20th-anniversary edition celebrates the collective impact of women engineers, scientists, industry leaders, and academics — past, present, and future.

Order your free copy!