WOMEN, TALKING: SPIE celebrates 20 years of showcasing women in optics, photonics, and STEM

On 26 January, as part of Photonics West in San Francisco, SPIE celebrated 20 years of its Women in Optics notebook, a key element of the Society’s Women in Optics program. The overall program promotes, supports, and engages women in optics and photonics through community building, networking opportunities, and career development. The annual SPIE Women in Optics notebook — formerly formatted as a daily planner — highlights women who are making a difference to the fields of photonics, optics, engineering, and other sciences. Along with promoting these scientists, it introduces young people and underrepresented groups to the possibilities of STEM-focused careers. This year, a record 12,000 copies of the notebook have been printed and are being distributed free of charge to students, science educators, career counselors, and community clubs worldwide.

The day-long celebration was a veritable cornucopia of presentations, discussions, conversations, and networking, engagingly facilitated by Imperial College London’s Jess Wade, an SPIE Fellow Member, recipient of the 2025 SPIE Directors’ Award, and chair of SPIE’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. Below, Wade captures the inspiring, enlightening, empowering day, in all its vibrant and energetic glory.

We did it! Twenty years of planners, 506 incredible profiles, tens of thousands of inspired readers and one message: women are extraordinary. We took up a whole day during Photonics West to honour the occasion, and our celebrations couldn’t have gone better. Our speakers covered a range of different themes and issues frequently raised by the SPIE community: finding our inner superpowers, the work environment, impostor phenomenon, publishing, work-life balance, recognition and resilience.  Maybe there was something in the San Francisco air — or maybe, amidst the intensity and the busyness that is Photonics West, we managed to create a genuinely welcoming space: our speakers and audience weren’t afraid to be honest, vulnerable, and open.

We started the day talking about our superpowers: the hidden strengths women bring to the workplace, which may sound familiar because of the common experiences women in optics face. All too often, men are credited as being instrumental in their own success, while women’s success is typically dismissed as ‘luck.’ Our panel, Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Alexis Vogt, Sona Hosseini and Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, discussed their superstar abilities to remain focussed, speak directly, be versatile, grow confidence, build relationships, and cultivate community. They shared their passion for helping others, developing strengths amongst their team members and doing research that they and others are proud to be part of. They also spoke about seeing through barriers: to these sensational women, it is never a question of whether something is possible, but a question of how to get there. Kyle Myers, Marisa Edmund, Lia Li and Debbie Gustafson discussed how to create inclusive workspaces. From making it easier for people with caring responsibilities and making sure women are credited for their ideas, to providing judgement-free spaces for networking and transparent pathways for promotion.

Our six lightning talks provided bite-sized brilliance on topics ranging from the hidden curriculum to mom guilt and the challenges of being a CEO. Ursula Keller — the first woman professor of physics at ETH — spoke honestly about 20 years of efforts to tackle sexism in academia. Professor Keller is an outspoken advocate for equity, who has worked tirelessly to create a research culture where talented women are supported to excel. Lia Li — quantum physicist and deep-tech founder — spoke about how being a boss has given her the opportunity to nurture woman engineers. Jessica DeGroote Nelson shared her experiences of being a mom, of balancing family responsibilities with optical engineering excellence. Rachel Won told us about Nature Publishing Group’s efforts to increase the number of women authors. After Nature realised too few women submit papers to their journals — and that even when they did, too few get papers accepted — they started campaigning to shift the needle. Bisi Bell schooled us on leadership — how research, advocacy, mentorship and outreach could be mutually inclusive. Alongside campaigning to improve the support given to Black scientists, Professor Bell has used her expertise in biomedical engineering to research skin-tone bias in medical devices. She argued that we can all be leaders in our personal spheres of influence. Ulrike Boehm taught us how to develop a personal brand, and why having an online presence was critical for everything from networking to collaborating and job hunting.

Cather Simpson, Simone Eizagirre Barker, Tara Fortier and Jen Kruschwitz  discussed imposter phenomenon and resilience. We’ve all heard about impostor phenomenon — and we’ve probably all sat through some training to try and overcome it. What we discuss less is why imposter phenomenon exists in the first place, and what role the research culture plays in exacerbating impostor phenomenon among women. The panel shared their experiences of being made to feel like an outsider, and how always being in the minority can drain your mental and physical health. Some said that eventually a switch flipped, and they started to question why they wasted energy thinking, “Do I deserve to be here?” when they should have been channelling that energy into authentically showing up. They also shared their experiences when being told they were a “diversity hire,” disparaging remarks that imply people were hired to fulfil a diversity quota rather than hired based on merit. Those kinds of criticisms, no matter how unfounded, can stay rent free in your head for a very long time. We should point out that is never the responsibility of the marginalised to manage the biases of misconceptions of others. As bystanders, we can all push back on DEI-hire type rhetoric, and abolish racist, sexist, and ableist language in our workplaces. To manage patronising comments yourself, focus on what unique skills you bring to the table, keep a record, and know yourself. 

We wrapped up the day with a discussion of the lessons learned by distinguished women scientists: what went right, what went wrong, and what they learned along the way. Margaret Murnane, Amy Eskilson, Caroline Bordeaux and Kate Medicus are at the top of their games in academia and industry. They explained the importance of early scientific experiences in developing their love for science, the successes they had experienced when they became comfortable being uncomfortable, and the power that came with being able to connect the dots — across disciplines, institutions and sectors. They told us to surround ourselves with people we trust, keep doors open for others, and to build a support squad to cheer us on. Murnane reminded us of the words of the venerable Millie Dresselhaus, who worked alongside Nancy Hopkins during the MIT Committee on Women Faculty: “If we stop the pressure for even a minute, it all falls backwards.” She explained that she took great pride in learning how to advocate for other women on award committees, and how to change hearts and minds in a neutral, non-confrontational way.

The atmosphere in the room was extraordinary, with no one half-paying attention as they shot off emails and scrolled through social media. Just as extraordinary, in fact, as every woman featured in every edition of the SPIE Women in Optics notebook. Happy 20^th anniversary, one and all!  

 Over two decades, SPIE’s Women in Optics notebook has captured the stories of women in a range of different sectors and a variety of disciplines at a bunch of career stages from all over the world. If you want to be included, or nominate someone for the 2026 notebook, please fill out this form. We’ll be celebrating 20 years of our Women in Optics planner at SPIE events throughout 2025. If you’d like to be involved, please get in touch with Allison Romanyshyn at allisonr@spie.org.