K-State Physics Grad is First Recipient Named for SPIE Endowed Scholarship at Arizona's OSC

Yukun Qin, a 2014 K-State graduate in physics and mathematics, is the first recipient of a new scholarship sponsored by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. Qin will begin graduate school in the College of Optical Sciences (OSC) at the University of Arizona in Tucson this fall and has been selected recipient of the SPIE Graduate Student Endowed Scholarship in Optical Sciences for the 2015-2016 academic year, said OSC Senior Director of Development Kaye Rowan.

Qin said that it was working with lasers that attracted him to optical sciences. K-State physics department's major concentration in atomic molecule optical physics gave him the opportunity to use ultrafast, ultra-intense laser pulses to study the structure and dynamics of atoms and molecules. Yukun's work at K-State was performed under research advisor Carlos Trallero, assistant professor of physics. An undergraduate symposium connected him with OSC scientists, and his decision to do graduate work in optical sciences was set.