AIM Academy is creating an online learning platform that will introduce students in industry and academia to the emerging field of integrated photonics. The 3D Integrated Photonics Virtual Lab will be designed for community college, undergraduate, and graduate students, as well as industry professionals. A game-based learning environment allows users to explore photonic integrated circuits (PICs) at both a component and system level to gain insights into PIC design and manufacturing. To learn more about AIM Academy's Virtual Lab project, please contact Erik Verlage.
To explore our library of interactive simulations, click the link below.
Development Team
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Erik Verlage
Project Lead / Educational Software Developer
Erik is passionate about designing and developing digital learning tools and VR simulations, using game-based learning to create a playground for photonics experimentation. In 2017 he received his doctoral degree in Materials Science from Caltech for research on nanophotonic antireflective coatings with applications in photovoltaics and solar fuels.
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Trevor Morrisey
Unity Software Developer
Trevor is the lead software developer for the Virtual Lab. He's a generalist Unity developer who is interested in applications for game engines outside of the conventional games industry.
Lockheed Martin Fellows:
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Ryan Kosciolek
Integrated Photonics Device/Component Designer
Ryan has a bachelor of science degree in Physics and Mathematics from Rutgers University, with an associates degree in Computer Science. He has a special interest in the emerging field of integrated photonics, and is contributing to multiple online education efforts at AIM Photonics Academy.
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Samuel Serna
Integrated Photonics Subject Matter Expert
Samuel is a 2019 OSA Ambassador. He received a double master’s degree from the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (Germany) in “Photonics” and the Institute d’Optique Graduate School Paris (France) in “Optics, Matter and Plasmas” (Erasmus Mundus Master scholarship: Optics in Science & Technology -OpSciTech), in 2013.
Undergraduate Students:
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Khaled Shehada
Unity Software Developer
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Kelly Ho
Software Developer
Previous Collaborators:
Stuart Daudlin
Summer 2018 - Conducted optical simulations to explore the physics of integrated photonic components. Created a pipeline for incorporating simulated data into the Virtual Lab visualizations.
Sameena A Shaffeullah
Spring 2018 - Worked on data integration/visualization for the radial waveguide bend simulation. Created data structures to hold simulation and experimental data, and wrote code to display that data in text, images, and graphs.
Sophia S Russo
Spring 2018 - Completed her senior thesis developing visualizations for the photonics phenomena demonstrated in the Virtual Lab simulations. Created designer tools to allow further development of interactive simulations for visually engaging applications.
Victor Cheng
Spring 2018 - UI/UX developer for the Virtual Lab project. Redesigned the look and feel of the Virtual Lab, with a focus on fascilitating student interaction with photonics phenomenon and ensuring educational outcomes of the project.