Professor Han Sen of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology
In 2019, SPIE (International Society for Optical Engineering) and the University of Arizona's School of Optical Sciences are curating a thematic event on Professor James C. Wyant to honor his outstanding contributions to optical metrology and optical education. Due to the covid-19 pandemic around the world, the event was postponed to 2021. The organizer invited me, as a colleague and friend of Professor James C. Wyant for more than two decades, to give a presentation and write an article at the event conference, and I readily agreed.
In the course of my studies after I went to college, I met many mentors, especially in the field of optical measurement, and there were three very important people. The first was Academician Wang Daheng's student, Professor Jiang Zhuying, who introduced me to the road of optical measurement; the second was my mentor during my doctoral studies at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, Professor Hans J. Tiziani (former president of the European Optical Society), under his guidance, I had a deeper understanding of optical interference theory; the third was Professor James C. Wyant (hereinafter referred to as Wyant), who later picked academics and picked enterprises to develop at the same time. Inseparable from his guidance.
(Left) Academician Wang Daheng instructs Professor Jiang Zhuying, and the last student brought by Teacher Jiang Zhuying is Professor Han Sen (middle) Professor Tiziani announced that Han Sen passed the doctoral defense (right) Professor Wyant, Dr. Han Sen at the University of Arizona Optical Center
Professor Wyant is a Fellow of the American Academy of Engineering, Founding Dean and Honorary Professor of the School of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, and founder of WYKO Corporation and 4D Technology. He became Chairman of SPIE in 1986 and Chairman of OSA (Optical Society of America, now OPTICA) in 2010. In April 2019, in recognition of Professor Wyant's tremendous influence in academia and business, as well as two generous donations totaling $30 million, the University of Arizona's School of Optical Sciences was renamed the James C. Wyant School of Light Sciences.
Here, I have documented some of the fragments that Professor Wyant has had a profound impact on me, and I would like to pay tribute to this article.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > $30 editing fee let me know Professor Wyant</h1>
In 1986, I completed my first English paper in Changchun Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (now Changchun University of Science and Technology), and was later accepted by SPIE and was awarded the first prize of the first youth outstanding paper in Jilin Province. Due to some English grammar and typographical formatting issues in the article, SPIE sent me a letter hoping that I would revise these issues and submit them again, after which it could be published smoothly. At that time, there were no personal computers, and paper submissions needed to be printed on a typewriter, so it was a hassle to revise the content of the paper.
SPIE offers a more time-saving method, paying $30 to do it for them. However, $30 was not a small amount for me, who earned 89 yuan a month, not to mention that at that time, I could not easily exchange dollars. I also asked the college leaders to help the school solve the editing fee, and the reply was that the college's financial resources at that time could not pay for this fee. In desperation, I wrote back to SPIE and truthfully described the situation, but I did not expect to get a reply from the editor quickly, SPIE can waive the editing fee for this special situation.
When I received this news, I was overjoyed and grateful, so much so that for the next 30 years, I not only paid SPIE's membership fee every year, but also volunteered for SPIE for free without regret. That's when I learned that Professor Wyant was the chair of SPIE and had a feeling of admiration for him.
The real in-depth understanding of Professor Wyant was from 1991 to 1997 when I was a doctoral student in Germany, when I looked up the reference materials, I found that a large number of papers were written by Professor Wyant, and I knew that he was a "big bull" in the field of laser interferometry. After graduating with my Ph.D. in 1997, I was offered several job offers, and finally I chose WYKO, a company founded by Professor Wyant and offered.
He called me once, we had a few brief conversations, and he decided to hire me, and I didn't go through the usual kind of interview. Later I learned that Professor Wyant and my doctoral supervisor, Professor Tiziani, were good friends, and I guessed that he must have asked Professor Tiziani about me in advance, so he hired me so happily.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > encouraged publications in Professor Wyant's company</h1>
Our family flew directly from Stuttgart, Germany to Tucson, Arizona, USA, and Professor Wyant picked me up at the airport, and he had already rented a car for me. To my surprise, the "boss" drove a big truck by himself, a bit like our current "Lalala", which I couldn't have imagined in Stuttgart looking at mercedes cars on the streets (Mercedes-Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart) and I joked with Professor Wyant that "I don't feel like I've brought enough stuff". Professor Wyant's "Asian face speaks English with a very strong German accent" also made a deep impression on Professor Wyant, and later told the story whenever he introduced me to a new friend.
After joining the company, I found that most of the products are measured for the topography of objects, both macroscopic and microscopic, using CCD area array image sensors. During my PhD studies, my research direction was laser interferometry distance, using photoelectric dot matrix sensors, and it was Professor Wyant who brought me from the field of laser dot matrix measurement to the field of area array measurement. After reporting to the R&D department and the engineering department, I went to the workshop to assemble the instrument with the workers, and this stage of work was of great significance to my later design of the laser interferometer. I think that if there is no clear concept of the instrument, then only a hollow design can be done.
The first project I took over was the 24-inch large-aperture interferometer, which was the world's first large-aperture laser interferometer at the time. After doing some work, Professor Wyant immediately encouraged me to write papers for publication and to attend academic conferences. The average company does not encourage employees to write a paper on the project they are working on, and publishing a paper is not counted in the work performance. Professor Wyant's concept of combining industry, education and research has a great role in promoting my later development, and under his encouragement, I insist on writing one or two articles every year, until I return to China, I insist on taking students to do scientific research in the university, while founding Huili Instrument Company, and also encourage students and company employees to write good papers and patents.
Professor Wyant (left) and Dr. Han Sen in the world's first 24-inch large-caliber interferometer laboratory
In 2018, China Laser Magazine is preparing for the publication of Advanced Photonics, and is looking for international partners, I am also entrusted by the general manager of the magazine Yang Lei, to promote the cooperative publication of Advanced Photonics and SPIE, at present, the journal has a rapid development momentum, has been included in SCIE in April 2021, the impact factor is expected to rank in the top 5 of the global optical journals, I also feel that I have done a Chinese Laser Magazine and SPIE is a very meaningful thing.
Cover of the journal Advanced Photonics
The second project Professor Wyant gave me was to design an ultra-high-precision laser interferometer for the LIGO project, which was part of the LIGO installation. The LIGO device detected gravitational waves in 2015 and I was invited to visit the site.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > professor Wyant exports textbooks and knowledge to China</h1>
In 2003, the then president of Changchun University of Science and Technology, and now Academician Jiang Huilin, hired me as an adjunct professor at my alma mater, and in 2004, Professor Wyant recommended me to the Optical Center of the University of Arizona and after being reviewed by the Academic Committee, he hired me as an adjunct professor of the Optics Center. President Jiang put forward the hope that the distance education teaching materials for master's students of the University of Arizona Optical Center will be introduced into China, which is a very good idea, but because of the different educational systems and cultural concepts in China and the West, the introduction of teaching materials involves many intellectual property rights and copyright-related issues. Because I was familiar with both sides, I was in the middle of the matter.
Professor Wyant (front left) and Academician Jiang Huilin (front right) signed a memorandum of cooperation on the introduction of the original version of the master's degree textbook into Changchun University of Science and Technology, and Dr. Han Sen (rear middle school) and others attended the signing ceremony
After a long discussion, Professor Wyant finally agreed to export the textbook to China, the first time in the history of the University of Arizona Optics Center that the textbook was exported abroad. At the same time, Changchun University of Science and Technology is also the first time to introduce foreign original textbooks, a total of 13 courses. In my impression, this may also be the first time that domestic universities have introduced the original version of the full set of textbooks as teaching materials for degree courses. Since then, Professor Wyant has personally led or recommended other international peer experts to Changchun University of Science and Technology for many in-depth study visits.
In March 2012, during the same period as the Shanghai Optical Expo in Munich, China Laser Magazine and OSA jointly organized an English scientific and technical paper writing training class, inviting Professor Wyant to teach how to better write English scientific and technical papers and submit articles to international journals and conferences. When I arrived at the workshop, Professor Wyant said, "If anyone doesn't understand, ask him, I've got an interpreter." In fact, I know that after 2000, China attaches great importance to English education, everyone's English level is very good, and I can understand the report, so I did not waste time translating sentence by sentence, but told everyone: "If you have questions that you do not understand, you can ask me at any time", after all, I am still familiar with these professional issues.
Professor Wyant lectures in the English Science and Technology Essay Writing Workshop
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="54" > Professor Wyant's successful experience in founding technology companies</h1>
Professor Wyant actually founded three companies, the first being WYKO Corp., the second being DMetrix, and the third being 4D Technology Corp. Professor Wyant's most valuable thing is that he can translate the research technology into a product very well, and he is a very famous professor, scholar and successful entrepreneur.
I specifically asked Professor Wyant about his experience in starting a business, and he said that the most important thing is to find a "right person". Professor Wyant's other point of view is that academic research and business cannot be opposed, especially for those who do engineering and technology research, only by combining the two can high-tech technology be applied. In this regard, I very much agree with Professor Wyant's idea.
Over the years, Professor Wyant has always maintained the combination of industry, education and research and the spirit of innovative engineers, which is a valuable asset he has brought to me, and I have also strengthened the cultivation of engineer spirit for my students to lead the innovation and development of science and technology.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="62" > author profile</h1>
Han Sen
Sen Han is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Founder of Suzhou Huili Instrument Co., Ltd., Adjunct Professor of the College of Optics of the University of Arizona, SPIE Fellow, Member of the Strategic Planning Committee, Review Expert of the Chandra S. Vikram Award in Optical Metrology, Executive Director of the Chinese Society of Optical Engineering. He has twice won the Oscar of the American scientific and technological community - research & development 100 awards, published 9 academic albums, published more than 100 papers, applied for more than 40 patents, undertook more than 20 research projects, and developed more than 40 new products.