On Sunday evening, SPIE 2022 President Anita Mahadevan-Jansen opened this year’s SPIE Optics + Photonics plenary program with her welcome to both the attendees and the return to full in-person operations of the event. However Dr. Mahadevan-Jansen, who is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, also had the solemn duty to announce that the scheduled speaker – Dr. Michael Berns, founder of the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic at the University of California at Irvine – had passed away at the age of 79 only a week before, on August 13th. “Mike” Berns was due to receive the highest honor of SPIE – the SPIE Gold Medal – which will now be awarded posthumously in his name. Read More