There has been light from the beginning. But we hardly measure the importance of light in our daily lives. Light is nowadays used for everything from internet cables to low-cost light sources. However, this is just a beginning and we have many more exciting discoveries to make and applications to invent. I have understood this as I was studying photonics at VUB in the framework of the Master of Science in Photonics (Erasmus Mundus, at that time). As students, we were exposed to interdisciplinary curricula on how light aids in and interacts with various other disciplines. We also witnessed many close collaborations with various industries, which gave us a unique opportunity to understand how photonic inventions make their way to market. The gained knowledge helped and steered me tremendously as I continued developing photonic sensors for biosystems during my PhD. at EPFL and now inventing optoelectronic micromachines as a PostDoc at MIT.

I can’t stress enough how innovative and visionary this program is.