The 1st International Conference of the Panhellenic Optical Society (PHOS)
The 1st International Conference of the Panhellenic Optical Society (PHOS) was successfully held at FORTH, uniting leading scientists and emerging researchers from both Greece and around the world to delve into the latest advancements in photonics. The conference also marked the occasion of the Society’s inaugural General Assembly and Board Meeting.
At this landmark event, we had the great honor of welcoming Prof. Eleftherios Economou, Honorary President of FORTH, whose presence gave special significance to the conference. We warmly thank him for presenting the PHOS-Costas Soukoulis' Honorary Award to Prof. Kosmas Tsakmakidis, Assistant Professor at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
About Costas Soukoulis
Costas Soukoulis was an Associated Researcher at Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas (FORTH). He received his B.S. in Physics from Univ. of Athens in 1974. He obtained his doctoral degree in Physics from the Univ. of Chicago in 1978. From 1978 to 1981 he was visiting Assistant Professor at the Physics Dept. at Univ. of Virginia. He spent 3 years (1981-84) at Exxon Research and Engineering Co. and since 1984 has been at Iowa State Univ. (ISU) and Ames Laboratory. He has been an associated member of FORTH since 1983 and was a Professor (part time) at Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering at Univ. of Crete (2001-2011). He has courtesy appointments at the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University.
Prof. Soukoulis was Fellow of the American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the ISU Outstanding Achievement in Research in 2001, and the senior Humboldt Research Award in 2002; He shared the Descartes award for collaborative research on left-handed materials in 2005; He won the 2014 Max Born Award of the Optical Society Of America. Prof. Soukoulis has been also a member or a chairman of various International Scientific Committees responsible for various International Conferences.
The Costas Soukoulis Honorary Award
In recognition of his lasting impact on photonics, the Soukoulis’ Honorary Award was established to honor outstanding young researchers who have made significant contributions to the field of Photonics. The award is presented by the newly established PanHellenic Optical Society (Greek Society for Photonics).
We would like to congratulate Prof. Kosmas Tsakmakidis on receiving this prestigious award, in recognition of his remarkable achievements and valuable contributions to the field of photonics. We also wish to extend our sincere gratitude to Prof. Eleftherios Economou for his heartfelt tribute to Costas Soukoulis, for announcing both the Costas Soukoulis Award and the Best Poster Award, and for his lifelong dedication to advancing Greek science and research.
