PRESS RELEASE

02 March 2012

Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer The Optical Society +1.202.416.1435 lmeyer@osa.org

Anonymous Donor Agrees to Match Up to $50,000 of Donations to Paul Bonenfant Memorial Scholarship

WASHINGTON, March 2—The OSA Foundation has announced a new challenge grant that will benefit the recently launched Paul A. Bonenfant Memorial Scholarship. An anonymous donor has agreed to a 1:1 match of any donation made after Feb. 14, up to $50,000. The total fundraising goal for the campaign is $190,000. The Foundation is challenging supporters to meet the $50,000 goal by the end of March.

Announced earlier this year, the scholarship will honor the late optical communications expert and analyst Paul Bonenfant and his conviction that international experiences enhance an individual’s interpersonal and business endeavors. This need-based scholarship will be awarded to undergraduate students majoring in engineering or the physical sciences to provide them with international experience as they prepare for a professional life that will promote global engagement and collaboration.

Special recognition of Bonenfant and the scholarship campaign is taking place at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition/National Fiber Optics Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) and the Optical Society’s (OSA) Executive Forum, both of which are being held next week in Los Angeles.  Bonenfant was an active member of the OFC/NFOEC program committee and a past speaker at the Executive Forum.

Donations may be made on-site at OFC/NFOEC at OSA’s booth located in the South Lobby of the Convention Center or online at www.osa-foundation.org/bonenfant. Attendees registering for OFC/NFOEC 2012 also have the option of including a donation to the scholarship during the online registration process at www.ofcnfoec.org/registration.

About the OSA Foundation

The OSA Foundation (OSAF) was established in 2002 to support philanthropic activities that help further the Optical Society's (OSA) mission. The OSAF is concentrating its efforts on programs that provide career and professional development resources and support awards and honors that recognize technical and business excellence. The grants funded by the OSA Foundation are made possible by the generous donations of its supporters as well as the dollar-for-dollar match by OSA. The Foundation is exempt from U.S. federal income taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is a public charity. To learn more about the OSA Foundation, please visit www.osa-foundation.org.

About OFC/NFOEC

For more than 35 years, the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/ National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) has been the premier destination for converging breakthrough research and innovation in telecommunications, optical networking and, recently, datacom and computing. Uniting service providers, systems companies, enterprise customers, IT businesses and component manufacturers, along with researchers, engineers and development teams, OFC/NFOEC combines dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 500 companies and cutting-edge peer-reviewed research into one event that showcases the trends and pulse of the entire optical communications industry.

OFC/NFOEC is managed by the Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc) and the IEEE Photonics Society. Acting as a non-financial technical co-sponsor is Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Visit www.ofcnfoec.org.

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