By Vivian (Xi) Chen
Hello, OFC! I’m one of your bloggers Xi Chen (Vivian) for OFC’2014. I will be with you for the following a few months to report inspiring topics or events happen in OFC. I’m a research fellow in The University of Melbourne (Australia), doing research on high capacity and high spectral efficiency fiber optic transmission.
2014 marks my fourth trip to OFC. Four years is a short period given that I am a new graduate and new member of the fiber optics community. But from my view, OFC is a top-tier conference and is an event I cannot miss. So what I talk about when I talk about OFC? My answer is networking with professionals and capturing major trends in fiber optic communication.
Great Opportunity for Networking
One may say the focus should be listening to talks and presenting you and your group’s research. These are of course very important, but to me it is most critical to network with other professionals. There are other equivalent ways to share your research outcomes (e.g. by publishing journal papers), but the chances of doing face-to-face social networking is something you cannot miss.
Present Your Work and Capture the Trend
Besides meeting colleagues from around the world, OFC offers information and technical discussions from which the major trends of research and the market can be summarized. One awesome fact is that the attendees are a good mixture of different people: PhD students, research follows, and professors from universities, R&D people from leading telecommunication manufacturers and network operators. This mix, combined with extensive technical presentations and industry exhibitions, allows us to form an understanding of the latest major trends in fiber optic communication. If there is one tip I would share about how to better understand insights and inspirations, that would be attending not only regular presentations but also workshops /rump sessions.
Additionally, the meeting offers us the privilege of presenting research outcomes and seek feedback/comments from researchers engaged in similar topics. It permits us to think again, with the knowledge of the trends summarized from OFC, whether our own research is on the right track, or whether we need to develop brand new ideas to meet future demands.
To sum up (see, a researcher cannot write without putting there a conclusion), OFC is the great event for all of us to meet experts, exchange ideas, and being inspired by our colleagues around the world. When I talk about OFC, I talk about the opportunities of networking with international researchers and capturing the major trends in fiber optic communication.
Looking forward to seeing you all in the coming month!
Vivian (Xi) Chen, University of Melbourne, Australia
Posted: 23 February 2014 by
Vivian (Xi) Chen
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