BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Wanda Lindquist, a 2026 Illinois Wesleyan graduate who was among the first at the University to study quantum information science, has been awarded a 2026 Women in Optics Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.
The $10,000 Women in Optics Scholarship recognizes potential contributions to optics, photonics, or a related field. Lindquist is an incoming Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona’s Wyant College of Optical Sciences. She double majored in physics and mathematics at Illinois Wesleyan University, with a concentration in optics and photonics.
While at Illinois Wesleyan, Lindquist served two terms as SPIE Student Chapter president, where she focused on developing research projects designed to introduce first- and second-year students to experimental optics. Her research spans investigations of the Gouy phase shift, angular Doppler effect, photon bunching (a phenomenon in quantum optics), optical cloaking, and optical tweezer arrays (which offer quantum applications).
Lindquist participated in quantum science research projects at Argonne National Laboratory as part of the Open Quantum Initiative (OQI) Undergraduate Fellowship in the summer of 2024, and as part of the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program in the summer of 2025. With the development of Illinois Wesleyan's new Fisher Center for Interdisciplinary Quantum Science & Engineering, more students will have expanded opportunities and access to quantum studies.
SPIE awards scholarships to outstanding SPIE student members, whose applications were evaluated, selected, and approved by the SPIE Scholarship Committee. Since 1978, SPIE has distributed nearly $8 million dollars in individual scholarships, reflecting a commitment to education and to future generations of optical scientists and engineers around the world. The international society brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology.
The Fisher Quantum Center at Illinois Wesleyan University is a first-of-its-kind initiative advancing undergraduate education in quantum science & engineering within a liberal arts curriculum. Learn more at www.iwu.edu/fisher-quantum-center