The Electronic Materials Committee selected Optics PhD student, Renee Pedrazzini, as the 2008 Student Award Winner for her outstanding paper , "Virtual Elimination of Surface Leakage Currents in Unpassivated IF Photodetectors," which was presented at the 50th Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, June 25-27, 2008. Collaborators with Renee on the award-winning study were S. Maimon and Prof. Gary Wicks. The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Renee was honored and presented with a certificate and a $500 check at the Plenary Session of this year's EMC, on Wednesday, June 24, at Penn State. A certificate was also presented to her advisor, Prof. Wicks.

This prestigious award is typically only given to the top 5% of student presenters at EMC. This year, the Committee decided to award only one person, Renee, making this year's award especially significant.