“We want the world to know that we have a university in East Africa that is doing research in all areas of optics and lasers to the highest level. Our vision for this institute is to map it to a global scale.” - Acting Director Alex Marucha The founding of the National Institute of Optics and Lasers (NIOL) at the Multimedia University of Kenya (MMU) in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2019 marked a milestone: It launched the country’s first postgraduate degree program in optics and lasers. With a focus on outreach, the MMU Optical Society, an Optica Student Chapter, is working to expand the regional scientific community and create a path for high-level optical science education and collaboration in Kenya. They make guided visits to secondary schools and universities, invite students to the institute, and connect with enrolling students at MMU. In the future, they hope to establish an Optica, which would be the first in East Africa. Celebrate the International Day of Light with us and read ...