Your hosts for the 2007 Event, Drs. Mike Fiddy and Vasily Astratov, welcome this year's participants to the Fourth Annual Charlotte Research Institute Workshop, the second to be held at UNC Charlotte's New Applied Physics and Optics Facility, which houses The Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications, and will serve as the location for all workshop activities unless noted otherwise.

Guests arriving Wednesday afternoon will have a chance to relax and enjoy a reception with hors d'oeuvres and drinks being held from 7pm to 9pm in the Witherspoon Residence Hall lounge area. The conference will begin officially the following morning and will occupy two full days, Thursday and Friday, and include a wrap up session Saturday morning followed by a lunch outing on the Catawba Queen Riverboat.

After the first full day of meetings, a special dinner is being held Thursday evening at the Duke Mansion in uptown Charlotte. Transportation will be provided to and from the Mansion; indeed, once guests arrive on campus for the workshop, all food, accommodation and transportation is taken care of by the Charlotte Research Institute. The only thing you need to bring is your enthusiasm and a thirst to share in a community for the expansion of knowledge on The Physics of Microresonators.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!