Later this summer the Purdue OSA student chapter will be co-hosting IONS Midwest 2018 with the University of Dayton. The conference will promote research in the optical sciences across the Midwest and will feature talks from students, post doctoral scholars, and invited guests. In fact, we have been fortunate enough to have *John Hall, the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Physics*, as one of our plenary speakers. The conference program will also include a poster session and networking events with industry. We believe IONS Midwest 2018 would be a wonderful opportunity for you to connect with the broader research community in the area of optics and photonics. More details can be found in the attached flyer and at – (http://ionsmidwestus2018.osahost.org/) . The dates for the conference at Purdue University are *Thursday, Aug 2nd and Friday, Aug 3rd in Discovery Park* later this summer. Please consider submitting an abstract – either for a talk or for a poster. You are welcome to use posters prepared for previous conferences. Furthermore, through a generous contribution from the College of Engineering, *registration for the conference is free* and we will be selling tickets separately for the formal banquet with industry and plenary speakers. We look forward to seeing you at the conference! Sincerely, Deesha Shah Conference Co-Chair IONS Midwest 2018