This past week I gave a presentation titled “A Multispectral Bayesian-based Computational Microscopy Method for Enhancing Image Quality” at the SPIE Photonics West conference in San Francisco. San Francisco is a beautiful city with many great restaurants and sites, one of which is the famous Golden Gate Bridge. My colleague and I rented bikes at Pier 39 and biked across the bridge into Sausalito. While on our bike ride I snapped the following photo on the south side of the bridge near the Fort Point National Historic Site.

SF SPIE

Another time I met up with an old friend who lives in Silicon Valley and we went to Battery Spencer one evening. What an amazing view!

SF SPIE

One unavoidable reality of being in San Francisco is the significant homelessness situation. It was impossible not to notice the amount of people living on the streets. I was unaware of this before my trip and ended up booking my hotel in the Tenderloin district, where the homelessness is even more concentrated. While walking back to my hotel on a given night I saw people begging, doing drugs, yelling, and defecating on the sidewalk. I say this not to shame or judge these people but bring to light the severity of the situation. Homelessness is a difficult situation to be in and also a challenge to deal with properly. I believe that all people have inherent value and it saddens me to see these people living on the street.

I’m very grateful that I could travel to San Francisco during my PhD to share my research with others while getting to experience the city.