The Iberian-American Network for Optics (RIAO, acronym for the Spanish Red
Iberoamericana de Óptica or the Portuguese Rede Iberoamericana d´Óptica) is an international association conformed by national optics, photonics and related disciplines professionals and practitioners’ societies of Iberian America.
RIAO started its regional collaboration in 2008 with the integration of several Territorial Committees of the International Commission for Optics (ICO), as well as some optics and photonics associations in the region, among others the Comité Territorial de Óptica de México, A. C. (CTOM), the Sociedad Española de Óptica, and the Red Colombiana de Óptica. Nowadays RIAO has the representation from the optics and photonics communities of Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Venezuela and Portugal.
Since 2014 RIAO was accepted by ICO as its seventh International Society Member (ISM) and on October 12, 2022, RIAO was legally constituted as a civil association according to the Mexican legislation.
RIAO encourages academic collaboration between colleagues in optics and photonics from Iberian-American countries; as well as colleagues from Iberian-America with their peers from other regions of the world. This activity is carried out mainly through the organization of its flagship triennial congress, the Iberian-American Optics Meeting / Latin American Meeting of Optics, Lasers and their Applications, better known as the RIAO-OPTILAS
Conference.
Along with the RIAO-OPTILAS Conference, the RIAO also collaborates with the organization of other national, regional, international and world congresses; such as those organized by its members, the other ICO ISMs and, naturally, the ICO General Congress.
RIAO is also involved in conducting topical schools and workshops, in collaboration with its sister associations, like the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), Optica, the European Optical Society (EOS), and the ICO.
The RIAO governing body is its Council, which is conformed by the President, the Immediate Past President, the Secretary, and a counselor from each of the member countries. The Council takes office during the RIAO-OPTILAS Conference and its members remain in their positions for a three-year term.
Currently, the 2022-2025 RIAO Council is integrated as follows:
President:
Prof. Dr. José Luis Paz Rojas.
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
Presidency@riaof.org
Immediate Past President:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Filipe Costa.
Universidade do Minho.
Secretary:
Prof. Dr. Eric Rosas.
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.
Secretariat@riaof.org
Counselor of Argentina:
Dr. Myrian Tebaldi.
Centro de Investigaciones Ópticas.
Counselor of Colombia:
Prof. Dr. Freddy Rafael Pérez Fernández.
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana.
Counselor of Cuba:
Dr. Juan Gualberto Darías González.
Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnológicas y Desarrollo Nuclear.
Counselor of Ecuador:
Prof. Dr. César Costa Vera.
Escuela Politécnica Nacional.
Counselor of Spain:
Prof. Dr. Augusto Beléndez Vázquez.
Universidad de Alicante.
Counselor of Mexico:
Prof. Dr. Aníbal de la Piedad Beneítez.
Tecnológico Nacional de México.
Counselor of Portugal:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Filipe Costa.
Universidade do Minho.
Counselor of Venezuela:
Prof. Dr. Vicent Piscitelli.
Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Appointed Vice President of RIAO in the ICO:
Dr. Manuel Filipe Costa.
Universidade do Minho.
