This year logo has a special meaning, which I want to share with you all.
Twenty years ago, supported by an NIH P41 center grant, David Boas started an important educational program: the MGH Martinos Center fNIRS course, a 2-day course designed to introduce new users to functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
The first course was held in October 2001 and was a tremendous success. It was subsequently offered annually, reaching capacity every year.
In 2010, for its 10thanniversary, David and I decided to follow the fNIRS course with a two-day symposium. This first fNIRS symposium was well received and lead to the formation of the fNIRS society.
From that seed, planted ten years ago here in Boston, our society has grown and is now well established: a large tree with roots reaching across the globe. This is the meaning of the brain tree logo.
I started thinking about the logo at the fNIRS 2018, as soon as Boston was chosen as the next conference venue. I started working on it on the plane from Tokyo back home to Boston. Lisa Fantini – my daughter – Silvina Ferradal and Meryem Yucel, contributed to the final design. I am not especially adept at drawing so I made the logo entirely in PowerPoint. I really hope you like it, even more so now that you know its story.
Because of the special meaning it has for me and David, and all of the founding members, I will do my best to make fNIRS 2020 Boston, memorable for everyone.
Mari Franceschini