The increased demand for highly educated and trained workers in optics and photonics is evident in many countries. Colleges and universities that provide this education can benefit greatly from support by non-profit National Education Centers of Excellence that conduct research in workforce needs, design curricula, develop industry-validated teaching materials, train new faculty and establish models for laser/optics laboratories. In 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) established OP-TEC, the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education, which encourages and supports U.S. colleges to educate and train an adequate supply of high quality technicians to meet the workforce demand by companies, institutions and government agencies. In 2013 and 2014 NSF awarded grants to establish regional photonics centers in the southeast U.S. (LASER-TEC) and the Midwest (MPEC). These Centers work cooperatively with OP-TEC, sharing resources, teaching materials and best practices for colleges with photonics technician education programs. This successful “center organization plan” that has evolved could be adopted in other countries, and international cooperation could be established between similar Centers of Education in Photonics education.
U.S. photonics organizations need about 800 new photonics technicians each year. Thirty-one community and technical
colleges have approximately 700 students enrolled in photonics related programs; about 275 of them complete their
coursework and enter the workforce each year. A disparity exists between the demand and supply of qualified photonics
technicians in the U.S. OP-TEC, the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education is a consortium of seven
colleges, under the leadership of the University of Central Florida, and sponsored by NSF. OP-TEC’s mission is to
increase the quantity and quality of photonics technicians prepared at two-year colleges. OP-TEC maintains the National
Photonics Skill Standards for Technicians, provides curriculum models, teaching materials, faculty training/professional
development and planning services to strengthen existing college photonics programs and to attract and support new
ones. OP-TEC is converting its text materials to E-Books to support students in technical programs. Through OP-TEC’s
recruitment efforts 84 additional colleges are interested in initiating new photonics programs. The OP-TEC Photonics
College Network (OPCN) consists of 28 colleges that are currently providing photonics education. This fall OPCN will
lead an additional national effort to further educate employed photonics technicians through on-line courses,
complemented by lab experiences at nearby colleges. OP-TEC is expanding its outreach to photonics employers and
colleges by regionalizing its approach to offering its services. OP-TEC is also planning to develop new curricula and
instructional materials for AAS programs to prepare Precision Optics Technicians. This paper will detail OP-TEC’s
work with particular emphases on its materials and services.
Engineering and science technicians are urgently needed in photonics (lasers and electrooptics).
Twenty-eight post secondary institutions offer education for technicians in this field;
however their enrollments are low because there are not sufficient efforts to attract high
school students through interesting, relevant activities in science and technology classes. This
paper describes three activities, using light-emitting diodes, which have been developed by
faculty in the Electro-Optics Program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. These "green
energy" related topics are provided in "hands-on" activities for nearby high school students and
teachers. They have successfully generated interest by the students to enroll in photonics after
high school graduation.
The mission of the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education (OP-TEC) is to create a secondary-to-postsecondary “pipeline” of highly qualified and strongly motivated students and to empower high schools and community colleges to meet the urgent need for technicians in optics and photonics. This paper describes the methodologies and processes OP-TEC has developed to carry out that mission. A recently completed assessment of the need for optics and photonics technicians in American industry concluded that U.S. colleges lack the capacity to produce an adequate supply. OP-TEC’s challenge is to close the gap between the supply of and demand for photonics technicians. To help increase college capacity, OP-TEC has developed and implemented a recruitment process for initiating photonics programs in U.S. colleges. This paper describes the recruitment process and its results, along with the relevant support services provided by OP-TEC. In support of its mission, OP-TEC has developed curriculum and instructional materials that prepare students for the photonics workforce. To help ensure that completers of U.S. photonics programs are workforce ready, OP-TEC uses a skill-standards-based process for developing curriculum and instructional materials. This paper reviews the foundational skill standards and explains the process for integrating them into the materials development process. The curriculum and instructional materials that result from this process are also described.1
Within a few years after lasers were first made operational in 1960, it became apparent that rapid growth in the applications of this new technology in industry, health care, and other fields would require a new generation of technicians in laser/optics engineering. Technicians are the men and women who work alongside scientists and engineers in bringing their ideas, designs, and processes to fruition. In America, most highly qualified technicians are graduates of associate of applied science (AAS) programs in community and technical colleges (two-year postsecondary institutions). Curricula and educational programs designed to prepare technicians in laser/electro-optics technology (LEOT) emerged in the 1970s; today there are over 15 LEOT programs in the United States producing over 100 LEOT graduates each year.
Since operational lasers were first demonstrated in 1960, the field of laser/electro-optics has become an indispensable, rapidly expanding component of modern industry. With the emergence of numerous medical and telecommunication applications in the 1980s, including fiber-optics, the field of laser/electro-optics evolved into photonics, a broad field encompassing optoelectronics, micro-optics, lasers, digital imaging, spectroscopy, optical instruments, and optical systems. Today photonics is not only a technology field in and of itself but is also an enabler of nearly every other technology field, including microtechnology, measurement and materials processing, remote sensing, photolithography for semiconductors, nanotechnology, electro-optics displays and imaging, and national defense.
Under funding from NSF's ATE program, the national nonprofit R&D organization CORD recently developed and published the second edition of The National Photonics Skill Standards for Technicians (NPSST), which provides an employer-driven specification for the development of photonics education programs and supporting instructional materials, particularly at the two-year postsecondary level. This paper explains the need for NPSST and overviews its main components - specifications for what photonics technicians should know and be able to do in six broad photonics specialty areas, secondary and postsecondary curriculum outlines, a sample 4+2 photonics technology course sequence, and foundational knowledge components for two-year photonics technician programs.
World-Class Technicians in emerging and rapidly changing fields such as Photonics require interdisciplinary technical skills, a strong, practical academic/technical core, highly interactive people skills, and the ability to think critically and solve open-ended problems. An improved curriculum and delivery system is required that spans both secondary and post-secondary experiences, along with employer-provided internships. A strong, useful math/science foundation must be provided using contextual teaching and learning strategies. A Photonics Technician education program will be presented that demonstrates the new curriculum model described above. The Photonics Technician Program has been recently designed and developed in the USA under an NSF grant. It is being tested in community and technical colleges. The technical aspects of the program are based on a Laser/Electro-Optics Technology curriculum, developed by CORD, that has been successfully used by twenty-five colleges as well as hundreds of businesses in the USA over the last twenty-five years.
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