Developing a Photonics and Laser Technician Education and Training Program

Photonics is the science and technology of using light to generate and control energy, and transmit and detect information. Photonics is an enabling technology, supporting a wide variety of industries and fields. The National Photonics Initiative 1 has identified five key areas where photonics plays a critical role in allowing the United States to regain global competitiveness and maintain national security: advanced manufacturing, communications and information technology, defense and national security, energy, and health and medicine. While photonics plays such an important role in enhancing the quality of our lives, higher education programs to prepare technicians to work in this area are few across the country. The existing programs do not produce a sufficient number of graduates to fill the current and projected industry needs for photonics technicians in our state and region as well as nationally 2 . Baker College has started addressing this gap by developing and introducing a two-year Photonics and Laser Technology program, the only such program in our state. This initiative has received enthusiastic support from the photonics industry in the state, and is also supported by a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education 3 (ATE) Grant. The goals of the grant project are to: a) create and implement a new Associate of Applied Science Photonics and Laser Technology (AAS PLT) program; b) fully equip an Optics and Photonics Laboratory for education and training; c) train faculty to teach core courses in the AAS PLT program; d) perform outreach activities to local high schools to promote the new program; e) educate 30 or more students or workers by the end of the project. The paper discusses the efforts and activities performed towards achieving the project goals, and the results and outcomes obtained in the first year of the grant. Activities included convening an Advisory Board with industry participation to provide guidance towards a current, high quality photonics program; developing new photonics courses with labs; building a state-of-the-art Optics and Photonics educational laboratory; providing professional development to faculty members in photonics topics including experimental skills; training and certifying a faculty member to act as Laser Safety Officer; holding an Open House and visits to the Optics and Photonics Laboratory; and offering a summer program introducing photonics to high school students in the area. Introduction Photonics encompasses the science and technology of using light to generate and control energy, and transmit and detect information. The 2012 Report “Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation” 4 from the National Research Council discusses the current state of the art and the economic impact of optics and photonics technologies, and provides recommendations to ensure that the United States remains competitive in this field as many other countries are investing heavily in their optics and photonics industries. The Report called for the formation of a National Photonics Initiative 1 that will seek to raise awareness about photonics and its impact on our everyday lives; increase collaboration and coordination among U.S. industry, government and academia to advance photonics-driven fields; and drive U.S. funding and investment in areas of photonics critical to maintaining U.S. competitiveness and national security. The National Photonics Initiative, formed in 2013, has identified five key areas where P ge 24385.2 photonics plays a critical role: advanced manufacturing, communications and information technology, defense and national security, energy, and health and medicine. Concurrent with photonics getting a brighter spotlight at the national level, state efforts are underway to promote the growth of photonics. Mi-Light 5 , the Michigan Photonics Cluster, was formed at the end of 2012 to serve as the focal point for the photonics industry in Michigan. The ultimate goal of the Cluster is to expand the industry, attract funding and stimulate innovation in Michigan. In its first year of existence the Cluster has reached a total of 25 members including commercial companies and academic institutions. Educational institutions have a key role to play in the growth of the optics and photonics industry. Numerous universities in the U.S. and throughout the world offer undergraduate and graduate programs in optics and photonics. The situation is different for community and technical colleges; few of these offer photonics programs. The National Center for Optics and Photonics Education, OP-TEC 2 , is one of the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers. The focus of the Center is on creating a secondary-topostsecondary “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. To achieve this, OP-TEC is providing numerous resources to help colleges introduce optics and photonics courses and programs of study. The efforts undertaken and resources provided by the organizations above are creating a vibrant and rich environment for post-secondary institutions to investigate and introduce photonics in their portfolio of advanced technology programs of study. The paper describes the development and introduction of a two-year photonics program at Baker College, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. New Photonics Program Development and Introduction The Principal Investigator (PI) for the NSF ATE Grant has started researching opportunities for introducing photonics at college level several years ago. The PI’s background in optics and photonics, and her desire to contribute to the field’s growth through educating college students acted as a catalyst throughout the process. With support from OP-TEC and from faculty and administration at the College, two photonics related courses were introduced in the curriculum of the existing Associate of Applied Science in Electronics Technology (AAS ET) program in winter 2011. Both courses have an experimental laboratory component which required equipment to be purchased. Winter 2011 thus also saw the start of the Optics and Photonics Laboratory, sharing space at that time with the Electronics Laboratory, located in the same room. The PI taught the two photonics courses the first time they were offered and one more time since. The PI continued to research the opportunity of introducing a full-fledged two-year photonics program with a survey in fall 2011 that gathered data from several photonics companies in the state about their needs for photonics technicians. OP-TEC provided the PI guidance on running this state-wide survey. Additionally OP-TEC ran a national survey about needs for photonics technicians in summer 2012 2 . The latter survey obtained national data as well as regional data, which was helpful to determine needs in our region. Both surveys revealed there was a current and projected need for photonics technicians in the state, region and entire U.S., and the most appropriate education for photonics technicians was from a two-year program. The OP-TEC P ge 24385.3 survey also revealed that the number of graduating photonics students with two-year degrees from existing programs at community and technical colleges is considerably smaller than the projected technician needs. The favorable results from the two surveys were utilized in fall 2012 as part of a proposal to introduce a two-year photonics program. Baker College has a formal new program process that needs to be followed, starting from a new program idea up to receiving full approval of the new program. Industry needs in the local area, the state, and beyond are an important consideration when evaluating a potential new program of study. For the photonics program, the new program process resulted in the program being approved in spring 2013, under the name of Associate of Applied Science in Photonics and Laser Technology (AAS PLT). In fall 2012 while starting the new program process, the PI also wrote and submitted a grant proposal to the NSF ATE program requesting support for the development and introduction of a two-year photonics and laser technology program. The grant proposal was accepted and in summer 2013 the PI started working on the program introduction while also fulfilling requirements for the NSF grant. The objectives of the NSF grant project are to: a) create and implement a new Associate of Applied Science Photonics and Laser Technology (AAS PLT) program; b) fully equip an Optics and Photonics Laboratory for education and training; c) train faculty to teach core courses in the AAS PLT program; d) perform outreach activities to local high schools to promote the new program; e) educate 30 or more students or workers by the end of the project. The period for the NSF grant is July 1, 2013 December 31, 2015. To support achievement of the project objectives the PI developed a set of activities and a time table for each activity together with responsible personnel. The activities that have taken place since the beginning of the grant are described below. a) Formation and Meetings of the Program Advisory Board One of the first activities was to form an Advisory Board to guide the new program throughout its development phase and continue with future improvements after the program is fully operational. The Advisory Board has representatives from five photonics companies in the state, as well as the state photonics cluster, in addition to program faculty, students, and college administration. The frequency of meetings is two times per year, and there have been two meetings of the Advisory Board up to the time the paper was written. b) Development of the New Program Curriculum The Grant PI and Senior Personnel, with support from a Bake