Preparing technicians for photonics industries and organizations

摘要

U.S. photonics organizations need about 800 new photonics technicians each year. Thirty-one community and technicalcolleges have approximately 700 students enrolled in photonics related programs; about 275 of them complete theircoursework and enter the workforce each year. A disparity exists between the demand and supply of qualified photonicstechnicians in the U.S. OP-TEC, the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education is a consortium of sevencolleges, under the leadership of the University of Central Florida, and sponsored by NSF. OP-TEC’s mission is toincrease the quantity and quality of photonics technicians prepared at two-year colleges. OP-TEC maintains the NationalPhotonics Skill Standards for Technicians, provides curriculum models, teaching materials, faculty training/professionaldevelopment and planning services to strengthen existing college photonics programs and to attract and support newones. OP-TEC is converting its text materials to E-Books to support students in technical programs. Through OP-TEC’srecruitment efforts 84 additional colleges are interested in initiating new photonics programs. The OP-TEC PhotonicsCollege Network (OPCN) consists of 28 colleges that are currently providing photonics education. This fall OPCN willlead 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 andcolleges by regionalizing its approach to offering its services. OP-TEC is also planning to develop new curricula andinstructional materials for AAS programs to prepare Precision Optics Technicians. This paper will detail OP-TEC’swork with particular emphases on its materials and services.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.