What Factors Affect Students to Enroll in AAS Technical Programs?

A report on a recent study commissioned by OP-TEC provides enlightenment on what is needed to help colleges recruit more students.

It is based on interviews with 70 "new students" at six colleges throughout the USA to determine what factors affected their decision to enroll in photonics  technician AAS degree programs  The results are revealing & somewhat unexpected, particularly the low influence of the high school counselor. I personally think that the implications go beyond photonics, to most all the technical areas served by ATE. The paper can be accessed and downloaded from the OP-TEC web site http://www.op-tec.org . If you don't have time to read the entire paper, just go to the charts of results; it may surprise you. Here are a few examples:

 

 

The World-Wide Laser Industry Has Recovered Quickly

Despite a 30% dip in 2009, the world-wide laser industry recovered over 27% in 2010, to $6.37 billion; it is expected to grow over 12% in 2011 to $7.1 billion, according to the LFW Annual Laser Market Report.

As shown in the chart, 2/3 of the market is in the Communications and Materials Processing industries.

Diode lasers amount for 51% of the market and non-diode lasers account for 49%. One of the largest growth areas is fiber lasers, experiencing a 41% growth in 2010 and an even greater rate in 2011.

The demand for new laser technicians continued to outstrip the supply by over 4:1. Colleges report that 2010 grads received multiple job offers again in 2010. Job prospects for this year also look very good.

Reference: Overton, Gail, Anderson, Stephen G, Belforte, David A., & Hausken, Tom (2011). Skies may be clearing, but fog still lingers. Laser Focus World, January 2011, 40-42. http://www.qmags.com/2FE1161B162147DB111616AC3513143E462FF14B817.htm

SCIENCE AND A SYMPHONY - Artistic Laser Light Show With an Orchestral Performance of “Oscillate”

Over 200 central Texas science teachers and other educators were invited guests at a March 20 multimedia concert by the Waco Symphony Orchestra. The event was one of many LaserFest celebrations being held this year throughout the country to commemorate the 50th year of the laser, which was invented in 1960. The purpose of the LaserFest celebrations is to call attention to the many ways that lasers have enhanced our daily lives—from laser printers and copiers to digital sound reproduction and fiber optics, to mention only a few of the applications that are now commonplace.
The WSO concert featured a new composition by Jon Barrett, a Baylor University graduate student. The composition, titled “Oscillate,” was performed in conjunction with a specially designed laser light show.
Barrett’s piece was a natural match for a laser light show. Barrett composed it as a musical reflection of what he called the “never-ending ballet of patterns, interconnected and interdependent with one another, large and small.” “Our cells are born from our parents’ cells,” he noted, “and through division give rise to more cells until finally dying. Our lungs respire through a pattern of inhalation and exhalation. Our heart pumps blood through our bodies, circulating oxygen to our cells. Electrical charges constantly course throughout our nervous systems, giving us control of our bodies and a sense of the world and, ultimately, the Cosmos.” “Oscillate,” which won Baylor’s 2009 Symphony Overture Competition, is also a study in the juxtaposition of opposites—loud and soft, high and low, light and dark, fast and slow, transparent and opaque textures, serious and comical tones, and art and popular musical styles.

The laser light show, which was custom-designed as a visual interpretation of Barrett’s music, was provided by Prismatic Magic, a nationally known laser light show company. Prismatic Magic’s president, Dr. Chris Volpe, is a physicist with a specialization in optics and lasers.

Prior to the concert, OP-TEC, Texas State Technical College, Baylor University, and the City of Waco jointly hosted the guest teachers at a reception in Baylor’s new science building.


Over 100 pictures of the laser light show, as well as a 10-minute audio-video recording of the performance, can be seen on the OP-TEC website, www.op-tec.org/lasershow.

OP-TEC Will Prepare You to Teach Optics, Lasers, and Photonics

Photonics is an “enabling technology.” This means that optics, lasers, fiber-optics, and other electro-optics devices may introduce new solutions, enhance devices, or improve the performance of processes in fields such as medicine, telecommunications, environmental monitoring, manufacturing/materials processing, defense/homeland security, alternative energy, lighting, displays, and many other areas where today’s students will be tomorrow’s workers. Beginning now and growing rapidly in the future, photonics will be as integral to technology as electronics has been for the past several decades.

If you are teaching science or technology in high school, are you introducing optics and photonics to your students and giving them the foundation they will need in this area? Or if you are a college faculty member in a technical field, are you providing the basics of photonics and its applications related to your field, so that your students will enhance their career opportunities and be prepared to grow in their jobs?

OP-TEC has two courses that secondary and postsecondary educators can use to provide the photonics foundations their students will need. If you’re interested, we can help you get started.

• Course 1: Fundamentals of Light and Lasers
• Course 2: Elements of Photonics

The courses cover topics in basic light sources and optics, laser principles and laser safety, fiber optics, holography, and laser applications. The courses can be tailored to cover applications in the particular field the student is studying.

The costs for putting in Course 1 may be a lot less than you think. We have an equipment list for colleges and are developing a lower-cost version for high schools. You may even be able to borrow some of the equipment from your physics labs.

For the last two years, OP-TEC has provided hybrid online courses to train high school teachers and college faculty about lasers and optics and how to teach these courses. This spring 22 educators enrolled in training for Course 1. Over a 12-week period, they have studied (with the help of an online moderator) all six modules, engaged in online discussions, worked the problems, and observed streaming videos of the labs, where they recorded data and performed calculations. This month, the completers will travel to a ”photonics college” for three days, where they will work all of the labs, meet with experienced faculty members, and gain information about equipping and setting up a photonics lab. OP-TEC will provide the faculty training course without charge to qualified teachers. Their only costs will be their travel expenses to the “photonics college.”

As a faculty member who had completed OP-TEC's "Faculty Development" course last year for Fundamentals of Light & Lasers, Course 1, I can report that I am delighted with the support of OP-TEC's staff and their college partners! I am working to build our photonics/laser program at my campus. We are adopting the OP-TEC materials for our college and this will be the first semester that we will be using the OP-TEC Course 1 textbook. OP-TEC has been very helpful with helping me develop my course locally. I strongly recommend other faculty who wish to add photonics to their colleges & universities to consider taking the OP-TEC Faculty Development course!” Tom Millen, Assistant Professor, Electronics & Computer Technology, Ivy Tech Community College

OP-TEC will offer both courses in c/y 09-10. So if you are interested, please contact us and let us help you help your students become qualified for the jobs of tomorrow in the emerging field of photonics.

The Photonics College Network

Last week I wrote about the rewarding career opportunities for photonics techs that are educated/trained at two year colleges. I also mentioned that there are over 25 community and technical colleges in the U.S. that prepare students for these careers. Most of these colleges have hard-working, competent faculty and excellent facilities. Some have new photonics offerings, some have been in operation for over 30 years - and some are struggling to overcome obstacles, such as low enrollment, retiring faculty or curricula that needs a “new look”. Overall, these colleges currently have about 700 photonics students and 280 completers each year. (Recall that our recent study revealed that U.S. employers need about 2100 new photonic techs this year.)
OP-TEC is working hard to close the gap between supply and demand. We are working with over 200 colleges that are considering or planning new programs in photonics; but new programs take time to develop - this is our long-term strategy. Our short term strategy is to help some of the 30 colleges with existing photonics programs to revitalize and grow. We believe, that with some assistance, the existing programs could significantly increase their output of completers in 2-3 years. (We’ve seen that happen in the last 3 years with our 7 Partner Colleges.) Some of that assistance will come from OP-TEC, but much of the help they need is what they can provide for each other by networking and sharing best practices. To facilitate this OP-TEC is forming the OP-TEC Photonics College Network (OPCN).

Membership in OPCN is available for faculty and administrators of two-year colleges that offer courses/programs in optic and photonics. There is no fee to join, but members will benefit - and be a benefit to others, if they are active, in terms of communication, information-sharing and participation in electronic and/or on-site meetings.

Potential benefits include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Opportunities to network with photonics faculty and administrators of approximately twenty-five U.S. colleges currently or recently offering photonics education.
2. Access to OPCN e-mail distribution list, member roster, web forum and other networking tools to collaborate and exchange ideas and best practices.
3. OP-TEC curriculum designs, teaching modules, planning guides and monographs of best practices in photonics education.
4. Professional development opportunities and technical assistance through OP-TEC to update, enhance and strengthen photonics programs.
5. Support and information on how to increase program enrollment.
6. Identification of state-wide photonics employers and access to needs assessment survey process.
7. News updates on emerging trends in photonics applications and educational innovations.
8. Eligible for OP-TEC Mini-Grants for program improvement.
9. Information about other potential grant opportunities such as NSF/ATE, DOE and DOL grants.
10. Opportunities for OP-TEC fellowships to attend conferences or workshops.
11. Information on lab equipment availability, used equipment donations or auctions and possible exchange program.
12. Use of and training on OP-TEC’s hybrid, online course for high school dual credit and for retraining employed technicians.

The inaugural meeting of OPCN will take place July 19-20, in Phoenix, during the pre-conference of the HI-TEC conference. A limited number of Fellowships to attend HI-TEC are available to OPCN members through OP-TEC. To learn more about the HI-TEC conference, visit http://www.highimpact-tec.org/.

The Photonics Colleges represent an enormously important national resource. They are a critical link in providing the competent workforce that U.S. employers will need to remain globally competitive in this emerging technical field.

For more information about OPCN or to request a membership application, please contact Donna Flanery at dflanery@op-tec.org or call 254-741-8338 x394.

Technician Career Opportunities in Energy

One of the hot topics in the news these days is JOBS. People are losing jobs because the demand for their services has been reduced. In some cases, people are losing jobs because the field they are in is becoming obsolete, or is changing so rapidly that their knowledge, skills and experience are obsolete. In other cases these people are working to deliver products and services that are not globally competitive - thus, sales are down and employers are having to create their products and services with less labor, or by out sourcing the work offshore to remain competitive and survive.

In most fields, technicians remain in high demand; but in certain cases we’ve seen that situation change overnight - and the casualties emerge. As technical educators, we would be well-advised to re-examine our curricula and look for ways to assure that our tech grads continue to have core knowledge and skills that will sustain them throughout a career of 40+ years.

One promising area to examine is how the technician’s work relates to energy - now and in the future. Energy is the other hot topic that is being discussed today. But the supply, availability and efficient consumption of energy is not a temporary issue. It is one that we will all have to deal with constantly for the next several generations.

So how should we organize our examination of energy related topics to identify elements that should be included in our curriculum? Here’s my suggestion.

There are four aspects of the energy issue that are being addressed. I recommend that we all examine the curriculum in the various areas of technical education, using these energy aspects as organizers to study their impact on our particular field, and project, with the help of employer advice, the changes in core knowledge and skills that will be necessary to sustain employability.

Energy Sources

• Conventional: fossil fuels and hydroelectricity - How will these be used more effectively in the future? What changes will be made to improve the conversion efficiency and reduce harmful combustion emissions? Will these changes require new equipment, new control systems or different chemicals to control the combustion process?
• Alternative energy sources: especially solar, wind and geothermal - At OP-TEC, we are looking at the use of optics and lasers to improve the efficiency of solar voltaics, like holographic planar windows on collectors, and the use of femtosecond lasers to treat silicon so that it can convert more infrared wavelengths into useful electric energy.

Energy Storage

• Larger and more effective energy storage devices will be needed to temporally redistribute energy collected from solar electric and wind generators. Last week’s blog dealt with the critical need for new battery technologies, and the possible implications it may have on technician education.
• Improvements in the storage and retrieval of geothermal energy are also likely.

Energy Availability (distribution)

New solar electric parks, wind farms and nuclear plants will likely be located in remote sites that are far away from populated areas where the generated energy will be used. This condition will require the design, construction and maintenance of massive new electrical transmission systems. What technologies will these new transmission systems require? Will they be overhead, or underground? Will new metering, relaying, switching and transformer equipment be used? Will there be a need for large AC-to-DC convertors?

Energy Consumption

The cheapest, fastest and easiest sources of energy are those that we save through energy conservation. This means getting by with less and doing more with less - sometimes it can also mean doing better with less. Thirty years ago, when our nation faced an energy crisis, we demonstrated our resilience and patriotic spirit by engaging in unprecedented acts of energy conservation. Most of the accomplishments of that era were due to attitudes, thermostats, insulation and caulking.

Today, we will need to adopt and increase all of those strategies; but we will also develop and utilize new technologies for energy conservation, going even beyond heat pumps and electric cars. Control systems will be redesigned, processes will be improved, better materials will be used and information technology will continue to improve communications and eliminate unnecessary travel time and costs.

This is a brief look at a very important issue for technical educators. I hope it will stimulate you to think about it - and act upon it. I would welcome your comments and extensions to this line of thinking. For the last few years, OP-TEC has developed and tested effective strategies for infusing related technologies to update existing curricula/courses.

And if you want to get serious and collaborate on these topics, please plan to meet with me and Mike Lesiecki at the HI-TEC Conference in Phoenix, July 19-22. We will be leading two interactive sessions on these topics. Click here for more information on HI-TEC 2009!

Precision Optics Technicians: A Critical Need for Our Country

Precision Optics Technicians (POTs) create, test and handle optical (infrared, visible and ultraviolet) components that are used in lasers and sophisticated electro-optical systems for defense, homeland security, aerospace, biomedical equipment, digital displays, controlled thermonuclear fusion and nanotechnology. POT’s also integrate precision optical components into these electro-optical systems and maintain them.

There is a perceived shortage of POT’s that could require our country to outsource this work to foreign nations - a situation that would compromise our nation’s security and sacrifice a vital sector of future economic development.

Several factors have contributed to this shortage. Many experienced POT’s have retired, and more are expected to retire in the near future. The two community colleges that have offered education/training in precision optics have discontinued the programs due to faculty retirements and poor support. One of these colleges has committed to update and reinstate its POT program.

Under a supplemental grant from NSF, OP-TEC and the Photonics Industry Clusters are conducting studies and preparing to support the development of additional POT programs at community colleges.

• In January, 2009, OP-TEC will complete the National Skill Standards for POT’s - the employer’s specifications for new technicians in precision optics (and the basis for a new curriculum design.)


• OP-TEC is designing the new curriculum model for preparing POT’s.


• The Rochester Photonics Cluster is preparing a design and an equipment list for college labs to train POT’s.


• OP-TEC, through the University of North Texas, is conducting an employer needs assessment to determine the number of POT jobs that will need to be filled over the next five years.


• OP-TEC will host a meeting in Waco TX, February 19, 2009, for regional teams of colleges and employers that have an interest in initiating education and training for POT’s.

Hopefully, several teams will be identified and committed to begin planning POT education/training programs. OP-TEC will then move forward to secure funding to support them through their start-up process. We will also search for support to equip the laboratories.

We will be building a network of employers and educators for POT education/training. Are you interested in participating? Please contact Christine Dossey cdossey@cord.org at the OP-TEC office.

Math in Photonics Education: It all adds up.

Recently I’ve been talking about increasing the enrollment in photonics technology courses and programs. Last week we looked at successful strategies for “building the high school pipeline.” But once we’ve enrolled the students, how do we keep them? As I’ve looked at enrollment in photonics programs, I have frequently seen that the number of second-year students is less than half the number of first-year students. This indicates an attrition rate that is much too high.

Faculty at colleges tell me that most of their students love to work with lasers and optics - they’re not dropping out from lack of interest; they’re dropping out because they are struggling with the math.

A few years ago, Gary Beasley, lead instructor in lasers and photonics technology at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC), was losing over 60% of his students in the first semester - mostly because of the math. So, together we began working on that problem.

OP-TEC staff examined the math topics that were required in the first two photonics courses. We found the following eleven topics:

• Scientific notation
• Unit conversion
• Introductory algebra
• Powers and roots
• Ratio and proportion
• Exponents and logarithms
• Graphing in rectangular coordinates
• Geometry
• Angle measure in two and three dimensions
• Trigonometry
• Special graphs

Then we developed a math supplement titled Mathematics for Photonics Education. In it we included a chapter for each of the eleven topics. Each chapter has a 2–3 page review of the math concept, followed by several pages of example calculations for problems that students typically encounter in photonics courses. The remainder of the chapter consists of exercises for student practice. We also prepared a diagnostic test that Gary (or any photonics professor) could administer to students who were beginning their first courses. The book is not a math text - it is a supplement that every new photonics student can own and keep for reference throughout the duration of his or her work at the college.

The next time Gary taught the first photonics course, every student had a copy of this math supplement - and they all took the diagnostic test. Before he began to teach a new topic, Gary would advise the students that to be successful, they would need to be proficient in a particular math concept. He would then make an assignment from one of the chapters in the supplement. He also identified (from the diagnostic test) the students who were weak on that particular topic. Those students were given a short tutorial in Gary’s office. This “just in time” delivery of math concepts reduced the dropout rate in Gary’s classes from 60% to almost 0%. (One student had to leave for personal reasons.) Gary now uses the math supplement on a regular basis, as do many other instructors. Most are careful not to call it a “math text” or to teach a math course from it; the college math department would probably not be happy with this.

So what have we learned from this? We know that, although most photonics students are capable, many are not as strong as they should be in mathematics. But if we address that problem, we can help a lot of students become successful photonics technicians, we can keep enrollments high, and photonics employers will benefit from having access to a steady supply of well-prepared employees.

In the dual credit high school photonics course that we are currently pilot-testing, we have embedded the supplemental math units in the course to help refresh the skills of the high school students in using these concepts and also to provide a photonics context for how they are applied in the workplace.

The “High School Pipeline” - Building Enrollment in College Programs

Like most technician programs at public, two-year colleges, photonics technologies are suffering from low enrollments. And many of the students that enroll in photonics programs have to drop out in the first year because they struggle with the math.

The graduates of these programs are all getting multiple job offers and very good salaries - but we don’t have enough grads because we don’t have enough well-prepared students. To solve this problem, we have to “get to the source” of most of our students - the high school graduates.

Most of the students who enroll - and are successful - in photonics technology were recent high school graduates who were in the middle 60% of the achievers. They are capable students that are frequently underperforming, for several reasons:

• Most of them are “hands-on” learners (or contextual learners.) They usually do not achieve high grades in science and math classes when the coursework is taught in the typical, abstract mode. They ask questions like, “Why do I have to learn this?”


• Many of them are not very interested in school because they couldn’t understand how what they were being asked to learn would ever be useful to them. They may not have “physically” dropped out of school, but they dropped out, “mentally”.


• They lack confidence as a student; they don’t think they are “college material.”

Colleges are learning that they can recruit these students in exciting STEM technologies like photonics, and they can help high schools to get them prepared, if they intervene when the students are in the early years of high school. The secret is to engage them in STEM “Career Pathways” that begin in the 9th or 10th grade and continue into college.

How can colleges help? Here are some strategies that have proven successful by some of OP-TEC’s Partner Colleges that teach photonics:

1. Engage a young recruiter (someone in their 20’s) to frequently visit the high school campuses and talk to the students about photonics - but don’t call it photonics; call it “Lasers”. The recruiters don’t have to be old engineers or technology experts; some of the best recruiters have marketing backgrounds. You can teach them all they need to know about the field in a short time. Some of them are young mothers who want to work part time. Our colleges have all found that the “return on investment” is quite high.


2. Work with local high schools to offer “Dual Credit” courses in photonics (or lasers) to high school juniors and seniors. Usually these courses are offered as technology courses, not science courses. OP-TEC is pilot testing an introductory photonics course for dual credit (secondary/post secondary). It is being delivered as a hybrid, online course. For one period each day, the students go to a computer lab in the high school and take the online portion of the course. There is a math/science or technology teacher also available in the lab to assist in the math and problem-solving aspects. Every two weeks, the students travel to the college and spend an afternoon in the laser labs. When they complete the course, the students receive high school credit for a technology course - and college credit for a course that counts towards an associate degree in photonics.

So why are these two strategies helping to build college enrollments? First, the recruitment strategy helps them discover a rewarding career field that’s interesting; and shows them an educational pathway that will allow them to begin the process early in high school. Second, the dual credit course allows them to start taking courses that they may use in their career, and it gives them some college credits while they are still in high school - that’s worth some $$.

But it does several other things as well. It assures that their math skills are developed to a level that they can be successful in college. It also places them in the environment of a college campus, and helps them understand that they can do college work. That’s a huge confidence builder for many “middle 60%” students. And, these students are our future technicians.

In the next few weeks I plan to talk about another long-term strategy for recruiting high school graduates. This strategy includes the use of “summer workshops” for both high school teachers and students. This strategy also works well, but takes time.

What other strategies are you using to build up your enrollment? Do you want more information about OP-TEC’s initiatives with student recruiters or dual enrollment courses? Contact us or share your feedback here!

Rebuilding the Electronics Core Curriculum with High-Tech Specialties like Photonics

Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) programs in most colleges are seeing declines in their enrollments, causing many programs to close. One reason for this decline is that students perceive electronics as a dead-end career path that does not have the high-tech appeal of other emerging technical fields. These closures are having a serious ripple effect that could negatively impact other two-year college technical programs.

In the last several years, three OP-TEC Partner Colleges (Indian River State College, Central Carolina CC and Indian Hills CC) have redesigned their electronics core to incorporate photonics and other high-visibility, emerging technologies such as robotics, biomedical equipment, homeland security and telecommunications. Because of these changes, along with focused, aggressive high school recruiting strategies, these colleges have all experienced significant growth in enrollment. One of the colleges has moved from a low enrollment that placed the program at risk, to enrollments that are exceeding their capacities.

A paper has recently been prepared that describes the process, the curriculum models at the three OP-TEC Partner Colleges and the results. A complimentary copy of this paper is available by e-mail or by download from our website. I encourage you to review this paper and post any comments or questions.

Click here to request a copy of the paper by e-mail!

Click here to view, save and/or print a copy of the paper (PDF file) on the OP-TEC website!

To access this paper from the main OP-TEC website page, http://www.op-tec.org/, simply click on the "Curriculum Materials" link and then select the paper title, Revitalizing Electronics Engineering Technology Programs Through a Core Curriculcum Structure and Emerging Technologies, from the "OP-TEC Photonics Program Planning Materials" list.

Lasers, Optics or Photonics: What should we call it?

It’s amazing (and at times, perplexing) how we can form strong feelings about things that are somewhat subjective. A good example is the title we give to technical education programs that deal with optics, electro-optics and lasers. At OP-TEC, we choose to call them “photonics”. But is there a clear distinction in these names, and should we choose one title or another, depending on the course content or students that we are teaching?

• Optics is a branch of physical science that emerged over a hundred years ago to support astronomy and the studies of color. It deals primarily with light sources and the manipulation of light rays (or beams) by lenses, prisms and mirrors. It helps us understand instruments like telescopes, microscopes and spectrometers.
• Electro-optics emerged slightly before the middle of the last century. It deals with the interaction between electronics and optical radiation. Its early applications were with light sensors that converted light to electrical signals. Later, it also dealt with devices that convert electrical power to light.
• The development of quantum optics led to the discovery of the laser in 1960. Over the next 20 years, developments in lasers, fiber-optics and light-emitting diodes led us to the term photonics. The name photonics really took hold in the 1980s as laser & fiber-optics applications expanded widely in telecommunications.
• In a very precise way, the term photonics connotes:
  - the particle properties of light,
  - the potential of creating signal processing technologies using photons, and
  - an optical analogy to electronics.

But in recent years (since the turn of the century), photonics has become the high tech term that encompasses optics, electro-optics, fiber-optics, lasers and solid-state lighting. Thus, it is our practice to use the term photonics to refer to all technical education programs that incorporate these fields. There are two exceptions:

• The fabrication, testing and handling of precision optics is referred to as precision optics technology.
• High school technology courses that are designed to provide the fundamentals of photonics should be referred to as Lasers Systems, in order to have the high tech aura that will attract young people to study this field. If photonics is added as a topic in physics or another lab science course, the topic should be named photonics.

How do you feel about this? What is your experience? Please write a response to this controversial topic.

What’s our capacity for producing photonics techs? What's the need?

This past summer, we attempted to locate all of the two-year colleges that offered education and training on photonics, lasers and/or optics. We examined compilations from a variety of sources, scanned the Internet and asked other colleges. We identified 28 colleges and attempted to contact them. The 26 colleges we reached are:

Camden County College, Central NM CC, Central Carolina CC, Heald College, Idaho State Univ (2 yr) Indian Hills CC, Indian River SC, Indiana Univ/Penn (2yr), Irvine Valley/CACT, Kauai CC, Linn St CC, Maui CC, Monroe CC, Queensborough CC, Pima CC, San Jose CC, Springfield TCC, Stevens Inst of Tech, Three Rivers CC, Univ No Cal (2 yr), Valencia CC, Vincennes Univ (2 yr), Texas State TC, Tri-County TC, Wallace CC, Wash St Univ (2 yr)

Twenty-four of these colleges provided us information on current enrollment and recent completers. Some of the colleges offered complete AAS programs in Laser/Electro-Optics or Photonics; others offered some photonics courses in their electronics core, or as elective courses in other technical specialties; and others offered courses for retraining or upgrading. In total, the 24 colleges had about 700 students enrolled and estimated about 280 completers each year. This is not enough! In 2003, we conducted a needs assessment of employers to determine how many new photonics techs they needed each year. The projected need through 2008 is about 1800 new techs/year. Only 280 new techs available when 1800 are needed is quite a gap! One of OP-TEC’s main goals is to close that gap.

Here’s how we are working on this goal:

• About 1/3 of the techs (500-600 teach year) are needed in R&D, for OEMs or in field service - they require a full AAS in laser/electro-optics or photonics.
• About 2/3 of the techs (1000-1200) are needed to operate and maintain photonics equipment that is being used in another field where photonics is an enabling technology.
• About 1/3 of the techs are already working and need retraining in photonics.

OP-TEC has a developed a plan and curriculum for colleges to serve each of these populations. We will also conduct a new needs assessment later this year to update the data from the 2003 study. It’s possible that our information about colleges that offer photonics education and training is incomplete. If your college has offerings, and you are not in the list shown above, please contact us so that we can add your data to our records.