Abstract

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

© 2009 Optical Society of America