NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing laser technologies in the Rochester region (NY, PA)

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This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on establishing a technical community centered on lasers and their importance in modern society. The uses of lasers go well beyond what is depicted in popular culture; lasers can be smaller than a grain of salt or as large as a football field. They are used in internet data centers, manufacturing, medicine, advanced imaging systems, and basic research. Despite their importance, lasers are increasingly designed, manufactured, and packaged outside the US. Rochester and the Upstate NY region has been a center of excellence in optics, imaging, photonics, and laser technologies for many decades. Rochester's educational institutions, regional optics industry, and emerging community in photonics and quantum science combine to make it the right place for a regional innovation engine. Despite this potential, Rochester remains a region in need of economic revitalization, with deep needs for education and access to technical jobs. An innovation engine built on advancing laser technologies in the Rochester region will provide the seed money and the tools to establish something very special in the region by combining the highest quality research with the broadest accessibility to education and training. Regional partners include area employers such as Corning, L3Harris, Optimax, and Toptica, academic institutions such as the University of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Monroe Community College, economic organizations such as Empire State Development, Greater Rochester Enterprise and Nextcorps, and manufacturing institutes such as AIM Photonics. Combined with partner organizations nearby and across the country, the project will build an unparalleled technical and economic community to benefit every part of our region. To foster both use-inspired research and development, access to US-developed technology, entrepreneurship, and workforce development, this project will identify and fill gaps in laser education, laser technology, and in accessibility for individuals and for new companies. It will enhance opportunities for a community college-based technical education in laser technologies, build laser-specific degree programs into engineering education, establish specialized laser facilities for startup companies, and define projects aimed at combining the best of photonics, laser science, and optical engineering to solve some of the grand challenges in both laser technology and in the regional economy. The development award will help prepare for a regional innovation engine through community events, facilities, curriculum, and economic analysis to mount a compelling case for investment in a laser ecosystem centered in Rochester and Upstate NY.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.