Planning Grant Full Proposal for a Midwest Photonics Regional Center

该项目支持在两年制大学建立ATE中西部地区光子学教育中心的规划过程，以满足行业对熟练光子学工人日益增长的需求。光子学是一种结合了光学和电子学(激光、光纤、电光等)的技术，是一个迅速发展的领域，为技术人员提供了非常有价值的工作机会，并为美国国内的经济增长提供了极好的机会。光子学也是一项使能技术，广泛应用于制造和材料加工、国防和国土安全、可再生能源、电信、诊断和治疗医学、环境监测、纳米技术和固态照明。计划项目是：1。组织一个由行业雇主和社区学院组成的中西部光子学集群。2.进行用人单位需求评估，确定中西部地区对光子学技术人员的需求。3.确定中西部大学需要的其他光子学专业教育中心。智力价值：这个项目的智力价值在于它专注于光子学、光子学使能技术以及影响我国安全、替代能源开发和中西部制造公司经济复苏的新兴和不断变化的光子学应用。充足的训练有素的光子学技术人员是至关重要的。在中西部成功建立培养足够的光子学技术人员的能力，确保了新技术人员的高薪就业，并使受雇的技术人员能够获得额外的教育和培训，以便在需求变化和经济扩张时保住他们的工作。更广泛的影响：拟议的区域中心的更广泛影响在于：1.通过协调努力并在中西部学院更新现有课程或为光子学技术员推出新的教育方案时向其提供援助，增加光子学招生的潜力；2.扩大光子学在制造业的应用；3.动员中西部大学培养受雇的技术员；4.在光子学领域建立通往大学的高中管道；5.分析学生表现和雇主对计划毕业生的满意度；6.分析各种方法和做法在技术员教育中的有效性。

This project supports a planning process for an ATE midwest regional center in photonics education at 2-year colleges in order to address the growing industry demand for skilled photonics workers. Photonics, the technology that incorporates optics and electronics (lasers, fiber-optics, electro-optics, etc.), is a rapidly expanding field that provides highly-rewarding jobs for technicians and excellent opportunities for economic growth within the United States. Photonics is also an enabling technology, with wide-scale applications in manufacturing and materials processing, defense and homeland security, renewable energy, telecommunications, diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, environmental monitoring, nanotechnology, and solid state lighting. The planning project is: 1. Organizing a Midwest Photonics Cluster of industry employers and community colleges. 2. Conducting an employer needs assessment to determine the demand for photonics technicians in the midwest. 3. Identifying other Photonics Specialty Education Centers needed by midwest colleges. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this project resides in its focus on photonics, photonics-enabled technologies and the emerging and changing photonics applications that impact our country's security, development of alternate energy, and the economic recovery of manufacturing companies in the midwest. An adequate supply of well-prepared photonics technicians is vital. Success in building the capacity for educating sufficient photonics technicians in the midwest ensures rewarding and high-paying employment for new technicians and enables employed technicians to obtain the additional education and training to keep their jobs as the requirements change and the economy expands. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of the proposed Regional Center lie in the: 1. Potential for photonics enrollment growth by coordinating efforts and providing assistance to midwest colleges as they update existing programs or initiate new educational offerings for photonics technicians; 2. Expansion of photonics applications in manufacturing; 3. Mobilization of midwest colleges to educate employed technicians; 4. Building the high school pipeline to college in photonics fields;5. Analysis of student performance and employer satisfaction with program graduates; 6. Analysis of the effectiveness of a variety of methods and practices in technician education.