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

该区域创新引擎发展奖致力于建立一个以激光及其在现代社会中的重要性为中心的技术社区。激光的用途远远超出了流行文化中的描述；激光可以比一粒盐还小，也可以像足球场那么大。它们被用于互联网数据中心、制造业、医学、先进成像系统和基础研究。尽管激光很重要，但越来越多的激光在美国以外的地方设计、制造和包装。几十年来，罗切斯特和纽约州北部地区一直是光学、成像、光子学和激光技术的卓越中心。罗切斯特的教育机构、区域光学产业以及新兴的光子学和量子科学社区相结合，使其成为区域创新引擎的合适地点。尽管有这样的潜力，罗切斯特仍然是一个需要经济振兴的地区，对教育和获得技术工作的需求很大。建立在罗切斯特地区先进激光技术基础上的创新引擎将提供种子资金和工具，通过将最高质量的研究与最广泛的教育和培训机会相结合，在该地区建立非常特殊的东西。区域合作伙伴包括康宁、L3Harris、Optimax和TOPTICA等地区雇主，罗切斯特大学、罗切斯特理工学院和门罗社区学院等学术机构，帝国开发、大罗切斯特企业和Nextcorps等经济组织，以及AIM Photonics等制造机构。与附近和全国各地的合作伙伴组织相结合，该项目将建立一个无与伦比的技术和经济共同体，造福于我们地区的每一个地方。为了促进以使用为灵感的研究和开发、获得美国开发的技术、创业精神和劳动力发展，该项目将确定和填补激光教育、激光技术以及个人和新公司可获得性方面的空白。它将增加以社区大学为基础的激光技术教育的机会，将激光专业学位课程纳入工程教育，为初创公司建立专门的激光设施，并确定旨在结合光子学、激光科学和光学工程的项目，以解决激光技术和区域经济中的一些重大挑战。发展奖将通过社区活动、设施、课程和经济分析，帮助为区域创新引擎做准备，为投资以罗切斯特和纽约州北部为中心的激光生态系统提供令人信服的理由。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.