• University of Central Florida

Waco, TX

• Meets the urgent need for optics and photonics technicians in the U.S. workforce.
• Strengthens education-employer-industry partnerships.
• Improves photonics instruction by rescuing declining photonics programs and starting new programs.
• Provides curriculum, tools, and technical assistance for colleges and high schools.
• Supplies technical assistance and professional development for educators, administrators, and incumbent workers.

OP-TEC Facilitates Student Success

OP-TEC impacts student success through curriculum, faculty development, and program improvement initiatives that include

• Employer-validated curriculum materials for high schools, 2-year colleges, and the retraining of adult workers.
• Mathematics for Photonics Technicians textbook.
• Math tutorial text supplements and videos.
• E-book development.
• Twelve-week online faculty development courses with 3-day laboratory capstone sessions.
• New Open Entry/Open Exit faculty development courses.
• Mentoring of college faculty and administrators.
• Fellowships for faculty to attend the High Impact Technology Education Conference.
• Photonics Information Workshops to assist educators in considering new programs.
• Five Program Planning Guides (PPG).
• High school PPG and lab manual with inexpensive lab equipment list.
• Mini-grants to new and developing photonics programs.
• Secondary and postsecondary career pathways and dual-credit courses.
• Comprehensive regional clusters that foster college and employer interaction and cooperation.
• Recruiting assistance.

OP-TEC Addresses Photonics Workforce Needs

OP-TEC’s recent employer study revealed a national demand for more than 2,100 new photonics technicians in 2009. In each succeeding year through 2014, U.S. employers will need 1,200 new photonics technicians. However, 2-year colleges are currently producing fewer than 250 graduates annually. Although almost 50% of photonics employers surveyed prefer to hire technicians with associate degrees, they are increasingly forced to hire underprepared or overqualified applicants and recruit on a national level to fill their need for technicians. To help meet the urgent workforce need, the center and its partners are growing new photonics programs and strengthening existing ones by creating secondary-to-postsecondary “pipelines” to increase the number and diversity of students who enter and complete associate degrees in photonics.

Through its interactions with colleges and employers, OP-TEC has concluded that regional and local capacity-building efforts are most effective. The center and its partner colleges are collaborating with existing regional photonics employer clusters and industry associations to develop 4 regional photonics clusters which will more effectively engage colleges with employers in their service areas. The benefits of these clusters include more internships and job opportunities for graduates, better placement rates, additional access to equipment, supplemental funding opportunities, and larger adjunct faculty pools for colleges. Benefits for employers include the opportunity to provide advice, adjunct faculty, and support for the 2-year colleges that prepare their workforces, provide customized incumbent worker training programs, create a larger pool of skilled applicants, and lower training expenditures.