NEW YORK PHOTONICS AWARDS $6,000 GRANTS TO TWO AREA HIGH SCHOOLS

ROCHESTER, NY, June 2, 2016 – New York Photonics has awarded two $6,000 grants to schools in the Rochester region. The schools, Gates-Chili High School and Greece Olympia High School, both teach a dual-credit optics course with Monroe Community College’s Optical Systems Technologies program.

The grants will be used to support optics labs at the discretion of the optics and career education teachers at the schools.

Gates-Chili teacher Donna Smith plans to use the money to match a grant from the Corning Inc. Foundation to buy computers and lab equipment for her classroom. Smith began teaching optics in 2011 and participated for three years in the “Optics Summer Sizzler Camp” hosted at MCC.

IMG_8166
Donna Smith, Gates Chili Physics Teacher receives her award from Tom Battley, New York Photonics Executive Director

Greece Olympia High School will use its grant to write curricula and develop career pathways. According to Kathy Richardson, coordinator of college, career and student achievement, Greece Olympia now teaches two dual-credit MCC optics courses including Introduction to Optics.

Students from both schools are able to enter the MCC Optical Systems Technology Program with credits earned while in high school.

Tom Battley with Kathy Richardson, Coordinator, College, Career & Student Achievement, Greece Olympia High School
Tom Battley with Kathy Richardson, Coordinator, College, Career & Student Achievement, Greece Olympia High School

According to SPIE, the International Society for Photonics, the worldwide market for core optics and photonics components was $182 billion in 2014 and employed 863,000 people.. This core market underpins a variety of industries valued in total at $1.45 billion, serving consumer electronics and entertainment, defense and law enforcement, biophotonics and healthcare, among others.

“These two schools, led by these educators, were early adopters of dual-credit optics and photonics education with the MCC program,” said Tom Battley, executive director of New York Photonics. “They recognize the extraordinary career opportunities available in the optics, photonics and imaging industry. They get students excited about the science and help students and their families identify the career pathways.”

“The photonics cluster has offered similar grants in the past,” said Michael Naselaris, Director of Business & Corporate Development of Sydor Optics. “Jim Sydor, our CEO, is a graduate of the MCC program and wants to see the program continue to thrive.  Member companies in the Cluster make substantial investments in time and money to promote optics education in Rochester.”

Alexis Vogt, Associate Professor and Chair of Optics at MCC noted that Rochester is the birthplace of Optics in America.  There continue to be many job openings for Optics technicians both locally and nationally.  “We are looking for more students to pursue Optics here at MCC and Gates-Chili and Greece Olympia are integral in helping drive enrollment to create more opportunities for students.”

Naselaris agrees.  “There is nation-wide demand for technicians with a two-year degree from MCC’s optics program, and parents can save quite a bit of money when their kids choose to do a 2+2 program with optics or photonics at MCC followed by the second two years at RIT or University of Rochester.”

Battley credited Naselaris with leading fundraising efforts throughout the year that enable New York Photonics to make charitable grants to promote workforce education in this promising industry, identified by New York state as a key pillar of upstate revitalization.

About the RRPC

The Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster (RRPC) is a not-for-profit organization founded to promote and enhance the New York State Optics, Photonics and Imaging industry by fostering the cooperation of business, academia and government.

# # #

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact New York Photonics Executive Director Tom Battley at (585) 329-4029 or email at tbattley@newyorkphotonics.org.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Event Calendar

Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
25
26
27
29
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
Light Tomorrow with Today
On June 28th, 2018, the inaugural cohort of Luminate will participate in an exciting Demo Day event in the Big Tent of the Xerox Rochester [...]
Optics and Ceramics Open House
07/18/2018    
1:00 pm - 8:00 pm
OptiPro's 5th annual Optics and Ceramics Open House gives you the opportunity to experience cutting-edge technology for manufacturing and measuring precision optics and advanced ceramics. Tour our [...]
WNY Optics Golf Tournament
Universal Photonics is pleased to present the... 18th Annual WNY Optics Golf Tournament Thursday, July 19th, 2018 at Eagle Vale, Shadow Lake, Greystone Golf Courses The primary [...]
Events on 06/28/2018
Light Tomorrow with Today
28 Jun 18
Rochester
Events on 07/10/2018
Cluster Networking
10 Jul 18
Rochester
Events on 07/18/2018
Optics and Ceramics Open House
18 Jul 18
Ontario
Events on 07/19/2018
WNY Optics Golf Tournament
19 Jul 18
Fairport

Event Details & Registration

View Events

About Us

New York Photonics is a not-for-profit organization founded to promote and enhance the New York State optics, photonics and imaging industry by fostering the cooperation of business, academia and government.

Archives

Past Newsletters