June 1 – June 12, 2015 The Institute of Optics will offer its 54th annual Summer School short-course series next month. This year’s offering will be a mix of a one-week course and two-and-a-half-day courses. RRPA Grants Available Full scholarships for our Summer School courses are available through a grant from the US Employee and...Continue Reading

A Future Beyond Film, Transformation in the Digital Age A lot of rehashing this old story, but with a few updates.  We have more jobs in Rochester now than when Kodak was at full employment. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/bcvideo/1.0/iframe/embed.html?videoId=100000003538108 Read More Read Even More…Continue Reading

Feb. 6, 2015 — Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) and Exelis, Inc. (NYSE:XLS) today announced a definitive agreement under which Harris will acquire Exelis in a cash and stock transaction valued at $23.75 per share, or an approximately $4.75 billion enterprise value. The agreement has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. The...Continue Reading

As the economy continues to recover, economists are seeing stark differences between people with high school and college degrees. Four-year college graduates are nearly twice as likely to have a job compared to Americans who just graduated high school and stopped there. But economists say that doesn’t mean everybody needs a four-year degree. In fact,...Continue Reading

It’s tough to get higher tech than the OptiPro Pro 80 GTS. About the size of a phone booth, with a separate arm holding a control panel covered in buttons, dials and a touchscreen, the machine turns discs of glass into specialized, very precise, very expensive optics. One of those computer-controlled grinders — along with...Continue Reading

Slaughter Has Spearheaded Effort to Secure Transformational Federal Investment Since 2012 Optics and Photonics Support 17,000 Jobs in the Rochester Region ROCHESTER, NY – Today, New York’s Rochester-led consortium was named one of three finalists in the country to compete for a significant federal investment in the region’s signature photonics industry, an initiative that Congresswoman...Continue Reading

From the Rochester Business Journal at   http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=210763 The competition that will award more than $200 million to create a manufacturing institute focused on the photonics industry will be launched soon, and Rochester is a prime candidate, officials announced Friday. The Department of Defense will lead the competition designed to establish a photonics hub, Sen Charles...Continue Reading

The success of the Monroe Community College optics program is a stellar example of industry support and involvement, including cash and material donations and direct student support. While some companies just wring their hands and complain that colleges aren’t producing the workforce they need, the Rochester-area employers offer a shining example of how industry and...Continue Reading

The Rochester region may be one step closer to its future as a National Manufacturing Institute centering on optics and photonics with the passage of the $1.1 trillion federal budget over the weekend. Among the appropriations, $300 million has been designated under the Revitalize American Manufacturing Innovation Act (RAMI) to establish up to 15 centers for manufacturing...Continue Reading

$100 Million. This is the largest single federal investment in apprenticeship ever in the U.S. Its aim is to transform our workforce for the 21st century. Through this grant, the Department of Labor will expand apprenticeships from the traditional skilled trades to new high-tech, high-demand industries like healthcare, IT, advanced manufacturing, and others. These grants will help...Continue Reading