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08 December 2010
The Optical Society Announces a New Organization Serving Students and Business Professionals
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
The Optical Society Announces a New Organization Serving Students and Business Professionals
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8—The Optical Society (OSA) announced today a new regional organization that brings together students and those working in the commercial sector to build professional relationships and share information. This new model blends aspects of OSA Student Chapters and OSA Local Sections. The first of these business and academic groups has been created in conjunction with Springfield Technical Community College in Massachusetts and Three Rivers Community College in Connecticut, with their first event taking place Dec. 9.
This new group aims to create opportunities for technical students and local optics and photonics professionals to discuss their research, network, and learn more about the work of technical organizations. Uniting members that would ordinarily be separated into OSA Student Chapters and OSA Local Sections, the Technology-Focused Chapters will meet in person throughout the year and stay in contact through newsletters and social networks. Meeting agendas will allow students and faculty to discuss their interests with industry contacts, give industry professionals a platform to talk about their areas of focus and showcase OSA guest speakers presenting information about their research or OSA initiatives.
"The new model will encourage opportunities for students in the field to learn from professionals that have found find practical applications for optics research and for organizations to raise awareness about prospects within their companies," said Kathryn Amatrudo, OSA's deputy senior director of Membership and Education. "OSA is proud to help establish the first program of this kind and looks forward to supporting the efforts of these chapters in the future."
The first meeting of the new OSA Technology-Focused Chapter will take place at Central CT State University's School of Engineering and Technology on Dec. 9 and will feature OSA Fellow Chandra Roychoudhuri speaking about the nature of light. For more information about participating, please email chaptersandsections@osa.org.
About OSA
Uniting more than 106,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
About Three Rivers Community College
Three Rivers Community College (TRCC), located in Norwich, CT, is Connecticut's premiere technical community college with twelve associate degrees in technology and engineering technology, six of them accredited by TAC/ABET. The Laser and Fiber Optic Technology A.S. degree program is the only one of its kind in the state. Program graduates have been hired by the optics/photonics industry of southern New England as well as companies across the U.S. In 2009, TRCC moved into a new consolidated campus that includes a science and technology wing featuring a state of the art classroom and three laboratories dedicated to optics, lasers and fiber optics.
About Springfield Technical Community College
Located on 35 acres of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site and founded in 1967, Springfield Technical Community College is a major resource for the economic vitality of Western Massachusetts. As the only technical community college in Massachusetts, STCC offers a variety of career programs unequalled in the state. STCC's Laser Electro-Optics Technology program (LEOT), the only one of its kind in the state, has provided students with a solid working knowledge in a broad range of photonics areas including laser systems, electronics, optics, electro-optics, and fiber optics since 1976. Graduates of the program work in a wide variety of industries, both locally and nationally, including fiber optics and telecommunications, advanced manufacturing, medical, defense, homeland security, alternative energy, aerospace, research and more.
