Nicholas Massa received his BS and MS degrees from Western New England University, USA, and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Connecticut, USA. Currently, he is Professor and Department Chair of the Optics and Photonics Technology Department at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC).

In addition to his role at STCC, he has been the Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator on more than a dozen grant-funded projects to develop curriculum materials, write technician skill standards, and create novel pedagogies that have been disseminated through global conference workshops. He has educated nearly 600 technicians for the photonics industry and continues to grow and improve his program at STCC. He is the co-author of LIGHT-Introduction to Optics and Photonics, filling a need for textbooks at the technician level. More than 300 secondary and post-secondary educators have received training and assistance through his professional development workshops on photonics and student-centered technician education, impacting tens of thousands of students.

He has served on the OSA Membership, Education and Services Committee and has been the faculty advisor of the STCC OSA Student Chapter since its inception in 2011. He has received several awards for education including a Photonics Beacon Award for Education and the SPIE Maria Yzuel Award. In 2021, he received the Esther Hoffman Beller medal "for outstanding leadership in photonics technician education, including the development and dissemination of innovative educational materials." He is a Fellow of the Society.