Photonics Media spoke with Chrys Panayiotou, executive director of LASER-TEC. Headquartered at Indian River State College in Florida, LASER-TEC is the Center for Laser and Fiber Optics Education, founded in 2013 by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It was established to help meet the goals of educating and sourcing domestic talent in the areas of optics and photonics. As a service to students, recent graduates, and prospective employers, Photonics Spectra will run individual profiles of the 36 LASER-TEC colleges throughout 2020.
The mission of LASER-TEC has been to “develop a sustainable pipeline of qualified laser and fiber optics technicians to meet the industry demand across the nation.” To meet our mission, we reach out to U.S. colleges and encourage and support them as they create photonics programs. We also reach out to K-12 schools to build a pipeline of students who will enter the college programs mentioned earlier.
You can read the interview here: https://www.photonics.com/Articles/3_Questions_with_Chrys_Panayiotou/p5/vo180/i1186/a65286