The University of Colorado at Boulder has received a $2.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund an innovative, interdisciplinary graduate training program in optical science and engineering.
The funds will be used to support training of doctoral and master's degree candidates in optics through a collaboration among JILA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder departments of chemistry and biochemistry, electrical and computer engineering and physics, said Stephen ONeil, deputy director of the optical science and engineering program.
JILA is a joint research institute of ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä and NIST.
¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder was one of 16 NSF grant winners in the optical science and engineering competition selected from more than 600 grant applications submitted to NSF's program for Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training.
Optics-based companies in the United States, including a number in Boulder County, will play a prominent role as hosts for interns in the program and through their participation in the program's Industrial Advisory Board, said Carol Lynch, associate vice chancellor for research and dean of the Graduate School.
"Such a broad coalition is a natural fit for optics because the field spans multiple disciplines in science and engineering and because its diverse components figure prominently in both basic research and industrial applications," said ONeil, director of ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder's Office of Technology Transfer and Industry Outreach.
The program's research component is clustered into three areas: optical control and manipulation of fundamental systems; optical metrology, or measurement; and optical processing of information. "These are areas in which ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder's participating academic departments and affiliated institutes have special strengths," he said.
To prepare doctoral students for a variety of careers in industrial and academic environments in optics, training will address the presently unmet need for graduates with advanced degrees who possess various skills known as the "Employable Quintet," said Lynch.
The quintet consists of in-depth technical knowledge, problem-solving ability in a laboratory setting, flexibility in learning and working, an ability to work in teams and clarity in oral and written communication, she said.
Features of the program designed to emphasize the quintet include two or three team-based laboratory rotations in which graduate students will undertake research projects outside their home departments.
The program also features three-month industrial internships through which students will gain first-hand experience in how research is applied in a competitive corporate environment. The program also consists of mini-courses in electronics, machine design, technical writing, public speaking and ethics in research.
The program is seeking experts from local companies to help deliver a one-semester course titled "Business Basics for Graduate Students in Science and Engineering," said Lynch. The first class of students in the Optical Science and Engineering Program, known as OSEP, began studies at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä-Boulder this fall. After two years of study, OSEP students will select a doctoral adviser and thesis project to pursue for the remaining three years of study.
A portion of the funds will support a few students in an experimental Professional Master's Degree program that will include all aspects of the doctoral program except the doctoral dissertation project.
"This is the kind of interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, industry-coupled graduate training that we need to be doing to serve the interests of our students, our local and national industrial partners, and the University of Colorado," said Lynch. "It reflects the strong tradition of interdisciplinary research and education on this campus and is an outstanding example of the Total Learning Environment applied at the graduate level."