NSF Grant Will Allow Technical Colleges, Clemson to
Develop Courses in Support of Photonics Technician Education

CONTACT: DR. JIM WOOD, EXT. 1421

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/26/2003
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- A $198,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to the SC Upstate Photonics (SCUP) Center will enable Tri-County, Greenville and Spartanburg technical colleges and Clemson University to develop selected courses in support of photonics technician education.

Called the Educational Alliance, this unique collaborative effort between the three Upstate technical colleges and the research university began last December and is the only partnership in the Southeast that partners a research university with a coalition of technical colleges for workforce development, said Dr. Jim Wood, Photonics Project Director at Tri-County and the Principle Investigator for the grant.

Photonics, the technology behind the fiber-optic cable that makes the Internet work, is the world's next multi-trillion dollar industry, according to the United States National Research Council. Photonics also produces the optical materials used in compact discs and DVDs.

The two-year NSF grant will help the SCUP Center to begin three major initiatives in developing photonics courses and the awareness in photonics.

"This grant will allow the technical colleges to develop faculty in delivering photonics courses and will give the colleges the ability to produce technicians with the knowledge of photonics," said Dr. Wood. "This project fits in with Clemson's efforts to attract photonic industries."

Clemson University announced earlier this year that a $600,000 grant from the NSF Partnerships for Innovation program will pave the way for an extended regional partnership that will create the innovation infrastructure needed to commercialize the photonics research conducted at Clemson's Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET).

The two-year NSF grant to the SCUP Center will pay for additional curriculum, distance learning and development of a remote/classroom, said Dr. Wood, who authored the grant. Courses will blend into already existing electronics and telecommunications curricula.

Joe Santaniello, program coordinator of Electronics Engineering Technology at Spartanburg Technical College, will be the Co-Principle Investigator responsible for the web-based course development. Santaniello and faculty members from the other two colleges will be adapting two courses, Introduction to Photonics and Introduction to Fiber Optics, for online delivery. These courses will allow students from any of the technical colleges to take the courses.

Bill Burns, Electronics instructor at Greenville Technical College, will be the Co-Principle Investigator responsible for the high school awareness component. In the first year of the grant, Burns and faculty from the other colleges will offer a summer camp to students in the three colleges' service area. This one-week camp will be open to 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students.

Ron Talley, Electronics Engineering Technology department head at Tri-County, will be the Co-Principle Investigator for the remote laboratories. "In the past when we have offered online courses, students have had to perform lab simulations or come to campus once a week. With remote labs, the students will be able to conduct the measures and collect data from a remote site using a computer," Dr. Wood said. Labs could be located at the Clemson research site but run from any one of the technical colleges.

Dr. John Ballato, director of COMSET at Clemson University, will be Co-Principle Investigator to aid in curriculum development and oversight of the project.

"This project brings us to a new level of collaboration within the technical college system and with Clemson University," said Dr. Wood. "It's a unique partnership, and we all gain from it."
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