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New Mexico Alliance of Optics & Photonics Education |
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The Education Ladder: This Albuquerque model is an "optics and photonics education ladder"Click on the schools and colleges below to visit their websites and learn more about their participation (no links for middle or elementary schools). 
The educational plan begins at the middle school level where interest is generated in light and optics with stimulating hands-on exercises and programs incorporated into existing science classes. Through an NSF grant, UNM graduate students with the GK-12 program are placed in both the feeder elementary and middle schools to stimulate early excitement about the beauty and magic of light. The alliance brings together the young student excited about and prepared for a new career, companies and industries that need skilled technicians, and educational institutes that have the capability to train technicians or expand exciting new knowledge in the optical sciences. It's a chemistry that fosters expansion. The curriculum begins in the Photonics Academy at West Mesa High School. Here, students are introduced to careers in optics and photonics and provided internship opportunities at Sandia National Laboratories and other area businesses. Following graduation from high school, students can continue their education and earn an associate degree from TVI or pursue graduate study at UNM. The model empowers students to evaluate the full range of career pathways and to remain current in their field. |
Using lasers, researchers at Sandia create a motion detector 1,000 times more sensitive than any known. |
West Mesa High School students develope skills working with lasers and optics in the Photonics Academy. |
