SPIE – The International Society for Optical Engineering has received a $48,725 planning grant from the National Science Foundation to support a series of three workshops addressing informal science education in optics.
Participants in the workshops, sponsored jointly by SPIE and the Optical Society of America (OSA), are developing a long-range strategy to stimulate informal optics science education programs. Current SPIE and OSA education efforts generally reach formal classrooms serving ethnic and gender groups that traditionally make up the US science and upper-level technology workforce. Targeting the general public and underrepresented populations will raise awareness of optics and optical engineering career options with new audiences.
SPIE and OSA intend to develop a joint education blueprint for the 21st century to ensure maximum resources will be tapped to meet the nation's future optics science education needs.
