CREOL Hosts High School Students from Around the World to Learn about Photonics
The hands-on program also introduces teenagers to the many STEM opportunities offered at UCF
“It basically keeps our world running.”
That’s the understanding 11th-grader Micah Terry now has about photonics – after spending a week at CREOL’s Laser and Photonics Summer Camp. The Orlando Science High School student learned how to solder, constructed a pinhole camera, built a homemade telescope, and brainstormed some ideas for his future.
“I’m definitely considering photonics as a career,” he says.
Terry was one of about 50 high school students from across Central Florida – and the world – who will return to their classrooms not only with a new understanding of the science of light, but also as advocates for Florida’s only bachelor’s degree in Photonic Science and Engineering.
“There are only six universities in the United States with this degree,” CREOL Undergraduate Associate Director Mike McKee says. “Because of that, students don’t know that this is a potential career that they could go into.”
This is the third year CREOL has hosted the camp, and the second year that organizers expanded the program into three one-week sessions to meet the demand. Each week, about 15 students collaborated in the teaching lab, helping each other assemble their projects in between talks by CREOL students and faculty members.
“It’s an opportunity for high school students to learn about the many important things that you can do with the science of light, whether it’s applications in imaging, or in measuring distances, such as LIDAR in cars, or fiber optic communications,” CREOL Dean David Hagan says.
Those connections aren’t always made in high school classrooms. CREOL senior Kiva McCracken kept that in mind as she planned the activities for the camp.
“There’s very few programs that teach photonics, and there’s basically no exposure on a pre-college level,” McCracken says.
Changing that reality promises to grow enrollment in the bachelor’s program as the awareness grows, but there are broader implications for the photonics industry. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that each year, there are more than 10,000 job openings for photonics engineers – 700 of which are in Florida. But only 80 to 100 students in the entire U.S. graduate with bachelor’s degrees in photonics engineering. UCF and CREOL proudly supply more than one third of those graduates.
“They’re high-paying jobs, and some of them are companies in the Central Florida area,” McKee says. “With CREOL, they’re going to be able to get home-grown people, versus going outside of the state and bringing them in, so we’re going to enable some of these companies to continue to grow and advance in photonics locally.”
Often, local growth is made possible by international talent. Chloe Phung attends high school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She was awarded a scholarship to make the trip to Orlando to learn about photonics.
“I had the chance to learn many things, to know more about optics and lenses, and lasers,” Phung says.
Orange County Public Schools teachers Bill Young and Jorge Vallin helped McCracken facilitate the lessons and activities. At the end of the camp, parents gathered to watch their students present what they learned. Campers explained the science behind printed circuit boards, LED lighting, lasers, and light diffraction. Parents were also given information about what classes their children might take to get on the right track for the bachelor’s degree program. There are multiple pathways, including earning credits at Valencia College that will ultimately transfer. One day of the camp was dedicated to a tour of Valencia’s Osceola Campus, which offers introductory courses in photonics.
“We have a really strong undergraduate program in optics and photonics at UCF, and not many people know about it,” Hagan says. “This is a chance for students to get familiar. It’s also just as important for them to get a broader view of science than they might get in high school.”
The camp follows an inaugural Teacher Ambassador Program at CREOL. Eight teachers from across Central Florida spent three days doing similar hands-on activities that they could bring back to their classrooms. Unlike normal professional development workshops, the sessions also empowered teachers to become representatives for the College – and in turn, introduce more high school students to what CREOL has to offer. The College has a suite of outreach and educational resources available here.
