A high-technology corridor is emerging in the southeastern USA, reaching from Research Triangle Park, NC, to Orlando, FL. At its heart is Charlotte, NC, which recently became a global center for banking and finance and is now gearing up for the optics revolution. On Sept.18 and 19, 2000, optics professionals from throughout the region will converge on the Charlotte Convention Center for the OPTO-Southeast Conference. This conference, jointly sponsored by SPIE, the Optical Society of America (OSA; Washington DC), and the local Charlotte OSA Chapter and OSA national, will offer technical presentations, short courses, and exhibits. Also, power-utility Duke Energy (Charlotte, NC) will sponsor a keynote talk by Harvard's Nobel Laureate in Physics, Nicolaas Bloembergen, on the evening of Sept 18 that is open to the public.
Charlotte has been invigorated with recent explosive growth in fiberoptics manufacturing, which is converging around one of the heaviest sectors of fiberoptic use: banking and finance. Nearby Spartanburg, SC, has one of the main facilities for Alcoa Fujikura Ltd (AFL), which has had 16 years of rapid growth in passive fiberoptic-product markets. Corning Inc. recently completed construction of its advanced fiber-manufacturing facility in Concord, NC, just outside Charlotte, and also has announced significant expansion of the Concord, Hickory, and Wilmington, NC, facilities. Other companies with fiberoptic operations in the Carolinas include Alcatel and Sumitomo Electric.
For more information, visit www.spie.org/info/se, or contact Bonnie Peterson at (360) 676-3290.—Daniel C. Kilper and Terrill W. Maye