SPIE awards $3000 grant to New England Board of Higher Education

May 3, 2007, Bellingham, WA--SPIE recently awarded a $3000 grant to the New England Board of Higher Education's (NEBHE; Boston, MA) Project PHOTON2, a curriculum and professional development venture funded by the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF; Arlington, VA).

SPIE has been an active partner with NEBHE by providing numerous services and activities that support the more than 30 high schools and colleges nationwide that are part of Project PHOTON2. With an emphasis on two-year colleges, the ATE program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that help drive the nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions and employers to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways to two-year colleges from secondary schools and from two-year colleges to four-year institutions; and other activities.

"As a result of the SPIE grant, we will again offer the PHOTON2 Introduction to Photonics course and look forward to introducing more educators and their students to the growing field of optics and photonics," said Fenna Hanes, Senior Director of Programs with the New England Board of Higher Education.

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