Education Working Group:
Cochairs Fred Seeber (Camden County College) and Darrell Hull (CORD)

Judith Donnelly is program coordinator, Photonics Engineering Technology, Three Rivers Community College. With an industry advisory board, she wrote curricula for the Photonics Engineering Technology program and two curricula in Fiber Optics Technology. Donnelly has been active in the NSF-ATE Northeast Center for Telecommunications Technology project, is PI of the PHOTON ATE project, and works closely with Springfield Technical Community College, the New England Board of Higher Education and the photonics industry to create professional development activities for teachers grade 7 through college level. She is a member of the Women in Optics working group of SPIE and participates in the New England Fiber Optics Council, the Optical Society of America, and the Fiber Optic Association. Donnelly holds a B.S. degree in chemical physics from Tufts University and an M.S. degree in bioengineering (medical imaging) from the University of Connecticut.

James Downing is assistant professor and CO-PI for photonics at the Northeast Center for Telecommunications Technologies and former chair of the Electronics and Computer Technology Program at Springfield Technical Community College. He has ten years of teaching experience in electronics and electrical engineering and has served industry as a senior electro-optics systems development engineer with extensive experience in the design, development, and systems integration of optoelectronic-based measurement systems and instrumentation and the development of electronic/fiber-optic sensor products, from the ultraviolet through the near infrared. Downing is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and he holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Western New England College and A.S. degrees in engineering and science transfer and in laser electro-optics technology from Springfield Technical Community College.

Martin Drexhage is director of education and training at the Center for Advanced Fiberoptic Applications, a nonprofit corporation in Southbridge, Massachusetts, created by industry in partnership with government and academia to assist in all phases of photonic and fiberoptic product, process, and technology development. At the same time, Dr. Drexhage holds a full-time position as photonics instructor at Tantasqua High School, Massachusetts, where he is identifying equipment and furnishings for the classroom/lab facility that will house the program and preparing document for state certification.

Daniel Friedman is chairperson of science and technology and professor of chemistry at Howard Community College. Among his many grant awards are NSF Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship Program for Howard Community College students; Maryland state grant for Constructing Inquiry-Based Astronomy Activities for Grades 6-12 MSDE and National Standards; Maryland Community College Challenge Grant for Distance Education Partnership for Industrial Workforce Training in Computers; Maryland Community College Challenge Grant for A Model for Internetworking and Intranetworking Education and Training for Maryland Higher Performance 21st Century Workforce; and NSF grant for fostering computational problem-solving skills in Introductory Sciences: An Interactive Multimedia Curriculum. Friedman holds a B.S. degree in science and chemistry from the University of Maryland and an M.S. degree in chemistry from Syracuse University.

David J. Hagan is associate director of the School of Optics/CREOL and associate professor of optics, physics, and electrical and computer engineering at the University of Central Florida. He was instrumentally involved in development of a Ph.D. program in physics and is involved in development of programs for photonics technician training. Hagan has run an NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and organized a Laser Applications in Science Education workshop for Central Florida teachers. He holds the Ph.D. degree in physics from the Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.

Barbara Washburn has over 16 years' experience in laser optics. She is associate professor of telecommunications and photonics at Springfield Technical Community College and served as associate professor of engineering and department chair in laser Fiber Optics Technology at Massachusetts Bay Community College. Washburn worked as an electrical engineer for Raytheon Corporation and as a communications engineer for Dynamic Research Corporation. She specializes in development of photonics programs and courses and has a strong background in laser R&D, curriculum development, and teacher training. Washburn is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Connecticut, and she holds an M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Tufts University and a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Western New England College.

Dominique Foley Wilson is a consultant to Sandia National Laboratories; she coordinates six DOE/DP Education Pipeline Programs. The initiatives focus on areas of advanced manufacturing, computer/information technologies, photonics, cyber security, mathematics, and microelectronics and engineering sciences applications. Wilson manages budgets and coordinates proposals, marketing and development materials, and student recruiting for these initiatives, and she works with technical line organizations to develop new business. She received her education at Kalamazoo College, Institute for American Universities, and Xerox International Center for Training and Management Development.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0202424. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.