Optical Society of Southern California Outreach & Educational Opportunities

As the Outreach Chair of the OSSC and the Founding Director of the OISC , I invite you to visit our OSSC website where  you can learn about our upcoming Meetings, Outreach & Educational Programs including two educational opportunities for this Winter:

First, I would like to announce that the OISC is now offering On-Line Distance Education Courses  for Technicians and Entry Level Engineers in Optics, Lasers and Fiber Optics.  These courses will begin in early April.

And second, our Optical Engineering & Optical Instrument Design Certificate Programs  offered through UC Irvine Extension will soon begin the third cohort.  These courses are now being taught in a new Hybrid fashion, where there are students and the instructor in the classroom on campus at UC Irvine and it is simulcast live via WebEx to students wherever they have their internet connection.  These WebEx sessions (classes) are recorded so students can go back over the lessons at their own pace and review material to help them with their homework and to study for exams.

We have a number of upcoming Outreach Programs that you can learn about from the OSSC Home Page (scroll down on the right hand column.)  The Family Day event at the UC Irvine Beall Center for Art + Technology on Sat. April 16, The Los Angeles Science & Technology Day Energy - Water Nexus on Sat. May 14 and our  Annual Optricks & Lasers Extravaganza at the Discovery Science Center on Sat. & Sun. June 18 & 19th.  We are now seeking volunteers for these events and sponsors for the Laser Light Shows at the Optricks & Lasers Extravaganza.

Also, the OSSC is reaching out to our local colleges and universities, assisting and mentoring science & engineering students interested in starting and running OSA Student Chapters.  Please contact Prof. Alex Small, our Student Chapter Liaison if you would like to be involved in this great new adventure.  We currently are working with four chapters at UC Irvine, UCLA, Cal Poly Pomona and UC Riverside.  They are also organizing to have Southern California events with students from these and other schools.  We are currently in contact with faculty and students at UC San Diego and Cal Tech in efforts to restart their chapters.

Please contact me directly (or any of our Board of Directors) if you have any questions about the OSSC, OISC or any of our programs.  We are constantly seeking to grow our reach into the Southern California Optics Community and are expanding our volunteer positions in our Outreach Committee.

Donn Silberman - OSSC Outreach Chair
2007-2008 President & Fellow, Optical Society of Southern California