New Horizons (Universidad Metropolitana, Puerto Rico)

The Universidad Metropolitana's Puerto Rico Photonics Institute's New Horizons initiative, offers advanced-technology education and training in Lasers, Optics and Photonics and presents an opportunity to develop new and highly-applicable skills for the 21st century. It is the only such program offered in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, yet it is applicable to a wide variety of careers. Lasers, Optics and Photonics are enabling new paradigms for the technologies of the future, as exemplified by the $600M American Institutes for Manufacturing Photonics Initiative, and knowledge and skills in these fields offer the promise of lucrative and rewarding careers. The New Horizons program offers a Technical Certificate based on a curriculum, adapted from the highly-successful NSF-ATE-supported OP-TEC National Center for Photonics Education, in order to meet the needs of growing industries in Puerto Rico, which include medical technologies, communications and aerospace. General education elements are embedded, emphasize the program goals, and, uniquely, include a course in entrepreneurship. New Horizons impacts workforce displaced by trade agreement-related closures and other job losses in PR, along with veterans and other eligible participants. The graduates contribute to an already well-educated and productive workforce, which will attract new industries that employ Lasers, Optics and Photonics, including green technologies. Materials developed will be open source and will be disseminated through open-source platforms such as SkillsCommons.