Industry Collaboration
The Institute of Optics has a long tradition of collaborating with industry through research, consultation, service in professional societies, and a variety of informal exchanges.
Learn About Emerging Optics Technologies
We are happy to support individual professionals and organizations interested in staying on top of the latest advances in optical research. You can learn about these advances though:
Industrial Associates (IA)
Optics organizations join with academic researchers to share their mutual experience in optics. Through IA events, members can showcase their achievements, network with peers, recruit Institute students, and learn about the latest research happening here at the Institute.
Visit IA
Summer Workshops for Professionals
The Institute offers a series of courses lasting one to two weeks aimed at working professionals on a variety of optics topics, ranging from beginner to cutting-edge. IA members discounted access to all workshops, with one or more organization representatives allowed to join for free.
Visit Summer Workshops
Network with Peers
Through Industrial Associates (IA), a professional optics society run by the Institute of Optics, optics professionals can network with their peers across a variety of optics professionals. IA offers two major networking events a year at their semi-annual meetings, open to members only.
Current IA members include 3M, Amazon, Edwards Air Force Base, Google, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, SONY Corporation, and many more. Become a member to take advantage of these opportunities.
Recruit Our Students
We offer several recruiting events for Industrial Associates (IA) members, as well as the ability to post on our job board. Our students have almost a 100 percent placement rate, so the best way to ensure that you’re recruiting from the best is to become an IA member, and get early access to students before they hit the job market.
Our optics and optical engineering students get hands-on, real-world experience, preparing them to fill the needs to your company. To learn more about recruiting students, contact our graduate or undergraduate coordinator.
Collaborate with Faculty
The best way to see if a faculty member is interested in collaborating with your organization on a project is to contact them directly. You can see our full list of faculty, including their research interests, on our faculty directory.
Not sure who or what you’re looking for? Our Industrial Associates (IA) organization is a great way to build personal connections with institute faculty. Not only can you meet with faculty and learn about their research during our Semi-Annual Meeting, IA members are also welcome to attend our colloquium series, offered every Monday during the semester.
Capitalizing on the Future
Sponsor a Student Project
Ever wish you had a team of engineers that would work for you for free? That’s exactly what you get when you sponsor a design day project. For these projects, a team of student engineers, supervised by a faculty mentor, work with you and your team to help meet your organization’s engineering goals.