March brings us a great natural solar event, the spring equinox, on Sunday the 20th, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. Colleges are getting ready for the biggest annual graduating class at the end of the spring semester as the photonics industry anxiously waits for new graduates to fill the many open, entry-level positions.

In this newsletter, you can read about:

1. Gallatin College and how its LiDAR work is impacting the autonomous vehicle market.
2. The HI-TEC conference and the sponsorship programs available from LASER-TEC.
3. The Women in Photonics Technologies initiative and its activities.
4. The O*NET and LASER-TEC collaboration in updating the Photonics Technician micro-website.
5. The large selection of LASER-TEC resources available on our website.
6. Sussex County Community College is the March featured photonics program.

Also, don’t forget to look at the upcoming events on the left column and the new record 456 job openings for electro-optics/photonics technicians nationwide. Tell your students, counselors, advisors, friends, and neighbors about the high-paying, amazing careers available in this genuinely high-tech field.

All the Best,

Chrys Panayiotou
Fort Pierce, Florida