The International Year of Light 2015 was designed to raise awareness of light sciences. In order to raise awareness, events were encouraged to get the public involved. Both Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) and Indian River State College (IRSC) held a total of three lectures in 2015 celebrating the IYL 2015. IRSC hosted lectures on March 6th and June 11th. CCCC hosted a lecture on November 17th. These lectures drew a total of over 400 attendees. Lectures revolved around their own unique themes relating to light sciences in industry and academia. With great support from Laser-Tec, SPIE, and NSF, these lectures were successful at exposing and advertising the optics field to the public, as well as promising up-and-coming students. These lectures hosted several keynote speakers on behalf of both industry and academia. The speakers were successful at keeping the audience engaged through presentations and question-and-answer sessions. In addition, lab tours allowed the attendees a chance to see the programs in action. Many takeaways will prove to be invaluable when pursuing such events in the future. This paper will not only speak to the tremendous success of these lectures, but will take an honest look at the areas for improvement. It is important to note that independent events can be held for the expansion of local programs leading to national, if not global, increase in communal awareness and participation. These events will serve as a continuation for what the IYL 2015 was designed.

Date Published: 27 September 2016
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9946, Optics Education and Outreach IV, 99460A (27 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2236744

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9946:
Optics Education and Outreach IV
G. Groot Gregory, Editor(s)