1. AIM Academy Community College Network
Principal Director: Dale Allen, Ph.D.
The American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics), a $610 million National Network
for Manufacturing Innovation , brings together over 100 companies, higher education institutions, non-profits and
other organizations to establish a national integrated photonics ecosystem. This national, public-private
partnership, led by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York, will establish a technology,
business and education framework to propel integrated photonic solutions from innovation to production.
Community Colleges are critical partners and contributors in the educational and workforce development plan for
the pathways to support this growing industry sector. Dr. Dale Allen of Quinsigamond Community College will
serve as the national community college and technical assistance lead of the AIM Academy Community College
Network. This Network will scale best practices, supporting a shared model of education delivery and pathways
into high-demand jobs or continued educational attainment. Through the development of technology-enabled,
accelerated modules, stackable certificates and degrees based on local industry demand, our goal will be to deliver
Certificates to Associate degrees to Bachelor’s degrees and beyond in specialized innovative technologies, feeding
the Integrated Photonics Manufacturing talent pipeline.
Partnerships will be integral to the success of the Network and AIM Photonics. Colleges will partner with regional
Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs), Workforce Investment Boards, American Job Centers, business
incubators and local industry to identify workforce development needs, particularly at the technician level, bridge
courses with internships, apprenticeships and job training and learn best practices in the development and
deployment of curricular materials relevant and in-demand in their respective regions. Four-year academic partners
and research universities will bring industry specific research and advanced applications work as well as next level
engineering technologies to curriculum development for both degree and non-degree programs. All participants will
disseminate innovation to other educational institutions in the education pipeline thereby ensuring state-of-the-art
program content. This team approach will also include other programs funded with Federal resources such as NSF,
DOL TAACCT, NASA, DOE, NIST and many others.
This project will build on best practices of the 4-year, $20 million US Department of Labor TAACCCT funded
Transformation Agenda (TA), led by Dr. Allen. An unprecedented effort in Massachusetts, the TA has drawn
national attention for its efforts to build shared systems between community colleges, adult basic education,
workforce development systems partners and industry leaders to transform delivery of industry aligned education
and training programs, accelerate the attainment of degrees, certificates and industry recognized credentials to
prepare students for high wage, high skill employment. This effort will be housed at QCC’s Innovative Technology
Acceleration Center (ITAC) in Southbridge, MA. Designed and developed collaboratively with input from
industry, workforce development systems and community based organizations, and operated in concert with
Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, ITAC will supply leading edge equipment and lab space to
provide practical and timely skills development to support emerging industries and the next generation of
innovations.
In concert with all project partners we will develop a national community of practice to provide training and
technical assistance related to the project and share a common, stackable curriculum. An AIM Academy
Community College Network event will be held June 20-23, 2016 in Southbridge, MA. For more information,
please contact: Office of Community Engagement, Quinsigamond Community College at 508-854-2733. To
request consideration as a possible participating institution in the Network, visit: http://goo.gl/forms/goZfC7eLOl.