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Externship Summary - 2006
Negussie Tirfessa
Manchester Community College

Connecticut Photonics Research Center
University of Connecticut
Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT)

(Curriculum Project)

Lessons Learned: The most useful learning component of my externship was the research experience in the area of photonics. The knowledge and experience I gained through literature survey, computer modeling and the discussions with Dr. Chandra, who is the Director of the UCONN Photonics Research Laboratory, about Photonics and its applications were very useful.

The challenging part was learning about research topics in Photonics and producing research results or contributing to the research in such a short period of time.

Impact on Student Learning: I developed a project related to my externship called Research Experience in Photonics and assigned it to a group of three interested students. I gave them references and some guidance while they were working on the project. They did some literature survey, internet research, read additional textbooks about photons, photon detectors and semiconductors. They wrote a report and presented their work to the class at the end of the fall semester 2006.

Even though the photonics research project was challenging, the three students assigned to this endeavor were very motivated and interested to learn about subject of Photonics.

Externship Sustainability: Regular weekly meetings with Dr. Chandra, Director of the UCONN Photonics Research Laboratory to facilitate further studies/work and discuss research topics available in Photonics. Research articles were found online from the Photonics Research Laboratory and the UCONN Library. So the continued connection with the Photonics Research Laboratory has been very helpful in guiding students.

This project was a very good professional development opportunity and I will encourage colleagues to participate whenever I get a chance.


The Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education program. Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.