Abstract

Getting young and talented minds to pursue photonics as a career is a major goal for the optics and photonics community. We have previously reported on a college-university collaboration allowing pre-university science students to engage in university photonics research through paid summer internships. From the university’s perspective, this collaboration allows for photonics outreach to students before they choose university programs. From the student’s perspective, they are immersed in a scientific research experience for the first time, and they then present their experience in class to the following cohort of college students – this is outreach too. We have surveyed all students who have participated in these paid summer research internships during the first ten years of this collaboration. We report on 1) the survey results to questions pertaining to their learning experience, the training and learning environment, and aspirational elements, and 2) their reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of these internships, such that we can improve the “student experience” for future internships.

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