A group of undergraduate and graduate students from The College of New Jersey, the newest member of the regional photonics research and economic development “engine” based at Princeton, toured some of the University’s cutting-edge laboratories on July 11.

Alex Norman, executive director of the Princeton Materials Institute, welcomed TCNJ professor David McGee and several TCNJ students to campus in a lobby of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Donning protective gear, they toured the clean room at the Micro/Nano Fabrication Center (MNFC), then moved to the MNFC Packaging Lab and finished at the Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC).

The labs, two of Princeton’s core research facilities available for industry use, feature high-technology scientific devices, some of them among the few in the world and including equipment used in photonics research.

Photonics — the use of light in technologies with applications in healthcare, clean energy, computing, telecommunications, advanced manufacturing and more — is a growing industry in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, the region involved in the Advancing Photonics Technology engine based at Princeton and funded by the National Science Foundation. 

The collaboration includes colleges and universities, companies, economic development agencies and other organizations. The engine aims to advance research, transition discoveries into the economy, and build the region’s technological workforce.