Spokane Community College

Students Navpreet Batth (left) and Shelly Johnson breadboarding a transistor/LED experiment. Courtesy of Spokane Community College.

LASER-TEC is the Center for Laser and Fiber Optics Education, founded in 2013 by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and headquartered at Indian River State College in Florida. It was founded to help meet the goals of educating and sourcing domestic talent in the areas of optics and photonics. As a service to students, recent graduates, and prospective employers, Photonics Spectra runs a profile of one of the LASER-TEC colleges each month.

Spokane Community College (SCC) offers an electronics engineering technology associate of applied science degree with laser/photonics classes. The program has four pathways: applications, avionics, mechatronics, or biomedical equipment (the last leading to a dual degree as a biomedical engineering/equipment technician/technologist, or BMET). Graduates find employment in a wide variety of industries, including electronics equipment manufacturing, medical equipment manufacturing, the service industry, and hospitals.

Program

Electronics Engineering Technology Associate of Applied Science (AAS)

This seven-quarter, lab-intensive degree program provides practical, hands-on experience with a variety of equipment used in the industry.

Laser/photonics classes are included in the applications, avionics, and dual degree pathways. Coursework prepares students to develop the skills necessary to become electronics engineering technicians able to help engineers develop new products and to evaluate, test, troubleshoot, and repair existing equipment.

In 2018, SCC added a photonics lecture and lab class to the curriculum. These classes are based on OP-TEC Fundamentals of Light and Lasers, Course 1. Students taking the applications or dual degree pathways have the option of completing a laser/photonics-related capstone project. The first cohort of this new curriculum graduated in December 2019.

Graduates of the associate degree program will have the skills to:

Perform laboratory experiments and create projects using electronic breadboards, optical breadboards, 3D-PCB printing, IPC standard soldering, single-board computers (Raspberry Pi), and embedded systems (Arduino).
Work with electronic test equipment, including photometers, multimeters, oscilloscopes, signal generators, and power supplies.
Align optical components.
Handle, clean, and care for optical components.
Use industry-grade optical components, laboratory mountings, and positioning equipment.
Document procedures and data using Microsoft Word and Excel.
Calculate expected results to compare with measured data.
Apply laser safety rules.

Recruitment Contact

Judy Irwin
+1 509-533-7133
judy.irwin@scc.spokane.edu

Mail Stop 2013
1810 N. Greene St.
Spokane, WA 99217-5399

Program Website

www.scc.spokane.edu/what-to-study/stem/electronics-engineering