Students in Niagara College’s one-of-a-kind Photonics Engineering Technology program got an inside look at their potential futures on Nov. 28, 2018. Raytheon ELCAN Precision Optics hosted the entire program for an in-depth tour of its state-of-the-art facility in Midland, Ont.
Raytheon ELCAN, a world-leader in the global optics industry, in recognition of the unique skills and talents NC Photonics grads possess, have offered well-paying jobs to the entire third-year cohort of the program, nine students in all, upon graduation.
Earlier in 2018, the company hired two students in the college’s three-year Photonics Engineering Technology program for temporary summer positions. Raytheon ELCAN raved about the quality of the students, offered them full-time positions upon their graduation this coming April, and extended that same invitation to the remainder of NC’s third-year students.
The company also chartered a coach to bring the entire class of first, second and third-year students to their Midland facility, where students got to meet senior engineers and key staff and explore the cutting-edge technology and processes that could make up their future career, should they choose one with Raytheon ELCAN.
“It was really nice to go to a company and realize that this is the stuff we’re doing; these are the jobs we’re working towards,” said third-year student Andrew McCraw. “We’re learning a lot in our optical design class, and on the tour we were able to see some of the practical applications of what we’re learning.”
Third-year Photonics Engineering Technology student Andrew McCraw shows off a class project. He and the entire third-year Photonics class have been offered full-time positions with industry leader Raytheon ELCAN in Midland, Ontario.
McCraw is one of a group of students in the Photonics program who will enjoy a variety of career choices upon graduating in April 2019. While he said he’d like to explore optical design and laser alignment, the program has equipped him with a wide range of skills that will open doors in many different industries. “There’s plenty of opportunity out there, plenty of places to go and things you could do,” said McCraw, “It’s such a tight field of study, but such a broad range of opportunities.”
Graduates from the program have built careers in the bio-medical, defence, aerospace, entertainment and other industries. “We have graduates who are working on things that will be sent into outer space, things that will be strapped onto the bottom of jets, any tech you can think of is touched in some way by photonics, and uses photonic technologies, so that makes our graduates very valuable,” said Photonics professor Alex McGlashan.
At Raytheon ELCAN specifically, McGlashan said the company is in desperate need of employees with specialized training in optical coating technologies. As NC houses a unique and high quality ‘clean room’ as part of the program, graduates come prepared with those skills and training. “They’re looking for people with those specific skills, so they want to recruit as many of our grads as possible into their company.” What’s more, Raytheon ELCAN isn’t the only game in town. The program has also been approached by L3 Wescam, a Canadian company specializing in the production of gyro-stabilized, EO-IR imaging systems. The company has also expressed interest in offering positions for the entire graduating class.
That’s a trend that pervades the industries that the Photonics program serves, and a workforce gap that NC is uniquely positioned to fill, due to its status as having the only full-time Photonics program in Canada. “As a standalone program, we’re really the only game in town. In North America, there aren’t enough people graduating with the skills these companies require,” said McGlashan. “It’s a career of the future that’s needed today.”
