Victoria Nicolaou with the St. Catharines Standard reported on Niagara College’s new three-year defence program and two-year technician stream focused on mechatronic and photonic systems. The programs will provide students with hands-on experience building drones for air, land and sea applications.
In the article, Duane Bender, Dean of Media, Trades and Technology, discusses how the programming builds on the College’s existing strengths in photonics while expanding into larger technological applications.
“We’re still quite involved with photonics as a fundamental science, but we’re just broadening our application space,” said Bender. “Technology has evolved and a lot of those photonics applications are ‘packaged’ (and) commonly available. It was time for us to rethink some of our programs.”
The article highlights that the goal of the new programming is to give students practical experience building drones, instrument payloads and autonomous systems, preparing them for careers in “rapidly expanding” sectors including defence, security, aerospace and emerging technologies.
The story also notes that NC will launch a new one-year cybersecurity program this fall.
College President Sean Kennedy is also quoted, noting that the review of the College’s photonics program was part of an ongoing evaluation of programming to ensure it reflects evolving industry needs and labour market demand.
“The landscape has changed federally in a huge way where now it’s such a huge priority for Canadians and for the federal government to bolster our defence capabilities,” said Kennedy. “It’s a really interesting program and we’re hoping that we’ll see lots of student demand. We know there’s huge employer demand.”
The article was syndicated to the Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune, Hamilton Spectator and Peterborough Examiner.
Read the March 9 article from the St. Catharines Standard here.
