Historically, scholarships and grants have gone to university-level students and researchers. Perhaps it is time to review what can be done at the K-12 level to encourage teachers as well as students regarding science and technology. I have proposed that a small percentage of the scholarship increase focus on helping women return to the workforce after a sabbatical for reasons such as raising a family. To facilitatethis return to the workforce SPIE could waive fees for attendance at short courses, and a small scholarship to help defray expenses to attend a major SPIE meeting, including conferences, exhibits, and possibly a special WIO-sponsored session on returning to the workforce. These federal codes are crucial for acquiring statistics regarding personnel and economics impacting our profession and help us show how optics has grown to be vital technology today.
Most states follow the federal lead in SOC codes.
Optics as a Discipline, a subcommittee of ESTeP, will continue to pursue ways of enhancing our profession by educating the public and promoting optics as a discipline. Here again we need to work at educating the public. Congressman Jim Sensennbrenner, Chair of the 105th Congress' House Science Committee, repeatedly has emphasized the value of addressing your local Rotary Club and other civic organizations so that they will appreciate their dependence and benefits from technology. Perhaps it is time for our education committee to also consider initiatives in the K-12 arena. As the last year of the 1900s begins, we can see tremendous opportunities for science and engineering.