Imagine a device that could enter the bloodstream and extract a single cell for an early and rapid diagnosis of cancer. Imagine a device that could analyze the quality of an apple without even breaking the skin of the delicate fruit.
Imagine a place where experts from industry, government, and academia could collaborate without barriers and develop such devices for mass production.
Such a place exists.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) have partnered together to establish the Lab for Education & Application Prototypes (LEAP @ WPI/QCC), which is located at WPI's Gateway Park in Worcester, Massachusetts. As a part of the national American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) and funded through the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2), the LEAP @ WPI/QCC will support the integrated photonics manufacturing sector in central Massachusetts. Namely, LEAP @ WPI/QCC houses state-of-the art equipment and facilities that will help prototype these world-changing integrated photonic devices, as well as develop the workforce needed to manufacture them.
WPI's long-standing collaborations with industry and QCC's trusted history of workforce development put LEAP @ WPI/QCC in a unique position to reinvigorate the integrated photonics workforce and build a pipeline.
The co-location of faculty from fundamental and applied disciplines embody that motto and enable LEAP @ WPI/QCC to produce protoypes of integrated photonic devices that will meet the needs of both industry and society.
Douglas Petkie, head of WPI's Department of Physics, describes the promise of integrated photonics and how the partnership between WPI and QCC will strengthen the industry in Central Massachusetts.
Are you a member of the WPI community looking to engage with LEAP?
Learn more about what capabilities and areas of expertise are located at LEAP. The facility is housed at Gateway II, next to the Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at 50 Prescott Street.
