The opportunities within the photonics department are really endless if you apply yourself and connect with professors. If there's something you want to do and you are passionate about it, they can really help you.
As one of a select group of students chosen for an MIT microelectronics program, Christopher Leary, '28, gained a behind-the-scenes look at the careers for which his BSU education is preparing him.
"Because the photonics program here is so special, I have the opportunity to learn about very specific things that even people in an electrical engineering degree would not get to learn about at the undergraduate level," said Christopher, who is majoring in photonics and optical engineering and minoring in math and physics. "The photonics classes are really well designed toward going into that field."
Photonics uses light to make technology more powerful, efficient, and compact. During the weeklong Northeast Microelectronics Internship Program, Christopher, who is from Saxtons River, Vermont, discovered how this cutting-edge technology is applied to microelectronics. He was one of just 30 students selected for the program out of almost 700 applicants.
Christopher and his peers toured advanced labs and factories at MIT, IBM and semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries. Dressed head to toe in special boots, suits and masks, they had the rare opportunity to enter clean rooms where even the tiniest speck of dust can ruin a manufacturing process.
Christopher is especially interested in biotechnology and was excited to visit a lab making flexible chips for medical applications.
"I'm really passionate about using light to solve problems because I feel like it's a new frontier of science," he said. "I'm definitely passionate about helping others."
Christopher is already making a difference through on-campus research under the mentorship of Dr. Thaya Paramanathan, an associate professor of physics, photonics, and optical engineering. Paramanathan and his students study anticancer drugs with the goal of helping improve treatments.
"The undergraduate research has prepared me to apply critical thinking to everything I do," Christopher said.
He credits his success to the work he is doing as a Bear and the relationships he is building with faculty.
"The opportunities within the photonics department are really endless if you apply yourself and connect with professors," he said. "If there's something you want to do and you are passionate about it, they can really help you."
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