The proposal is that a small workshop be held with approximately 40 participants from universities, colleges, and industry who are interested in optoelectronics education. The purpose will be to discuss the goals, curricula, and courses in optoelectronics programs. The objectives are to produce suggestions concerning the contents of undergraduate and graduate curricula, and suggestions as to what the general engineering or physics students would need. There are several related questions. What should be included in an optoelectronics option within electrical engineering or physics, what should be in an undergraduate degree program in optoelectronics, what should all electrical engineering and physics students know about optoelectronics, and what are the essentials in a graduate program in optoelectronics? Perhaps the most important question is, what optics- related material should be introduced into the existing undergraduate courses? For example, photodetectors should go into the existing solid state or electronics courses. Other questions to be addressed are: how much lens design, physical optics, quantum effects, sources, detectors, receivers, fibers, atmospheric properties, and optical system design should be included in the curricula? Recommendations concerning these questions will not have an impact unless we also have means of implementing the suggestions. One of the main goals of the workshop will be to devise means of implementation, such as providing modules, ideas of demonstrations, video presentations that could be used in other courses, and solved homework problems to encourage instructors to assign optoelectronics problems in appropriate courses. The logical next step would be to organize a symposium on optoelectronics education that would have much broader attendance with the goal of disseminating and discussing the proposals that result from our workshop. One of the tasks of the workshop will be to assemble an organizing committee for that symposium.
