The IMOD Optoelectronic Materials: Synthesis, Spectroscopy, and Systems Course

The Optoelectronics Materials Synthesis, Spectroscopy and Systems (OMS^3) course is the cornerstone activity of the IMOD Professional Development Program. This week-long in-person course, is hosted at the University of Washington Seattle campus, in the Aunatum Technologies Training and Testbed (QT3) lab, a purpose-built state-of-the-art shared facility for training in the quantum sciences.

The week-long course combines experiential lab-based training with professional development workshops. The lab-based training covers each of the three IMOD Research Themes (RTs) and a computational theory-based unit. This provides an excellent mechanism for collaborators to gain insight into the needs of their colleagues and build a shared technical vocabulary, a great foundation for their future collaborations in the IMOD endeavor. These lab-based group sessions are complemented with a schedule of trainings in professional skills designed to increase the ability of the participants to engage in team science and science communication.

Each year as part of OMS^3 IMOD arranges a field trip with one of our industrial partners. Providing a tour of industrial facilities and a seminar discussion, participants are given valuable insights into how their training could lead to a career in industrial research.

With an interdisciplinary team such as IMOD, it is vital for researchers to be able to understand and ‘speak’ each other’s scientific languages. This opportunity for researchers to learn each other’s techniques and gain knowledge about the procedures involved not only improves the fluency across the Center community, it also provides valuable interdisciplinary training, relationship building, and understanding for the participants.

Each year we bring together between 20-25 trainees from across the entire Center, including participants from our MSI and PREM partner institutions, to participate in this week-long experience. On top of the practical and professional training on offer, it is a fantastic relationship building experience that encourages trainees to build their professional network with peers external to both their field of research and their home institutions.