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

OMS^3

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 and includes lab-based training, professional development workshops, and a visit to one of IMOD’s industrial partners.

Labs reflect each of the three IMOD Research Themes (RTs) and a computational theory-based unit. This allows 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 needed to engage in team science and science communication.

In addition, IMOD arranges a field trip with one of our industrial partners. Past tours have included Microsfot and Universal Display Corporation. 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, but also provides valuable interdisciplinary training, relationship building, and understanding for the participants.

Each year we bring together 20-25 trainees from across the 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.