Today, U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that they are urging the Department of Defense to select a proposal led by a team that includes the University of New Mexico in a competition to create a national photonics hub.
Original Title
N.M. Delegation Encourages Department of Defense to Support UNM’s Proposal to Create National Institute of Photonics
Today, U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that they are urging the Department of Defense to select a proposal led by a team that includes the University of New Mexico in a competition to create a national photonics hub.
Today, U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that they are urging the Department of Defense to select a proposal led by a team that includes the University of New Mexico in a competition to create a national photonics hub.
Congress of the United States
‘Washington, BE 20510
March 23, 2015
‘The Honorable Ashton B. Carter
Secretary
U.S. Department of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301
Dear Secretary Carter:
We are writing to express our strong support for the proposal submitted by the University of
Southern California's (USC) Information Sciences Institute (ISI) Team to establish a new
Integrated Photonics Institute for Manufacturing Innovation (IP-IMD)
USC ISI and its partners at University of New Mexico (UNM), the University of California-Los
Angeles (UCLA), the University of California-Berkeley (UCB), the University of California-San
Diego (UCSD), Arizona State University, and the Ohio State University, as well as numerous
industry partners, will establish a reliable photonics manufacturing capability to serve both our
Department of Defense (DOD) and commercial markets. Ultimately, the USC IP-IMI will be an
end-to-end integrated photonics manufacturing “ecosystem.”
This team will bring together government, industry and academia to develop this manufacturing
ecosystem here in the U.S. They have broad talents and proven track records in microelectronics
and chip packaging, as well as significant expertise in world-class photonics manufacturing. They
also can leverage complementary expertise in serving commercial and DOD industries, a key to
the success of the IP-IMI initiative. New Mexico’s unique capabilities in Mid Infrared photonic
systems have served our DOD and commercial industries for decades. UNM will stand up the
New Mexico Hub on Sensing-Integrated Manufacturing for Mid-infrared Photonic Applications
‘Technology (IMMPACT) which will work toward self-sufficiency.
New Mexico has a long history of innovation and collaboration in the development and
deployment of DOD technologies, as well as Department of Energy (DOE) programs. Our state
is home to Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Air Force
Research Laboratory (AFRL). We have nationally-recognized programs in workforce education
and training at UNM and Central New Mexico Community College. UNM, Sandia, Los Alamos
and AFRL also have strong relations with a wide network of small- to medium-sized
manufacturers, as well as the major industrial companies involved in photonics research and
applications. New Mexico also has the New Mexico Opties Industry Association (nmOptics), a
non-profit association recognized by the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) as
an industry leader which promotes the growth of the opties and photonics industry in our state.The U.S. photonics industry currently supports more than 100,000 high-paying jobs, a number that
could double within the next decade as new photonie-electronic chips find their way into products
and technologies across many industries. The combined team’s established research and
development in critical areas of this technology, coupled with its electronics and photonics
packaging expertise, will build a pipeline of innovation and talent for this high-tech industry.
We believe that the USC ISI proposal has merit, and we urge you to give it thoughtful
consideration. Thank you for your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
hon U ‘Stevan Pearce
United States Senator United States Representative
(i Heinrich Ben Ray Lajes——~ —_—
United States Senator United States Representative
Me Jello hujan- Biahew
Michelle LujanGisham
United States Representative