MCC Lands $5.4M Federal Grant to Grow Rochester's Optics Workforce

Monroe Community College's Optical Systems Technology is the first-of-its-kind two-year optics training program in the country. The U.S. Department of Defense has decided that's worth $5.4 million.

MCC has been awarded a nearly $5.4 million grant from the DoD's Manufacturing Engineering Education Program — the college's third MEEP award — to expand hands-on training and registered apprenticeships in optics and photonics. The multi-year grant is aimed squarely at Rochester's optics workforce pipeline: the skilled technicians who graduate from Brighton and go to work at the precision optics and photonics companies concentrated in this region.

Rochester's National Lead in Precision Optics Training

Rochester's National Lead in Precision Optics Training

MCC's program is the first-of-its-kind two-year training program in the nation — the only associate-degree path in precision optics at the community college level in the United States. Enrollment has risen 3,520 percent since 2015, a number that reflects real and growing demand from the optics companies concentrated in this region.

The physical infrastructure has grown to match. The Sydor Optics Advanced Technology Center — a $69.6 million facility on MCC's main campus in the Town of Brighton — recently opened, giving the program a purpose-built home for the first time. Before this, the nation's most distinctive community college optics program shared space with the rest of the campus. Now it has its own building.

What Monroe Community College's Optics Grant Actually Funds

What Monroe Community College's Optics Grant Actually Funds

The MEEP grant targets the part of training that produces job-ready graduates: lab time, floor time, registered apprenticeships — the hours that turn classroom learning into production-line skill. MCC President DeAnna R. Burt-Nanna has framed the mission directly: MCC is "uniquely positioned to connect talented students with meaningful, family-sustaining careers." The grant expands that access for people who cannot or won't spend four years in school.

A separate federal investment arrives at the same time. Rep. Joe Morelle secured $850,000 in Community Project Funding to establish a new Precision Optics Finishing Lab at MCC. The lab is scheduled to open in fall 2026 and will use equipment for optical coating processes applied in semiconductor and optics manufacturing — the exact skills regional manufacturers are trying to fill.

"Investing in our workforce means investing in Rochester's continued economic leadership."

— Rep. Joe Morelle

The Employers Already Recruiting at MCC

The Employers Already Recruiting at MCC

Students who enter MCC's optics program often don't know the industry exists, according to Jason Brightful of the Optical Systems Technology department. By the time they graduate, employers are already on campus. "Employers are coming to MCC to find them," Brightful has said. "Their minds are blown by the education, the skills that they're learning," he notes.

The skills the program produces — precision optical coating, component manufacturing, processes used in semiconductor and defense systems — are in demand from regional manufacturers and from the federal government alike.

The DoD's investment is not a favor to a local college. Precision optics and photonics underpin military hardware, and the pipeline here is part of a national supply chain. The Precision Optics Finishing Lab opens at MCC this fall.