Dr. Nicholas Massa is the chairman of the Optics and Photonics Technology Department at Springfield Technical Community College, in Springfield, Mass., with over 30 years of experience as an educator, educational researcher, engineer and consultant to the photonics industry.
He has been principal investigator and co-principal investigator on over a dozen National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) grants involving optics and photonics curriculum design, photonics skills standards development, teacher professional development, and problem-based learning. He was founding Co-Director of the NSF-ATE National Center for Telecommunications Technology (NCTT), and serves as an external project evaluator for the NSF. His expertise includes educational assessment and evaluation, curriculum development, teacher professional development, web-based instruction and pedagogy, and problem-based learning in STEM education.
Massa is a member of SPIE, OSA, IEEE, ASEE and NAWI. He is the recipient of the Industry Beacon Award from Photonics Media (2017); Educator of the Year from the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) (2010); Faculty of the Year from Springfield Technical Community College (1998); and, Scibelli Endowed Chair from Springfield Technical Community College (1998). He holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Western New England University and a PhD in Educational Leadership/Adult Learning from the University of Connecticut.