Clemson’s Optical Center Builds on Nufern Partnership

Clemson University’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) has opened the Nufern student office suite in the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory.

The space builds on Nufern’s longtime partnership with COMSET, including a series of donations to the Clemson University Foundation.

“Nufern values the many interactions and collaborations it has had with Clemson’s COMSET over the last 10 years and looks forward to many more years of working together on innovative programs that push photonics technology forward,” said Bryce Samson, vice president of business development at Nufern.

Principals in the Clemson-Nufern partnership include (from left): Wade Hawkins, director of the COMSET optical fiber fabrication laboratory; Liang Dong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Cindy Lee, interim associate dean for research and graduate studies; Martine LaBerge, acting dean, College of Engineering and Science; Martin Seifert, Nufern president; and Bryce Samson, vice president of business development. Courtesy of Clemson University.

Nufern, based in East Granby, Conn., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc., which manufactures fiber lasers and specialty optical fibers for the medical, telecom, industrial, and military and aerospace industries.

The contributions from Nufern and other industry partners have helped “sustain our innovation and workforce development activities,” said COMSET Director John Ballato.

“Long-term partners like Nufern help COMSET get industry perspectives and to align its research and education efforts to be industry-relevant,” said Liang Dong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

COMSET, formed in 2000, is an interdisciplinary unit of Clemson’s College of Engineering and Science. Its investigators are collaborating to develop advanced materials, devices and systems that generate, transmit, manipulate and utilize light.

For more information, visit: www.clemson.edu/comset