Physics (13) An Optics for Scientists and Engineers Laboratory Course is being developed and implemented to provide undergraduate students with the fundamentals necessary to enable them to successfully apply optics in their respective disciplines. The course is targeted to a wide cross section of students (electrical engineering, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, biology, etc.). An interdisciplinary faculty team from the Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics Departments is implementing and teaching the course. The course includes a capstone optics experiment related to each student's academic major. For many students, this is their only optics course.
The annual one semester course consists of 30 hours of lecture and 45 hours in the laboratory. Exemplary laboratory experiments developed under NSF auspices at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Boston University are being adapted and implemented. A commercially available fiber optics kit is also being used. The incorporation of extensive hands-on optics experience is a key component of the course. Four laboratory stations are equipped with research grade optics kits. Not more than two students work at each station, and they are expected to select and set-up components from their kit to the maximum extent possible. The goal is to provide graduates capable of putting basic optics principles to work in their careers, e.g. for optical communications, machine vision, spectroscopy, etc. or in graduate school.
