Program Overview

Certificate in Photonics

The Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics (FIP) of the University offers a certificate in Photonics to encourage graduate students to acquire the multidisciplinary skills needed to pursue a career in photonics. The field of photonics is largely defined by what it enables:

• information technology and telecommunications
• health care and the life sciences
• optical sensing, lighting, and energy
• optics in manufacturing
• national defense
• manufacturing of optical components and systems
• optics research and education The expectation is not that a student will be expert in all these areas after completion of the certificate program, but rather that a student will have an awareness of the impact of photonics in all or many of these areas.

Program Description

The participating faculty are from the departments of

• Biomedical Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Chemistry
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
• Physics The program is designed to accommodate both terminal Masters of Science and Ph.D students who have been admitted to one of the participating departments. Students who participate in the certificate program are exposed to a number of opportunities such as entrepreneurial activities, fellowships, and new career paths in the applied sciences.

Photonics Certificate Requirements

The purpose of the Graduate Certificate Program in Photonics is to broaden the scope of the typical disciplinary graduate student education program. Students are encouraged to develop interdisciplinary and transferable sets of skills in their course work and research activities. The program is designed to accommodate both Masters of Science and Ph.D. students who have been admitted to one of the participating departments. The certificate program helps to guide students toward this broad view by requiring the completing of

• a survey course entitled Introduction to Photonics with Advanced Optics and Advances in Photonics as acceptable alternatives
• three courses from the approved course listing
• one formal presentation in the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics (FIP) Seminar Series
• attendance of at least four FIP seminars a year
• if the student is pursuing a Ph.D., two members of the FIP should be on the Ph.D. dissertation committee.