A Welcome Message from Carl Maes

Welcome to Optical Sciences -- home of the world’s finest teaching programs in optics. Our Gradate Professional Certificate, BS, MS, and PhD programs focus on providing students with a broad education in all areas of optics and on educating outstanding students with practical experience and highly competitive technical skills. We educate more students in optical sciences than any other institution in the United States. Our graduates become professors, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs; they work in academia, in government, in industry and in defense at both national and international levels.

Dr. Carl Maes, Associate Dean for Academic Programs
Telephone:  520-626-8837  E-mail:  carl.maes@optics.arizona.edu

For Prospective Students

Academic Program Goals

Our students receive a broad education in the fundamentals of geometrical, physical, quantum and mathematical optics. Students can select from more than 90 specialized courses in optical sciences, including optical design, nonlinear optics, remote sensing, medical optics, image processing, integrated optics, optical data storage, optical detector systems and many others. Our very generous research budget enables students to do masters and doctoral research in a wide variety of sub-fields, ranging from basic optical physics to applied optical engineering. It also provides outstanding opportunities for Baccalaureate degree students to gain practical experience by assisting with research projects and for graduate students to make meaningful contributions to cutting-edge research programs and gain valuable scientific and administrative experience while working toward their degrees.

Distance Learning

In addition to the Masters and Doctoral programs and our MS+MBA dual-degree program, our graduate program also includes two distance learning options. Our Professional Graduate Certificate in Optical Sciences program is a unique opportunity for post-baccalaureate degree students to earn professional certification and build a foundation that can count toward a future Master of Science in Optical Sciences degree. We continue to offer our very well-received MS distance learning program in which students can complete Optical Sciences courses by video or satellite and, if they wish, transfer six or seven units from other institutions. The program is extremely flexible and requires only one semester in residence at the University of Arizona.

Colloquium

Optics education is never confined to the classroom or research lab and does not end at the PhD. Our alumni and all members of the optics and scientific communities are always welcome to join our students and faculty members at our Thursday afternoon Colloquium series. The series is a dynamic forum for the rapid and widespread interchange of ideas, techniques, and research in all areas of optics. We schedule an impressive list of academic scholars and industry leaders to lead discussions and open the program to questions and comments. We also sponsor numerous seminars, special speakers and informal presentations and these are open to the entire optics community as well as to colleagues and students on the University of Arizona campus.

K-12 Activities

Our pre-college outreach activities continue to bring the world of optics to youngsters of all ages and interests. Specially tailored programs include optics for nursery-schoolers, summer programs for grade-school and junior-high students, classes aimed at recruiting girls and young women into science and technology, and guest lectures at grade schools, middle schools, and high schools throughout Arizona.

Optics Professional Societies

Professional societies offer access to a variety of specialized resources including continuing education, publications, employment services, and networking opportunities to individuals within the field.  Optics professional societies actively recruit student members and may offer unique benefits to students in addition to the regular benefits accorded faculty and other members of the optics community.

www.osa.org  OSA, The Optical Society of America, promotes the generation, application, archiving and worldwide dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics.

www.spie.org  SPIE -- The International Society for Optical Engineering, serves the international technical community as the premier provider of education, information, and resources covering optics, photonics, and their applications.

It’s an exciting time for optics education at all levels. Please join us.