Contact

Adam Wax
Director of Gradute Studies
Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics
Box 90271
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0271
919-660-5598

Email: wax@duke.edu

Website: http://www.fitzpatrick.duke.edu/photonicscertificateprogram.html

Program Description

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: (1) information technology and telecommunications; (2) health care and the life sciences; (3) optical sensing, lighting, and energy; (4) optics in manufacturing; (5) national defense; (6) manufacturing of optical components and systems; and (7) 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. The participating faculty are from the departments of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science , and 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. Students are encouraged to meet with the Director of Graduate Studies of the FIP before the end of their second semester at Duke to help with course planning for the Photonics certificate program.

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: Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science , and Physics. 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 (as documented by the student's advisor); and if the student is pursuing a Ph.D., two members of the FIP should be on the Ph.D. dissertation committee. For more information about the program, contact Adam Wax, Box 90281, Duke University, Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Durham, NC 27708; (919) 660-5143.