Optical Engineering career path?

[jbrussell93]

I am a senior in high school and currently deciding on what I want to do with the rest of my life as many others are. I have always enjoyed optics. I enjoy reading up on optical physics and up and coming optical technology (and of course playing with lasers). My question is would I enjoy optical engineering? At the college I am looking at, optical Eng is through EE. I guess in my mind EE is just a bunch of boring circuit work though I know that probably is not true. I guess I am more interested in the applications of optics to research. I wouldn't mind designing optical instruments to be used in satellites or for laser jet propulsion in rockets though (i also love space). Would this field of engineering hold my interest? Is there any link between nanotechnology and optical engineering? Also, what are some relevant paths I could take in grad school after obtaining an undergrad in optical eng. Thanks in advance to all replies!

 

[Dr Transport]

Check out these sites for optical engineering schools

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/phoe/

http://www.optics.arizona.edu/

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

Also:

http://www.optics.rochester.edu/

http://www.creol.ucf.edu/

I know many people who have found job satisfaction through optics.

 

[jbrussell93]

Thank you for your suggestions! Any other advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fss]

I am a senior in high school and currently deciding on what I want to do with the rest of my life as many others are. I have always enjoyed optics. I enjoy reading up on optical physics and up and coming optical technology (and of course playing with lasers). My question is would I enjoy optical engineering?

Sounds like you would, but I assume you know that nobody can answer this for sure. Once you hit your first "real" optics course you might hate it. At the undergraduate level there's a lot of grunt work.

At the college I am looking at, optical Eng is through EE... I wouldn't mind designing optical instruments to be used in satellites or for laser jet propulsion in rockets though (i also love space). Would this field of engineering hold my interest?

Just an FYI; those particular jobs are not easy to come by.

Also, what are some relevant paths I could take in grad school after obtaining an undergrad in optical eng.

Relevant paths in graduate school? Relevant to what? If you got your undergraduate degree in EE/Optics you'd probably go to graduate school for the same thing or something very similar.

 

[Redbelly98]

Just to add my 2 cents, the most highly regarded optics programs in the country are probably the ones at U. Arizona, U. Rochester, and CREOL in Florida. See the links posted earlier by Drs. Transport and Lots-o'watts.

 

[jbrussell93]

Ok ill be sure to look into those.

 

[Dr Transport]

All mentioned so far are fine schools, but in my opinion Rose Hulman and Arizona have the best optical engineering programs. Now CREOL the last time I looked, didn't have an undergrad program nut was looking into it. Rochester has the finest optics program in the world, but it lies more on the physics side of optics than towards engineering.

I have worked with graduates of all of them, my opinion is that the Rose Hulman grads are simply unmatched in their ability to do engineering problems and I'd hire them before any of the other schools mentioned.

 

[jbrussell93]

Thanks transport. I'll keep that in mind especially for graduate school if not undergrad.

 

[kingkong11]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'd like to ask a question about optical engineering, too.
How's the job prospect for someone with an BSEE degree with optics & photonic concentration? Because Optical engineering is usually offered as an graduate degree, I get the feeling that job prospects will be limited for those with only a BS.

 

[Plantis]

Hello. I am last year Master student from Eastern Europe. I have decided to do my PhD studies at University in USA, UK or Europe. I am interested in Physics, particularly, in Optics and Photonics.

I need your help to make a decision. Can somebody help me with this problem? I have already receive offers from Purdue and Virginia Tech.

PLease advise me the best university in Optics, Photonics, Lasers and etc.

thank you

Below you can find list of Universities to which I applied.
Purdue USA - admitted
Virginia Tech USA - admitted
New Jersey Institute of tech USA
Stevens Institute of Tech USA
SUNY Stony Brook USA
Univ of Central Florida CREOL USA
West Virginia Univ USA
Univ of Connecticut USA
Vanderbilt Univ USA
Univ of Oklahoma USA
IUPUI USA
RICE univ USA
Michigan Tech USA
Drexel Univ USA
Nottingham UK
Southaphton Uk
King's college London Uk
Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norweign

 

[Plantis]

PLease, Help to make choise between
RICE university
Purdue Univ
Univ of Central Florida CREOL USA
Virginia Tech

According to my information Purdue University is the best one for Optics and Photonics research.

 

[squall211]

I guess in my mind EE is just a bunch of boring circuit work though I know that probably is not true.

Wow! This sounds like me 7 years ago. I thought the same thing, went into optics, and guess what I'm doing now, working as an EE! (after graduating optics went and got a masters in EE, best decision I made in my career)

Circuit design is just one tiny part of electrical. It's such a broad discipline. My own work deals with coming up with really cool image processing algorithms and then figuring out how to get them to work in real products at video frame rates.

EE is probably the most mathematically abstract engineering discipline.

Some areas it covers
image and signal processing
communications (how to get information from point A to point B, how to compress it, how to represent it in the most efficient way, how to actually build the transmitters and receivers)
robotics
medical devices
micro/nano electronics
electromagnetics
computer architecture and design
embedded software

and that's just scratching the surface.