An Undergraduate Optics Laboratory with a Biomedical Emphasis

（13）该项目正在改进高中物理课程，加强最近为初中光学课程设立的实验室部分。这一奋进的智力价值主要在于其对生物医学应用和合作研究的重视。在升级后的实验室中，学生进行现代光学实验，学习基础物理学，并通过调查当代生物医学光学研究中发现的实质性“现实世界”问题，获得实用的设计和工程技能。六组实验正在改编自其他大学的本科光学课程，以及各种研究期刊上最近的文章。学生们作为一个研究人员的社区来解决这些问题，就像他们在技术工作环境中一样。主题包括激光安全和眼睛损伤，几何光学和眼睛疾病，模拟组织中的光散射，心率监测的漫反射测量，皮肤癌的偏振成像和组织病变的光学相干断层扫描。虽然这些实验是统一的生物医学光学的主题，所涉及的物理和技术适用于各种各样的光学学科。 该项目的广泛影响有五个方面。首先，光学实验室的生物医学重点与科学，技术，工程和数学专业的当前研究工作相匹配。其次，越来越多的关于物理教学法的期刊文章证明了这样一个跨学科的主题如何为毕业后的学生提供多样化和有吸引力的机会。第三，对生命科学应用的关注有可能吸引新的学生加入物理课程，并使其人口结构多样化。第四，光学课程为新的电气工程系发挥了重要的服务作用，它将有利于越来越多的工程专业学生在当地生物医学行业就业。第五，这些实验室的主题与大学以学生为中心的研究项目密切重叠。

Physics (13) The project is improving the upper division physics curriculum by enhancing a recently established laboratory component for the junior-level optics course. The intellectual merit of this endeavor lies largely in its emphasis on biomedical applications and collaborative investigations. In the upgraded laboratory, students perform modern optics experiments to learn fundamental physics, and they acquire practical design and engineering skills by investigating substantive "real-world" problems found in contemporary biomedical optics research. Six sets of experiments are being adapted from undergraduate optics courses at other universities as well as a variety of recent articles in research journals. Students tackle these problems as a community of researchers, just as they would in a technical job environment. Topics include laser safety and eye damage, geometric optics and eye disorders, light scattering in simulated tissues, diffuse reflectometry for heart-rate monitoring, polarimetric imaging of skin cancer, and optical coherence tomography of tissue lesions. While these experiments are unified by the theme of biomedical optics, the physics and techniques involved are applicable to a wide variety of optics disciplines. The broader impact of this project is five-fold. First, the biomedical emphasis of the optics laboratory matches current research efforts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professions. Second, a growing number of journal articles on physics pedagogy demonstrate how such an interdisciplinary theme can provide diverse and attractive opportunities for students after graduation. Third, the focus on life science applications has the potential to attract new students to the physics program and diversify its demographic profile. Fourth, the optics course plays an important service role for the new Electrical Engineering Department, and it will benefit the growing fraction of engineering students who seek employment with local biomedical industries. Fifth, the topics of these laboratories overlap closely with student-centered research programs at the university.