An Undergraduate Optics Laboratory with a Biomedical Emphasis

物理(13)该项目正在通过加强最近建立的初级光学课程的实验室组成部分来改进高年级物理课程。这一努力的学术价值很大程度上在于它强调生物医学应用和合作研究。在升级后的实验室里，学生们通过进行现代光学实验来学习基础物理，并通过研究当代生物医学光学研究中发现的大量“现实世界”问题，获得实用的设计和工程技能。六组实验正在被改编自其他大学的本科生光学课程以及最近发表在研究期刊上的各种文章。学生们作为一个研究人员社区来解决这些问题，就像他们在技术工作环境中所做的那样。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、皮肤癌的偏振成像以及组织损伤的光学相干断层扫描。虽然这些实验是以生物医学光学为主题的，但所涉及的物理和技术适用于广泛的光学学科。这个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当前科学、技术、工程和数学专业的研究努力相匹配。其次，越来越多的关于物理教育学的期刊文章表明，这样一个跨学科的主题如何在毕业后为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学生进入物理课程，并使其人口结构多样化。第四，光学课程对新成立的电气工程系起着重要的服务作用，它将使越来越多在当地生物医学行业就业的工科学生受益。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.