Optics stands today as an area of major scientific and technological importance.
Students can emphasize optics within graduate programs in many of the university's traditional disciplines, but for those wishing to major in optics-related areas, a new Ph.D. program in optical science and engineering was approved in 1992. This unique program is highly multidisciplinary, beginning with a core of basic optics, followed by a wide variety of advanced course work and research in both fundamental and applied subjects. The program spans great diversity, from the fundamental physics of light and its interaction with matter, to the design of new optical devices and development of systems for signal processing, parallel computing, and global communications. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University are cooperating institutions, providing special opportunities for UAH students, and permitting their students to participate in this UAH-based program. Three letters of reference.