Experiments in Optics and Photonics Engineering Education at Penn State

During the fall semester of 2022 an experimental first-year seminar on applied optics was taught for the first time at The Pennsylvania State University. The ongoing goals of the course are to recruit students to electrical engineering and to retain them while steering students towards a specialization in optics and photonics. This was attempted through hands-on experiments demonstrating basic concepts in optics, and tours of laboratories on campus that demonstrate the wide range of applications of electrical and optical engineering. Experiments included aligning fiber optics, building telescopes, building pinhole cameras, experiments with fluorescence spectroscopy, transmission spectroscopy, and demonstrations of polarization. In addition to the first year seminar, the following semester a senior level experiment-based course on applied spectroscopy was offered as well. In addition to experiments, the senior level course includes peer instruction. While the audience for the two courses differ, the goals are much the same to recruit and retain students in optics and photonics. The effectiveness of course presentation in each case is evaluated based on student response and feedback. The two courses’ materials will be compared and improvements will be discussed.