U of Rochester Optics

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mobytish
Posts: 102
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:44 pm

U of Rochester Optics

Post by mobytish » Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:36 pm

Finally, I saw someone else who had applied to (and been accepted to) Rochester Optics. Altoclef (or anyone else accepted) Are you planning on going to the open house?

And, to everyone in general, do you have any information on the program (aside from generic info I can find on the web)? I'm being indecisive about which school would be the best fit for me and the more information I can gather, the easier this decision will be.

[To give you my background info- I've applied to one general physics school (Lehigh U) because it's local, one school with liquid crystal focus (Kent U) because I love liquid crystals, and one school with optics focus (Rochester) because I'm also pretty excited about optics and Rochester also does some liquid crystal work. I'm mostly concerned about living in the area (and my husband needs to find a local job as well) and my job prospects upon graduating. I have no real preference in terms of job sector (academia, industry, etc).]

AO
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 2:45 pm

Re: U of Rochester Optics

Post by AO » Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:20 pm

mobytish wrote:Finally, I saw someone else who had applied to (and been accepted to) Rochester Optics. Altoclef (or anyone else accepted) Are you planning on going to the open house?

And, to everyone in general, do you have any information on the program (aside from generic info I can find on the web)? I'm being indecisive about which school would be the best fit for me and the more information I can gather, the easier this decision will be.

[To give you my background info- I've applied to one general physics school (Lehigh U) because it's local, one school with liquid crystal focus (Kent U) because I love liquid crystals, and one school with optics focus (Rochester) because I'm also pretty excited about optics and Rochester also does some liquid crystal work. I'm mostly concerned about living in the area (and my husband needs to find a local job as well) and my job prospects upon graduating. I have no real preference in terms of job sector (academia, industry, etc).]
I mentioned this somewhere else, but I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time with some Rochester Optics people at the 2009 Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) Fall Retreat. They seem to be one of the big, if not the biggest, AO group outside of the UC system. If you have any interest in AO I would highly recommend their program.

Disclaimer: The CfAO funding has ended (it was a ten year program funded by the NSF) so I'm not sure what direction the field is going in.

-J

ddubs
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:23 pm

Re: U of Rochester Optics

Post by ddubs » Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:24 pm

I worked in an electro-optics department (industry) for about 3 years, and Rochester's name is big in optics. Rochester and Arizona Optical Sciences are the only two names I ever heard really. Their programs are very underrated given the reputation their grads have. My boss had been in the aerospace/defense/optics industry for over 30 years and he said Arizona/Rochester's optical sciences program were two options that would leave me "set for life in terms of job opportunities".

Even in my other research position in a material sciences division people had nothing but positive things to say about Arizona/Rochester. Nearly everyone I talked too knew of the quality of their program. It seems their prestige is only known by people who have already completed graduate school, haha.

(Sorry if this double posts)

wmwolf
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:32 am

Re: U of Rochester Optics

Post by wmwolf » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:35 am

I hope this isn't too late:

I spent the last summer in Rochester for research in physics, but I crossed paths with the optics people fairly often. The previous poster already mentioned that the program has some clout and is quite well-run. In fact, they have a beautiful building that is dedicated only to optics and biomedical engineering.

As for the town, Rochester definitely has its ups and downs. Kodak is big there... or at least it was until digital took over, so some of the once-glorious industry has waned, and parts of the area are a little sketchy (I found myself searching for a laundromat at night in the wrong part of town once). I'm not entirely sure how the job market is there in general, but in Optics, there are still likely opportunities at Kodak as well as Bausch & Lomb, which is based there. That being said, I'm pretty sure the largest employer in the area is U Rochester.

As far as other things go, the campus there is lovely, but somewhat isolated (bordered by a river, a park, and a cemetery). It's not far away from Niagara Falls for a fun weekend visit, and if you want to do some camping/hiking/winery hopping, the finger lakes area make for a lovely retreat a relatively short distance away. The place is definitely worth a visit.



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