Undergraduate students at Nazareth University have a new opportunity to learn optical sciences.
The college is offering an optics minor starting this fall.
Professor Sanela Lampa-Pastirk, co-director of Nazareth's biomedical sciences program, said the idea is to introduce advanced optics methods to students early on.
“There is a really high demand for a workforce in photonics and optics, and in biomedical sciences that requires these very specific skills,” Lampa-Pastirk said. “Earlier the students actually get to be exposed to these methods and techniques, easier it is for them to actually have more choices in their future career.”
The optics minor brings together life sciences, photonics, and advanced optical techniques, according to a spokesperson with the university.
Lampa-Pastirk said the minor opens up opportunities for students to explore unknowns, including in medicine.
“Let's say you take a pill for something, right? ... That pill has a substance that will react in a certain way," she said. “If it's for your headache, you won't have headache after some time. But there is a level of details in between those two steps that occurs that actually scientists need to know in order to understand how exactly to tackle that problem.”
That is where advanced optics technology can help find answers, she said.
“Whatever it is that you're studying, you can adjust and learn more or create a better outcome for it,” she said.
The minor is intended for students interested in biomedicine, imaging, and nanotechnology.
Rochester is considered a global leader in optics, photonics and imaging, according to Empire State Development, the economic development arm of New York's government. With more than 150 companies in the Rochester area that work with vision science, precision optics and lasers.
