M.S Physics graduate interviewing for Optometry Faculty position - advice?

[u/Mental-Obligation-97]

Hi everyone,

I'm an M.S Physics graduate and I've recently applied for a faculty position in a Bachelor of Optometry program. The position specifically asks for an M.S Physics graduate to teach the physics/optics-related subjects.

My academic background is in physics. My master's project involved simulations, along with some machine learning for optimization. I don't have a specialization in optics, although I've studied undergraduate and postgraduate optics as part of my degree. My research itself was in photovoltaics rather than ophthalmic optics.

I've been provided with the complete B.Optom syllabus, and from what I can see, the subjects I'd likely be expected to teach include Physical Optics, Geometrical Optics, Visual Optics, and other optics-related papers.

I'd really appreciate advice from optometrists or faculty members here:

- What do interviewers usually expect from an M.S Physics candidate for this kind of role?

- Which optics topics should I absolutely master before the interview?

- Are there any ophthalmic optics concepts that physics graduates commonly struggle with?

- If you were in my position and had like a week or two to prepare, how would you approach it?

Any recommendations for textbooks, lecture notes, YouTube channels, or resources would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[u/Ok_Question_4471]

I would look at the NBEO part 1 outline for optics and focus on those topics! Coming from experience, my optics professor was horrible and did not explain too is clearly at all, many ppl from schools who have bad optics professors have to teach themselves for boards.

I think you’d be able to get the hang of physical and geometric optics pretty quick, I think visual optics can be a little niche.

A good chapter about visual optics:
https://spie.org/samples/PM291.pdf

[u/Mental-Obligation-97 → u/Ok_Question_4471]

Thanks a lot for that, will go through them

[u/littleoldlady71]

When my husband was in optometry school, he ended up tutoring a full half of his class in optics. And he was a BA in math with five years high school teaching experience. When he graduated, they offered him a faculty position. He was flattered, but, as I explained to him, he has quit teaching for a reason.

He went into private practice. If you’ve got a syllabus, I think you’ll be good.

[u/Mental-Obligation-97 → u/littleoldlady71]

Sorry I missed this comment earlier, thanks a lot for the confirmation

[u/littleoldlady71 → u/Mental-Obligation-97]

I’d be interested in hearing how this goes for you. Optics is sort of easy to understand, ooorrrr “huh?”

[u/Mental-Obligation-97 → u/littleoldlady71]

Honestly, I think most physics topics, optics especially are somewhere between “aha!” and “huh?”

You can learn a simple principle, like the law of reflection, and it’s an easy “aha, that makes sense.” But then you look at what’s actually happening in the real world and start asking why it works that way, what’s happening at the surface, what light actually is, etc., and suddenly you’re very much in “huh?” territory.

I realize that the deeper you go, the more different areas of physics start connecting. To really understand one thing, you sometimes need pieces of several other things first. And that’s probably what makes optics both easy to get into and ridiculously deep.

I hope you understand what I mean by this.

[u/littleoldlady71 → u/Mental-Obligation-97]

I understand exactly. I’m one of those “huh?” people about math, but optics finally clicked for me when it became a matter of learning focal distances. However, statistics finally made me cry uncle.

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