Ph.D. Students in Majors other than Optics: Requires 12 units of Optics coursework to complete the minor, with a grade of B or higher, and an Optical Sciences faculty member representative serving on the Ph.D. Oral Comprehensive Exam (faculty members with a joint appointment in the student’s major department are highly recommended).
Ph.D. in Students in Optical Sciences: Requires 9 units of the Ph.D. coursework to be listed under the minor section of the Ph.D. plan of study.
Minimum Eligibility Requirements
- Must be enrolled as a current Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona. Minors are not available to master’s students.
- University degree in optics, engineering, physics, mathematics, or a related field.
How to Declare Your Minor
Please visit the Optical Sciences Graduate Student Handbook for the requirements of an Optics minor, for students not pursuing a Ph.D. in Optical Sciences. You may also contact the Optical Sciences Graduate Advisor at admissions@optics.arizona.edu or call (520) 621-8418 to discuss any questions you have about the requirements for the minor.
The Minor section of Plans of Study for students wishing to minor in Optical Sciences must be approved by the Optical Sciences Associate Dean of Graduate Academic Affairs. When completing the Plan of Study in GradPath, the student will select Optical Sciences as the minor and the Associate Dean as the Minor Advisor, unless the student has a Ph.D. advisor with an appointment or joint appointment in Optical Sciences. In this case, the Minor Advisor would be the Ph.D. faculty advisor. Please note however that the student is responsible for finding an Optical Sciences faculty representative for the Oral Comprehensive Exam; the Associate Dean is not the default Optical Sciences representative.
In general, approval will be only given to plans in which at least nine of the 12 units are courses for which the College of Optical Sciences is the home department, and 9 of the 12 units are graded courses (with grades of A or B). Independent study units (599 courses) will only be approved if they do not involve research related to the dissertation, and are taken with someone other than the Ph.D. faculty advisor.
For Students Majoring in Optical Sciences
The University of Arizona requires all doctorate students to declare a minor. Current OSC Ph.D. students can declare both optical sciences for their major and minor or declare a minor with an outside department. The minor in optical sciences requires 9 units, which also count toward the total coursework units for the Ph.D.
When completing the Plan of Study in GradPath, the student will select Optical Sciences as the minor and their Ph.D. faculty advisor as the Minor Advisor.