Integrating Imaging Physics into Undergraduate STEM Education

Physics is a notoriously challenging subject that plays a critical and ubiquitous role in our lives. Undergraduate educators thus need new approaches that will encourage college students to study physics.

We have addressed this need through the development of a novel undergraduate physics course and associated textbook that cover the principles, practice, and application of prominent biomedical imaging techniques (i.e., light microscopy and medical imaging) and explore their extensive connections to physics. We chose to focus on imaging because it is a powerful, ubiquitous scientific tool that has strong foundational ties to physics. Imaging also arises frequently in everyday life, so students are interested in the topic and appreciate its importance.

The physical foundations of imaging can be established using approaches that range from purely conceptual to highly theoretical. We use a combined conceptual and theoretical approach that is enthusiastically received by students majoring in all STEM disciplines. This success suggests that other institutions also would profit from offering a course focused on biomedical imaging. Here we describe the course content, including highly popular hands-on activities and interactive simulations, to help pave the way for other educators who are interested in teaching a similar course.