Also called: Wavefront Sensing Scientist
Builds mirrors that change shape a thousand times a second to cancel out the twinkle of the atmosphere, for telescopes and eye doctors.
Your system shines a laser into the sky to make an artificial 'guide star,' measures how the air smears it, and bends a flexible mirror to fix the blur in real time. You might spend nights at a mountaintop observatory in Hawaii or Chile, or work on the same technology for imaging the retina of the human eye.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Doctorate (PhD), about 10 years after high school. PhD in physics, optics, or astronomy.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Physics, Astronomy, Optical Sciences, Electrical Engineering.
Growing about average. Small, specialized field tied to observatory, defense, and ophthalmology budgets.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI controls mirrors faster, but building telescope and eye-imaging systems and nights at observatories stay human.
Classes: AP Physics C, AP Calculus BC, Astronomy.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-2012.
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