Thank you very much for taking the time to read/reply. I appreciate the advice. I should have noted that I have the ability to take electives in just about any department related to physics(ME, EE, Math, etc.) with permission from faculty, making the list of possible electives huge.
Thank you for commenting on the quantum optics course. I registered for that on a whim because it was a special offering that was announced just a few weeks ago. The more I look into it though, the more I realize I would probably be better off using those credits in a different course. The applications focused on in that course are in the realm of quantum information/computing, which doesn't help me.
I have similar thoughts in regards to the machine learning, but I will be taking that online course because I want the experience and I know it can't hurt, plus its unrelated to my MS credits and wont be "taking up credits". I was hoping that the numerical methods in physics course would be offered this year but it doesn't seem to be. I will have some credits to do independent study, I was thinking I would utilize some of those to study computational physics as it applies to optics.
I am looking at this online program to take in my free time as it will give me experience using Zemax which seems necessary for my goals. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/optical-engineering?
Hopefully I can use Zemax after that course in my independent study/projects.
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Thank you again for the information. I will look into imaging design for possible projects to work on.