Universities in the Washington region are in the forefront of a
movement to train more people to enter science and technology
professions and meet what industry leaders call an urgent need to
expand the workforce to keep the U.S. economy competitive.
At least eight schools in Virginia, the District and Maryland are
offering or drawing up plans for a two-year professional science
master's degree. The PSM program is designed to provide more
advanced training in science or mathematics -- with a dose of
business skills -- and entice more students who receive bachelor of
science degrees to stay in the field without having to pursue a
doctorate. Most college graduates with four-year science degrees
leave the field and don't return.
The PSM degree, sometimes described as a science version of the MBA
degree, is being hailed as one of the most promising innovations in
graduate education in years. Last year, Congress provided funding
for schools to establish or improve PSM programs through the
America Competes Act.
"This has national implications for leveraging our academic
resources and our professional talent to deliver economic health
for the nation," said Richard G. Donnelly, chairman of the
department of information systems and technology management at
George Washington University and co-director of the school's PSM
program.
GWU launched its molecular biotechnology master's program in the
fall, and Towson University will graduate its first class of 28
students in the forensic science PSM program in the spring.
American University began a PSM program in 2004 with three
branches: biotechnology, applied computing, and environmental
science and assessment. The University of Maryland recently
launched several offerings, and Georgetown University is sponsoring
with Virginia Tech a PSM program in biomedical technology,
development and management that will begin in the fall. Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond has a PSM program in
bioinformatics.
"I want to join the biotechnology industry, and I looked around the
world for the right program," said Mandeep Kaur Gill, who received
a bachelor of science degree and a master's in biology in her
native India and is in GWU's program.
"This had everything," she said, including opportunities to study
science, business, marketing and computer science.
In 1997, as industry leaders complained that U.S. schools were not
producing enough properly trained graduates to enter the science
and technology fields, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation began to
encourage schools to take a new approach.
Providing seed money for master's programs in science and math, the
New York-based foundation set guidelines that provide schools some
structure but also offer flexibility. Universities have long
offered advanced training in these fields. But the program requires
more work across disciplines and business training to help make
graduates marketable. Sloan left engineering out of its grant
specifications because, said Carol B. Lynch, PSM director at the
Council of Graduate Schools, "engineers get it and already
understand the value of a master's degree."
About 1,300 students are enrolled in PSM programs at more than 50
schools nationwide, officials say. The programs have graduated
1,200. The Washington area has the most programs, Lynch said.
That it took a foundation, and not a school, to get the ball
rolling is not entirely surprising, educators said, despite a broad
agreement that the country needs more trained scientists.
PSM supporters expected -- and met -- resistance from some
educators, who thought the science course requirements were too
limited or who did not want PSM students in their classrooms
because they didn't think the students had done the prerequisite
courses.
In addition, universities are tradition-bound institutions. It can
be difficult for schools, especially state-run systems, to get
approval to start something new. Schools don't like to force
experts in one field to change their focus or unwillingly
collaborate outside their discipline.
"In general, institutions of higher ed pay lip service to
interdisciplinary studies," said Ali Eskandarian, an associate dean
at GWU who oversees its PSM program.
Eskandarian said GWU leaders backed the initiative, which could
help boost the workforce for the prospering technology corridor in
Maryland and the growing technology presence in Northern Virginia.
He said Donnelly and physicist Mark E. Reeves created a true
interdisciplinary program, sometimes sitting in each other's
classes to offer different perspectives.
Reeves said he teaches the physics component -- the physics of
biotechnology -- in an unorthodox way. Ninety percent of physics
courses deal with inanimate systems, he said, but his course looks
at living systems.
The physics component attracted Srishti Jain, who said she
considered programs in California, Boston and elsewhere before
deciding on GWU's combination of science and entrepreneurship.
"This is actually the future of biotechnology," she said.
At Towson, officials chose forensic science for the new degree
because of the growth of the homeland security industry and the
demand for 10,000 more forensic scientists over the next decade,
said Mark Profili, the school's PSM director.
The degree was initially confusing to many students, educators say,
and might still be.
"People didn't understand what it was," said Christopher Tudge, a
professor who directs American's PSM program. "Students wanted to
know if they had to get a PhD after this."
He added: "Once the brand-new gets out there and people realize
what its specific function is, I think it is going to be a very
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