The Newest Master’s Professional Studies in The Sciences and Mathematics

The Problems Too few U.S. undergraduates electing majors in mathematics and the sciences No business/industry-oriented graduate training shorter and less rigorous than the research oriented PhD, focused on discovery of new knowledge, not the application of existing knowledge. Too few science-(or math-) trained professionals in state and local government, media, finance, the non-profit sectors

The PSM Degree, a Two-Year Post-graduate Degree with More Science than an MBA More informatics & computation than a typical science degree More skills training in professional fields (business, law, communication) than in any doctoral program Closer interaction with employers through internships, business/industry affiliates

Today’s Employers Expect a Workforce that is: Able to work in interdisciplinary teams on complex problems involving rapidly changing science and technology Highly proficient in computational techniques Able to communicate effectively their scientific mission to variety of audiences Have an understanding of the business and legal issues associated with their projects.

Immediate Benefit to State Economies: Master’s Grads Stay Nearby Master’s Grads tend to work near where they got their degree PhD grads go on a national (even international) job market

Conditions for PSM Accreditation High Quality Content – Graduate level science/math courses, “plus” courses in business, law, project management, entrepreneurship, regulatory affairs,finance Local industry/business input into planning Reasonable prospects for Regents Approval

Three Variants New applications of classical subjects, e.g. financial mathematics, physics of modeling, biotechnology Interdisciplinary (or fused) subjects, e.g. environmental decision making, human/computer interaction Integration of Informatics with science subjects, e.g. bioinformatics, computational chemistry, geographical information systems, computational linguistics

97 Training Areas in 45 Institutions in 20 states Mathematics – Financial, Industrial, Applied, Statistics for Entrepreneurship, Statistics for Environmental Decision Making, Computational Sciences Physics – with Business Applications, Physics of Modeling, Industrial Physics, for Entrepreneurship Computational Biology Computational Chemistry Forensics Biological Sciences – Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Applied BioSciences Bioanalytical Chemistry, Biomolecular Chemistry Geographical Information Systems

Degree Requirements Disciplinary courses Cross-disciplinary courses Thesis or Project Business course(s) Internship

The Cohort Experience Unlike M.S./Ph.D. programs which are often a solo experience…PSM’s cultivate working teams, the “cohort experience” Orientation assignments Social gatherings Pre- and post-internships, Shared projects, Joint seminars, colloquia, speakers’ series, across tracks

The Role of Research in PSM Programs PSM is not without research exposure, but it is not designed to prepare students for a research career. Rather, students get a project/team experience in solving a problem they might encounter in the workplace.

What Employers Say about PSM Grads as regards Research-related Skills Able to design/execute experiments with minimal supervision Able to write research reports Able to present technical information to varied audiences Able to interface between research and marketing, research and business development, research and legal/regulatory, policy/legislative

Advantages to Industry Graduates tend to focus on emerging or interdisciplinary fields, where the action is Able to apply science/math/engineering to techniques non-technical fields Opportunity to add management skills to technical proficiency Graduates have greater business sense Lower salary entry (vs. Ph.D.) for top versatile talent

What’s in it for the Universities Contacts with business/industry Highly motivated students Additional full-time equivalent (FTE) students to add to department roster Satisfies regents’ and trustees’ demand that universities contribute more directly to economic and workforce development

What’s in it for the States Another source of Intellectual Capital High tech Workforce Development Increase Tech transfer capabilities Provide Personnel for Incubators Compete for high tech businesses

Employers of PSM Graduates Applied Physics & Health Physics Raytheon Spectrum Astro Lockheed Martin Boeing Illinois Dept Nuclear Safety Entergy Argonne National Lab Geisinger Health System Mayo Clinic Thom. Jefferson Accelerator

Employers of PSM Graduates Applied Biosciences Eli Lilly Dept. Homeland Security Pfizer 3-D Pharmaceuticals Inst. For Human Genome Therapy Health Sciences Inc. Alltech Inc. Fl. Dept of Law Enforcement Texas Dept of Public Safety Glaxo Smith-Kline Allergan \Novartis Johnson & Johnson Informax

Employers of PSM Graduates Environment-Related Orgs. STS Consultants (WI) Alameda County Water District Cold Regions Research and Eng. Lab Minerals Management Service Vestra Inc. Inst. Of Pollution Control MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA Conservation Biology Inst. Patrick Engineering EPA

Employers of PSM Graduates Financial, Industrial Math, Statistics First Federal Bank Digital Credit Co Putnam Investments Southeastern Mich. Council of Gov’t Watson-Wyatt Roche Diagnostics Guidant Chevron Lockheed Martin Am. Auto. Assoc. G.E. Capital US Dept’ of Agriculture

Companies Supporting PSM Students Baxter Healthcare Merck National Center for Food Safety TEVA Pharm. Industries Fermi National Lab Loyola Univ. Medical Center Regional Radiation Consultants U.S. Army U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Abbott LAboratories

Companies Supporting PSM Students (2) Sun Chemicals Coral Chemical Conoco Phillips Cabot Corporation Cargill Fisher Scientific Sherwin-Williams Agrium Akzo Nobel Allon Science/Technology Fisher Scientific

Challenges for PSM-2005 Scale Up -- How to engage 200 universities? More than a few thousand graduates? How to attract more minority students and minority institutions? Who will pay for program development? Who will pay for students to attend? How to partner with State Economic Development Agencies? How to integrate training for innovation and entrepreneurship?

Action Items for States Be sure that applied math and applied science (along with research capability) are part of the conversation about economic development, workforce enhancement, innovation, and tech- transfer in your state Be sure there are no legislative barriers to launching innovative new master’s programs – no caps, no prejudice Get to know the programs in your state; make sure others know about them, too. Consider a system-wide adoption of the PSM model