The Department of Physics and Astronomy has created a new Master's degree program in collaboration with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The two year master's program is designed to blend pure science classes with business applications in order for our graduates to have a marketable degree in the corporate environment. Three other newly created masters programs are also being offered at USC. They include the Professional Master's in Computational Linguistics, the Professional Master's in Computational Molecular Biology, and Environmental Science and Technology.
Dr. Hans Bozler is spearheading the effort at USC, working with various departments and the Sloan Foundation in designing well-rounded, comprehensive degree programs. Dr. Bozler asked employers, "Why do you hire physicists?" The answer was their ability to organize disparate information and develop models of all sorts, and to do something that's predictive with those models. He hopes that a few of the professional master's students will go for their Ph.D. "The biggest concern among the faculty was that we don't do anything to jeopardize our Ph.D. program by siphoning off students or resources. I think we were able to convince them that it's not a zero-sum game, that this could actually increase the flow of good students through the Department."
Longtime advocate of science education reform and currently an adviser to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sheila Tobias believes that the new professional master's programs will be, "The hot professional degrees of the 21st century. It's just like the way the MBA was the quintessential 20th century degree." In the longer term, she hopes that, "By supplying industry with such versatile people, they'll say, `We want more people like that'. It's the reverse of the usual demand-supply equation."
The Professional Master's in Physics for Business Applications is designed to attract recent graduates or technically trained workers who hold a bachelors degree in physics, applied mathematics, or physical science. The curriculum for the program consists of a core of physics courses, a special track in business with an emphasis in one of several areas, discussions of emerging technologies and a Capstone Experience which may include internships for those not working in industry.
Dr. Bozler believes that this streamlined graduate education will greatly aid in the success of the graduates. He sees the program as a pathway for major corporations to find and employ greater numbers of science trained people. Today, corporations must choose between scientists or business graduates when what they really need is a scientist with business knowledge. We want to provide that individual. Dr. Bozler feels that this will only increase our enrollment and prestige. He looks forward to the time when our graduates will be in a position to hire others.
USC and The Department of Physics and Astronomy are constantly striving to provide exceptional educational opportunities for our graduates. The professional master's programs are yet another example of USC being in the forefront of innovative education. By listening to employers, students and researching trends we believe that we are serving the needs of our students as well as the community. The programs have received much notice. The LA Times, Physics Today and Science Magazine are among the publications that have written about the emerging professional master's programs.
For more information regarding the programs, or on the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation please visit our web site at www.usc.edu/dept/physics/SloanWeb.
Department of Physics & Astronomy / USC Physics & Astronomy Newsletters /