Professional Science
Master’s (PSM) - What is it?
A new kind of degree that:
 Prepares graduates for work - outside academia involved in active science.
 Combines technical competencies with workforce skills,
e.g. management, policy, communications, law “Science Plus!”
 Leads to a wider variety of career options than
provided by traditional graduate programs – jobs in
business, government, non-profit sectors.
What else is it? Technical
Leadership Development
 Technical depth and leadership skills are hard to
find in one person, but essential in many
employment areas (director/manager in
technical and financial fields).
 PSMs produce technically knowledgeable
leaders.
 Needs for such people increase with complexity.
 This is vital for US global competitiveness.
Professional Science Master’s
Degree - Why?
 Odd Gap in U.S. Science Graduate Education
• Strong: Bachelors, PhDs in science.
• But BA/BS insufficient for science career.
• Master’s considered merely as entry to (or exit from)
the PhD.
• But PhD too long, with uncertain prospects.
• Attractiveness of PhD declining among domestic
students; < 20% of majors continue in
science/math graduate programs.
30,000
Doctoral S&E Degrees by
World Region
80%
U.S. Citizen
20,000
75%
All U.S
70%
15,000
10,000
65%
Europe
60%
Asia
55%
0
50%
19
7
19 5
7
19 6
7
19 7
7
19 8
7
19 9
8
19 0
8
19 1
8
19 2
8
19 3
8
19 4
8
19 5
8
19 6
8
19 7
8
19 8
8
19 9
9
19 0
9
19 1
9
19 2
9
19 3
9
19 4
9
19 5
9
19 6
9
19 7
9
19 8
9
20 9
0
20 0
0
20 1
0
20 2
0
20 3
04
5,000
U.S. Citizens and Perm Res
S & E Ph.D. Degrees
25,000
USA
Europe
Asia
% US Citizens
Source: National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2004
© Council of Graduate Schools, 2007
PSM – Why? Employers Views:
 Many need PhDs, but not in large numbers
 PLUS…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Interdisciplinary teamwork, flexibility
Project management
Computational skills
Communication ability
Basic business skills
Ethics
Legal and regulatory issues
PSM – Why?
Workforce Projections




Globalizing, off-shoring, rapid change
Many expect demand for graduate skills
Ramp-ups in competition: China, India
Needed: more flexibility, nimbleness in graduate
science education
PSM Programs Are For:
Students who want to work in:
 Non-academic sectors
 Interdisciplinary careers
 Team oriented environments
 Managerial or other professional level positions
 Emerging areas of science and scientific discovery
Students who are:
 Seeking career advancement in government, industry, and
technology,
 Looking to gain a competitive edge in the job market,
 Re-entering the workforce looking to refine professional and
technical skills,
 Seeking career growth
How is the PSM Different?
 More science (or mathematics) than MBA
 More informatics/computation than science degree
 More professional skills (business, law, communication)
than PhD
 Connections with potential employers
 Project or team experience vs. thesis: real world
experience
How is the PSM Different?
 Curriculum developed in concert with
employers and designed to dovetail into present
and future vocational opportunities.
 Based on analysis of demand for graduates,
including collection of information from
potential employers.
How Do Employers Help?






Advise PSM faculty
Mentor PSM students
Tuition for employees
Internships
Prospective employers
Champions re: regional economic development
Who Hires PSM Graduates?
Applied Biosciences
 Eli Lilly
 3-Dimension Pharmaceuticals (J&J)
 The Institute for Human Genome Therapy
 Health Sciences, Inc.
 Glaxo SmithKline
 Purdue Pharma
 Novartis
 Texas Department of Public Safety
 Johnson & Johnson
Who Hires PSM Graduates?
Financial, Industrial Math & Statistics
 First Federal Bank
 Digital Credit Co.
 Putnam Investments
 Watson-Wyatt
 Chevron
 Lockheed-Martin
 G.E. Capital
 Department of Agriculture
 American Automobile Association
Starting Salaries for PSM
Graduates
 Private Industry - $55,000 - $62,000
• Boeing, Chevron, Novartis, Lockheed-Martin, G.E. Capital, Raytheon,
Pfizer, Glaxo Smith-Kline
 Government - $45,000 - $55,000
• NASA, EPA, USDA, National Center for Food Safety, Michigan Council
of Governments
 Nonprofits - $45,000 - $55,000
• Mayo Clinic, Institute Human Genome Therapy, IIT,
• Research Institute, Institute for Pollution Control
Comparable salaries for BS graduates: $29,000 - $36,000
(NSF data)
Declared Majors of 1999-2000
Undergraduate Students
Business/Management
Arts and Humanities
Health Sciences/Professions
Social/Behavioral Sciences
Computer/Information Science
Education
Engineering
Life Sciences
Physical Sciences
Mathematics
Vocational/Technical
Other Technical/Professional
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
18.6%
17.6%
10.2%
9.2%
8.6%
8.1%
5.6%
5.2%
1.2%
0.8%
5.1%
10.0%
Share of Degrees Awarded in Science, Engineering and
Social Sciences 1976-2002a
1975-76
1985-86
1995-96
2001-02
Change 76-02
925,746
987,823
1,164,792
1,291,900
39.6%
1,291,900
Eng. BS/Total BS
5.00%
9.68%
6.66%
6.06%
21.0%
78,225
Bio/Math/Phys
Sci BS/Total BS
9.95%
7.83%
6.41%
6.52%
-34.5%
84,179
19.08%
13.61%
16.95%
15.71%
-17.7%
202,939
311,771
288,567
406,301
482,118
54.6%
482,118
Eng.MS/Total MS
5.24%
7.51%
6.39%
6.17%
17.7%
29,754
Bio/Math/Phys
Sci MS/Total MS
5.25%
5.03%
3.49%
3.11%
-40.8%
14,975
*Social Sciences
MA/Total MA
8.38%
7.07%
5.64%
5.55%
33.8%
26,742
34,064
33,653
44,652
44,160
29.6%
44,160
8.28%
10.13%
12.32%
13.54%
63.5%
5,979
Bio/Math/Phys
Sci Ph.D. Tot PhD
22.70%
22.84%
21.76%
23.42%
3.2%
*Social Sciences
Ph.D/Total PhD
21.47%
19.46%
14.76%
16.28%
-24.2%
Total
Masters/Total
Bachelor’s
33.68%
29.21%
34.88%
37.65%
11.8%
Engineering
35.27%
22.64%
33.50%
36.80%
4.3%
Biological Sci
12.13%
13.01%
11.14%
10.11%
-16.6%
Mathematics
26.43%
21.04%
27.13%
27.46%
3.9%
Physical Sci
25.46%
27.18%
31.69%
30.58%
20.1%
*Social Sci
14.78%
15.18%
11.60%
12.07%
-18.4%
Total
Bachelor’s
Degrees
*Social Sciences
BA/Total BA
Total Master’s
Degrees
Total Ph.D.
Degrees
Eng. PhD/Total
PhD
*Social Sciences includes Psychology and History
aSource: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Deg 01-02
10,341
7,190
SUNY PLUS Courses
• Negotiation/Consensus Building
• Health Care Administration
• Financial Management
• Running Clinical Trials
• Marketing Management
• Web Design
• Managerial Accounting
• Graphics/Publications
• Organizational Communication Skills
• Regulatory Issues
• Writing and Public Speaking
• Entrepreneurship
• Principles of Micro and Macro Economics
• Leadership Training
• The Legal Environment of Business
• Statistics
• Project Management
• Ethics
• Team Management
• Technology Transfer
• Presentation Skills
• Global Understanding
• Intellectual Property Law
• Critical Thinking / Decision Making
• Copyright Law
• Other Possible Plus Courses
PSM Learning Outcomes
Members of industry requested that PSM graduates
exhibit the following skills:
• Working knowledge of business and ethics
• Solid science background
• Teamwork experience
• Writing skills
• Communications/presentation skills
• Flexible training and career perspective
Source: Professional Master’s Education: A CGS Guide to Establishing Programs, page 14-15.
PSM Learning Outcomes, cont’d
These components translate into the ability of a
program graduate to:
• Understand and appreciate the basic principles of business,
the profit motive, and related ethical issues
• Design and execute experiments with minimal supervision
• Participate effectively as members of interdisciplinary teams
• Prepare technical reports, project plans, and regulator documents
• Prepare and present information to a wide variety of constituents,
from customers to stockholders to the general public
• Apply their knowledge and skills to various areas of the company
as needed during their career trajectory
Source: Professional Master’s Education: A CGS Guide to Establishing Programs, page 14-15.
PSM Learning Outcomes, cont’d
These components translate into the ability of a
program graduate to:
• Understand and appreciate the basic principles of business,
the profit motive, and related ethical issues
• Design and execute experiments with minimal supervision
• Participate effectively as members of interdisciplinary teams
• Prepare technical reports, project plans, and regulator documents
• Prepare and present information to a wide variety of constituents,
from customers to stockholders to the general public
• Apply their knowledge and skills to various areas of the company
as needed during their career trajectory
Source: Professional Master’s Education: A CGS Guide to Establishing Programs, page 14-15.
Chancellor John Ryan - Spring 2007
“The Listening Tour”
Partners
• The State University of New York
• NYS Empire State Development Corporation
• NYS Department of Labor
• The Business Council of New York State
• NYS Economic Development Council
Participants
• Invited members of the business, economic development and
SUNY community
Listening Tour Sites
• Mid-Hudson - Orange Community College
• Capital Region - University at Albany
• Mohawk Valley - Institute of Technology
• North Country - Plattsburgh State College
• Southern Tier - Corning Community College
• Central New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry
• Finger Lakes - Monroe Community College
• Western New York - Buffalo State College
• Long Island - Stony Brook University
The Listening Tour
Next Steps for SUNY
• Educate and train students to be the highly skilled workers of tomorrow
• Promote a SUNY-Wide culture that encourages and nurtures innovation and
entrepreneurship
• Recruit renowned faculty who will attract research funding and other activities
• That result in new inventions, discoveries and innovations
• Move quickly in the area of research, development and deployment (RDD) of
new technologies and inventions
• Establish and foster incubators, startups and other venues for entrepreneurship
and innovative start-ups
• Establish and cultivate university-industry partnerships
• Promote and participate in partnerships for regional economic development
• Develop and sustain strategic initiatives that promote economic development
• Enhance the quality of life in the campus community and surrounding region
The Professional Science Master’s Initiative
Purpose/Goals
• Reversing the ‘brain drain’
• Strengthen master’s level education across SUNY
• Help to solve the national shortage of domestic students in the sciences
and mathematics pipeline
• Create a second center of gravity in graduate education that would articulate
a distinctive purpose for more of its master’s degree programs
• Revitalizing the career potential for students who do not wish to pursue
the doctorate
System-wide Adoption
of the PSM:
The SUNY Experience
NGA Policy Academy
June 2-3, 2008
The New York
Context
Projections of High School Graduates
195,000
3,400,000
190,000
3,300,000
3,200,000
New York State
United States
185,000
3,100,000
180,000
3,000,000
NYS
175,000
2,900,000
170,000
2,800,000
165,000
2,700,000
160,000
2,600,000
22
20
20
20
18
20
16
20
14
20
12
20
10
20
08
20
06
20
04
20
02
20
00
20
19
19
19
19
98
2,400,000
96
150,000
94
2,500,000
92
155,000
Source: "Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates by State and
Race/Ethnicity, 1992 to 2022," Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
New York State’s Ten
Economic Development
Regions
The System-wide
Approach
Getting Started



2006: SUNY Graduate Deans become
interested in the PSM;
Discussions with Sloan and Council of
Graduate Schools representatives;
Deans approach SUNY System
Admin. for support and coordination.
Photo taken 4/20/2006
Getting Organized



2007: Formation of a PSM Planning
Group;
Development of a plan for the
System-wide adoption of the PSM
Grant;
Support from the Sloan Foundation
creates wider interest in the PSM.
Funding Campuses
Western Region
Central Region
Eastern Region
Brockport
Biological Sciences
Binghamton
Geographic Information
Systems
Materials Science and
Engineering
Integrated Watershed
Studies
Albany
Computer Science
Forensic Molecular
Biology
Biodiversity,
Conservation and
Policy
Buffalo
SUNYIT
Applied Mathematics
Advanced Technology
Plattsburgh
Allied Health
Environmental Policy
Biophysics
Natural and
Biomedical
Sciences
Oswego
Human Computer
Interaction
Chemistry
Potsdam
Computational Science
Information Security
Buffalo State
Applied Health
Promotion Science
Applied Mathematics
and Computational
Science
Appointing a Director
David King
Graduate Dean, Oswego
SUNY PSM Director
Getting to Work



Meeting with faculty on PSM
curriculum design;
Conducting and inventory of Plus
Course Assets on SUNY campuses;
Meetings with regional business and
industry groups.
PSM Brochure and Website
Next Steps



Facilitating PSM program/degree
approval by the NYS Education Dept.
Exploring funding options to maintain
momentum beyond Sloan grant
Institutionalizing the SUNY-PSM
Infrastructure
Draft
Cartoon by Hal Mayforth at
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/images/outsourcing1.jpg