"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
This Science Masters Program (SMP) award aims to develop several well-defined ?green-themed? science concentrations, including biotechnology (especially biofuels), sustainability, urban environmental analysis and management, and industrial mathematics across all three of the Rutgers campuses in Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden, NJ. The goal of the new degree program is to train the next generation of individuals to assume key leadership roles in science-intensive industries and to translate research into commercialization. This program will recruit, enroll, and provide tuition fellowships for two cohorts of students into the new professional science master?s degree program. Additionally, this program will recruit and train talented US students especially from underrepresented populations in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and prepare them to obtain high-paying jobs in emerging green-technology industries of critical importance to the economy of the U.S. Ultimately, this initiative will fuel innovation and economic growth in New Jersey and the U.S. The degree includes a science concentration combined with a common set of business ?plus? courses. The business ?plus? courses include finance and accounting, management, communications, marketing, and ethics. Students will complete a research internship as well as an integrated capstone course in which they will learn how to evaluate, convert, and commercialize science, engineering and technology discoveries into new economic ventures. This new SMP model will both improve the STEM to industry connection and increase the number of underrepresented minority graduates in the STEM pipeline.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, has developed a new common, state-wide professional science master's (PSM) degree framework across all three of its campuses in Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden, NJ. This PSM degree includes a concentration of courses in an applied science discipline with a solid foundation of "business+" courses including finance and accounting, communications, innovation, and ethics. The new Rutgers master’s program has a wide range of concentrations in STEM fields and the degree awarded is called a "Master of Business & Science". This proposal requested funds from the NSF Science Master’s Program to recruit and enroll two cohorts of students into this new PSM program, leveraging strong existing Rutgers’ initiatives to attract students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields. The recruitment was focused on the concentrations relating to "green science" including Sustainability, Biotechnology; and Urban Environmental Science. The new PSM program at Rutgers is designed to train students to become future leaders in industry and government, and to educate working scientists, engineers, and technologists in multidisciplinary, cutting-edge science, technology, and business development areas. These scientists will better understand linkages between science, engineering, technology, and business, and will learn how to lead innovations from ideas to commercialization. The program was successfully launched in 2010 and has now over 200 students. A total of 18 students were supported as part of the NSF funding. Students were recruited from undergraduate programs at Rutgers and in NJ, specifically targeting students from populations currently underrepresented in STEM disciplines. The goal of the new degree is to train the next generation of individuals to assume key integrator and leadership roles in science-intensive industries and to help translate research into practice fueling innovation and growth in NJ and the US.
