The goal of this program is to bring into being a new type of master's degree in the sciences that equips people for work outside academia. We seek to spur a significant movement in this direction through the support of exemplary efforts at selected US universities. Our focus is on Professional Master's degrees, heavily oriented toward coursework, requiring a full-time student two years to obtain. Success of these types of programs requires that the flow-through of students getting greater depth be good both for science and for the students. Faculty must be committed and enthusiastic about the new programs.
Preliminary indications show that strong job markets exist for the graduates.
Graduate schools in arts and sciences have proven a tremendous machine for producing research. Yet, they are peculiarly unhooked from the marketplace. Everyone cannot be trained to be a trainer. Still, we hope that supporting a small number of universities to develop these programs, which must be self-sustaining on the basis of tuition, like MBA programs, will have a substantial effect. In 2001 we expect to consider a few more grants to universities considering setting up several MS programs within their science faculties.