Some of the first graduates of a new professional science master’s (PSM) degree program at USC will complete their degrees in May, and student interest in the program is rapidly growing.

The PSM degree program currently offers concentrations in bioinformatics, modeling for corporate applications, biotechnology, and environmental geosciences. Most of the coursework can be completed in three semesters, and the degree requires a three-credit internship but no thesis. It has been compared to an MBA in the sciences.

“The PSM is more applied than traditional master of science degrees, and the curriculum is more broad based than a Ph.D.,” said program director Jeff French. “This is the ideal degree for someone who wants an applied degree in science along with solid business and communication skills to pursue a range of careers.”

USC’s PSM program was launched with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and includes special courses offered through faculty in the School of Law, the Moore School of Business, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. The 36-credit hour degree requirement includes a supervised internship that many students complete during or just before their final semester.

“The science courses taught me information relevant to biotechnology issues, as I am already discovering in my internship at Greenwood Genetics Center and with SCBio,” said Blake Derrick, who is completing his PSM in biotechnology. “The PSM business courses have prepared me for my internship, but my internship has been the real learning and training experience in preparing for a career in biotechnology.”

The program mixes physics, biotechnology, and geoscience students together in case study courses in which the students must tackle real-world problems for two weeks, then make proposals as if they were consultants.

“We give them a real scenario without telling them what the involved parties actually decided to do,” French said. “They learn teamwork, presentation skills, and problem solving as they try to propose their own solutions.”

The PSM degree is geared especially for undergraduates who already have decided on graduate school and for people who are working in industry but want to retool for better jobs.

“The marketing, finance, international business, and entrepreneurial business subjects are taught by some of the elite IMBA professors, and they are absolutely phenomenal—you can easily figure out why USC's IMBA program is ranked so highly,” said Tomi Richards, a PSM student who came to USC after several years of employment as a pharmaceutical sales representative.

“I know from past experience that you never really know what you are going to end up doing way on down the road, and the more exposure you are given just enhances your abilities and your marketability.”



04/04