A few stories from this week's issue:
- This long article by Melody Bomgardner about the phaseout of methyl bromide in California strawberry fields is worthwhile.
- Coverage of the Royal Society of Chemistry's "Chemperceptions" survey - I should have something to say about this in the next day or two. (article by Steven K. Gibb.)
- Interesting article by Maureen Rouhi about Japanese universities opening up their undergraduate programs to international students.
- Interesting that Penn is starting a professional science master's program in chemistry that charges full tuition. (article by Celia Henry Arnaud)
- Dunno how I feel about this, but it will be interesting to see if the cost increases over time.
- Sergio Jorge Pastrana, foreign secretary of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, has a message for you all.
Re: the UPenn PSM-chemistry program, I must be missing something. The way I read it, it's a two-year program, at full tuition, for students with bachelor's degrees in chemistry "whose needs are not being met," presumably by more traditional programs... but then rather than give them a different curriculum, they take 10 grad courses alongside other graduate students in chemistry.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just apply for and attend an actual graduate (M.S.) chemistry program? As far as I can tell, they're trying to appeal to the same students, they take the same coursework, and all without funding. Maybe the difference is that UPenn keeps the PSM students out of research activities and TA work. Not sure if that's worth having to pay full freight.
Of course, looking at the proposed program's student intake, maybe the target market has nothing to do with the given reasons for setting this up in the first place.
Most American research universities do not offer a terminal M.S. degree program in Chemistry. It is possible to apply to M.S. programs at smaller colleges but that isn't the best route for someone whose goal is a career in research. The real attraction here is having U.Penn. on one's C.V. for their next professional step.
DeleteI wonder if they're trying to duplicate the success of cash-cow MBA programs. A lot of folks taking evening MBA's get the tuition paid by their employers, and I had a few co-workers at Big Chemical Company taking evening coursework MS's in chemistry on the company's dime.
ReplyDeleteLooks like UP's chemistry department has been infiltrated by Wharton.
DeleteRead Sergio's statement. I bet a lot of US faculty are drooling in glee at the prospect of attracting Cuban PhD candidates to the US, in addition to the pre-existing contingent of ...."imports"...
ReplyDelete