The New York State Department of Education recently approved a new multidisciplinary science degree program at RPI.
As the first of its kind in New York state, the program will be focus on offering M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in multidisciplinary science to graduate students.
Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson said the multidisciplinary science degree programs are "designed to meet the needs of today’s graduates who require a more diversified background to compete effectively in industrial or governmental occupations that are multidisciplinary in nature."
Associate Dean of Science Samuel Wait noted that the degrees are structured for students whose particular interests overlap several different disciplines. "We can custom-make a program with all the right courses and a dissertation that spans different areas." said Wait.
Students interesting in studying for a career in pharmaceutical research could, for instance, construct a degree focusing on chemistry, biology, and computational sciences.
Nicolle Zellar, a pioneer of the new program, has Ph.D. work concentrating on researching the impact of the history of the earth-moon system and the implication of the origin and sustainability of life on Earth.
She says that she has a much better chance of fulfilling her dream of becoming a researcher in NASA’s astrobiology program, which studies the sustainability of life outside Earth, by having a broad background obtained through work in the multidisciplinary science program.
"I’ve been waiting for two years to see if this program was approved. My research is in lunar geochemistry and studies in the origins of life. I found the multidisciplinary nature of the program, with so many different topics applies to what I’m interested in."
