"Graduate Studies in Science Expand Beyond the Ph.D."
(page 5)
David Goodstein, a physics professor at the California
Institute of Technology who has written frequently about
science education, isn't critical of the professional master's
degree effort, but suggests that an earlier focus is
necessary. Undergraduate education, he says, needs to be
refined to attract more students, giving them the scientific
background necessary for the future's more technical careers.
Tinkering with the Ph.D., "the jewel in the crown," isn't
necessary. "It's the only part of the American system of
education that the rest of the world admires," Mr. Goodstein
says. "We should just leave it alone."
At the Keck Graduate Institute, an effort to create a
professional master's degree in the sciences doesn't require
cajoling longtime professors into participating. And no one
has to defend complaints that the master's students will rob
resources from doctoral students. At Keck, there are no
longtime professors and no doctoral students.
Founded in 1997 with a $50-million grant from the W. M. Keck
Foundation, the Keck Graduate Institute is the newest of the
Claremont Colleges. Its initial 28 students are nearing the
end of their first year, and they're all seeking the only
degree the institute offers right now: a master's in
bioscience. Keck professors and administrators expect
virtually all of their students to take jobs in industry
rather than pursue an academic career, and the curriculum is
designed that way.
At first blush, Henry E. Riggs, the president of Keck, might
seem an unlikely revolutionary at the meeting in Tucson. He's
not a scientist, and unlike almost every other professor in
the room, he doesn't have a Ph.D. Bald-headed and bow-tied,
he's unassuming and approachable. Yet on further review, it's
clear Mr. Riggs almost perfectly reflects the collaboration of
industry, science, and technology that these degrees are
about.
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