Grant supports Professional Science Master’s

SUNY’s Professional Science Master’s Program — which aims to increase the flow of scientific skills and innovation into the business-industry arena in New York state — got a boost with a $350,000 grant from the Sloan Foundation.

Oswego’s dean of graduate studies and research, David King, coordinates the 4-year-old program that has established 13 new master’s degree programs, with many more in the works, at 16 SUNY campuses across the state. Much of that progress occurred under an earlier Sloan Foundation grant.

Professor Fehmi Damkaci, left, of the chemistry department works with Ned Karcich, graduate chemistry student in the Professional Science Master’s Program

Professional science master’s degrees fill a need for science-trained professionals to work in business and industry. The degree provides students with supplemental education in such areas as business, project management, marketing and communications.

Oswego has professional tracks in its master’s degree programs in chemistry and human-computer interaction. Other new PSM degrees range from forensic biology at Albany to instrumentation at Stony Brook to biophysics at Buffalo.

“The PSM initiative dovetails beautifully with SUNY’s strategic plan, ‘The Power of SUNY,’ with its goal of economic revitalization for New York,” King added.

— Julie Harrison Blissert