However, the working environment that college graduates face today and will face in the future is one in which their jobs increasingly bridge more than one area of specialization.

The School of Science offers a Master of Science in Applied Science, which is a professional degree with no thesis requirement that prepares graduates who have traditional discipline-oriented backgrounds to function more effectively in industrial, governmental, or other interdisciplinary occupations.

Its intention is to help working professionals upgrade their technical expertise and cross boundaries among disciplines. No financial aid from Rensselaer is available for this program. In addition to extensive science offerings, students may take applicable courses in other schools such as Management, Engineering, or Humanities and Social Sciences.

Students entering the Applied Science program are subject to Rensselaer’s general admission requirements. All programs require 30 credit hours for completion of the degree.

Some concentration examples include:

• analytical and environmental chemistry
• applied groundwater science
• biochemistry/biophysics
• bioinformatics
• chemistry and entrepreneurship
• database management systems
• microelectronics manufacturing
• optimization and statistics
• parallel and scientific computation
• photonics
• polymer science and engineering, and
• software engineering.

In addition, further combinations of courses leading to the Master of Science in Applied Science are developed as additional needs for interdisciplinary education are identified.

A typical Master of Science in Applied Science curriculum consists of:

• Two to four core courses that establish the basis for advanced study in an area of specialization
• Two to four specialization courses that are fundamental to an area of specialization
• Two to six elective courses that allow students to focus in a particular area within their specialization and gain skills intersecting their technical field with other disciplines.