Jackson State University is offering two new degree programs in its College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) – one of which is exclusive in Mississippi only at JSU.
The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning approved JSU’s proposals during the November meeting to offer a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and a Master of Science in Computational/Data-Enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E).
The B.S. in Biotechnology will be the only undergraduate program offered in the state. The U.S. Department of Labor indicates that the need for biological technicians will grow, with a projected increase of 11 percent from 2012 to 2022. The national trend indicates a need for highly educated and trained bio-technicians with terminal degrees that can either directly enter the workforce to support this need or utilize their degree to further their careers in various professional schools.
Chair of the Department of Biology, Dr. Timothy Turner, said, “Expanding our degree programs under the umbrella of the Biology Department will help us to better address the STEM job market need for more biotechnology technicians. We are up for this challenge and so are our students.”
The emphases of the M.S. in CDS&E include computer engineering, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, computational engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering and geological engineering, public health.
The CDS&E program includes several disciplines: biology, chemistry, computer engineering, computer science, civil and environmental engineering, industrial engineering and manufacturing engineering. Others are materials science and engineering, physics, mathematics, technology, public health, economics, finance and other non-STEM disciplines.
Enhancing the capabilities to create knowledge from vast and rich data resources is a White House Big Data Priority for government and the nation.
Dr. Gordon Skelton, director of the CDS&E programs at JSU, said, “This strategy of applying Big Data will lead to major societal benefits such as cancer cures, new engineering designs, advances in cybersecurity and better weather prediction, for example.”
The M.S. in CDS&E will help increase the number of students seeking degrees in STEM academic fields and the number receiving STEM degrees. The program improves the potential for JSU graduates to land high-paying jobs in the data sciences, said Dr. Richard A. Aló, dean of JSU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
“A comprehensive foundation in computational, mathematical and statistical methodologies is what our students acquire in the CDS&E program,” Aló said. “The program will provide courses that prepare students for careers in academic, business, government and private industry as data scientists and data engineers for graduate training in statistics and related fields.”
The newly established degrees will provide fundamental training and prepare students for rigorous advanced degree work and job opportunities.