New MAE Department MS Degree Program Options

1. New MAE DepartmentMS Degree Program Options Presented to MAE Visiting Committee April 12, 2013 John Kuhlman

2. Overview • I have two items to present for today: • 1.) Present two new MS degree options within MAE Department: • a.) Coursework-Only MS Degree Option (MS-C) • (Developed by GPC, at suggestion of Samir Shoukry, and • adopted by the MAE Faculty, on 3/8/2013) • b.) MS Degree via Unfunded Research (MS-UR) • (Also developed by GPC; discussed by MAE Faculty; not • adopted) • (Also, I seek your input about both proposals.) • 2.) Summarize results of meetings with MAE Faculty in the 5 Departmental Technical Disciplines which form the test areas • of our PhD Qualifier Exam

3. Main Drivers for New MS Degree Tracks • Three reasons that the proposed new degree tracks should be imple- mented: • 1.) To provide added flexibility for our students pursuing MS degrees • Our current graduate degree programs are aimed at full-time • students pursuing graduate degrees that will prepare them for research-oriented positions. The new degree options are aimed more at engineers seeking advanced education to help advance their careers in industry. Also, the MS-C option is aimed at both full-time and part-time students. • 2.) To generate new revenue stream(s) for MAE Department • This includes the options of establishing distance education • and/or online degree programs. • 3.) To increase the enrollment in our graduate courses • This should also help our PhD program, and may enable us to teach a greater number of advanced follow-on courses.

4. Summary of Existing MAE MS Degree via Funded Research (MS-FR) Program • This MS degree option essentially is our existing MSME/MSAE • program; no changes are proposed. • This MS program has minimally-structured coursework, as shown in • Table 1: • Student takes 2 core MAE classes (from one MAE sub-discipline), & • 2 MATH/STAT classes, & 4 approved grad elective classes, & thesis. • Result is an MS degree focused on solving a research problem, generally within a single sub-discipline of ME or AE. • This thesis option is aimed at students desiring research experience, & with career goals aimed at R&D careers in industry, gov’t., or academia. • This MS degree option is completed by our students typically within • approximately two years.

5. Summary of New MAE Coursework-Only MS Degree (MS-C) Program 1.) Coursework is structured, with 6 required MAE courses, plus 2 MATH (or 1 MATH + 1 STAT) courses, plus 3 elective courses. In addition, students will be required to take and pass a written or oral compre- hensive examination. 2.) Only viable format for any online MS program that we might develop. (We do not have any online or distance-ed classes; so, must “start small”.) 3.) A viable way for industry professionals to earn their MS degree part-time while working full-time, without having to be at WVU to perform research to complete a thesis. Also, this degree could be completed within 1 to 1.5 years by full-time, fee-paying students.

6. New MAE Coursework-Only MS Degree (MS-C) Program (Continued) The Coursework-Only MS degree option already exists within the College Graduate Program Guidelines. We can adopt this program without having to go through the WVU Faculty Senate. However, the College & University MS Guidelines require that the Coursework-Only option consist of at least 33 credits of coursework, plus a Comprehensive Examination. These two requirements make if unlikely that students can complete the degree within two academic semesters, or currently even within one year, due to few graduate offerings during the summer. Note that an informal survey conducted by MAE GPC found that 16 out of 17 US universities surveyed (6 Big Ten, 4 Big 12, 4 ACC, and 3 others: CMU, Pitt, and ODU) currently offer Coursework-Only MS degree programs.

7. Changing from One Option to Another; Implementation of New Option • Students may, with receipt of written funding offer from a faculty member, transfer from the MS-C option into the MS-FR option. • \ • Students in the MS-FR option may transfer into the MS-C option, but only with the written approval of the faculty member who had been providing their GRA funding. • Also, if a student on a GRA would transfer to the MS-C option, they would have to meet all of the degree requirements for that degree. GRAs are unlikely to take the 6 MAE graduate courses in 5 different Technical Areas required for the MS-C option. • It is envisioned that both of the MS-C degree option could be implemented immediately, now that it has been adopted by the MAE faculty. It will have to be advertised and marketed. If it is successful and grows significantly, there will have to be additional administrative support, and other resources, allocated for this and other similar programs.

8. Proposed MAE MS Degree via Unfunded Research (MS-UR) Program 1.) This thesis option would be aimed at working professionals in industry or from overseas, desiring this type of program, who are attracted to the compressed time for degree completion. 2.) MS program with similarly-structured coursework; see Table 2 below. Students would take the same required 6 core MAE courses, plus 2 MATH (or 1 MATH + 1 STAT) courses, plus 3 elective courses. In addition, student would complete a MS thesis, for 6 additional credits. 3.) Coursework would be structured so the degree could be completed within 1 year by full-time, fee-paying students, if they are sufficiently motivated to complete a thesis within the 1-year period. 4.) This program would require 30 credits for graduation. Could the thesis “topic be an industrial project? Would we be able to do the advising?

9. Summary of Meetings with MAE Faculty in 5 Technical Areas of PhD Qualifier Exam During the current semester, meetings were conducted with faculty groups in each of the 5 Technical Areas that are covered on the current PhD Qualifier Examination: 1.) Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) 2.) Design, Dynamics, and Controls (DDC) 3.) Solid Mechanics and Structures (SMS) 4.) Thermal Sciences and Systems (TSS) 5.) Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics (FDA) This is, to my knowledge, the first time that we have done this in at least 28 years. The initial goal was to simply review the 5 lists of graduate “core classes”, listed previously and repeated below:

10. Examples of Faculty Recommendations from 5 MAE Technical Area Meetings Examples of ideas recommended by the groups include: 1.) All groups said that cancelling a core graduate course is damaging to the graduate program. 2.) Three of the areas stated that the core requirement for MS students should force both core courses to come from the primary interest area of the student. 3.) MSE voted to replace MAE 649 Microscopy of Materials with MAE 580 Crystallography and Crystals. 4.) DDC suggested creating a common technical “spine” of more general courses, that ALL MAE graduate students would be required to take. (e.g., Optimization, or Advanced Dynamics) 5.) SMS suggested that the “Design” portion of DDC should be placed in the SMS area. 6.) TSS voted to allow MAE 532 Dynamics of Viscous Flow as one alternate course in their core. 7.) FDA voted to allow MAE 624 Convection Heat Transfer as one alternate course in their core.

11. Questions & Discussion?