Serving nontraditional graduate students

Abstract

According to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics, 1 1. National Center for Education Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2002/analyses/nontraditional/index.asp. the percentage of undergraduate students who attended college part-time grew from 28% to 39% between 1970 and 1999. This suggests a need for nontraditional graduate study as well. Still, few physics programs actively work with nontraditional graduate students. As more students and universities become involved in lifelong learning, developing physics programs that cater to non-traditional students will become more important. Many master’s programs in business administration are already beginning to focus on nontraditional students; it’s time for physics programs to do the same.Instead of following the traditional path in which graduate students are recruited exclusively from undergraduate physics programs and are expected to attend full-time, the University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) developed a program that focuses on parttime, nontraditional students. As a result, we can educate students who would not normally be able to complete a graduate physics degree because of nonacademic obligations.A nontraditional upper-level undergraduate and graduate university, UHCL was established as a commuter campus for the University of Houston system. About half of its students take classes part-time. The average age of students is 30 years for undergraduates, and 32 for graduate students. In the fall of 2002, we began to develop the university’s first physics degree, an MS. The program began operations in fall of 2004 and currently has 40–50 graduate students; seven MS degrees were awarded in 2005. However, unlike most physics programs, almost all of our classes are offered in the evenings, and a majority of our students work full-time.We developed the physics MS program based on community interest as determined by an online survey of employers and potential students in the local aerospace and petrochemical industries. Overall, the respondents wanted a program that could prepare students with engineering backgrounds for PhD study in physics, astronomy, or related areas while broadening the technical backgrounds of practicing engineers. The most difficult part of developing the curriculum was working within the restrictions of the part-time students. Almost all of our classes are taught in the evenings, and many involve group learning. Although we included both thesis and non-thesis options in the curriculum, the majority of students choose the non-thesis option. The capstone experience for those students consists of at least one semester of independent study research and a class in writing and publishing scientific papers and giving oral presentations. Our part-time students also seem to prefer theoretical and computational work that better allows them to schedule research time. Experimental work is typically done in collaboration with labs at the neighboring Johnson Space Center, where many of our students work full-time.Because of the immediate popularity of this program among working students, we developed a professional physics sub-plan for the training of technical managers. The plan combines the physics core with business and organizational training from UHCL’s systems engineering and management programs.Overall, the response to the physics MS program has made it clear that a lot of people would love to pursue an advanced degree in physics but can only do so as nontraditional students. In physics we tend to follow an old model that expects students to work continuously from bachelor’s degree through graduate school and postdoctoral study. Those who digress from the standard path are accused of leaving physics and are rarely welcomed back. In the wake of September 11, and as relative enrollments in science, mathematics, and engineering continue to decline nationwide, perhaps it’s time to consider a new approach.REFERENCESection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCE <<1. National Center for Education Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2002/analyses/nontraditional/index.asp. Google Scholar© 2007 American Institute of Physics.