LSU unveiling 4 coast-oriented degree programs
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One way LSU is pushing to increase its graduate student enrollment is by developing new doctoral programs.
The LSU Board of Supervisors today is expected to approve four new graduate degree programs at the flagship LSU campus, including one doctorate in collaboration with Southern University and the University of New Orleans.
Ranging from coastal engineering to materials science, LSU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Astrid Merget said the new degree programs “make so much sense for LSU given its talents and location.”
The new proposed programs are:
- Doctorate in materials science and engineering in collaboration with Southern and UNO.
- Doctorate in environmental sciences.
- Doctorate in coastal engineering sciences.
- Master’s degree in coastal and ecological engineering.
Merget said the new material science doctorate will enhance LSU’s multidisciplinary hiring initiative that brought physicist E. Ward Plummer and his large team to LSU last year.
Plummer came to LSU specifically to boost the materials sciences, which include studying nanotechnology and the micro-fabrication of new materials and tiny devices from stain-proof slacks to new forms of drug delivery to new energy sources development.
Materials science involves biology, chemistry, engineering and physics, bringing together LSU’s Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices on Jefferson Highway, the Center for Computation and Technology and the Center for BioModular Multiscale Systems.
In the collaborative vein, Southern University College of Engineering Dean Habib Mohamadian said “each institution will grant their own degree, but we’re going to share resources.”
Mohamadian said nearly half of each materials science degree program involves common core courses that could be taken at LSU, Southern or UNO.
He said the program is a big addition for Southern because this country is “grossly underrepresented” in the amount of black residents with upper graduate degrees in the science, math and engineering fields.
The rest of the new LSU degrees heavily involve new LSU deans Christopher D’Elia of the School of Coast and Environment and Richard Koubek of the College of Engineering.
LSU expects to enroll 15 to 25 graduate students in each of the new degree programs. But they still require Louisiana Board of Regents approval.
None of the programs is expected to increase university expenses within the first five years. But additional faculty could be required with growth.
D’Elia said the environmental sciences doctorate is intended to provide the skills and training to address today’s complex issues including green energy, pollution and climate change.
The proposal contends the degree makes sense for LSU because Louisiana is a leader in ports activity and natural gas production, while also facing numerous environmental and coastal problems.
D’Elia said the new degree would essentially complete the eight-year-old School of Coast and Environment by having doctoral programs in both of its departments. The oceanography and coastal sciences department already offers a doctorate.
D’Elia said he came to LSU because of the university’s growing research expertise in the coastal and environmental sciences.
“To make your research work, you’ve got to have graduate students at the Ph.D. level,” D’Elia said.
Also, “We need to train the next generation of researchers,” Koubek added.
LSU’s new master’s degree in coastal and ecological engineering and the doctorate in coastal engineering sciences would primarily focus on river management and coastal erosion issues, both of which are big concerns in Louisiana.
Nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of the coastline, according to the proposal.
The master’s degree would focus on training engineers in the field while the doctorate would prepare the next generation of industry and university researchers.
Koubek said he hears Louisiana companies’ officials complain about hiring most of their experts in the coastal fields from Florida.
“There’s a pent-up demand from students and, frankly, a pent-up demand from employers,” Koubek said.
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