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Professional Science Master's Program
American University
McKinley Building, 350
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016

psm@american.edu


Biotechnology: MS in Applied Science

Program & Courses - Admission Reqs - Graduation Reqs - Internships - Faculty


State of the Industry

Washington, DC is positioned between 2 biotech corridors, one extending to the West, to Northern Virginia, the other to the East, to suburban Maryland. On these corridors are biotech companies and government agency laboratories, such as NIH. These companies and agencies offer learning opportunities to AU biotechnology students.

Biotechnology is changing. There is expanding need for scientists with skills for work which takes place outside the traditional lab environment. Collegiality and the ability to work as part of a team are vital. Also hugely prized, the ability to communicate with scientists of a different discipline and with business colleagues, in marketing, customer service, product development, and intellectual property protection.

Another change: biotech and pharma industry representatives speak of their data-driven industry and thus increasingly to hiring scientists who are educated as scientists and who have experience with information technology.

 

Program Description

Students pursuing the Professional Science Master's Degree will gain core competencies in statistics and research methods, as well as applied topics such as geographic information systems, informatics and bioinformatics. Students will master such topics as: biochemistry, molecular biology, genomics, and proteomics. Students will also choose among electives depending on their interests and career goals. Electives should mostly be from the field of science, but with advice from an advisor, students may register for non-science courses.

View the courses

 

Admission Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university; 3.0 GPA in the last 60 hours (90 quarter hours) of undergraduate work, scores from the GRE General Aptitude Test; two letters of recommendation, and a TOEFL score of 600 paper/ 250 computer for all international students whose first language is not English. A science degree with computing courses is recommended.

To apply, please complete the College of Arts & Science's online application form, or download the application forms.

 

Graduation Requirements

Students will complete 36 credit hours and an internship, and they will participate in an interdisciplinary Capstone project that contends with a real-world problem. Students must also earn a GPA of 3.

 

Internships

The following agencies and companies offer internship experiences and have agreed to review applications from our program:

 

Faculty

The faculty of the Biotechnology program consists of professors and adjunct professors from the Biology, Chemistry, and Computer Science departments at American University. To read their biographies and research interests click here.

 

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