Master of Science in Biotechnology

(A PSM Program)

The Pennsylvania State University

Program Goal

To prepare students for diverse career opportunities in biotechnology; offer an alternative to students who do not want to go through a lengthy Ph.D. degree and who are less interested in academic careers.

Program Features• Focus on hands-on learning of the scientific and

technical aspects of biotechnology • Exposure to the business, intellectual property,

legal, social and ethical aspects of biotechnology• Built-in flexibility to cater to students’ interests in

biotechnology• Intensive, but short time-to-degree• Off-campus internship and research project• Close mentoring and academic advising

Laboratory rotations in state-of-the-art service laboratories at

Penn State

Nucleic Acid Facility

Real Time PCRDNA SequencerDNA Synthesizer

Mass Spectrometry Facility

Transgenic Animal Facility

Flow Cytometry and Digital Microscopy

Microarray Facility

Cell Culture and Monoclonal Antibody Facility

Electron Microscopy Facility

SEM

TEM

Instructional Laboratory in Molecular Biology

PSM Volunteer Outreach Activities

Internship Destinations(of 29 students)

• Industry - 14 students– GSK, Merck, Bayer Germany, Centocor (J&J),

Spectrumedix, Supelco, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers, Exygen

• Government and non-profit - 12 students– WRAIR (10), NIH (1), FBI at Quantico (1), MITRE

• Academic - 3– Bioinformatics, Intellectual Property, Bioprocessing

Where are students from

• In-state: 19• Out-of-state: 9

– SC, KS, NY, ND, MA, TX, CA, NJ, VA, GA, MD,

• Foreign: 8 – India, ROC, PRC, Korea

Masters of Science in Biotechnology Students

C l a s s o f 2 0 0 1 - 2 0 0 2

C l a s s o f 2 0 0 2 - 2 0 0 3

C l a s s o f 2 0 0 3 - 2 0 0 4

C l a s s o f 2 0 0 4 - 2 0 0 5

C l a s s o f 2 0 0 0 - 2 0 0 1

David Clawson Kevin Krick Chia-Hao Tsung Wenfeng Sun

Graduates

29 students have graduated to date, reflecting 100% graduation rate, since launching the program in Fall 2000

Current Students

16 students are currently in the program:

-9 graduated last December 18th

-7 started this Fall 2004

Post-Graduation Destinations(2001-2003 graduates)

• Industry - 7– GSK, Centocor (J&J), BioRexis, Alltech, Restek, 3-D

Pharmaceuticals (J&J), Booz Allen Hamilton

• Academic - 3– Johns Hopkins, , U Penn, Jefferson U

• Government - 3– Florida State Forensic Lab, Texas Department of Public

Safety DNA/Serology Lab, NYS Department of Health

• Advanced Degrees - 6– Ph.D., MBA, MD

• Unaccounted - 1

Entry-Level Salaries

• Academic - $30,000 - $32,000

• Industry - $48,000- $52,000

• Government ???

Needs of the program

• Competitive recruitment

• Student financial support

• Internship hosts as the program expands– New integrated BS-MS Biotech degree– MBA-MS Biotech concurrent degree

• Establish identity as an excellent source of well-trained science professionals