1 GRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING 18 January 2012 102 Kern ...

Page E18
D. Statement of Admission Requirements (i.e., required test scores, minimum junior/senior GPA, as deemed appropriate by
the proposer).
Program Availability and Eligibility. The integrated B.A.E./M.S. degree program is only available to undergraduate Penn State
Architectural Engineering students. These undergraduates must have: 1) achieved fourth-year standing at time of application to
the program; 2) a minimum junior/senior GPA of 3.0; and, 3) a positive recommendation from the review committee.
All students must have an AE faculty member who will be willing to serve as the student’s thesis adviser and submit a program of
study outlining the 30 credits that will count toward the M.S. degree.
E. Justification for the Program. The proposal should include a statement regarding the necessity for the program, i.e., why the
program should be offered; and information on the ability of the department to offer a quality program. Included in the section
should be the projected size of the program and its impact on current course offerings and faculty load as well as additional
faculty advising duties.
Need for an Integrated B.A.E./M.S. Degree Program. As noted in the Objectives, an Integrated B.A.E./M.S. degree program
would benefit both the students and their employers by adding an integrated research experience the students integrated degree
programs. The availability of an integrated B.A.E./M.S. degree will provide faculty with a new source of quality graduate
students, drawing primarily from the existing pool of B.A.E,/M.A.E., to conduct research. At present, a small number of
University Scholars (less than one per year on average) choose to pursue an M.S. in AE at Penn State through an integrated
degree program offered through the Schreyer Honors College.
Approximately 40-50% of the Penn State AE’s who are not in the Honor’s College pursue the integrated B.A.E./M.A.E. degree,
which requires an additional 12 credits beyond the 160 required for the five-year B.A.E degree, and a special combination of
department electives. However, to earn an M.S. degree, they currently need to complete 30 additional credits, which would
require 8 additional courses and a six-credit thesis beyond their B.A.E degree. This collection of courses is very different than
those which a student with a four-year degree from another university would take in a Penn State AE M.S. degree program,
because non-PSU students typically include three or four of the department’s senior level undergraduate courses in their M.S.
program of study. This proposal would permit Penn State undergraduate students to earn a Master of Science degree for the same
series of courses that a four-year graduate from another institution would apply toward an M.S. degree. We anticipate that an
integrated B.A.E./M.S. program will have approximately three to six students enrolled in it each year upon approval. These
would be students that would otherwise have enrolled in the current integrated B.A.E./M.A.E. program.
Another benefit of this program is that AE faculty could fund a M.S. student in this program with approximately 50% of the
funds necessary to fund a student from another institution. Another is that these students, after being exposed to a research
environment, may elect to continue their studies in the department’s Ph.D. program.
Graduate Degree Programs Bulletin
Architectural Engineering (A E)
LINDA M. HANAGAN, Graduate Program Officer
104 Engineering A
814-863-2084
gpoarc@engr.psu.edu
Degree Conferred:
Ph.D., M.S., M.A.E., M.Eng.
Integrated Programs
The Graduate Faculty
Chimay J. Anumba, Ph.D. (U Leeds, UK); D.Sc. (Loughborough, UK) P.E. Head; Professor of Architectural Engineering
William P. Bahnfleth, Ph.D. (Illinois) P.E. Professor of Architectural Engineering
Richard A. Behr, Ph.D. (Texas Tech) P.E. Charles and Elinor Matts Professor of Architectural Engineering
Thomas E. Boothby, Ph.D. (Washington) P.E., R.A. Professor of Architectural Engineering
James D. Freihaut, Ph.D. (Penn State) Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering
Louis F. Geschwindner, Jr., Ph.D. (Penn State) P.E. Professor Emeritus of Architectural Engineering
Linda M. Hanagan, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech) P.E. Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering