New master’s dual-degree in engineering and business announced

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The Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering and Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis have announced a new dual-degree program that combines a master’s degree in engineering and a master’s of business administration.

Students can earn an M.Eng and MBA degree in two-and-a-half years with a focus on energy, the environment and corporate sustainability.

Students entering the new program next fall will specialize in one of five pathways:

  • advanced energy technologies;
  • energy and environmental nanotechnology;
  • environmental engineering science;
  • technology for environmental public health; and
  • energy and environmental management.

The dual-degree master’s is an outgrowth of a master’s degree focused on technology and the environment that was launched two years ago, says Pratim Biswas, PhD, the Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering Science and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering.

That degree is largely technology-based, Biswas says, although students take some business courses.

“Given its success and the interest in the corporate sector for corporate sustainability, energy and environment and corporate social responsibility, we felt a dual-degree program might be of interest and entered discussions with the business school that led to the creation of the dual degree,” Biswas says.

“In recent years, it has become clearer that solutions to the issues of sustainability, energy and the environment will be interdisciplinary,” says Joseph P. Fox, associate dean of Olin Business School and director of the MBA program. “Students have been expressed increasing interest in approaches to these problems that lie at the intersection of the engineering and business schools. The new program was designed in response to that interest.”

Students in the new dual-degree program, like those in the technology-based master’s degree program, will move through the program as a cohort.

“The cohorts typically include people with a lot of experience who want some retraining and people fresh out of school,” Biswas says. “And because they’ll be here a little longer because they’re picking up two degrees, we’ll arrange for some internships with industry and give them credit for that.

“We are hoping that students who graduate from this program will be better prepared for the corporate sector and perhaps command a higher starting salary,” Biswas says.

The dual degree requires 75 units of coursework and can be completed in two-and-a-half years of full-time study. Both programs recognize up to six units of independent study with faculty, industry internships or international experience with the McDonnell Academy Global Energy & Environmental Partnership.

Additional details can be viewed at http://eece.wustl.edu/ContentFiles/Degree/MEng_MBA_Flyer.pdf

For more information, e-mail Rose Baxter at rbaxter@wustl.edu.