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Current Students

The most significant real world problems over the past quarter century are multidisciplinary and driven by new technologies. The people trained for and capable of solving these problems are in short supply. The Bachelor of Science in Integrated Science and Technology has been designed around these conditions.

Integration

The BS Degree in Integrated Science and Technology is thus a new degree program, similar to ones recently developed at other universities, that provides an alternative to traditional programs in science, technology, and engineering. It is integrated in two distinct ways. Individual courses have subject matter from different disciplines integrated into new configurations, moving beyond single-subject courses, with courseware designed to be strongly informed by and integrated among those various disciplines. To accomplish this the IST program brings together faculty and subject matter from engineering, chemistry, physics, biological science, computer and information science, mathematics, English, communication studies, management, and medicine to create a uniquely different degree program.

Program Components

The IST program has five major components:

  • A general education core that includes communications courses, "connections" courses that examine the relationships between society and science and technology, courses in ethics, social sciences, a modern foreign language, and a public service/ volunteerism experience.
  • The Issues in Science and Technology component is designed to examine current critical issues of our society such as acid rain, resource depletion, technological development and dominance while providing the scientific background necessary to address these issues.
  • The Strategic Sectors courses, taken in the junior year, focus on the inter-relationships among science, technology, commercial factors, government organizations, business concepts, cultural developments along through the use of analytical methods and techniques, data collection, and the design of models and simulations.
  • The final component of the IST curriculum is the concentration, replacing the traditional major, which is concluded with a senior "capstone experience" such as a thesis, research project, or report on an internship. The concentrations are in Biotechnology, Environment Studies, and Computer and Information Technology systems.

The IST degree is a four-year program that requires 128 credit hours.