For eight graduate students, the school year begins now.
These students are the first to take courses in the new professional science master’s degree program for modeling and simulation that UCF, in partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is offering.
The two universities came together to design the program aimed at working professionals with experience in engineering or computer science who want to expand and develop their knowledge and abilities in modeling and simulation, said J. Peter Kincaid, the co-director of the program at UCF.
The idea for the program began two years ago but only in the past nine months has it been in active development, Kincaid said. The program received approval in June.
“We will get to 50 to 100 enrolled in a few years. We’re just not there yet because we are brand new,” Kincaid said.
UCF solicited the partnership of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University after observing the success of its worldwide campus, Kincaid said.
“They [Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University] have a wonderful setup through their worldwide campus,” he said. “They have been very successful with 130 sites around the country. They deliver face-to-face instruction and have all courses online. They do this very well.”
The program will combine eight-week courses taught by the College of Engineering & Computer Science with Embry-Riddle’s College of Business and includes a graduate internship. Internships will be arranged through UCF or, if a student is already employed, through his or her employer, Kincaid said.
“This program developed so quickly because the Institute for Simulation and Training already had their technical program in existence and we already had our business one,” said Larry Carlton, the program’s co-director at Embry-Riddle. “All we did was marry our two programs together.”
The 12-course program takes two years to complete and is also offered online to accommodate part-time students. UCF will teach eight technical courses through an exclusively online format while Embry-Riddle will teach four business courses available online or in a classroom at one of its 130 locations.
“Students get the in-depth analysis of modeling and simulation with professional growth for how to lead people in business situations, how to lead others within their organizations,” Carlton said.
Of the eight courses taught by UCF, five will be offered by the department of industrial engineering and management science. The other three will be offered by faculty from the university’s Institute for Simulation and Training.
The 36-credit hour program will be offered at the beginning of every fall semester, excluding this year, when it will be offered in the spring as well. Yearly tuition is $18,000, or $500 per credit hour, according to Julie Primrose with UCF News & Information.
This is the only UCF degree program that offers a single tuition cost that is consistent for in-state and out-of-state students, Kincaid said. This is a result of the partnership with Embry-Riddle, which has a single tuition cost for all students.
“Lord, yes, it was difficult getting started. This is the first program in which nonresidents are treated like residents,” Kincaid said. “We had to do a lot of things differently with the management of the program. It’s a new concept at this university, and, since it’s our first year, we have to make up the rules on this.”
To qualify for the degree program, students do not need to take the Graduate Record Exam, but they must have an undergraduate degree in a related technical field and have completed graduate-level coursework in engineering statistics or the equivalent.
Completion of the program qualifies students for not only a UCF professional science master’s degree in modeling and simulation, but a graduate certificate in modeling and simulation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Kincaid said the students will be ready to enter the science and management field after completing the program. “They will be more prepared, considerably more prepared than people who are starting these jobs right now. They will have less of a learning curve and, for those who may already be employed, enhanced skills for management jobs.”
Be the first to comment on this article!