By Kaitlin Carman Asst. News Editor
President Nancy Niemi and President Grace Wang of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) celebrated their universities’ transfer agreement for FSU’s undergraduate pre-engineering students and three new Collaborative Accelerated Master’s Programs (CAMP) at an official signing event on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
The pre-engineering track at FSU, which can be completed either as a 2+2 or 3+2 program depending on the course of study, enables students who meet a specific GPA, determined by the partnering university, to have guaranteed admission to their engineering program.
Because FSU does not currently offer an engineering program, pre-engineering-track students must transfer to an engineering program to complete their degree.
Prior to its current transfer agreements with Mass. Maritime, UMass Lowell, UMass Dartmouth, and WPI, students had to apply to other programs like any other prospective students. However, admission was not guaranteed.
Niemi said, “I think it really is a unique opportunity for students and for the University to help propel our students to places in society by virtue of being in all these engineering professions that they need to be.
“We educate people who will then turn around and make our whole community even stronger and safer and more beautiful, depending on which kind of engineering they choose,” she said.
Niemi added, “It's really a lovely, powerful way to serve our mission. And I'm proud of that, and I want to do even more.”
Santosha Adhibhatta, environment, society, & sustainability professor at FSU, said this new agreement with WPI is an “amazing” opportunity for pre-engineering students to earn an affordable education at one of the most competitive engineering programs in the country. Through conversations with her students, she said she noticed two significant barriers that students have faced when considering private colleges, including WPI, prior to the agreement. “Number one: It is the financial aspect that actually hinders many students. Number two: There are so many applications for engineering. … There are so many students who are pre-engineers… [and] most of them are first-generation students. “They are worried they might not get in, but the thing about this transfer agreement is they start at Framingham State, which is very cost-effective and has smaller class sizes - so they get used to college - and then they are ready to move on to WPI,” added Adhibhatta. During their initial 2 to 3 years at FSU, students can build upon foundational skills, prepare themselves for rigorous mathematics requirements, and explore a variety of engineering fields before having to commit to competitive, and, oftentimes, expensive programs at private institutions, according to Adhibhatta. She said, “Not everybody knows what engineering they want to do in the very first semester [of an engineering program]. … What we are trying to do here is give them at least a basic idea of what each engineering looks like with the different visits to the different schools and the different labs, so the students, by the time they leave our campus, they at least know what they want to do, and they continue to follow that path. “It's important for somebody who wants to really be successful as an engineer, but doesn't know where to start,” she added. If students decide to attend WPI through the transfer agreement, some of the fields they can pursue include chemical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, bio-medical engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, fire protection engineering, and architectural engineering, according to WPI’s website. So far, three students have transferred this fall, said Adhibhatta. The transfer agreement and CAMP with WPI is “a path forward” for students, according to Niemi. She said, “I think a lot of times, first-generation students don't always assume that they have just as much right to a highly respected … university or a program like this, that they don't feel a sense of belonging in the way that they should. “They have every right. And so I think this is a major step to show them, ‘Yes, you are capable, you are welcome, and we encourage you by doing this,’” added Niemi. FSU biology professor Aline Davis, who is a WPI alumna, was a key figure in designing the CAMP with WPI, and said she is excited for the opportunities these programs will provide for students. Through the CAMP, students can complete their undergraduate degree in four years at FSU and transfer to WPI to earn their master’s degree in data science, neuroscience, and medical chemistry in one year. Davis said these three concentrations have higher student enrollment numbers and reflect the projected job market growth within their corresponding fields. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, data science jobs are expected to grow 36% from 2023 to 2033, with an average of 20,800 projected openings for data scientists per year. Although FSU does not offer a data science major, computer science, math, or business majors can take it as a minor, according to Davis. She said, “One of the reasons we created the data science minor was to kind of help the students get their necessary prereqs done so that they could walk into the data science program.” As for medicinal chemistry, Davis described it as a “huge, booming industry that is primarily made for students coming out of our chemistry program or our biotechnology program because of the types of classes.” However, Davis explained, “Medicinal chemistry is specialized a little bit in cannabis research, and given that that's a $1.8 billion industry in Massachusetts … the majority of jobs that people are looking for behind the scenes are in terms of cultivation, analysis, verification of strands and doing more research on the different compounds and what they can do.” Davis said she “loves” the neuroscience minor not only because of her personal experience as a neuroscientist, but because of its interdisciplinary properties. She said FSU and WPI “created it because neuroscience is an overlapping field between biology and psychology. “It actually has pathways for both bio majors with more, say, ‘sciency’ type and lab courses coming in, but there's ways for psych students to come in for it as well,” she added. The first year of the master's overlaps with the last three semesters of the students’ curriculum at Framingham State to ensure a “seamless” transition to graduate coursework, according to Davis. Creating an opportunity for our students to go … to a school that I have great respect for - did so much for me - I volunteered instantaneously,” she said. Davis explained, “When we were working with WPI, we said, ‘OK, here are the specialized classes that our students, who are juniors and seniors, are taking. Let's match them to either the WPI classes that they had or a related topic that would be appropriate for the students. “‘And then likewise, there are some introductory WPI classes that the students will take, and they will fulfill requirements for their junior and senior year back here at FSU,’” she added. Although FSU is not the first university to have a CAMP with WPI, Davis explained that the University is actually the first public institution partnering with WPI. WPI’s Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences, Carolina Ruiz, said the other institutions they have CAMP with are Assumption University, Utica University, and the College of the Holy Cross. According to Davis, WPI incorporates lots of project-based work, curriculums, and capstones within their programs - much like FSU. She said, “When I was interviewing for Framingham State, and I learned about their program and how they have capstones and research - it reminded me so much of WPI and how much it made me successful, and showed me the scientist that I could be. “The fact that we had a similar program here is the reason why I came to Framingham. State - because it reminded me of WPI,” added Davis. According to Ruiz, the required GPA for CAMP is a 3.00. However, she said WPI “understands that there are certain circumstances in life that, for some reason, a student is below that, so, we allow students with a GPA below 3.0 to petition for an exception depending on the circumstances.” She described the process of designing the CAMP with FSU as being “a really collegial collaboration. “We all have in mind the best interest of the students,” added Ruiz. Although data science, medical chemistry, and neuroscience are the only CAMP being offered, WPI is open to considering adding more based on student interest, according to Ruiz. She said, “As we see interest from the students, we might create new ones in other areas that might be interesting for the students.” According to an FSU press release, the University’s neuroscience minor at FSU “consistently has the highest enrollment for the interdisciplinary minors, thus indicating high student interest.” Ruiz described the CAMP as “Win, win, win initiatives because it's a win for the students, it's a win for WPI, and it's a win for Framingham State. “The other thing that is great is that synergy in terms of academic advising, the transition is very smooth, because you are starting to plan your master's degree since you're an undergrad with support of your professors at Framingham State, so that you know what are the best course selections.” Ruiz said the appeal to earn your degree from WPI is not only the quality of the education students receive there, but also the career options post-graduation. “WPI has a really extensive network of industry and academic partners. So students come to the master's degree, and then they can use that network to actually look for jobs,” she added. Deirdre Kearny is one of the most recent FSU pre-engineering graduates and said she attributes her experience in the program to her ongoing success at WPI. Kearny said, “I highly recommend FSU’s pre-engineering transfer tracks. The Pre-Engineering program is a close knit community that supports students and allows them to flourish. “While transferring, FSU guides you through the process and ensures your future success. Even after transferring, multiple professors have continued to help me apply for internships and jobs,” she added. “Dr. Adhibhatta’s engineering courses played a crucial role in my success so far,” said Kearny. She said she frequently uses knowledge acquired from Adhibhatta’s classes in projects and internships she is involved with at WPI. “Asking for help and having a strong foundation of engineering made my transfer easier and gave me confidence in my abilities to succeed at WPI,” added Kearny. Freshman Bavly Abdou, a pre-engineering student, said he was accepted into UMass Lowell’s engineering program, but decided to start his undergraduate career at FSU to better prepare himself for success. “I was going to go to [UMass] Lowell. I got accepted to [UMass] Lowell, and then I looked at Framingham [State], and I saw that a lot of my friends who took engineering went to Framingham and then went to Lowell - they're doing well at Lowell. So I was like, ‘I might as well follow their footsteps and do the same thing,’” said Abdou. Adbou said he is excited about the new transfer agreement because “It’s interesting and will provide [students] more experiences. … You go to different colleges and tour them, too, while you’re taking pre-engineering classes. “We went to WPI and we are going to [UMass] Lowell next semester. You can really see the difference between here and over there [WPI],” he added. Senior Esther Ngaippe thinks the CAMP with WPI is a great opportunity for FSU students. Ngaippe said, “I was looking to study data science, but I couldn't find a program here. Then last year, I saw that they have a geospatial and data analysis [program]. I wasn't sure if that's something that I wanted to learn - like the geo-technical part of it. So I think that it's cool that they can [complete their undergraduate degree and still get a master’s] in data science,” she added. Freshman Anna Ferrari said, “I think that is great! I think we have a similar [agreement] with Sulfolk [University Law School] for the 3+3 program - and [UMass] Dartmouth. It is good for them. WPI is a really good school and so are their engineering and science programs.”