Contact: Andrew Careaga
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MASTER'S DEGREE IN MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING IS FIRST FOR MISSOURI
ROLLA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri-Rolla this fall will become the first university in Missouri to offer a master's degree program in manufacturing engineering.
The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education approved the new master's degree program on June 8. The University of Missouri Board of Curators approved the program in December.
UMR is offering the new degrees in response to the needs of manufacturers, says Dr. Robert Mitchell, dean of UMR's School of Engineering.
"Manufacturing continues to be a mainstay of the American economy, accounting for almost 20 percent of our Gross Domestic Product and 17 percent of employment," Mitchell says. But because of increased global competition, U.S. manufacturers are turning to automation and computerization to maintain their edge, he adds.
The result, Mitchell says, is a decline in the demand for manufacturing operators, fabricators and laborers, but a growth in demand for specialty occupations, such as engineers who understand the new technologies. "We know that there are many people working in industry who could benefit from this program and we are now working to develop ways that they can participate through distance education and innovating scheduling approaches," Mitchell says.
The new manufacturing interdisciplinary program will provide two degree options -- both a master of science and master of engineering degrees. The master of science degree will be a research-oriented program, requiring a thesis, while the master of engineering degree will be a more practice-oriented, non-thesis program.
In addition, UMR offers bachelor's degrees with "manufacturing options" in its existing engineering management and mechanical engineering programs.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' "Occupational Employment Projections to 2006," the number of engineering jobs is expected to grow by 244,000 -- or 18.1 percent -- by 2006. "Employment in the fields closest to manufacturing, such as mechanical engineering and industrial engineering, is expected to increase by 36,000 and 16,000 jobs, respectively, by 2006," Mitchell says.
The interdisciplinary master's program is coordinated by a manufacturing engineering executive committee. Dr. Frank Liou, professor of mechanical engineering, is interim coordinator of the program and chair of the committee. Other committee members are Dr. Venkat Allada, associate professor of engineering management; Dr. Rajiv Mishra, assistant professor of metallurgical engineering; Dr. Anthony Okafor, associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Dr. Ming Leu, the Keith and Pat Bailey Missouri Distinguished Professor of integrated product development and manufacturing.
Additional information about the program can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.umr.edu/~mfge/.
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