In fall 2010, The University of Southern Mississippi School of Polymers and High Performance Materials will offer an online Masters of Polymer Science Engineering with an emphasis in Composites Engineering.

The program is specifically targeted toward working professionals, primarily engineers and technical staff, employed in the polymer composites industry (the program is not offered at this time to unemployed students).

The program was developed in response to workforce requirements of the Universities’ composite research partners including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, ATK, GE Aviation, AFOSR and ONR. The rapid transformation of metals to composites has created a professional level workforce retraining requirement for the industry, and this program is designed to provide a comprehensive science-based composites learning curriculum. The new on-line degree program is asynchronous, meaning coursework is designed to accommodate working professional time constraints.

Registration deadline is Aug. 1. For more information on the program, contact Dr. Jeff Wiggins (jeffrey.wiggins@usm.edu) and visit the website, www.usm.edu/elo/grad_polymer.php#.