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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University October 20, 2008 | Vol. 38 No. 8
 
JHU Partners With Tulane in Post-Katrina Dual-Degree Plan

Program lets Tulane undergrads study engineering and physics on two campuses

By Phil Sneiderman
Homewood

The Johns Hopkins University has entered into a partnership that will enable Tulane University undergraduates to obtain engineering degrees in four study areas that were eliminated from Tulane's curriculum when that university restructured after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Vanderbilt University will also be a partner, offering engineering degrees in three of the four disciplines.

The program, effective this fall, will enable undergraduates enrolled in Tulane's School of Science and Engineering in New Orleans to earn dual degrees in physics and engineering. Participants will complete three years of study at Tulane, followed by two years at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore or Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

Upon completion, a successful student would receive a bachelor's degree in physics from Tulane and a bachelor's degree in civil, electrical, mechanical or environmental engineering from the partner institution. These four engineering degree programs were eliminated during Tulane's post-Katrina restructuring.

Johns Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering will offer the four degree programs to Tulane students who have completed their first three years as physics majors at the New Orleans campus. "After Katrina, the Whiting School took in some engineering students from Tulane," said Edward R. Scheinerman, vice dean for education in the Whiting School. "We think very highly of Tulane students and are excited about this partnership, as we know the Tulane students will be an asset to our academic community."

Vanderbilt will offer participating Tulane students degrees in three of the engineering disciplines: civil, mechanical and electrical.

Tulane administrators say they are pleased that the new partnership will allow Tulane students to continue to earn degrees in these engineering disciplines. "This attractive combination of study on two different campuses will provide our undergraduates something that is otherwise unavailable at Tulane," said Nick Altiero, dean of the School of Science and Engineering at Tulane. "They will be Tulane graduates but will also be able to receive an engineering degree that we no longer offer."

Currently, Tulane offers undergraduate engineering degree programs in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering and engineering physics. In addition, a minor in engineering science is offered for nonengineering majors.

Under the new partnership, once a Tulane student declares his or her intention to participate in the dual-degree program, faculty members from each of the universities will serve as joint advisers to assist students in preparing their academic programs. Students will graduate from their two respective universities in the same year.

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