April 15, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A new Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will help meet a growing demand for graduates with multidisciplinary research capabilities. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the program Friday, April 11, following approval by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) during its March 28 meeting.

The Ph.D. program, which will include tracks in environmental health engineering and computational engineering, aims to prepare engineers to solve complex problems in teams that include scientists. UAB has in place a broad range of areas with which to collaborate, including health programs with ongoing significant research.

Students will begin taking classes in the fall.

"The interdisciplinary approach is the wave of the future," said Linda L. Lucas, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Engineering. Students enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Ph.D. program will gain the skills needed to succeed as independent and productive investigators in multidisciplinary analysis and design, with applications over a wide spectrum of science, engineering, health and medical fields. 

The demand for engineering graduates with interdisciplinary training and multidisciplinary research capabilities has increased dramatically in the past decade.  As funded research involving faculty from a number of collaborating disciplines continues to increase at UAB, the School of Engineering is well-positioned to help meet this demand.  Recent investments in enabling technology and high performance computing laboratories will provide the cutting-edge tools required by students in this program.

Additional information on the program, including application instructions, can be found at www.eng.uab.edu/ or by contacting Kim Hazelwood at 205-996-5167.