Dean Yannis C. Yortsos of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Dean Mohammed Noori of the California Polytechnic State University College of Engineering have formally initiated the Viterbi Integrated Masters of Science Program, a unique collaboration that will offer exceptional students at the San Luis Obispo institution a faster path to M.S. degrees at USC.

Beginning in September, qualified undergraduates will have the option of taking USC-equivalent courses in electrical and biomedical engineering at Cal Poly that will subsequently allow them to complete USC Viterbi master’s degrees with six fewer units. The reduction eliminates redundancy in undergraduate and graduate course requirements, without compromising educational goals.

“The object of the program from the point of view of the Viterbi School,” Yortsos said, “is to enlarge our school applicant pool of quality domestic master’s students. We could not have found a better partner for this than Cal Poly.”

Said Noori, “We see this as an opportunity for collaboration among the faculty of the two institutions. We will explore the possibility of expanding it further, perhaps to doctoral programs. This would offer an opportunity for us to work with the outstanding faculty and research facilities of USC.”

The July 2 agreement signing took place at USC under the smiling gaze of George Bekey, USC Emeritus University Professor and former USC Viterbi associate dean for research.

Bekey, now a research scholar in residence at Cal Poly, played a key role in bringing the two institutions together.

Under the terms of the memorandum, Cal Poly engineering faculty will nominate outstanding juniors with 3.5+ grade-point averages to the program. The students must complete the regular graduate application program to the USC Viterbi School in either electrical engineering or biomedical engineering.

Students will have to complete the equivalent courses in their senior year. When they continue at USC, course requirements for Viterbi M.S. degrees will be reduced to 21 units (in electrical engineering) or 22 (in biomedical engineering).

The agreement also calls for the USC Viterbi School and Cal Poly faculty and staff to collaborate on program materials, recruitment visits and advisement sessions. Accepted Cal Poly students will be able to do coursework on the USC University Park campus or using the engineering school’s Distance Education Network.

No more than five students will be in the initial group, a maximum that is expected to increase to 20 by 2011.

Kelly Goulis, associate dean for master’s and professional programs, emphasized that the program was a first for the USC Viterbi School: “We’ve never done this before,” she said, “but we have high hopes.”