Department of Physics, College of Science

Oregon State University, 301 Weniger Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-6507

T 541-737-1668 | F 541-737-1683 | http://physics.oregonstate.edu

18 February, 2013

Prof. Barbara Taylor

Director
Professional Science Masters Program
Oregon State University 
Corvallis, OR 97331

Dear Barb,

The Faculty of the Department of Physics voted on February 14, 2013 to discontinue the
Professional Science Masters in Applied Physics at the end of the 2012/2013 academic year.
We will not be admitting students to the program starting Fall 2013.

We were part of the original PSM program that began with funding from the Sloan
Foundation, and our decision to withdraw was not taken lightly. However, we have
graduated only five students since the program’s inception, and we find that our departmental
resources are spread too thin to sustain the program. We have therefore decided to accept the
recommendation of the 2012 Graduate Review team and close the program. We currently
have one student in the PSM Applied Physics program. She is scheduled to graduate in
Winter 2013.

I am sorry that we will no longer be part of the PSM program. I hope that in the future, we
may be able to reinstate it.

Yours sincerely

Henri Jansen, Chair, Department of Physics

CC: Brenda McComb, Dean, Graduate School