APL Education Center,
JHU Graduate Program in Engineering and Applied Science

The Applied Physics Laboratory, a research division of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), collaborates with the Whiting School of Engineering, a JHU academic division, to sponsor the Engineering and Applied Science Program for Professionals (EPP). The EPP program offers graduate courses leading to masters degrees, graduate certificates and post-masters certificates in 14 different engineering fields. The format is designed to accommodate full-time working professionals.  Classes are offered in the late afternoons, evenings, or on Saturday mornings, at APL and at a growing number of sites in the Baltimore/Washington/Rockville metro area and beyond.  For more information on this program, see the Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals website.

APL continues to play a critical role in the development of this education program for working adults, which had its origins as an in-house program for the advanced training of APL employees.  Over the years, the program has grown and developed into a degree-granting program open to the public, with up to 90% of the students coming from outside APL. The faculty comprises scientists and engineers from APL and the JHU Whiting School of Engineering, as well as from regional aerospace, engineering, and information technology companies, and government agencies. Our faculty are actively practicing what they teach, and a number of them have written textbooks widely used in their respective fields.

Degrees Offered

• Applied and Computational Mathematics
• Applied Biomedical Engineering
• Applied Physics
• Computer Science
• Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Information Systems & Technology
• Systems Engineering
• Technical Management

The Systems Engineering and Technical Management programs have become especially popular as a means for training personnel in the specialized skills and knowledge required to manage a technical organization and complex technical projects.  APL, which is itself a large technical organization, has produced faculty uniquely suited to develop and teach the courses in these programs.       

Besides the above eight areas, programs are offered in Bioinformatics, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Civil Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Environmental Engineering, Science & Management. Classes in all 14 of the above programs are offered at multiple sites in the region.  (See the Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals website for locations.) 

On-line courses are being developed and added to the curriculum to meet the needs of students who require even more flexibility in classroom scheduling.  It is now possible to earn two of our degrees, an M.S. in Bioinformatics and an M.S. in Environmental Planning & Management, totally online.  In addition, half of the required classes in Systems Engineering are now available online, and all classes in this Program will be available in the online format by Spring 2010.  Selected classes in Computer Science and in Electrical and Computer Engineering are also offered online.

Facilities, Office Hours, and Location

The APL Education Center supports and administers the Engineering and Applied Science Program for Professionals on the APL campus.  The office is located in the lower level of the R.E. Gibson library and is open Monday through Thursday, 8:30 am to 7:30 pm and Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.  Students and prospective students may contact the office at 443-778-6510 or 240-228-6510.

Classrooms and laboratories are located in the lower level of the Gibson Library and in the Kossiakoff Conference and Education Center.

Directions

Educational Benefits for APL Staff

APL employees who take courses in the Engineering And Applied Science Program for Professionals receive tuition remission.  (See Benefits for details.)

Strategic Education Program

The APL Education Center also administers the in-house, non-credit Strategic Education program for APL professional staff.  This program features 10 to 12 week-long courses on topics relevant to the strategic vision of the Lab.  Courses are taught in the Spring and Fall by APL staff and meet once a week, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, in a conference room on the main APL campus.  Courses have no exams or grades, but do include homework, readings, and/or projects, all of which are designed to help participants internalize the material and apply it to their work.  Because courses are non-credit, the tuition fee of $850 is not covered by the Lab’s part-time study benefits program, but rather is charged to an appropriate departmental budget of the participant. 

Examples of recent or planned offerings include:

• Modelling, Simulation & Monte Carlo methods
• Cognitive Engineering
• Topics in Information Assurance
• Operating in the CyberSpace Domain
• The Semantic Web
• Up-stream Data Fusion
• Autonomous Systems
• Service Oriented Architecture

The Education Center welcomes ideas for courses you would like to take or teach in this format.  Please contact E. Elliott, APL Education Center Director, with your suggestions.