Bachelor of Science, Major in Biological Science with Concentration in Molecular Biology

at San Jose State University USA

The BA in Art General Studio Practice Concentration allows students to pursue a general study in the visual arts, or to create their own curriculum combining studies in visual arts with other fields. For students preferring a broad art background instead of an intense specialization, this program provides students with a variety of art experiences.

Students enrolled in the Studio Practice concentration are not necessarily preparing for a career in art or design, although many use the program as preparation for graduate level studies. The required studio work is intended to intensify awareness of visual art forms and introduce a variety of technical processes and theoretical approaches. Concentrations and emphases are designed to offer opportunities to study digital media art, photography, pictorial art and spatial art. Studio Practice also provides a basic program leading to a teaching credential in art.

Teaching is a way for artists to develop and encourage creative ability in others and to increase awareness of the importance of art in our lives. The Art Teacher Preparation Program (ATPP) is vital to the future of Silicon Valley, because it trains the teachers who will teach aesthetics, problem solving and critical thinking skills to future citizens of the region and state.

The Painting, Drawing, and Prinmaking faculty at San Jose State University are actively involved in the contemporary art community and exhibit nationally and internationally. Faculty work ranges from realism to abstraction, from conceptual to environmental. Graduate students are encouraged to develop their own creative and expressive directions through work with the faculty, individual studio projects, gallery exhibitions, interaction with the professional art community in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the investigation of current issues and concepts as presented in the graduate seminars.

General studio/classroom space is available for painting and drawing and there are well-equipped support facilities such as wood and metal shops. Graduate printmakers have the use of four large studio/classrooms, as well as the intaglio and lithography press prep rooms. A papermaking lab is also available. Three intaglio presses and four lithography presses allow the printer to work in monoprint or in editions, on stones or aluminum plates. The screen printing studio has a large vacuum-exposure table for exposing plates and stencils. The photo darkroom, with graphic arts camera and enlargers, allows printmakers access to a variety of photo-printmaking processes for all printmaking media.

The BA Political Science, offered by the Department of Political Science, provides students with an understanding of politics and the political process and prepares them for their lifelong responsibilities as citizens, as well as furthering their skills in critical analysis and communication. The major in political science may lead to a wide variety of careers, including teaching, the law, business, and public service.

The Master of Science in Informatics degree program at the San José State University School of Information prepares graduate students for exciting careers focused on analyzing and managing data—and making that data secure and actionable for users within a specific field, such as health or cybersecurity.

The MS in Informatics program is ideal for students with technical and non-technical backgrounds who are interested in exploring connections between people and technology.

Program Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the MS in Informatics program, students will be able to:

• Apply technology informatics skills to solve specific industry data and information management problems, with a focus on usability and designing for users;
• Evaluate, manage, and develop electronic records programs and applications in a specific organizational setting;
• Demonstrate strong understanding of security and ethics issues related to informatics, user interface, and inter-professional application of informatics in specific fields by designing and implementing appropriate information assurance and ethics and privacy solutions;
• Identify user needs, ideate informatics products and services, prototype new concepts, and evaluate a prototype’s usability;
• Work collaboratively in teams and use project management practices effectively to solve user-centric information and data problems;
• Conduct informatics analysis and visualization applied to different real-world fields, such as health science and privacy.

Music Composition Majors engage themselves in the study of new music and its construction for traditional ensembles as well as electro-acoustic mediums. Private composition lessons are at the heart of this degree program: each student is given individual time to be mentored by one of our distinguished faculty in the art of composing music. This degree program also offers group composition classes and provides many opportunities for students to hear their own works performed by other students and faculty members. Students in this program must complete both junior and senior recitals in addition to the regular course of study.

The Bachelor of Science degree in ComputerEngineering (CMPE) goes beyond programming to include engineering methodologies and hands-on project experience. The program prepares students to become qualified engineers for IT leading companies in Silicon Valley and international engineering market by providing them with state-of-the-art engineering methods, emergent technologies, team work experience, and solutions so they are capable to address design, coding, validation, and measurement issues for the construction of large-scale computer systems and software applications in the real world.

Students in the BFA program will have accomplished these objectives and will have produced a portfolio of work that will enable them to apply to graduate schools. The required BFA Seminar gives students an opportunity to consider contemporary and historical issues and allows them to evaluate their work and the work of others within a broader context. BFA students are required to complete a senior project that reflects a personal direction. They exhibit the resulting body of work that is then reviewed by a committee of faculty members.

The overall objectives of the Pictorial Art Area are as follows: Visual sensitivity in the pictorial art is developed in a number of ways. In Beginning Drawing students learn to translate the perceived world into two-dimensional constructs such as line and tone. While formal elements of composition are specifically addressed in 2-D Concepts, they remain an integral part of all pictorial courses. As students progress through more advanced courses, they engage in more sophisticated levels of visual thinking. This will be reflected in their work in the utilization of more complex formal means, both representational and abstract, and to express content. In critique sessions, students are encouraged to articulate visual ideas.

In Pictorial Art, students learn to conceptualize their ideas and execute them. This is true on every level from introductory courses to the most advanced. In some courses, such as Expressive Drawing, the emphasis is on the discovery of personal content through abstraction of the observed world or through the development of non-representational vocabulary. In other courses, such as Representational Drawing and Life Drawing, the emphasis is on perception and learning more traditional methods of rendering and depiction. In more advanced courses students are given the opportunity to choose the stylistic means of expression which best gives form to their visual ideas.

Students in Pictorial Art area are exposed to a wide variety of techniques and technical processes. This ranges from the simple and straight-forward use of pencil and charcoal in drawing through the slightly more complex techniques of watercolor, acrylic and oil painting to the more involved processes of hand-drawn and photo-generated serigraphy, as well as the chemical processes of lithography and intaglio printing. By the time they graduate students will be proficient in several of these areas. The Art History requirements for the major give the students a broad understanding of the major movements of the past and present in both the Western and non-Western worlds. In addition, slide lectures and books presented in the classroom put course work into a historical and cultural context.

The master’s program in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Ecology and Evolution, offered by the Department of Biological Sciences, offers students training in the pursuit of rigorous scientific investigation with an emphasis on ecological and evolutionary processes. Students in this degree program emphasize botany, entomology, zoology, or conservation biology through the choice of advisor, committee, course work, and thesis or project. Our graduates have an excellent grasp of the theory and application of ecological and evolutionary principles.

In addition, students with our degree will have gained experience in critical thinking, problem-solving, research methodology (e.g., experimental design, sampling techniques, and analysis), and both written and oral communication. Our alumni are successful applicants for doctoral degree programs and generally attain high-level academic and non-academic positions in both the private and public sectors.

• Students will demonstrate a high-level of ability to propose and complete a publishable, full-length work of literature in a primary genre concentration (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or scriptwriting).
• Students will demonstrate high-level of proficiency to write works of literature in a secondary genre concentration (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or scriptwriting).
• Students will demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge of literary history, literary theory, and craft and theory of creative writing.
• Students will demonstrate critical and analytical skills in the evaluation and interpretation of literary texts.
• Students will demonstrate a command of written academic English, including the abilities to: a) organize and present material in a cogent fashion; b) formulate and defend original arguments; c) employ effectively the language of their discipline; d) write under time constraints.

The EE department is committed to fulfilling the following Program Learning Outcomes in its Master of Science in Electrical Engineering program:

•  Graduates will be able to base analysis, problem-solving, and design on core advanced EE theory
• Graduates will be able to demonstrate a high level of expertise and competence in an area of concentration in electrical engineering
• Graduates will be able to apply modern tools for research, computation, simulations, analysis, and design
• Graduates will be able to demonstrate leadership skills in the workplace, to function professionally in a globally competitive world, and to communicate engineering results effectively

Student Learning Outcomes
 Graduate Students in Electrical Engineering at San José State University will be able to:

•  Identify, formulate, and solve problems using advanced engineering principles, methodologies, and tools
• Design, implement, validate and deploy a component, device, system, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints
• Understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, societal, and ethical context, including political, health, safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
• Understand contemporary issues in electrical engineering practice
• Communicate professionally and effectively