Pursue a Career Protecting the Nation's Biosafety
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See Courses & Program Info
View a complete list of courses, general and program-specific requirements, and admission requirements for this concentration.
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General Master's Degree Requirements
- You must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher at all times.
- All degree requirements must be fulfilled within five consecutive years.
- Any transfer credits must have been earned within the above five-year time frame to be applied toward a graduate degree.
- Please review the overall master’s degree requirements for additional considerations.
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This information is for students who enroll in the 2024–2025 academic year. For prior year requirements for this program or to review UMGC's complete program requirements for a specific academic year, visit our program catalog archive.
Strengthen Your Skills in Biosecurity & Biodefense
The rapidly evolving biotech landscape needs professionals with diverse, adaptable skills capable of addressing today’s complex global challenges. This program is tailored to help you cultivate critical competencies in areas such as resilience planning and preparedness, disaster response and recovery, interagency cooperation, and more. UMGC program directors continually refine the curriculum, with a focus on helping students achieve these learning goals:
Pursue Highly Valued STEM Skills
This program has received a special designation as a Professional Science Master’s Degree program through the Council of Graduate Schools.
"Professional Science Master’s (PSMs) are designed for students seeking a STEM graduate degree who understand the need for developing workplace skills valued by top employers. The PSM is a perfect fit for professionals because it allows you to pursue advanced training and excel in science or math without a PhD, while simultaneously developing highly-valued business skills."
Source: Professional Science Masters Website
$2.9T
Economic Impact
The U.S. bioscience industry generated $2.9 trillion in economic impact in 2021.
Source: BIO | “The U.S. Bioscience Industry: Fostering Innovation and Driving America's Economy Forward” | 2022
$88B
Investment in Biotech
As of March 2022, President Biden has requested $88.2 billion over the next five years for investment in biosecurity efforts.
Source: Center for Global Security Research | “Current and Future Challenges to U.S. Biosecurity Strategy” | 2022
12
Critical Reform Initiatives
The U.S. Department of Defense outlined 12 critical biosecurity- and biodefense-related reform initiatives in its 2023 Biodefense Posture Review.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense | “2023 Biodefense Posture Review” | August 17, 2023
Practice Real-World Skills in Your Biotechnology Courses
Throughout the curriculum, your instructors will assign coursework designed to help you build a critical knowledge base that you can apply immediately. In past courses, students have chosen to complete the following assignments:
- Develop a comprehensive response to a biological incident.
- Outline the ethical use of force in response to a biothreat.
- Evaluate available countermeasures for weapons of terrorism.
FAQs
Get answers to questions that current and prospective students are asking about program admission, credibility, cost, successful completion, and more.
This is an online graduate-level concentration that can help you develop the skills you need to detect, analyze, and respond to biosecurity threats. This 36-credit program covers topics like microbiology, epidemiology, infectious disease, bioinformatics, agricultural biosecurity, and homeland security. Upon completing the program, students may be well-prepared for careers in both the public and private sectors.
In this 36-credit program, courses are offered year-round. Depending on how many credits you complete each term and the number of credits you may be able to transfer, you can expect to complete the program in as little as two years.
UMGC is committed to keeping our tuition and fees as affordable as possible. This program follows our standard graduate program tuition rates, which appear at the top of this webpage. We also offer scholarships for eligible students, an interest-free monthly payment plan, and no-cost digital materials in place of most textbooks to help make your education more affordable.
You don't need to have majored in a specific area to be successful in this program. However, you must complete a molecular biology course to be accepted into the program. We also recommend you have strong writing skills and previous biology experience at a job or university.