FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Arkansas will offer a new graduate program in space and planetary science next year. The Arkansas Department of Higher Education has approved the creation of program of study that will lead to a master's or a doctoral degree.

Space and planetary science is the latest in a series of programs to be created at the university that stress the interdisciplinary nature of learning. The others are cell and molecular biology, public policy, environmental dynamics and microelectronics and photonics.

Six departments are collaborating to offer the new program: chemistry and biochemistry, physics, biological sciences, geosciences, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering; and several are offering space and planetary science as an option in their own doctoral or master's program. Students will also be able to obtain a doctoral degree in physics or biology, or a master's degree in geography or geology, with a concentration in space and planetary science, depending on the student's interests and career goals.

"The space and planetary science degree is probably better suited to those wanting to work for NASA or the aerospace industry, while the departmental degree with a concentration in space and planetary science might be better suited to a person wanting a career in a university," said Collis Geren, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for research.

There are about 20 graduate programs in space and planetary science in the country, at universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell, Arizona, Hawaii and Michigan, but none attempt to bring the expertise of so many academic departments to the program.

"We are able to do this because the program is operated by the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, which is a partnership between six very supportive departments," said Derek Sears, director of the center.

The program is divided into five areas of study -- planetary astronomy, planetary geology, planetary atmospheres, astrobiology and astronautics -- with general courses, like laboratory courses, seminars and workshops, that tie it all together.

"Students with a bachelor's degree in any science or engineering discipline will be considered for the program and all would take survey courses in the five areas, but electives would consolidate the student's expertise in their area, so a biologist would take electives in the astrobiology area, while a physicist might take electives in the planetary astronomy area," said Sears.

All students conduct a research project with a member of the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Science that will bring them into contact with the nation's space program and the international network of scientists and engineers working on problems in space and planetary science.

"America needs a frontier, and since President Kennedy proclaimed the race to the moon as a national priority, space has been America's current frontier," said Sears. "It is the frontier for human presence, and it is the frontier for human understanding. Whether we ponder the origin and history of the Earth, preserving the fragile environment, protecting the Earth from the swarm of rocky fragments that sometimes hit the Earth, or even the origin of life on the planet, we reach out to space for knowledge, insight and understanding.

"These new graduate programs in space and planetary science will enable faculty and students at the University of Arkansas to fully participate in the new frontier and it will create a new generation of desperately needed space and planetary scientists for the civil, military and government space initiatives in Arkansas and the world," he said.