B.S./M.S. in Global Health

Program Description

Students enrolled in the B.S. to M.S. program must satisfy all the program requirements of their respective B.S. degree and all the program requirements of the M.S. degree in Global Health. WPI allows B.S. to M.S. students to double-count courses towards both their undergraduate and graduate degrees whose credit hours total no more than 40 percent of the 30 graduate credit hours required for the M.S. degree in Global Health. Courses must meet all other requirements for each degree including graduate courses as well as certain undergraduate 4000-level courses, as listed below, that are acceptable for satisfying the M.S. degree in Global Health requirements. In consultation with the student’s major Academic Advisor and the Global Health Program Director, the student prepares a Plan of Study outlining the selections made to satisfy the B.S./M.S. degree requirements, including the courses that will be double counted. This Plan of Study must then be approved by the Global Health Faculty Steering Committee.

In consultation with the student’s major Academic Advisor and the Global Health Program Director, the student prepares a Plan of Study outlining the selections made to satisfy the B.S./M.S. degree requirements, including the courses that will be double counted. This Plan of Study must then be approved by the Global Health Faculty Steering Committee.

Admissions Requirements

Any WPI undergraduate student may apply to the B.S./M.S. program in Global Health.  Students are expected to apply for admission to the B.S./M.S. program during their junior year or earlier so that they have sufficient time to plan their course selection with their major Academic Advisor and the Global Health Program Director.

Double Counting Rules

4000-level courses and projects that can be double-counted. 

For the 4000-level courses listed below, two graduate credits will be earned towards the B.S./M.S. degree if the student achieves a grade of B or higher.

Computer Science courses: 

CS 4341 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 

CS 4342 Machine Learning 

CS 4432 Database Systems II 

CS 4445 Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery in Databases 

CS 4518 Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing 

CS 4803 Biological and Biomedical Database Mining 

CS 4802 Biovisualization 

BME courses: 

BME 4011 Biomedical Signal Analysis 

BME 4023 Biomedical Instrumentation Design

BME 4201 Biomedical Imaging 

BME 4503 Computational Biomechanics 

BME 4504 Biomechanics 

BME 4814 Biomaterials 

BME 4828  Biomaterials -Tissue Interaction 

BME 4831 Drug Delivery

IMGD Courses: 

IMGD 4600 Serious Games

IMGD 4900 Digital Game Design Studio 

IMGD 4000 Technical Game Development II 

IMGD 4500 Artistic Game Development II 

Bioinformatics / Computational Biology/ Biology Courses:

BB 4001/BCB 4001Bioinformatics 

BCB 4004/MA 4603 Statistical Methods in Genetics and Bioinformatics

Data Science courses: 

DS 4635/MA 4635 Data Analytics and Statistical Learning 

DS 4433 Big Data Management and Analytics 

Mathematics courses:

MA 4644 Introduction to Time Series Analysis 

MA 4214 Loss Models ll- Survival Models 

MA 4222 Top Algorithms in Applied Mathematics 

Psychological Science and SSPS courses: 

PSY 4800 Special Topics in Psychological Science 

PSY 4900 or 4999 Advanced Research in Psychological Science 

PSY 4110 Psychophysiology 

PSY 4400 Survey Design and Methodology 

PSY 4500 Experimental Design and Analysis 

STS 4000 Senior Seminar in Global Public Health

Major Qualifying Project (MQP):

• Up to 3 graduate credits (equal to 1/2 undergraduate unit) can be earned towards the partial fulfillment of the Graduate Qualifying Project (GQP) requirement by double counting a Major Qualifying Project (MQP), provided that:
  • the MQP involves substantial global health advanced level work
  • the remaining credits for GQP research are a continuation or extension of the MQP work.
  • the Global Health Faculty Steering Committee approves the double counting

Undergraduate and Graduate courses that can be double counted 

Other 4000-level courses and independent studies not on this list but that could be used to satisfy the M.S. degree in Global Health requirements may be petitioned to double count. Such petitions need to be approved by the Global Health Faculty Steering Committee. A student in the B.S./M.S. in Global Health can double-count any of the graduate courses that are listed in the WPI Graduate Catalog if relevant to the concentration and the degree. Special topics courses or independent study classes need to be approved by the Global Health Program Director before they can be used for double counting.  

Restricted Undergraduate and Graduate Course Pairs 

Some undergraduate and graduate courses have significant overlap in their content. The following table lists these courses. A student can receive credit towards their M.S. degree in Global Health for at most one of the two courses in any row of this table.