Graduates with advanced textile degrees consistently have been in short supply and great demand. The reason for the great demand is the rapid growth of a wide variety of industries that use textile products. Such industries include those involved with medicine, recreation, aerospace, transportation, environmental control, resource recovery, public safety, construction, and consumer goods.

The College of Textiles (COT) at North Carolina State University offers both thesis-based and non-thesis-based Master's degrees focusing on chemistry, engineering,  technology, management, and design. There are opportunities of financial support for suitable students as Research or Teaching Assistantships and The Institute of Textile Technology provides several Fellowships for suitably qualified applicants. Doctor of Philosophy degrees are offered in Fiber and Polymer Science and in Textile Technology Management . Normally, students meeting the graduate school requirements and who possess Bachelor of Science degrees with majors in textiles, the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, or quantitative management methods will qualify for one of the graduate degree programs.

Typically, COT graduate students have had undergraduate degrees in the fields of textile science, textile technology, textile engineering, Polymer & Color Chemistry, chemistry, physics, mathematics, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering physics, materials science, computer science, or consumer economics. Students with certain other backgrounds may also qualify after they meet any requirement deficiencies. Students applying to North Carolina State University will be considered without regard to race, sex, creed or national origin.

An important part of graduate study in textiles includes course work to acquire more specialized and advanced knowledge. Except for the non-thesis Master's programs, an equally important purpose of graduate study is to develop the ability to do research--to learn to analyze unsolved problems, to decide which problems are worth pursuing, and finally, to solve a problem that has never been solved before. The traditional mechanism to achieve this goal is thesis research in which the graduate student works closely with one or more faculty members on a research project of interest to both parties. In choosing a school to carry out your graduate study and research, keep in mind the following important questions:

• What is the quality and breadth of interest of the faculty who will guide your graduate program?
• What is the quality and breadth of the research being done?
• How much interaction is there between faculty advisor and graduate student?
• To what extent are graduate students financially supported?
• How modern and available are research facilities, computer facilities and library facilities?

As you read this information, we hope that some of these questions will be answered for you with respect to the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. We feel that our programs provide an excellent environment for graduate study in textiles because they combine the facilities, quality and breadth of research available at a large university with the close student/faculty interaction possible at a relatively small college.