ISE has moved up 3 places in the U.S. News and World Report.
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APM Named Outstanding Chapter
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Sherali and colleagues win IFORS Prize
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ISE's and the Hokie Nation rally around Paul Torgersen
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ISE Faculty Generate 3 Best Paper Awards
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Undergraduate student team wins national facilities design competition sponsored by the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) and Bastian Material Handling (BMH)
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Management Systems Engineering (MSE) is the definition and application of engineering design and analysis processes and methodologies to systems involving people and technologies within organizations. One of the primary objectives is to define and develop the science of designing complex management systems. MSE is focused on the research, design, development, deployment, measurement, and improvement of systems comprised of decision-makers, information, organizational structures, technologies, decision tools, and work processes, with an emphasis on the interactions among these components. The MSE graduate option is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills to meet the challenges posed by increasingly complex organizational systems within dynamic, global environments.
The MSE academic curriculum is designed to expose students to a breadth of industrial engineering topics at the graduate level, depth in management systems engineering topics, and the opportunity to take technical electives in specialized areas within industrial engineering and other areas.
The MSE curriculum and faculty research interests include the following content areas:
Research methodologies used by faculty and integrated within the curriculum are diverse and include simulation, experimentation, field survey research, and mathematical modeling.
Two degree tracks are offered at the MS level, supporting both an applied and a research track. The applied track is supported by the non-thesis master’s degree (MSNT). The thesis master's degree (MST) supports the research track.
The MSNT is designed to provide coverage of a wide range of management systems engineering topics, and an exposure to a range of industrial engineering topics, through required and elective courses. Most students are encouraged to pursue this track. This is a 12-18 month program. Funding is typically not available for students in the non-thesis track.
The MST is designed to provide in-depth coverage of management systems engineering topics and experience in performing independent research in a chosen area of interest approved by the graduate advisory committee. The MST is a 21-24 month program. All students pursuing the MST must take core, required courses in industrial engineering and in management systems engineering and must secure a major advisor who will direct the research effort—very few students are accepted into the MST track. MST students are second in priority for funding behind PhD students.
The master’s degree programs consist of at least 30 credit hours and include core, required courses (covering a broad range of IE topics), MSE required courses (in-depth coverage of management systems engineering topics), and technical electives. In addition, some students, particularly those holding a non-engineering BS degree, should be prepared to take preparatory courses that are not counted for graduate credit.
Minimum hours for the two master’s tracks are distributed as follows:
| MST | MSNT | Core courses | 18 | 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Elective courses | 6 | 12 (3 hrs. min. in ISE) | Research (MST/ISE 5994) | 6 | — | Total | 30 | 30 |
The curriculum is designed to provide maximum flexibility in selecting technical electives, within the specified guidelines, to define a program of study to support the planned research and graduate study. Technical electives may be taken from other graduate options in ISE, other engineering disciplines, or disciplines outside of engineering in support of the research. A student’s graduate advisory committee may require the student to take courses in particular areas to fulfill technical requirements or remedial needs.
Both the MST and MSNT programs have similar core requirements within ISE and the management systems option. These requirements are presented in the tables below.
| Required Courses (5 courses) | ISE 5015 or 5124 | Mgt of Change, Innovation & Performance in Organizational Systems I (5015) Management of Quality and Reliability (5124) |
|---|---|
| ISE 5016 | Mgt of Change, Innovation & Performance in Organizational Systems II |
| ENGR 5104 | Applied Systems Engineering |
| ENGR 5004 | The Systems Engineering Process |
| ISE 5024 | ISE Seminar (1 hour class, no degree credit) |
| Core ISE Courses (2 courses) Select one course from any two of the three option areas below | |
| Operations Research | |
| ISE 54XX | |
| ISE 5104 | Operations Research |
| Manufacturing Systems Engineering | |
| ISE 52XX or 53XX | |
| Human Factors Engineering | |
| ISE 56XX or 57XX | |
| ISE 5154 | Applied Human Factors Engineering |
| Students with non-engineering BS, in preparation for the technical electives, must take the following preparatory courses, not counted for graduate credit. The MSE option area coordinator will determine which preparatory courses from the list below a student must take based on the student’s background. | |
| ISE 2014 | Engineering Economy | ISE 3014 | Work Measurement and Methods Engineering | ISE 4204 | Production Planning and Inventory Control | ISE 4404 | Statistical Quality Control | STAT 4105-4706 | Probability and Statistics for Engineers |
Six (MST) or twelve (MSNT) hours of technical electives are required. These electives must be selected to provide support appropriate for master's level study and meet ISE and graduate school guidelines. It is required that students in the MSNT option take a minimum of three hours of electives from among ISE courses. A particular student’s electives will be determined in consultation with the student’s advisor and graduate committee, where appropriate.
