Full participation in the SDM master's degree program requires successful completion of 11 required courses, 4 electives, a thesis seminar course and a project-oriented thesis. The 11 courses include a range of engineering and management subjects designed especially for SDM. Leadership and teamwork modules are interwoven in the curriculum.
The following subjects are required for SDM’s master of science degree in engineering and management:
Core Courses
Foundation Courses
- Engineering Risk-Benefit Analysis
- Systems Optimization
- The Human Side of Technology
- Financial and Managerial Accounting
- Operations and Supply Chain Management
- Innovation in the Marketplace
- Product Design and Development
- Technology Strategy
Elective Requirements
- 1 engineering elective
- 1 management elective*
- 2 track electives (approved by the program director)
The following courses are popular optional electives for the master of science degree in engineering and management:
Product Development Electives
- Principles of Axiomatic Design
- Listening to the Customer
- Integrated Product and Process Design
- Mechanical Assembly and Its Role in Product Development
- Integrating the Lean Enterprise
- Integrated Product and Process Design
* There is a limit of 2 MIT Sloan electives. All electives must be approved by the director of the SDM program.
course descriptions
Core Courses
System architects respond to user needs, define and allocate functionality, decompose the system and define interfaces. This course gives students a way to approach a synthetic view of system architecture. Discussions touch upon the allocation of functionality and its projection on organizational functionality; the analysis of complexity and methods of decomposition and reintegration; as well as flexible product platforms and the trades between optimality and reusability. Industrial speakers and faculty will present examples from various fields. Heuristic and formal methods will be presented. This course provides an integrative forum for SDM students.
Systems engineers flow down requirements to detailed elements, integrate elements and verify system performance. This course concentrates on the technical elements of systems engineering necessary for dealing with products. Multidisciplinary activities lead to requirements analysis, design trades and integrated product-process development. These activities are complemented by current best manufacturing practices and design for cost principles. Structured methods, decision analysis and quality engineering foundations are exercised.
System and project management ensures technical progress toward objectives, proper deployment and conservation of human and financial resources, and achievement of cost and schedule targets. Course topics include technology, cost, scheduling project planning and control; structuring performance measures and metrics; technical teams and project management; information technology support of teams; and process control.
Foundation Courses
This course deals with analysis risk assessment, decision and cost-benefit analysis, and fault-tree methods for describing and making decisions about the societal risks (nuclear power, dams, carcinogens, transport and disposal of hazardous materials) associated with large engineering projects. Students are asked to balance risks and benefits in situations involving human safety, environmental hazards and financial uncertainties. Presentations center on major risk assessment and the public decision-making processes associated with them.
This is an application-oriented introduction to systems optimization that focuses on understanding system tradeoffs. The course introduces modeling methodology (linear, integer and nonlinear programming) and simulation methods, with applications in production planning and scheduling, inventory planning and supply contracts, logistics network design, facility sizing and capacity expansion, yield management, electronic trading and finance.
Focuses on the organization of the future, identifying its characteristics and exploring the implications for living in, managing and leading such an organization. The course also focuses on skills such as negotiating, cross-cultural communication and teamwork. Students will examine the creation of the structures needed within the firm and the alliances, learning and change practices needed to maintain global performance.
An intensive introduction to the preparation and interpretation of financial information for investors (external users) and managers (internal users) and to the use of financial instruments to support system and project creation. Adopts a decision-maker perspective on accounting and finance.
Class will be a mix of lectures, case discussions and applications. The course objectives are to develop modeling skills and to provide new concepts and problem-solving tools applicable to the design and planning of supply chains as well as manufacturing systems.
Introduces concepts and skills needed to manage the marketing function. Topics include marketing strategy, competitive analysis, consumer behavior, new product development, marketing research and the marketing mix—advertising, promotion, personal selling, distribution and pricing.
Covers modern tools and methods for product design and development. The cornerstone is a project in which teams of management, engineering and industrial design students conceive, design and prototype a physical product. Class sessions employ cases and hands-on exercises to reinforce the key ideas. Topics include product planning, identifying customer needs, concept generation, product architecture, industrial design, concept design and design for manufacturing.
Provides a series of strategic frameworks for managing high-technology businesses. Emphasis on the development and application of conceptual models that clarify the interactions between competition, patterns of technological and market change, and the structure and development of internal firm capabilities.
For more information about many of these courses, visit MIT's OpenCourseWare.
