Winter 2005

Engineering Management is Newest Academic Department

In the early 1990s, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Professor Tom Mason kept hearing from former students about the need for a graduate program that would enable them to improve their management skills and update their technical expertise. Rose- Hulman responded to their requests in 1995 by creating a new graduate program in engineering management.

As a result of the program's positive impact on graduate as well as undergraduate education at Rose-Hulman, a new Department of Engineering Management was created in July.

“The importance of the program is illustrated by our success in meeting the needs of engineers in management positions, and our ability to make undergraduates aware of the changing responsibilities of engineers,” explained Tom Mason, engineering management department head and professor of economics.

Since it was launched, 127 graduates have earned an MS degree through the program. At its peak enrollment, 88 students were taking classes either as full-time or part-time students.

The program is the only one of its kind in Indiana. In the United States, at least 269 engineering management degree programs are being offered. The number is a 69 percent increase during the past nine years.

In addition to on-campus courses, engineering management classes are offered in Bloomington, Indianapolis and at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane.

Mason describes each course as a career builder that emphasizes current trends and practical applications needed to be a successful technical manager.

“The program allowed me to expand my technical education beyond my mechanical engineering background into other engineering disciplines, thus better preparing me to manage larger, wider-scope projects,” stated Jason Zielke, a 2002 engineering management graduate, who earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2000 from Rose-Hulman.

He said the program helped him better understand the operations of a business from several different aspects.

“What I learned enabled me to make decisions in a way that I now evaluate the potential outcomes not just from an engineering standpoint, but also through the eyes of the marketing team, the finance department and other areas within the organization,” said Zielke, who is an Innovation Fellow at Rose-Hulman Ventures.

Undergraduate students are eligible to enroll in several engineering management courses ranging from the technical entrepreneur, project management, system engineering, accounting and marketing for technical managers, and technical management and forecasting. Mason noted that another strength of the program is the career expertise of engineering management faculty.

“Our faculty have had on-the-job experiences ranging from positions in global operations management to chief operating officer of a manufacturing company and expertise in project management and computer simulations.”

Persons interested in the program must have a bachelor's degree in a technical discipline to be admitted.

For further information, access the engineering management Web site at www.rose-hulman.edu/msem.