BS Systems Engineering

The Systems Engineering and Operations Research (SEOR) Department offers a bachelor’s degree in systems and industrial engineering, a master’s degree in systems engineering, a master’s degree in operations research, and a doctoral degree in systems engineering and operations research. The department also offers a minor in systems engineering, a minor in aviation flight training and management, and a minor in sustainable systems engineering. The department offers a concentration in predictive analytics and a concentration in financial engineering within the school-wide master’s degree in data analytics engineering. The department offers six systems engineering certificates at the master’s level: architecture-based systems integration, C4I and cyber (command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, and cyber), engineering resilient enterprise systems, communication and networking, tactical computer operations, and financial systems; the department offers three operations research certificates: computational modeling, military operations research, and predictive data analytics. The department also offers a dual master’s degree in operations research and master’s degree in statistical science jointly with the Statistics Department.

There is much overlap between systems and industrial engineering and operations research. The department encourages students of either discipline to elect courses in the other. For more information, go to the department's website.

Systems and Industrial engineers determine the most effective ways to use all of a system’s components: people, machines, materials, information, and energy. The engineers plan, design, implement, and manage integrated systems, working to ensure performance, safety, reliability, and maintainability. They also work to ensure that systems are delivered on time at a reasonable cost. Examples of systems include the national air transportation system, computer networks, autonomous vehicles, intelligent robots, the electric power grid, healthcare systems, and financial trading systems. Whereas other engineering disciplines concentrate on individual aspects of a system, systems and industrial engineers focus on the system as a whole and the interaction of the underlying parts. Systems and industrial engineering is a people-oriented profession, involved with the human and organizational aspects of developing the desired system.