Industrial Engineering

Director: S. A. Johnson Affiliated Faculty: A. Gerstenfeld, S. A. Johnson, A. Zeng, J. Zhu

Industrial Engineering Program Chart (PDF)

Mission Statement

The mission of the Industrial Engineering (IE) Program at WPI is to prepare undergraduate students for professional engineering practice, providing the foundation for careers of leadership in challenging global and technological environments. We strive to accomplish this through:

Program Educational Objectives

Educational objectives describe the expected accomplishments of graduates during the first few years after graduation.

  1. Industrial Engineering Knowledge and Design Skills. Graduates should be able to support operational decision making and design solutions to address the complex and changing industrial engineering problems faced by organizations, using modern concepts and technology.
  2. Communication Skills. Graduates should be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, using electronic tools and graphical information.
  3. Teamwork and Leadership Skills. Graduates should be able to serve as change agents in the organizations that employ them, based on strong interpersonal and teamwork skills, an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility and a willingness to take the initiative.

Program Outcomes

Program outcomes describe what students are expected to know and are able to do by the time of graduation, and are linked to the educational objectives described above.

  1. Industrial Engineering Knowledge and Design Skills
    1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve industrial engineering problems.
    2. An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
    3. An ability to design and improve integrated systems of people, materials, information, facilities and technology.
    4. An ability to apply core industrial engineering concepts, using the updated techniques, skills and tools necessary for industrial engineering practice.
    5. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a societal context.
    6. An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, including statistics as well as integral and differential calculus.
    7. An understanding of fundamental physical laws.
  2. Communication Skills
    1. An ability to communicate effectively.
  3. Teamwork and Leadership Skills
    1. An ability to work effectively on multi-disciplinary teams.
    2. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
    3. A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
    4. A knowledge of contemporary issues.
    5. An understanding of global issues.
    6. An understanding of change management in organizational settings.

Program Distribution Requirements for Industrial Engineering Major (IE)

The normal period of residency at WPI is 16 terms. In addition to the WPI requirements applicable to all students (see WPI Degree Requirements), students wishing to receive the ABET accredited degree designated "Industrial Engineering" must complete a minimum of 10 units of study in the areas of mathematics, basic science, and engineering topics as follows:

RequirementsMinimum Units

1. Mathematics and Basic Science (Notes 1,2)

4

2. Industrial Engineering Topics (including the MQP) (Notes 3,4)

6

Notes:

  1. Mathematics must include differential and integral calculus, ordinary differential equations, and 2/3 units in probability and statistics.
  2. Basic Science must include both chemistry and physics, with a minimum of two courses in either.
  3. Must include 1/3 unit of Capstone Design Experience.
  4. Industrial Engineering Topics must include courses in the following three topic areas.
    1. 3 units of industrial engineering core courses, including 1/3 unit in each of the following 9 areas: engineering basics outside industrial engineering, deterministic operations research methods, process design, production planning and control, simulation, stochastic methods in operations research, information systems design, financial modeling and organizational science.
    2. 1 unit in Industrial Engineering electives. 3000/4000 level OIE courses, MIS 3720, MIS 4720, and Operations Research courses in Mathematics qualify. Courses in financial modeling and organizational science do not qualify.
    3. 1 unit in technical electives. Industrial Engineering electives and any other Engineering Science/Design courses qualify.
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Last modified: January 29, 2009 11:37:47