Visit Registration Information

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Master’s in Systems Engineering

This is the engineering-focused track, designed to increase your technical skills in addition to systems management.

Learning Outcomes

Gain technical depth in system dynamics, systems engineering, and systems thinking
Learn to lead technical teams on complex engineering projects
Analyze requirements for systems, explore alternatives for implementations and design and engineer systems in a way that minimizes technical risks.
Develop integration, verification and validation strategies for systems to determine they were built correctly, and they meet users’ needs.
Describe, design and develop complex hardware and/or software architectures that enable the functionality of complex systems and systems-of-systems.
Work with program managers to plan, document and control the design and development of systems in a way that minimizes budget and schedule risks.

Program Requirements

30 credit hours required, and specific courses are determined in conjunction with an academic advisor. All courses are three credits each unless otherwise specified. A thesis is not required but all students must complete a capstone experience.

Core Requirement (12 credits)

Each student must complete the core of the Systems Engineering degree program, which consists of the following four 3-credit graduate courses:

SYS 501. Concepts of Systems Engineering*
SYS 510. Systems Architecture and Design
SYS 511. Systems Integration, Verification and Validation
OIE 542. Risk Management and Decision Making

Leadership/Management Requirement (3 credits)

System engineers need to be aware of, and trained in, leadership/management methods and practices. Accordingly, each student must also complete one of the following 3-credit graduate courses:

MIS 576. Project Management
MIS 582. Information Security Systems and Management
OBC 506. The Heart of Leadership: Power, Reflection, and Interpersonal Skills
OIE 554. Global Operations Strategy
SD 550. System Dynamics Foundation: Managing Complexity

Depth Requirement (6 credits)

To ensure sufficient breadth of knowledge in Systems Engineering, each student must complete a minimum of 18 Systems Engineering graduate credits. In addition to the courses noted in the Core Requirement section, each student must complete two additional 3-credit Systems Engineering graduate courses from those listed below.

SYS 502. Business Practices
SYS 512. Requirements Engineering
SYS 520. Systems Optimization
SYS 521. Model-based Systems Engineering
SYS 540. Introduction to Systems Thinking
SYS 579. Software Engineering for Systems Engineering
SYS 579C. Complex Decision Making
SYS 579D. Engineering Dependable and Secure Systems
SYS 579R. System Reliability Engineering
SYS 579S. System of Systems Engineering

Elective Courses (6 credits)

Six credit hours of elective graduate courses can be selected to meet the specific needs of students and organizations. All elective courses must be approved by the student’s faculty advisor and can be selected from courses offered by the following departments and programs: Computer Science (CS), Systems Dynamics (SD), any WPI engineering department or program (such as ECE, BME, ME, ChE, EnvE and RBE), the School of Business, and Mathematics (MA).

Capstone Experience (3 credits)

The capstone experience requirement may be satisfied by an instructor-led systems engineering project (SYS 585 Systems Engineering Capstone Experience), an individual directed research project (SYS 598 Directed Research), or a Master’s Thesis (SYS 599 Thesis). Courses taken to satisfy the capstone experience requirement must not exceed a total of 9 credits. Students may not transfer credits to satisfy the required capstone experience. The capstone cannot be taken until the student has successfully completed at least 24 credits, including all Core Requirements.

Learn more about the Capstone Experience here.

Thesis option: Currently, WPI’s online graduate programs do not offer a thesis option, as theses cannot be completed online. If you wish to pursue a thesis on campus, it is the student’s responsibility to find an advisor. Please note that depending on the project’s subject and timeframe, there might not be a faculty member willing or able to advise.

Connect with your professor about expectations for partner and/or group work. Remember, WPI policies around academic honesty still apply. If you are looking to find ways to connect with peers for any of these reasons or more, consider emailing a classmate through the course Canvas site and/or utilizing WPI tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom to virtually connect. Learn more about these tools in the Canvas Online Student Center site.

Need materials? Check out the Central MA STEM Network Ecosystem Lending Library of STEM Kits!

Project ideas, activities, and simulations for teachers to use with students.

Welcome to WPI!

Master’s in Systems Engineering

Learning Outcomes

Program Requirements