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Creation Of A Graduate Program In Engineering Management: Application Of Basic Six Sigma Principles To Curriculum Design

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Conference

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Louisville, Kentucky

Publication Date

June 20, 2010

Start Date

June 20, 2010

End Date

June 23, 2010

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Engineering Management Program Design

Tagged Division

Engineering Management

Page Count

13

Page Numbers

15.332.1 - 15.332.13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--15882

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/15882

Download Count

418

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Paper Authors

biography

Anoop Desai Georgia Southern University

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Dr. Anoop Desai received his BS degree in Production Engineering from the University of Bombay in 1999, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from The University of Cincinnati in 2002 and 2006. His main research interests are in Product Lifecycle Management, Design for the Environment, Total Quality Management including tools for Six Sigma and Ergonomics.

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biography

Jean-Claude Thomassian State University of New York, Maritime College

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Dr. Jean-Claude Thomassian received his BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo in 1992 and 1993, respectively, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from The University of Toledo in 1995 and 2002. His main professional interests are in mixed mode IC design and electrical engineering education; his recent research activity concentrates on symbolic analysis of circuits and MOS models.

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Creation of a Graduate program in Engineering Management: Application of basic Six Sigma principles to Curriculum Design

Abstract

This paper presents an educational case study to develop a curriculum in engineering management at a university in the southeast United States. The program is being offered principally at the graduate level, with some courses being offered at the dual level of competency. The courses within the program are offered using the classroom instruction as well as the online format of instruction.

The program content utilizes the various ingredients of Industrial Engineering as well as basic management science and its application to engineering. The newly developed program also takes advantage of audio-visual media to facilitate instruction. The novel aspect of this program is that due to its basic nature, courses are being offered both in the classroom as well as online. This versatile approach makes the program highly lucrative for working professionals as well as distance learners. The paper examines how the basic principles of Six Sigma were systematically applied to curriculum development to not only ensure quality of the program but also to expressly address needs of the students and industry.

Introduction

As engineers, scientists, and technologists advance in their careers, they encounter an increasing expectation of project and team management. At the same time, these technical specialists are oftentimes poorly prepared to take on these additional job responsibilities. A Master of Science in Engineering Management degree is designed to help technical professionals take this next step in their career. In addition to added technical exposure, this well-rounded degree prepares technical professionals to deal with topics such as cost management, world-class manufacturing, workplace safety and ergonomics, leadership, and quality control. A curriculum development effort was recently undertaken at a university in the southeast United States for development of just such a graduate program in Engineering Management. This paper describes the need for the program, its salient features as well as introduces the reader to how basic six sigma principles in applied to curriculum development for the said program.

A degree in Engineering Management is primarily designed for working engineers, technologists, scientists and professionals who are in leadership/management positions or who are planning to advance their careers into the management of technical projects or teams. The curriculum gives students an appreciation of both the technical and managerial perspectives of solving projects. The degree candidate must have an appropriate undergraduate degree in an engineering, engineering technology, manufacturing, or science discipline.

Generally speaking, there are four target audiences for a graduate degree in engineering management. They are enumerated as follows.

Desai, A., & Thomassian, J. (2010, June), Creation Of A Graduate Program In Engineering Management: Application Of Basic Six Sigma Principles To Curriculum Design Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--15882

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2010 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015