The Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) is a professional degree program offered by the College of Engineering in collaboration with The Isenberg School of Management. As an academic partner of the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM), the UMass Amherst MSEM is designed for the STEM professional to develop their project, people, and/or process leadership abilities through an engineering lens.
“The intent of the UMass MSEM is not to produce more efficient “formula pluggers”. Our program is designed and delivered to produce holistic technical thought and practice leaders. Technical leaders that are: (1) Systems thinkers that actively seek the bigger picture in both problem understanding & solution finding, and (2) Insights-driven practitioners that embrace the importance of both data and context in driving their decision-making. A particular focus of our program is equipping our students with the critical communications skills, emotional intelligence abilities, and ethical perspectives to effectively and equitably lead and innovate within emerging engineering and technological contexts.” — Woodrow W. Winchester, III, MSEM Director
The 10-course MSEM program can be completed fully online, fully on-campus, or in a blended fashion. Beginning Spring 2020, the newly launched Graduate Certificate in Engineering Project Management and Leadership compliments the MSEM and provides a 3-course (9-credit) professional credential for the STEM professional seeking to advance their understanding of project management and leadership within engineering and technological contexts.
Our graduates are ready to:
- lead engineering and interdisciplinary teams
- manage and analyze the wealth of information pervasive in most industries
- deal with risk and uncertainty
- make better decisions
- design better products
- develop more effective processes
- always take a holistic, systems perspective when addressing a problem
To achieve these goals, the MSEM allows you to deepen your technical/analytics skills through courses such as:
- Principles of Systems Engineering
- Human Factors Design
- Engineering Economic Decision Making
- Advanced Production Planning and Control
While providing a broad management foundation through courses such as:
- Engineering Information and Project Management
- Engineering Leadership and Entrepreneurship
- Business Intelligence and Analytics
- Strategy-Driven Engineering Innovation
Electives can be chosen from a wide selection of courses in the College of Engineering and the Isenberg School of Management, and also include independent studies and practicum industry experiences.
For full details, go to the MSEM Programs page.
MSEM Testimonials
“Soon after graduating from UMass with a BSIE, I knew I wanted to earn a Master’s degree and returning to UMass was my first choice. The MSEM degree was a good fit for me because it was an interdisciplinary and flexible program that would prepare me for a leadership role at any company. I was also able to enroll in electives at the Isenberg School of Management to cultivate my overall understanding of business concepts and practices, while providing the flexibility to continue a full-time career through online courses.” —Paola Santiago
Paola Santiago joined the Global Supply Chain Development Program at Pratt & Whitney while pursuing her Masters of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) at UMass. This 2-year leadership program exposes participants to different positions in the Supply Chain Management, Operations, Materials and Quality organizations. The role rotation provides the deep understanding of Pratt & Whitney’s business model and processes necessary to take on leadership positions. Paola’s background in industrial engineering and engineering management allows her to effectively investigate and resolve quality issues in her current rotation as Supplier Quality Engineer.
“While pursuing the Engineering Management Master’s Degree with UMass, I found immediate opportunities to apply the knowledge on business and engineering leadership that I learned in the classroom to my professional career. Completing the degree online made it possible to fit the program into my schedule, while still interacting with other students through discussions and projects. This interaction gave me invaluable insight into other industries and ideas which have been vital to me in my career. In just over a year the program has helped me go from entry level engineering to managing system installations in a production facility.” — Nathan Young
Nathan Young joined Gorton’s Seafood upon completion of his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering at UMass Amherst. He began as a Maintenance Engineer, working to improve equipment and production linereliability through equipment overhauls improving automated downtime collection systems. During this time, he pursued his Engineering Management Master’s degree. Nathan is currently a Project Engineer tasked with managing capital projects at Gorton’s Seafood production facilities. His degrees in industrial engineering and engineering management help him to successfully install new equipment and systems within the larger more complex production facility and business as a whole.
Program Leadership and Selected Faculty
“Both our MSEM and Graduate Certificate in Engineering Project Management and Leadership programs are specially designed with the STEM professional in mind; allowing one to layer their technical depth with the relevant managerial skills to broaden their decision-making frames and abilities. Our programs equip the STEM professional to effectively lead and grapple, holistically, with the challenges facing the technology-driven enterprise. Recognizing the fact that technical leadership requires lifelong learning, our programs offer preparation for industry recognized credentials such as the Engineering Manager Professional certifications by the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM) and Project Management certifications by the Project Management Institute (PMI).” — Woodrow W. Winchester, III, MSEM Director
Woodrow W. Winchester, III, PhD, CPEM is the Director of Engineering Management at University of Massachusetts – Amherst. He has over eight (8) years of academic program planning, design & leadership experiences. He also has over twelve (12) years of teaching and course development (online and on-ground) experiences within the areas of systems design, engineering and management. A trained human factors engineer, Certified Professional Engineering Management Professional (CPEM), and group fitness enthusiast & advocate, Dr. Woodrow W. Winchester, III brings with him a strong passion for the health & wellness space with interests that seek to advance an understanding of wearable technologies in improving health outcomes especially among marginalized and disenfranchised populations. He is currently under contract with CRC Press to write Inclusion by Design: Future Thinking Approaches to New Product Development (ISBN: 978-0-367-41687-4) slated for a late 2020 release.
“This program is unique in that it combines the necessary business skills for engineers to succeed in organizations with the added depth that comes from further engineering study, creating leaders that not only have engineering skill but business breadth. In other words, not only can they be innovative they can make sure the product or service is delivered successfully.” — Eric Crawley
Eric Crawley is an Entrepreneur-in-residence and lecturer in the College of Engineering at UMass Amherst and has over 30 years of experience in developing technology and managing teams from startups to multinational corporations. He has held titles from software engineer to VP of Engineering. As an Entrepreneur-in-residence, he helps students and faculty turn ideas into companies. He brings this experience to the classroom to teach both how to develop ideas into marketable products but also how to build and manage the team necessary to deliver them.
Contact
For more information on the UMass Amherst Master of Science in Engineering degree, contact Caanin Manson, 413-545-1537, msem@engin.umass.edu.
