Master's Programs

The General Industrial Engineering (GIE) concentration provides flexibility for students and tailors their graduate program to fit their individual educational objectives. A short list of required courses is supplemented by wide selection of elective courses to complete the GIE degree requirements. This allows the student to pursue a broad or narrow path in a specific area of study or with a particular faculty member. Students also gain experience in performing independent research in a chosen area of interest approved by the student’s advisory committee. The culmination of this research is the M.S. thesis. 

Human factors engineering and ergonomics (HFEE) is concerned with ways of designing jobs, machines, operations, and work environments to be compatible with human capacities and limitations. The HFEE practitioner, operating within an industrial or governmental organization, applies existing human performance knowledge to the design or modification of equipment and generates new experimental data required for equipment design.

Foundational coursework includes a detailed study of existing research, design, and evaluation methods that are appropriate to human factors engineering and ergonomics. Additionally, content courses include sensory ergonomics (sensory capabilities and limitations of humans), physical ergonomics (biomechanics and work physiology), cognitive ergonomics (human information processing), and macroergonomics (group processes). This coursework is supplemented by research opportunities in a variety of application areas including auditory communication, computer displays, industrial safety, training, and transportation systems. Emphasis is placed upon specific content area courses, elective courses in the student’s area of interest, and laboratory research under the direct guidance of an HFEE faculty member.

Every student should be able to demonstrate basic computer proficiency. Students who have previously taken courses equivalent to those indicated may be exempt from such requirements as determined on a course-by-course basis. Students must petition for substitution of these equivalent courses in their plan of study and this petition must be approved by the Virginia Tech instructor for the course(s) in question and the ISE graduate program director.

Our program is accredited by the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE) and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).

Management and systems engineering is the definition and application of engineering design and analysis processes and methodologies to systems involving people and technologies within organizations. One of the primary objectives is to define and develop the science of designing complex management systems. Management and systems engineering is focused on the research, design, development, deployment, measurement, and improvement of systems comprised of decision-makers, information, organizational structures, technologies, decision tools, and work processes, with an emphasis on the interactions among these components. The Management and Systems Engineering graduate track is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills to meet the challenges posed by increasingly complex organizational systems within dynamic, global environments.

The track's academic curriculum exposes students to a breadth of industrial engineering topics at the graduate level, depth in management systems engineering topics, and technical electives in specialized areas within industrial engineering and other areas.

The Manufacturing Systems Engineering track is designed to provide students with the knowledge to successfully meet the most difficult challenges of modern manufacturing industries on a global scale. The track provides engineers with detailed state-of-the-art knowledge of both traditional and advanced manufacturing technologies, systems integration techniques, economic analysis methods, and operations management practices and principles. With this knowledge, students develop the ability to perform analysis, evaluation, and synthesis for a broad range of problems related to the design, implementation, and efficient operation of manufacturing systems.

Prerequisites for any manufacturing systems engineering degree are an ABET-accredited B.S. degree in engineering (or equivalent).

Students within the graduate program in the manufacturing systems engineering track are assumed to have had undergraduate courses in simulation and optimization. If this is not the case, such students must make up this deficiency by taking the appropriate undergraduate courses or graduate courses in these areas. If graduate courses are taken, they can be used as elective credits towards the degree requirements.

Operations research (OR) is a scientific, mathematical modeling-based approach to problem solving and management. OR is used for the efficient design and management of systems, usually seeking to determine an optimal or effective utilization and allocation of scarce resources. OR is widely used in many diverse application areas including the design and management of service and manufacturing systems, supply chain management, humanitarian logistics, healthcare and public policy. The curriculum provides a methodological foundation and is flexible, allowing students to focus on methodological research or applications. More information can be obtained from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) or the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE).

The M.S. in Systems Engineering program is available to students anywhere. The program is ideal for individuals who are employed full-time and wish to pursue an advanced degree on a part-time basis. However, full-time employment is not obligatory for admission to the program. Classes are typically offered in the late afternoon and early evening hours.

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field that integrates many different engineering specialties into a total engineering effort to ensure an efficient and effective product (system) output. Systems engineering analyzes the operational needs of industrial, business and government enterprises and by applying scientific and engineering technology develops the integrated hardware and software required to meet those needs.

A major feature of systems engineering is its concern for the complete life cycle of the system, from planning, design, development, testing, and production to operations, sustaining maintenance and support, and system retirement. Within this broad spectrum, many different categories of systems are in use today, and the complexities of design, production, operations, and support vary significantly. A systems engineer can apply the team approach when bringing systems into being and can define their various components, identify and integrate the engineering disciplines needed to develop them, and understand the system's operational and maintenance requirements for the entire customer-use period.

All certificates are available for those at Blacksburg campus. The Human-System Integration and Technology Management certificates are available at the Blacksburg campus or virtually. If you have questions, contact the graduate program advisor.