The Master of Science in Engineering with Certificate of Specialization in Engineering Management (MSOL: ENGR MGMT) is leadership education for technical specialists.
The curriculum targets the knowledge areas that managers need most to successfully oversee project teams and product development. Students learn strategy execution and how to turn strong ideas into actionable projects that stay on time, on budget and within specifications.
The online courses are taught by faculty from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and from other renowned schools at UCLA. Our students benefit from this varied expertise while engaging with content tailored to the engineering profession.
“We are very proud that the courses we offer to online students are exactly the same courses that we offer to on-campus students. They’re being taught by the same faculty with the same rigorousness, the same homework and the same exams.”
— Jenn-Ming Yang, distinguished professor and associate dean of international initiatives and online programs
Degree Requirements
Nine courses are required (36 units). This program includes a Comprehensive Exam Requirement that every student must complete to earn their degree. This ensures that you graduate from the program with an in-depth, practical understanding of engineering management and how to implement it into your professional life.
Time to Degree
The online MSOL: ENGR MGMT is a part-time program. Students generally take one course each quarter, and they complete the program in two years and one quarter, including two summer sessions. Some choose to take more than one course per quarter to earn their degree sooner. The maximum time allowed in this program is three academic years (nine quarters), excluding summer sessions.
Coursework and Format
The engineering management coursework includes:
- Recorded lectures
- Discussion posts
- Written assignments
- Presentations
- Individual and group projects
- Exams
Course Descriptions
The progression of courses presented below is a suggestion. Courses may be taken in a different order depending on availability.
*Availability of ENGR 188 courses may vary.
*No electives are allowed for this area of study.
Fundamental Courses in Engineering Management
Year 1
Practical review of major elements of the system engineering process. Coverage of key elements: system requirements and flow down, product development cycle, functional analysis, system synthesis and trade studies, budget allocations, risk management metrics, review and audit activities and documentation.
Practical review of necessary processes and procedures to successfully manage technology programs. Review of fundamentals of program planning, organizational structure, implementation and performance tracking methods to provide a program manager with necessary information to support decision-making processes that provide high-quality products on time and within budget.
Introduction to strategic and operating issues and decisions involved in managing enterprises. Operational processes use an organization’s resources to transform inputs into goods, utilize them to provide services or do both. Conceptual framework and a set of analytical tools are provided to enable students to better understand why processes behave as they do. Given this understanding, students are able to involve themselves in an organization’s defining strategic decisions, those related to key processes affecting an organizational unit’s performance.
Introduction to concepts reflecting material generally covered in certain M.B.A. core and elective courses. This course integrates (a) theory, to introduce essential conceptual building blocks in accounting and finance, and (b) empirical practice, to emphasize how these theories are actually implemented in the real world.
Cases, comprehensive problems and recent events are presented to provide students with as much hands-on experience in applying the material as possible.
Year 2
Coverage of a wide variety of spreadsheet models that can be used to solve business and engineering problems, with emphasis on mastery of Excel spreadsheet modeling as an integral part of analytic decision making. Managerial models include data modeling, regression and forecasting, linear programming, network and distribution models, integer programming, nonlinear programming and Monte Carlo simulation. Problems from operations, finance and marketing taught by spreadsheet examples and describe general managerial situations from various industries and disciplines. Development of spreadsheet models to facilitate decision making.
Exploration of knowledge, attributes, skills and strategies necessary to succeed communicatively in a workplace, with focus on business presentation skills, visual and verbal persuasion skills and interpersonal communication skills. This course is not eligible for the comprehensive exam question.
Prior knowledge of legal doctrines or materials not required. Intellectual property law is not just a topic for lawyers. Engineers who have design responsibilities must understand how the legal system in some instances protects their designs and in other instances stands as an obstacle to what would otherwise be the most efficient design choice. Engineers with management responsibilities must understand intellectual property law implications for everything from pricing to strategic partnerships. Examination of intellectual property law, not only by learning fundamental rules associated with patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protection, but by studying business strategies that these rules support. Examples and case studies to be taken from across content, technology and pharmaceutical industries.
Management as well as engineering decisions nearly always take place in environments characterized by uncertainty. Probability provides a mathematical framework for understanding how to make rational decisions when outcomes of actions are uncertain. Application of probability to problem of reasoning from sample data, encompassing estimation, hypothesis testing and regression analysis. Discussion of specific analytical techniques needed in later courses in the program. Development of basic understanding of statistical analysis.
Year 3
As information and communication systems continue to expand into businesses, the underlying cybersecurity management of these systems becomes critical in the success of any business operation. Underlying the protection of vital business resources are well-structured protection mechanisms. They are laid out with a defensible architecture, augmented with cybersecurity management processes and close cooperation of suppliers and partners. To ensure proper cybersecurity operations, we need trained personnel throughout the enterprise.
The goal of this course is to gain knowledge in managing enterprise business systems. This course covers various aspects of cybersecurity topics needed by business managers. They involve:
- What is cybersecurity management?
- Principles for cybersecurity management
- Planning for cybersecurity
- Planning for contingencies
- Cybersecurity policy
- Creating cybersecurity program
- Cybersecurity management model and practices
- Risk management: identifying and controlling risks
- Cyber security mechanisms
- Personnel and physical security
- Laws and ethics
OR
This course focuses on the intersection of science and technology and public policy. The course will present a detailed overview of both the impact of science and technology on public policy decisions and directions, as well as the impact of such decisions on the products and markets that technology companies are developing.
Our modern society is faced with many complex social and economic problems whose solutions can only come from scientific advancements and technological progress: solutions that generally emerge from the private domain. It falls upon governments to utilize, regulate and harness the power of these technologies to solve a diverse set of problems such as global warming, regional conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic, international trade, protection of intellectual property, privacy concerns related to big data and many more. As such, they have to make many decisions and instigate new regulations. These regulations will directly impact technology-based companies as they find themselves at a crossroads. Sometimes government decisions and actions will serve to expand their business and benefit many of their stakeholders. Yet at other times, they will create obstacles and even conflicts for adoption of new products and services and the need to expand their markets.
This course is about understanding such policies and being able to operate and thrive under their restrictions. For example, a country’s approach to patents and copyrights will enhance the competitive position of inventive companies within the country but will not prevent foreign infringement, unless the government enters protective pacts in cooperation with other governments.
Comprehensive Exam
The Comprehensive Exam Requirement entails passing designated written exam questions for three different graduate-level courses. Each written exam is completed during the same time as the final exam of each course. Students select which exams they will take.
Most courses in the online MSOL: ENGR MGMT program are eligible for the exam; those that do not qualify are marked in the course descriptions above.
MSOL students can take their exams anywhere in the world, either on campus at UCLA or off campus at a local test center. They must complete their written exam within two days during the official final exam period.
Request Information
To learn more about the Online Master of Science in Engineering with Certificate of Specialization in Engineering Management, contact an enrollment consultant at (877) 837-8352 or fill out the form below to download a free brochure.