UB - University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Master of Engineering Program

Program Description

The Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree with a specialization in Production Management augments the scientific knowledge of the industrial engineer with the skills of a manager. The goal of the program is to provide the graduate with the skills to meet the challenges of managing technical teams in highly competitive corporate environments. The courses in this program have major elements of practical utility to improve students’ on-the-job technical performance. The students specializing in this area are drawn exclusively from the ranks of those with bachelor’s degrees in engineering or related technical programs.

Key elements of the science of production systems are applied to the critical problems of modern manufacturing. To prepare graduate students to become effective engineering managers, the production management program not only enhances their technical expertise but also exposes them to critical production engineering issues and trains them to deal with these issues confidently. Issues of interest include supply chain management, system quality assurance, and enterprise resource optimization with possible extensions to total quality management and sociotechnical systems.

The Standard M.Eng. Program
Graduate students who have earned their bachelor's degree at a university other than UB will generally be enrolled in the standard M.Eng. program. This program can be taken on either a full-time or part-time basis. It is well-suited for those students who are already practicing engineers in the greater Buffalo metropolitan area.

Entrance Requirements

The entrance requirements for the specialization in Production Management are:

• A baccalaureate degree in engineering.
• Demonstrated practical engineering experience.
• A minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 basis) for all undergraduate work taken during the last two years of the applicant's studies.

In exceptional cases, the department may authorize admission of an applicant who does not meet all of the above requirements. In such cases the department will establish performance criteria which, when satisfied, will serve as the basis for continuing in the program.

The Program

Course Requirements

The Master of Engineering program in Production Management requires a total of 30 credit hours. Students must take the following six courses:

• EAS 521 Principles of Engineering Management I
• EAS 522 Principles of Engineering Management II
• IE 505 Production Planning and Control
• IE 508 Quality Assurance*
• EAS 590 Case Studies in Engineering Management
• EAS 580 Technical Communication*

*Note: If you have taken IE 408 or EAS 480 at the undergraduate level, your core requirements of IE 508 or EAS 580 respectively, will be waived and replaced with other electives.

In addition, each student must select two elective courses totalling six credit hours. These courses should be selected to further enrich the student's educational experience in support of their respective career objectives. Examples of recommended courses are: IE 509 (Total Quality Management), IE 533 (Sociotechnical Systems), IE 551 (Simulation and Stochastic Models), IE 506 (Computer Integrated Manufacturing), IE 507 (Design and Analysis of Experiments) and IE 541 (Human Factors in Safety). Students seeking to enhance their knowledge outside of the traditional engineering and management fields should obtain approval from his or her advisor. In general, approval for such electives will be granted as long as they support the basic philosophy of the program. In particular, the following courses from our School of Management are highly recommended: MGM 625 (Marketing Management), MGS 607 (Technology Management and E-Business), MGB 607 (Leadership and Motivation) and MGA 604 (Financial Analysis and Reporting). The following two courses are available with MGM 625 as prerequisite: MGM 656 (Design, Manufacturing, and Marketing of Products) and MGM 683 (International Marketing). Additional advanced courses requiring multiple prerequisites are: MGM 634 (Project Management), MGS 633 (Strategic Issues in Manufacturing), MGS 630 (Operations and Service Management), and MGS 641 (Strategic Management).

Most of these required courses and some of the elective courses noted above are also being offered as part of UB's EngiNet distance-learning graduate program, wherein students enjoy the convenience of taking these CD-based or video-tape based courses at the time and place convenient to them. Interested students should contact the EngiNet office for details.

Engineering Project

To complete the 30 credit hour requirement, the student must conduct an engineering project representing at least six hours of credit, resulting in a written technical report and satisfactory oral presentation in a seminar. The project requirements can be completed only in either the spring or fall semester. They cannot be completed during the summer semester.

In a M.Eng. project, students are typically involved with the planning, benchmarking, and implementation of certain engineering activities centering on the application of specific engineering principles and methodologies in real world settings, leading to measurable improvements in quality, cost, efficiency, build-to-order flexibility, time-to-market, customer satisfaction, or other key performance indicators. The focus is on innovative application of engineering knowledge to add value, not on creation of new knowledge.

Instructions governing the preparation of the M.Eng. project reports should follow those contained in a university publication entitled, Instructions for Preparing Theses and Dissertations. Consult guidelines before preparing your final manuscript.

The typing of a M.Eng. project report is the responsibility of the student. There are editors and typesetting programs available on the university campus system, which can be used for manuscript preparation.

A limit is imposed by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) on the number of project credits which are applicable toward graduate degree requirements. For the M.Eng. degree, a maximum of six credit hours for project may be applied.

Generally, the six-hour project is divided equally between two semesters. Students need to register for IE 591 (fall semester) and IE 592 (spring semester), 3 credit hours each, with the M.Eng. project advisor of their choice. Be sure to register under the correct section number, as each IE faculty member has a different section and registering under the wrong section number can cause unnecessary complications.

The M.Eng. project advisor is usually Dr. Carl Chang, although students may request any other IE faculty members to serve as their M.Eng. project advisors. Students should consult the Director of Graduate Studies who serves as the departmental advisor for all M.Eng. students for guidance, and seek opportunities to speak with as many IE faculty members as possible. Doing so will allow students to benefit from the exceptionally rich IE faculty advisors, and to maximize the value of their learning experience through the capstone M.Eng. projects.

Students who carry an Incomplete grade in M.Eng. Project but have completed all other M.Eng. requirements, are advised to register for the M.Eng. project for one credit hour until the Incomplete grade has been removed.

Nonapplicable Credits

Credits in the following courses are not applicable toward the minimum requirements for the master's degree programs: Supervised Teaching, Supervised Research, and Departmental Seminar.

Time Limit for Degree

The time limit for finishing all M.Eng. degree requirements is two years from the first registration date in the graduate program, excluding approved leaves of absence. For part-time students, a time limit of six years from the first registration date in the graduate program, excluding approved leaves of absence, is permitted. Petition for an extension of time limit requires departmental approval. The student must be currently making active progress toward the degree. The SEAS Divisional Committee will consider each petition and, in certain cases, it may set a deadline for completion of the program. The extension of time limit is normally granted for a period of one year or less.

Dr. John Zahorjan Scholarship Fund

This scholarship is for students who are in the Master of Engineering program. It is highly valued by the department and serves to further the collective goals of both the students in the program and the department. The visibility generated by this scholarship is significant.

The scholarship is named after the pioneer of our Master of Engineering program, Dr. John Zahorjan, who sadly passed away in 1999. With this scholarship his legacy lives on.