Introducing the Masters of Supply Chain Engineering and Management (MSCEM) at NC State
In 2008, Jim Owens, the Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, gave the Poole College of Management a $2.2M gift to support the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative. Part of the mandate Mr. Owens wanted was to establish a joint program with industrial engineering in the supply chain area. CAT recognized that they, like other companies, needed universities to generate a degreed masters programs with a depth of technical skills. This year, the Poole College of Management launched the program, which is called the Masters of Supply Chain Engineering and Management.
This is a potential source of new talent for many companies that recruit at NC State. The idea is to produce a curriculum that is a blend of engineering and business skills, through a partnership between the Edward P. Fitts Dept of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Poole College of Management. Professor Don Warsing from PCOM and Professor Russell King from ISE described the program in the Board of Advisors meeting today.
The prototypical student is one who is finishing up an engineering degree, and seeks to enhance their supply chain knowledge through a fifth year bridge program. There are bridge scholarship opportunities to extend a student’s undergraduate training, and provide them some business perspective as well. It is a ten month degree, and not a long detour in becoming a technical professional. Our hope is that it will provide a return in terms of starting salary and better job placement in terms of being a technical professional. It is a combination of traditional coursework coupled with practicum project with industrial partners. This focuses on productivity, cost minimization, as well as enhancing revenue opportunities.
The curriculum is a three semester program, with the first semester during the summer involving computer tools with MatLab and Excel, focused on problem solving. This bridges into the fall with MBA 590 which is a blend of accounting tools and managerial communication. Students also take classes that are either focused on industrial engineering, or MBA level classes in production planning, supply chain modeling and analysis, Supply Chain Relationships (involving a practicum project), business process design, managerial finance, experimental statistics for engineers, introduction to operations research, and graduate level work in statistics and logistics engineering. The program culminates in the supply chain practicum, and the idea is that people in this will be a separate cohort working in teams of 3 in a cohort and a final semester experience will be a final semester course to provide an industry experience. They will be solving a particular problem and reporting back on solutions.
The degree is targeted at engineering and science undergraduates, with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and applicants must also have a good GRE score and letters of recommendations. The deadline is March 15 for application. More information can be found on the MSCEM website.