Asee peer logo

Engineering Management Creating Individuals with a Mind for Business and a Heart for Engineering

Download Paper |

Conference

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Atlanta, Georgia

Publication Date

June 23, 2013

Start Date

June 23, 2013

End Date

June 26, 2013

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Programs in Support of Systems Engineering Education

Tagged Division

Systems Engineering

Page Count

8

Page Numbers

23.516.1 - 23.516.8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--19530

Permanent URL

https://sftp.asee.org/19530

Download Count

419

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Saeed D. Foroudastan Middle Tennessee State University

visit author page

Saeed Foroudastan is the Associate Dean for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS). The CBAS oversees 10 departments at Middle Tennessee State University. He is also the current Director for the Master’s of Science in Professional Science program and a professor of engineering technology at MTSU. Foroudastan received his B.S. in civil engineering, his M.S. in civil engineering, and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University. Additionally, he has six years of industrial experience as a Senior Engineer and 17 years of academic experience as a professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor. Foroudastan’s academic experience includes teaching at Tennessee Technological University and Middle Tennessee State University in the areas of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering technology. He has actively advised undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, and minority students in academics and career guidance. Foroudastan has also served as Faculty Advisor for SAE, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Pre-engineering, ASME, Experimental Vehicles Program (EVP), and Tau Alpha Pi Honors Society. In addition to Foroudastan’s teaching experience, he also has performed extensive research and published numerous technical papers. He has secured more than $1 million in the form of both internal and external grants and research funding. Foroudastan is the faculty advisor, coordinator, and primary fundraiser for EVP teams entering national research project competitions such as the Formula SAE Collegiate Competition, the Baja SAE Race, the SolarBike Rayce, the Great Moonbuggy Race, and the Solar Boat Collegiate Competition. For his concern for and dedication to his students, Foroudastan received MTSU awards such as the 2002-03 Outstanding Teaching
Award, the 2005-06 Outstanding Public Service Award, and the 2007 Faculty Advisor of the Year Award. He received the Excellence in Engineering Education Award and Faculty Advisor Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). He was also nominated for the MTSU 2005 and 2009-11 Outstanding Research Award. He received two Academic Excellence awards from the Tennessee Board of Region in 2010-11. Foroudastan has also won many College of Basic and Applied Science awards. In addition to this, Foroudastan also reviews papers for journals and conference proceedings of ASEE, ASEE-SE, and ASME, and he has been a session moderator for several professional conferences.

visit author page

biography

brigette elizabeth prater thompson Middle Tennessee State University

visit author page

I hold a Bachelors degree of Biological Science from East Tennessee State University and am currently obtaining my Masters of Science in Professional Science with a concentration in Biotechnology at Middle Tennessee State University. I am completing my graduate assistantship with Dr. Saeed Foroudastan the Director of the Masters of Science in Professional Science program and Associate Dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences; I assist with the preparation and submission of grants and publications among other duties. Along with my assistantship duties, I am a highly active member of the Masters of Science in Professional Science club at Middle Tennessee State University.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Engineering Management Creating Individuals with a Mind for Business and a Heart for Engineering The Professional Science Masters (PSM) is an up and coming interdisciplinarygraduate degree that is nationally recognized. A PSM degree educates students inScience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) while introducing them tothe logistics of the business industry behind the science. At our institution this degreetakes form as the Masters of Science in Professional Science (MSPS) program. This isone of the fastest growing graduate degree programs at our institute. At its inception theprogram housed concentrations in biotechnology and biostatistics. Due to the greatsuccess of the program and its graduates the program has expanded the subsequent skillsets available to incoming students including concentrations in actuarial sciences,geosciences, and health care informatics. One of the most resent and arguably the mostbeneficial additions to the program has been that of the Engineering Managementconcentration. The goal of the Engineering Management program is to create individuals with amind for business and a heart of a scientist. The Engineering Management degree isoriented to Engineering Systems and Manufacturing undergraduate students and thosewith a related STEM degree. The Engineering Management concentration requiresstudents to take core courses such as Managerial Communications, Leadership andMotivation, and Accounting and Legal Issues for Mangers. In addition, at the heart of theprofessional science degree is the 250-hour internship that students are required toperform at the end of their course work. This internship allows students to gain real-world working experience in an industry setting while performing a company specifiedproject. It also gives students the opportunity to network with future employers. TheMSPS program and the internship process have garnered recognition both at the local andnational level. The success of the program is further illustrated by the fact that theprogram has a 95% graduation rate and more than 70% of its graduates are employed bythe companies where they completed their internship. Along with its sister subsets the Engineering Management concentration isdesigned to reinforce the ideal of the symbiotic relationship between science andindustry. Engineering Management, as an integration of two colleges and severaldepartments teaches students the interpersonal, leadership, management, and engineeringskills needed for success in manufacturing, industry, and business. The program requiresstudents to take courses focusing on project management, safety planning, researchmethods, and technology trends. Additionally through the coursework offered by theEngineering Management degree the students gain credit towards their ProjectManagement Institute (PMI) and also have the ability to gain full certification in bothLean and Six-Sigma methodologies. Certifications which are highly sought after intoday’s ever competitive job market.

Foroudastan, S. D., & prater thompson, B. E. (2013, June), Engineering Management Creating Individuals with a Mind for Business and a Heart for Engineering Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19530

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2013 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015