Earn Your Master's in Engineering Management Online

A master’s in engineering management is designed for those with a background in STEM who want to transition into leadership roles. Because the degree caters to professionals in technical fields, students in an M.Eng. in engineering management program will collaborate with peers and professors who have similar experiences and goals.

These commonalities will enable students to build connections with other leaders in their industry. Students in the program may come from different engineering fields, but they will all have a STEM background.

The focus of an M.Eng. in engineering management curriculum is on the application of management principles to the engineering and technology industries. While topics covered usually overlap with those of an MBA program, they are presented within the context of engineering-specific responsibilities.

An M.Eng. in engineering management program, for example, examines how finances, staffing, and technical requirements contribute to the efficiency of an engineering or tech organization, and how these factors impact the final product. In Vanderbilt’s online master of engineering in engineering management program, students take courses that cover:

Because engineering is a technical field that requires creative problem-solving and a desire to build and test new ideas, many master’s in engineering management programs include hands-on projects as a part of the curriculum. At Vanderbilt, students in the online M.Eng. in engineering management program apply what they learn to improve complex business systems, and develop a final capstone project that they will present.

M.Eng. in engineering management graduates will be prepared to take on leadership roles within engineering, technology, and scientific organizations and companies. They will be able to present themselves as multi-talented professionals who can bridge technical engineering knowledge with organizational and people management skills. Graduates may also go on to lead organizations outside of the tech industry, if these organizations are influenced by technology or engineering.

An M.Eng. in engineering management typically takes approximately two years to complete. Vanderbilt’s online M.Eng. in engineering management program takes as few as 12-15 months to complete. Upon graduation, both the M.Eng. in engineering management and MBA will be recognized as advanced professional degrees by employers.

An MBA is designed for those interested in leadership roles in a variety of fields or industries. However, MBA students often pursue more traditional business professions, such as finance or marketing. Few MBA students aim to enter the engineering field.

Most MBA programs cover a breadth of skills needed to lead in a range of business environments, but rarely hone in on specific industries. Curricular topics may include supply chain management, accounting, organizational behavior, project management, economics and statistics.

MBA students will graduate with the skills to improve performance and return on investment for companies and organizations. A full-time MBA typically takes two years to complete.

This course covers methods of forecasting technological advancements and assessing their potential intended and unintended consequences. The course will cover the Delphi method, trend extrapolation, environmental monitoring and scenario development.

This course will prepare students with the skills to assess new opportunities in a business developing technology products, which opportunities to pursue and which to dismiss. The course will cover the stage gate model as a tool for technology and opportunity assessment and the formulation of plans for new product introduction. It will also cover product lifecycle management, intellectual property management and economic analysis.

This course will discuss the management of small- to medium-sized projects ($10k to $10M), with some introduction to the management of very large and complex projects. Concepts that will be introduced include the engineering design process, design tools, software-assisted decision-making and professional management skills.

This course explores manufacturing and service processes for transforming resources into technology-based products. It will cover strategies and processes for moving information and materials through the supply chain, strategies to support overall firm objectives, product development programs and capacity utilization requirements. The course will also explore manufacturing for flow design and facility layout, service processes, service blueprinting and waiting line analysis for structuring the service encounter; six sigma quality and statistical process control; lean supply chains, logistics, distribution and global sourcing; and enterprise resource planning, inventory management and materials requirement planning.

This course offers an assessment of intellectual property law for a technical, non-legal audience. It will cover different forms of IP protection (e.g., trademark, copyright, patents), with a primary focus on patents. The course will discuss the use of intellectual property on business strategy and how those concepts affect business and technology development decisions. Additionally, the course will discuss open source and its impact, as well as practical legal considerations and broader policy questions.

This course will cover capital budgeting, time value of money, cost of capital and financial statement presentations, and capital formation for technology based firms. Students will learn about sample debt and equity financings, leases and hybrid forms of capital. The course will explore financial accounting and reporting, financial metrics, sources of financial information, financial statement analysis, taxation of business income, financial modeling, asset-based line of credit and working capital management.

Students will learn to apply core principles of leadership and program management as engineering professionals. The course will cover strategic planning, people management, staffing, compensation, business process improvement theory, business interruption, leadership styles, emotional intelligence, negotiation and ethical business practices.

Students in this course will apply engineering management concepts to analyze, design or redesign, and improve complex business systems. Through this course, they will learn process mapping, stakeholder analysis, business process performance metric development, solution development (including use case and requirement analysis), concluding with a change management plan and showcase presentation.

This course covers key aspects of marketing strategy formulation and implementation including customer needs assessment, targeting and positioning strategies in a competitive market. It will discuss the marketing of goods and services to businesses, management of the field sales force, distribution channel development and maintenance, development of new industrial products, and pricing and promotion decisions. The course will also cover aspects of marketing technology products on a global scale.