MIT Professional Education's new four-course online professional certificate program, Architecture and Systems Engineering: Models and Methods to Manage Complex Systems will provide a state-of-the-practice view on model-based systems engineering for technical professionals and engineers. This first-of-its-kind professional certificate was developed by leading MIT faculty and incorporates case studies, practitioner guest lectures and examples from a wide variety of industries and companies such as Boeing, NASA, IBM, Apple, US Air Force, MAN Truck & Bus AG, General Motors, GE and more.
"Engineering practice is changing rapidly in tandem with the growth of software, driving incredible capability changes, but also causing enormous challenges managing complex development programs," says Bruce Cameron, Director of the System Architecture Lab at MIT and Director of the online professional certificate program. "We believe that this will be a great opportunity for professionals working in a wide range of industries to see the state of the art and discuss their career experience with complex systems."
In this online program, engineers will be exposed to knowledge and practice on the management of complex systems with analysis and modeling tools:
- Architecture of Complex Systems (September 12, 2016) Participants will understand and manage system complexity by addressing the changes that induce, propagate and amplify risk in products and services.
- Models in Engineering (October 31, 2016) Participants will learn how to choose appropriate models in a variety of engineering contexts, and to articulate the criteria by which models should be evaluated.
- Model-Based Systems Engineering: Documentation and Analysis (January 2, 2017) Participants will receive an introduction to the foundation of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) by analyzing industry case studies and identifying best practices.
- Quantitative Methods in Systems Engineering (February 13, 2017) Participants will discover the quantitative methods in systems engineering and receive how-to instructions for implementing these methods in a variety of complex systems.
The four online courses are designed to be compatible with a full-time professional work schedule. Course content can be consumed at any time as long as weekly assignment deadlines are met. Participants will be able to complete coursework in 4-5 hours per week according to their availability. Lecture material, examples and case studies will be available in an online format. In addition, participants will benefit from a diverse and global base of fellow program attendees, as the professional certificate program has a strong focus on enabling cross-industry discussions among participants.
"As the market continues to evolve and demands more out of engineering professionals, this four course program from MIT Professional Education will help provide a competitive edge to students and their organizations," says Bhaskar Pant, Executive Director of MIT Professional Education. "Product life-cycles are getting shorter, the market is striving for novel ideas every day and these courses will teach students how to confront complex challenges with problem solving innovations."
Each consecutive course builds on its predecessor, working from early decisions that define system performance, to criteria for the development of models, to the practice of digitizing engineering development and concluding with some of the analysis methods that are made possible by new digital environments. Professionals who do not want to pursue the entire certificate will be able to take the courses separately in the recommended sequential order.
