The Management Engineering program provides undergraduate students with an engineering education needed to understand, design, implement and manage complex management systems upon which organizations depend. Management Engineering undergraduates obtain a degree which combines, as an integrated whole, technical and managerial knowledge along with opportunities to develop their problem-solving abilities, communication and interpersonal skills, project management experience, and teamwork and leadership skills.
The Management Engineering program is administered by the Department of Management Sciences, in the Faculty of Engineering. The Department of Management Sciences also offers the Option in Management Sciences to students in other Engineering programs, as described elsewhere in this section of the calendar.
The Management Engineering program at Waterloo provides a solid foundation in management, engineering, science, and mathematics. On this foundation, the program also has specialized courses in three theme areas:
- Operations Research and Supply Chain Management: Operations Research deals with quantitative models of complex operations and uses these models to support decision-making in any sector of industry or public services. Supply chain management is the process of planning, implementing and managing the flow of goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption.
- Information Technologies: The Information Technologies theme focuses on how technology is designed and managed to support effective decision-making. Topics deal with technical applications in software design and development, data mining and telecommunication as well as the organizational and social issues associated with the use of information technologies.
- Management of Technology: The Management of Technology theme builds on the foundation of management topics in accounting, finance, economics, organizational behaviour and organizational design. Courses in this theme deal with operational and organizational issues related to managing innovation and technological change.
The capstone design project is intended to provide students with the opportunity to engage in a significant design experience based on the engineering and management knowledge and skills gained in previous courses and on co-operative work terms. The project will reinforce the concepts of team work and project management.
This broad training allows our students to successfully manage a wide variety of processes and systems within an organization. Graduates are equipped to work on projects ranging from the design of efficient operations, to devising smooth information flows and the management of technological change. As well as gaining an engineering education, students in this program build an understanding of how organizations produce and distribute products and how they can be managed in an efficient or optimal way.
Employment Opportunities
Employment opportunities for Management Engineers exist in business, industry, non-profit organizations, government, universities, and wherever institutions wish to improve their effectiveness and efficiency based on engineering analysis and principles of scientific management. Graduates of this program are uniquely qualified to work on interdisciplinary teams that require both engineering and management expertise, to manage technical functions in almost any enterprise, or to undertake the management of broader functions in a high-technology enterprise. Management Engineers work and consult in every industry, including manufacturing, communications, transportation, energy, retail and distribution, banks and insurance companies, hospitals and healthcare organizations, entertainment and travel firms.
Management Engineering at the University of Waterloo is a co-operative education program that provides opportunities for students to gain job-related experience to complement their academic studies. Employers value the practical training received by graduates of the co-operative program and work-term salaries contribute to paying for university fees. For more details of the co-operative system of study, see Co-operative Education.
Management Engineering Program
The Management Engineering program consists of 33 core and nine elective courses for a total of 42 courses. The term by term academic component of the program for students entering Fall 2011 and later is as follows.
|
| Term 1A (Fall) |
C*
|
T*
|
L*
|
| CHE 102 Chemistry for Engineers |
3
|
2
|
-
|
| MSCI 100 Management Engineering Concepts |
3
|
2
|
3
|
| MATH 115 Linear Algebra for Engineering |
3
|
2
|
-
|
| MATH 116 Calculus 1 for Engineering |
3
|
2
|
-
|
| PHYS 115 Mechanics |
3
|
2
|
-
|
|
| Term 1B (Winter) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 100B Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| GENE 121 Digital Computation |
3
|
2
|
-
|
| GENE 123 Electrical Engineering |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| MSCI 131 Work Design and Facilities Planning |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| MSCI 261 Engineering Economics: Financial Management for Engineers |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MATH 118 Calculus 2 for Engineering |
3
|
2
|
-
|
| PHYS 125 Physics for Engineers |
3
|
2
|
-
|
|
| Term 2A (Fall) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 200A Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 240 Algorithms and Data Structures |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| MSCI 262 Managerial and Cost Accounting |
3
|
|
-
|
| MSCI 271 Advanced Calculus and Numerical Analysis |
3
|
2
|
-
|
| ME 135 Materials Science and Engineering |
3
|
1
|
2
|
| ME 250 Thermodynamics 1 |
3
|
1
|
-
|
|
| Term 2B (Spring) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 200B Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 211 Organizational Behaviour |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 252 Probability and Statistics for Engineers |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 263 Managerial Economics |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 331 Introduction to Optimization |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 346 Database Systems |
|
|
1.5
|
| ME 219 Mechanics of Deformable Solids 1 |
3
|
1
|
-
|
|
| Term 3A (Winter) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 300A Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 311 Organizational Design and Technology |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 334 Operations Planning and Inventory Control |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| MSCI 431 Stochastic Models and Methods |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 444 Information Systems Analysis and Design |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| WKRPT 200 Work-term Report |
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
| Term 3B (Fall) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 300B Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 332 Deterministic Optimization Models and Methods |
3
|
1
|
-
|
| MSCI 333 Simulation Analysis and Design |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| MSCI 342 Principles of Software Engineering |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| WKRPT 300 Work-term Report |
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
| Term 4A (Spring) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 400A Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 401 Management Engineering Design Project 1 |
-
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 434 Supply Chain Management |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| MSCI 445 Telecommunication Systems: from protocols to applications |
3
|
1
|
1.5
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| WKRPT 400 Work-term Report |
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
| Term 4B (Winter) |
C
|
T
|
L
|
| MSCI 400B Seminar |
1
|
-
|
-
|
| MSCI 402 Management Engineering Design Project 2 |
-
|
-
|
-
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
| Elective |
|
|
|
|
Note: *C=number of class hours per week, T=number of tutorial hours per week, L=number of lab hours per week
Elective Courses
List I: Technical Elective Courses with large Engineering Science or Design Content
| Management Sciences: |
| MSCI 343 |
Human-Computer Interaction |
| MSCI 433 |
Applications of Management Engineering |
| MSCI 436 |
Decision Support Systems |
| MSCI 446 |
Data Warehousing and Mining |
| MSCI 531 |
Stochastic Processes and Decision Making |
| MSCI 541 |
Information Retrieval Systems |
| MSCI 551 |
Quality Management and Control |
| MSCI 555 |
Scheduling: Theory and Practice |
| MSCI 599 |
Special Topics in Management Engineering Design |
|
| Civil Engineering: |
| CIVE 342 |
Transport Principles and Applications |
| CIVE 343 |
Traffic Engineering |
| CIVE 381 |
Hydraulics |
| CIVE 440 |
Transit Planning and Operations |
| CIVE 444 |
Urban Transport Planning |
| CIVE 572 |
Wastewater Treatment |
|
| Electrical and Computer Engineering: |
| ECE 361 |
Power Systems |
| ECE 467 |
Power System Analysis, Operations and Markets |
|
| Mechanical Engineering: |
| ME 220 |
Mechanics of Deformable Solids 2 |
| ME 262 |
Introduction to Microprocessors and Digital Logic |
| ME 269 |
Electromechanical Devices and Power Processing |
| ME 340 |
Manufacturing Processes |
| ME 351 |
Fluid Mechanics 1 |
| ME 353 |
Heat Transfer 1 |
| ME 354 |
Thermodynamics 2 |
| ME 362 |
Fluid Mechanics 2 |
| ME 456 |
Heat Transfer 2 |
| ME 566 |
Computational Fluid Dynamics for Engineering Design |
|
| Mechatronics Engineering: |
| MTE 241 |
Introduction to Computer Structures and Real-Time Systems |
|
List II: Other Elective Courses
| MSCI 421 |
Strategic Management of Technology |
| MSCI 422 |
Economic Impact of Technological Change and Entrepreneurship (CSE List A, Impact) |
| MSCI 423 |
Managing New Product and Process Innovation |
| MSCI 435 |
Advanced Optimization Techniques |
| MSCI 442 |
Impact of Information Systems on Organizations and Society (CSE List A, Impact) |
| MSCI 452 |
Decision Making under Uncertainty |
| MSCI 597 |
Complementary Studies Topics in Management Sciences |
| MSCI 598 |
Special Topics in Management Engineering |
| CHE 572 |
Air Pollution Control |
| CHE 574 |
Industrial Wastewater Pollution Control |
| CIVE 240 |
Engineering and Sustainable Development |
| CIVE 375 |
Water Quality Engineering |
| CO 351 |
Network Flow Theory |
| CO 372 |
Portfolio Optimization Models |
| CO 442 |
Graph Theory |
| CO 454 |
Scheduling |
| ECE 493 |
Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| ECON 344 |
Marketing: Principles of Marketing and Consumer Economics |
| ME 212 |
Dynamics |
| ME 459 |
Energy Conversion |
| ME 533 |
Non-metallic and Composite Materials |
| ME 559 |
Finite Element Methods |
| STAT 435 |
Statistical Methods for Process Improvements |
| STAT 443 |
Forecasting |
| STAT 446 |
Mathematical Models in Finance |
| SYDE 422 |
Machine Intelligence |
| SYDE 558 |
Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks |
Note:
- Some of the List I and II courses have prerequisites that are not met by core courses in Management Engineering; see their course descriptions in this calendar before planning elective choices.
- Course schedules may vary from term to term; check course schedules before planning elective choices.
- Students have two free elective choices of courses from any department in the University. Students may use such free electives to pursue studies in arts, sciences, management, or to deepen a concentration in another area of engineering.
Rules Restricting Choice of the Nine Elective Courses
RULE 1. At least six of the nine electives must be from List I.
RULE 2. At least one of the nine electives must be from List A of the Complementary Studies Requirements for Engineering Students, i.e., a course on the impact of technology on society.
Complementary Studies Component
All engineering students are required to take Complementary Studies courses, as described in this Engineering section under Complementary Studies Requirements for Engineering Students. Most of these requirements are satisfied in the core program, namely, MSCI 100, 211, 261, 262, 263, 311, 423, and 453, together with satisfactory evaluations on three work-term reports. The requirement for studies on the impact of technology on society is met by RULE 2, above.
Options and Minors
Several Faculty Designated Options are available to Engineering students. These are listed and described elsewhere in this section of the calendar. If a student satisfies the option requirements (usually seven or eight courses), the appropriate designation will be shown on the student's transcript. The course requirements for some options can be partially met by taking Management Engineering electives, but students may have to take extra courses to complete the requirements.
The Management Sciences Option will not be awarded to any Management Engineering student, as this would double-count courses towards both the main degree and the option.
Minors are sequences of courses, usually totalling ten, which are arranged in conjunction with another department such as Economics, Psychology, etc., and lead to an appropriately designated degree. Approval from both Management Sciences and the other department is required. Usually a student must take extra courses to complete a minor. See the discussion in this section of the calendar under the heading Options and Electives for Engineering Students.
Term by Term Structure of the Program
The Management Engineering program follows the eight stream schedule, i.e., beginning with terms 1A and 1B in the Fall and Winter terms, followed by alternating work and academic terms. In accordance with Faculty rules, in order to complete their degree, students must have at least five work terms, and they must submit three work-term reports, in academic terms following three work terms. In addition, Faculty rules require that all engineering students must successfully complete the Professional Development (PD) requirements, during their work terms.