Data Science M.S.: Project Management Pathway

Students learn the fundamentals of managing projects in a systematic way. These fundamentals can be applied within any industry and work environment and will serve as the foundation for more specialized project management study. Principles and techniques are further reinforced through practical case studies and team projects in which students simulate project management processes and techniques.

This advanced course in project management builds on the beginner level project management courses to expand the hands-on applications, with a focus on critical evaluation of project performance and ultimately creating an environment for maximizing one’s own project management performance. With a strong emphasis on the importance of learning through application, the course will bridge academia with the professional business environment to provide opportunities for students to interact with industry professionals as the students execute their course work. Students will also confront the real challenges facing project managers associated with the growing global and virtual workforce through the use of online learning tools and methods of collaboration. At the successful completion of the course, students will have the requisite skills and experiences necessary to function effectively, and artfully, as skilled project managers.

This course is designed to help the student apply managerial concepts and skills to managing and leading virtual and/or global work teams. Geographically dispersed work teams have great challenges: tone is difficult to convey electronically, time zones limit audio communication opportunities, work oversight requires more reposting, and team building is exceedingly difficult using technological – rather than in-person – tools. Language and culture differences in multinational teams compound these challenges. Students will learn to empower others, build credibility, communicate appropriately and adapt quickly across cultures and technologies.

This course provides an overview of the basic principles and tools of quality and their applications from an engineering perspective. The primary quality schools of thought or methodologies, including Total Quality Management, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma, and quality approaches from key figures in the development and application of quality as a business practice, including W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran will be analyzed. Some of the key mathematical tools used in quality systems will be discussed, including Pareto charts, measurement systems analysis, design of experiments, response surface methodology, and statistical process control. Students will apply these techniques to solve engineering problems using the R software. Reading assignments, homework, exams, and the project will emphasize quality approaches, techniques, and problem solving.

Understanding and grappling with considerations of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE/I) within technical project management is growing in both relevance and importance. This course addresses this imperative through equipping the student with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop a DE/I mindset in the management of technology-based projects. Centered on exploring how to incorporate and advance DE/I within the five (5) major project management process groups, this course provides a balanced overview of both the science and art of inclusive technical project management. A particular focus of this course is on developing the professional skills, growth mindset, and systems perspective that underpin the DE/I mindset in technical project management. This course combines lecture presentations, group project-based assignments, group discussions, individual case study, and exams.

This course provides an overview of decision and risk analysis techniques. It covers modeling uncertainty, the principles of rational decision-making, representing and solving decision problems using influence diagrams and decision trees, sensitivity analysis, Bayesian decision analysis, deductive and inductive reasoning, objective and subjective probabilities, probability distributions, regression analysis. This course can be counted as either a management course or an engineering course for the M.S. in Engineering Management.

This course explores the best management practices of international projects, emphasizing the importance of leadership skills and virtual teamwork to successfully navigate through managing an international project. International projects differ from domestic projects by their complexity of culture, increased communications and collaboration requirements, local customs and practices, differing languages and currencies, processes, and the type of resources that may be available. The course describes how to conduct project planning in each of the life cycle acquisition process phases and then to execute the plan through recommended international organizational structures.

Acquisition and Execution of Technical Contracts is designed for professionals in the public and private sectors. The course provides coverage of global government and commercial sector acquisition practices, industry standards for business acquisition, current issues in business, contracting, legal and finance, and policy issues associated with business acquisition and contract execution.