Mission Statement The mission of the Systems Engineering Leadership Program (SELP) is to educate working engineers and scientists in the engineering and business disciplines to make them leaders of highly complex technical endeavors within their sponsoring organizations.
The SELP will confer dual-degrees upon its graduates: an MBA and an MS in Systems Engineering. There is considerable interaction between the Colleges of Business Administration and Science and Engineering in creating and teaching the curriculum using the strengths of both colleges.
Students may obtain either an MS in Systems Engineering or an MBA degree as a stand-alone by fulfilling the individual degree requirements as stated in the Graduate Bulletin . A certificate program in Systems Engineering is also available.
The SELP will serve working engineers and scientists in local industry and government organizations. The Program will develop the following attributes in its graduates:
- ability to execute the systems engineering discipline with excellence;
- capability to lead a complex systems engineering activity and manage a interdisciplinary team of engineers and scientists; and
- solid expertise in business fundamentals and their application to prepare systems engineers to do trades and make decisions based on the whole of the customer’s requirements.
Admission Requirements
Students applying to the SELP must be accepted for admission by both the MBA Program in the College of Business of Administration and the Systems Engineering Program in the College of Science and Engineering. The admissions process for both Colleges, as described elsewhere in the Graduate Bulletin , will be coordinated within the University. Prospective students need to submit only one application to the LMU Graduate Division.
Dual-Degree Program Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or science from an ABET accredited program with a GPA of 3.0 or better
- GMAT (for MBA Program)
- Three or more years of related work experience
- Resume
- Three letters of recommendation
- Essay discussing how SELP fits into applicant's career development
Promising applicants who do not satisfy these requirements will be considered for conditional admission based upon their performance on the GMAT test, or their classroom performance during their first year in the program. The same admission standards are required for the certificate programs.
Schedule
Scheduling of the courses constituting the SELP and the MS in Systems Engineering curriculum is the student’s responsibility. A student is expected to make reasonable progress toward the degrees to remain in good standing at the University.
All engineering and business courses are offered on the LMU Westchester campus and typically meet in the evenings. Usually courses meet one evening per week for three hours except during the summer semesters when each course may meet two evenings per week for three hours.
Students can be admitted into the SELP throughout the year and begin their coursework in any semester including the summer.
Program Requirements
The SELP students will be expected to meet the course requirements in both the Systems Engineering and the MBA programs. SELP students will be expected to adhere to the policies and procedures established for all students in the MBA program. The MBA requirements include 12 courses listed below. The area of specialization in the MBA program is Systems Management. Additional information about the MBA program, including procedures for waiving core MBA courses, may be found in the MBA section of the Graduate Bulletin . Students who receive a grade of less than “B” in any 500-level course or a grade of less than "C" in any 600-level course will not have the course count toward their degree. The overall minimum GPA required for graduation is 3.0.
MBA Courses
Core MBA Courses
MBAA 601 Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
MBAA 602 Financial & Managerial Accounting
MBAA 603 Business Statistics
MBAA 604 Business Economics
MBAA 605 Management and Organizational Behavior
MBAA 607 Operations Analysis & Decision Support Systems
MBAA 606 Marketing Management
MBAA 608 Financial Management
MBAA 609 Management Information Systems
Advanced MBA Courses
MBAI 610 Management Strategy
MBAB 615 Program Management*
MBAG 64X International Elective, selected from MBAG 640, 641, 642, 649
*Course counting toward both the M.S. in Systems Engineering and MBA
Systems Engineering Courses
SELP 500 Quality *
SELP 530 Systems Architecting
SELP 540 Engineering Ethics
SELP 552 Systems Engineering
SELP 650 Advanced Systems Engineering *
SELP 672 New Product development *
SELP 660 Lean Methods
SELP 685 Systems Engineering Core Studies *
SELP 687 Systems Engineering Seminar
SELP 695 & 696 Integrative Project/Thesis *
* Course counting toward both M.S. in Systems Engineering and MBA
Course Descriptions
The Systems Engineering courses are listed below. The MBA course descriptions can be found in the MBA section of the Graduate Bulletin . All courses are three (3) semester hours unless otherwise noted.
SELP 500 Quality
(same as MECH 500)
History and philosophy of quality, concurrent engineering: design and optimization of both product and process, optimization of matrix organizations; Continuous improvement: spontaneous suggestions, PDCA cycle , Kaizen, Six Sigma, Theory of constraint, benchmarking, brainstorming, re-engineering; Deming’s profound knowledge and 14 points, Quantitative Methods: charts, Andon, Design of experiments (optimization of processes, robustness, full factorials, fractional factorials, folding, Plackett-Burnam, introduction to nonlinear designs), Statistical Process Control; Quality systems: ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001, CMMI, Malcolm Baldridge, TQM Self-Assessment Tool
SELP 530 Systems Architecting
Methodologies in systems architecture. Architecting hardware (aerospace examples), software and system-of-systems. Validation and verification on systems architecture to prevent flawed concepts. Design approaches, tools, and processes for net-centric systems.
Prerequisite: SELP 552
SELP 540 Engineering Ethics
Ethical implications of engineer's work, both domestic and international. Introduction to ethical reasoning, liability, obligations and rights of engineers and managers, case studies, and current global issues.
SELP 552 Systems Engineering
(same as MECH 552)
Fundamentals of modern Systems Engineering throughout the program lifecycle; focus on mission success, system, and system-of-systems; broad integrative adoptable and flexible thinking; initiation of a SE activity, feasibility studies, mission engineering, pre-proposal and proposal activities; risk in performance, cost, schedule and deployment aspects of a project; requirement definition and development, system design, interface and configuration control, and verification/validation; introduction to critical aspects of the DoD, NASA and INCOSE guides on SE; class projects in Integrated Product Development Teams.
SELP 594 Project Management
(same as MECH 594)
Aspects of management and leadership of complex technical endeavors. Project management principles and interaction of the manager with the team. Architecting teams and organizational structures. Planning a project and managing financial, schedule and technical challenges and constraints during its lifecycle. Tools for planning, controlling and monitoring a project. Subcontract management. Configuration management. Federal acquisition process lifecycle. Microsoft Project.
SELP 650 Advanced Systems Engineering
Application and management and monitoring of the SE process and logistics; leadership of integrated teams; management for uncertainty, decision making, risk & opportunity; design for X (manufacturing, assembly, testing, sustainability, maintainability, etc); technology management & assessment; identifying options and bounding the trade space; software systems management; verification process; different roles of testing; modeling techniques and SE tools; design.
Prerequisite: SELP 552.
SELP 660 Lean Methods
(same as MECH 660)
History of Lean: JIT, Toyota Production System, Womack, Lean Aerospace Initiative, Lean Enterprise book, Five Principles of Lean; Value Stream Mapping; Lean Manufacturing with detailed coverage of JIT Tools; Lean Enterprise: stakeholders, waste, multiple value streams, LESAT, Transitioning to Lean Enterprise, Lean Enterprise Model, Labor relations and NUMMI Case Study; layoffs; Lean Product Development: definitions, waste, principles, systems engineering, concurrency, matrix organization optimization; design takt time, scheduling and assessing progress, acquisition reform, Skunk Works; Lean Suppliers Network; Keiretsu, Quality, JIT and the right price; Theory of constraints and critical chain; optional field trip, simulations.
SELP 671 Spacecraft Design
Fundamental knowledge of spacecraft design: configuration, design and inter-dependencies of subsystems, launch vehicle, and trade-offs between performance, cost and reliability. Students will be exposed to a wide range of considerations including design, manufacture, test and operation, cost, performance, manufacturability. At the end of this course the student will have a fundamental understanding of the factors influencing spacecraft design and will be able to evaluate the impact of tradeoffs between subsystem requirements on the performance and cost at the system level. The course will be fast paced and include both individual and team projects.
Prerequisites: SELP 552 and SELP 530.
SELP 672 New Product Design
(same as MECH 672 and MBAH 672)
Principles of design: problem recognition and formulation. Business background for design: marketing and entrepreneurship. Synthesis (creativity, group dynamics, etc.); analysis and iteration; specifications; cost analysis; scheduling; probability; reliability; optimization; decision theory.
SELP 685 Systems Engineering Case Studies
Case studies to examine notable successes and failures in major technology-driven government, commercial and defense programs where systems engineering played a significant role. Lessons learned and ethics. Students perform intensive reading of the cases and present them using the Harvard law school model.
Prerequisites: SELP 552, 594 or MBAA 615; SELP 650.
SELP 694 Systems Engineering Seminar
Invited guests present interesting and relevant programs with significant systems engineering component. Students present assigned topics on systems engineering.
Prerequisite: SELP 552.
SELP 695 Systems Engineering Integrative Project/Thesis
Capstone course of 3-6 Sem. Hrs. in which students work to apply the principles of management and systems engineering to a complex technical endeavor. The products will be rationale for the selected project, a project proposal with timeline and plan, a preliminary requirements document, trade studies on the relevant issues, requirements verification plan, description of the ethical issues involved, and a detailed outline of the final report. A final written report and oral presentation are required.
Prerequisites: All SELP Core Courses, plus MBAI 610.
SELP 699 Independent Studies
Study areas defined by the student and approved by the Program Director.
Systems Engineering Faculty
Professors:
Visiting Professors:
- Frederick S. Brown, Ph.D., Illinois
Lecturers:
- Ar nold Galloway, Ph.D., Michigan
- Clair Leon , EMBA, UCLA
- Barry Molnaa, M.P.M., Keller Graduate School of Management
- Dorota Shortell , M.S., Stanford
- John Stupar, Ed.D., Claremont
- Charles Tang , Ph.D., Southern California
Advisors:
- Harland Bittner, Ph.D., Aerospace Corporation
- Manuel DePonte, Ph.D., Aerospace Corporation
- James Horejsi, Col., USAF SMC
- Donna Rhodes, Ph.D., MIT
- Rene Rivas, MBA, Northrop Grumman Space Technology
Graduate Director: Frederick S. Brown, Ph.D.
Phone (310) 338-7878
E-mail: fbrown@lmu.edu
MBA Director: Rachelle Katz, Ph.D.
Phone (310) 338-2848
E-mail: rkatz@lmu.edu