Design Your Own Program

Think about areas that have interested you in your previous studies.  Explore industries, companies and jobs on LinkedIn or other internet sites.  Reach out to representatives of the companies or engineers working in jobs of interest to you.  Ask questions.

In addition to deciding on specific technologies/applications, consider whether you want depth in specialized technical areas, an overall or systems view.  If you are interested in technical depth, look for relevant advanced courses in mechanical or aerospace engineering or related fields, our concentration pages are good source for finding these courses; if you are interested in an overall systems view, some of your courses could be in systems engineering; or for business: management, finance, risk or entrepreneurship.  For more breadth you can pick from a number of these areas. 

Technical courses are taken to add depth (or breadth); building the knowledge needed to advance in your chosen area.  Engineering tool courses are taken to provide skills for specific applications. These could be in the areas of FEA, CFD, programming or even Six Sigma. Professional development courses are taken to enhance leadership skills, learn systems engineering, or gain exposure to entrepreneurship, to name a few of the many choices. These courses are taken outside the Sibley School and provide an opportunity to work with people from a wide variety of disciplines.  A typical program consists of 4-5 technical courses in a concentration area, 1-2 engineering tool courses, 2-3 professional development courses and the M.Eng. Project.

The concentration areas are a good place to start looking for courses to meet the technical requirements of the program.

Examples of courses students take as ‘engineering tools’ are:  Finite Element Analysis for Mechanical and Aerospace Design, Intermediate Fluid Dynamics, our manufacturing sequence: Introduction to Computer-Aided Manufacture (CAD/CAM), Design Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (DFMEA), Design for Manufacture & Assembly  (DFMA), Dimensional Tolerancing in Mechanical Design, programming or computer science courses.

Some courses student have taken as professional development are: Entrepreneurship for Sci & Eng, Intro to Decision Analysis, Managing Culture of Innovation, Ethical Decision Making in Management, Intro to Technical Management, Career Development for Engineers, Financial Statement Analysis, Professional Development for M.Eng, Supply Chain Strategy, Engineering Management Project, Strategies for Sustainability, Negotiation Essentials, Project Management, The Business Idea Factory, Management Consulting Essentials, Consumer Behavior, Intro to Design and Innovation, Negotiations & Contacts for Eng Management.   

Finally, all students complete a M.Eng. Project to add real world, applied experience to their portfolios. These projects are the capstone of the program, allowing you an opportunity to leverage your new and learned subject matter to highlight who you are as an engineer.

Students have a wide variety of options for projects to choose from. Our faculty offer projects through their research programs. These projects are applied in nature and built around their research area. There is an internal project site that faculty advertise projects on – providing you with an easy way to find one. We also partner with companies and other sponsors to create real world project options. These change from year to year, are posted on the projects website and announced through program emails. 

This combination of determining a focus, selecting courses and a projects create a solid academic foundation for your M.Eng. program. The Sibley M.Eng. program also strives to build community and provide a social structure for you while in Ithaca. In addition, Cornell and Ithaca are vibrant, exciting places to be at any time, with a rich variety of indoor and outdoor activities, intellectual enrichment and natural beauty. We hope you will join us.