I had been looking for a long time for the right program. My current role can make my schedule unpredictable, so I needed a program that was flexible. The MSEM was a perfect fit for me.
MSEM Curriculum
A student-first, forward-thinking curriculum.
Redesigned to meet your needs and schedule, the Tufts MS in Engineering Management curriculum provides you with the business, strategic, and leadership skills you need to advance your career right now or kickstart the one you've always dreamed of. Whether you want to study online from anywhere in the world, in an online-hybrid format, or full-time and on-campus, you earn your MSEM degree in whatever format fits your needs.
Core Courses • 18 Credits
The MSEM's curriculum is a combination of core competencies and hands-on projects that allow you to immediately apply your newfound knowledge at your job. Our core courses help you build foundational skills in management and leadership that complement your engineering background and empower you to better lead teams and drive decision-making.
Courses included in the MSEM Core Part 1:
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This course explores elements of technology strategy including portfolio management, development of product and technology roadmaps, new product development, phase gate processes, and the management of product life cycles. The focus is on disruptive, incremental, sustaining, and breakthrough innovations across multiple sectors.
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This course is the first on a student’s journey to leading effective teams and organizations. It is aimed at helping students develop themselves as individual leaders by focusing on personal growth and leadership styles. The course will utilize assessments and other tools to explore leadership styles and techniques for leading with and without authority in a variety of settings.
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This course will teach students to develop, analyze, and communicate financial aspects of a company’s product or service. Students will learn to understand and evaluate the impact of decisions on the financial health and competitiveness of the firm.
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This course is a human-centered customer discovery course focused on research, analysis, brainstorming, and ideation methods to inform product and business solutions.
Courses included in the MSEM Core Part 2:
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Students learn to gather, analyze, and interpret data to drive strategic and operational success in technology-based companies. Develop skills to make data-based decisions with uncertain or ambiguous conditions, and develop models for decision-making in a business setting.
Prerequisites: All four courses in Core 1 as well as the first milestone project, or instructor permission
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Examine connected complex systems that impact technology projects while taking into account human, political, community, resource, environmental, and social processes. Learn to leverage insights from structural influences to maximize impact and solve problems in increasingly complex and high-tech environments.
Prerequisites: All four courses in Core 1 as well as the first milestone project, or instructor permission
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The course is designed for those students who aspire to influence the strategic decisions of an organization directly or indirectly through analytics-driven insights and imaginative reasoning. Based on a deep understanding of the emerging geo-economic, environmental, geo-political, technological, and demographic trends, the course will examine how businesses must innovate and implement strategies in the context of a globalized economy.
Prerequisites: All four courses in Core 1 as well as the first milestone project, or instructor permission
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In today’s unpredictable, fast-moving business environment, project management can make or break a product launch. Additionally, a program of interrelated projects can have a profound impact on the success or failure of a company. This course is a learning-in-action experience that gives you the tools, techniques, and confidence to keep large-scale programs and time-sensitive projects on track and on schedule. You also will learn how to implement agile methodologies to manage projects with complex requirements and high levels of change.
Prerequisites: All four courses in Core 1 as well as the first milestone project, or instructor permission
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Practice of Ethical Leadership (2 credits)
Discussing values, moral legitimacy, professionalism, plus quiet and emergent leadership, in this literature and film-based course, students are encouraged to look outward and expand their understanding of leadership, the world, and their place in it as future transformational leaders with purpose.
Prerequisites: All four courses in Core 1 as well as the first milestone project, or instructor permission
Core Milestone Projects • 4 Credits
The core curriculum culminates in two milestone projects that provide you a chance to apply your newfound skills and expertise.
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After completing MSEM Core Part 1, you will apply your learning by working in a small, virtual team to develop the business plan for a new product or service, supported by a faculty advisor. During this integrated team project, you will participate in weekly seminars to learn best practices in product development.
This team project integrates learning from the first four core courses of the Online MSEM program. The project focuses on the development of a business plan for a new product or service and is supported by milestones and deliverables. The integrated project is additionally bolstered by seminars on key topics like project management, intellectual property, and marketing.
Prerequisites: All four courses in Core 1 or instructor permission
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After completing MSEM Core Part 2, you will apply your learning in a project for your current employer or a client organization, supported by a faculty advisor. You'll impress your boss, and your boss's boss, by utilizing what you've learned in the classroom to complete an impactful Capstone Leadership project in your organization — showing exactly what you're capable of achieving.
This is an individual, student-led project that demonstrates your business acumen and leadership skills in the real world. The project must be complex and involve risk. Capstone Leadership Project typically has a 3-6 month duration and can be done with your current employer.
Prerequisites: All eight courses in Core 1 and Core 2, as well as the first milestone project; or instructor permission
Electives • 8 Credits
Customize your MSEM experience by selecting elective courses that best match your interests and career goals. Discover your passions through either online or in-person courses, choosing from Tufts Gordon Institute's options or leveraging Tufts University's vast graduate offerings.
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You may choose to take elective courses that align with your personal and professional interests. Tufts Gordon Institute offers courses in a wide variety of topics like Applied Data Science, Modern Product Management, Marketing: Branding & Strategy, and Operations or Supply Chain Management.
Click here to view the full Course Directory of courses offered through Tufts Gordon Institute.
You may also opt to take electives in topics across the entirety of Tufts University's School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering. Students who live locally to campus are also able to leverage their electives to earn an on-campus graduate certificate from the School of Engineering concurrently, saving time and money.
Click here to browse Tufts University's entire course catalog.
To view graduate-level on-campus courses offered through the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering, choose "AS&E Graduate" from the "Course Career" drop-down menu.
To view graduate-level online courses offered through the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering, choose "AS&E Graduate Online" from the "Course Career" drop-down menu.
After selecting your choice from the drop-down menu, click on the alphabet below to browse the available subject codes and courses.
You're also invited to supplement your learning with intensive weekend in-person experiences, Immersive Experiences, on campus. These immersives are entirely optional, allowing you to further develop skills, deepen relationships with colleagues and instructors, and explore all that the Boston area has to offer – all while earning elective credit.