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 digital-first, forward-thinking curriculum.
Redesigned to meet your needs and schedule while addressing the challenges of today’s complex world, the MS in Engineering Management program 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.
Over 2+ years, you'll complete a series of short online core courses, real-world projects, and elective courses for a total of 32 credits.
Become a transformational leader with a sense of purpose.
You’ll learn to influence the future of technology-driven businesses, embrace innovative problem-solving, and manage high-performing teams with confidence, entrepreneurial thinking, and self-awareness.
Strategic Thinking
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Understand how business strategy and decisions impact the success of a company
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Discover the processes of tech commercialization
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Gain insight into how trends (economic, social, and technology) impact business strategy and performance
Leadership Ability
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Gain interpersonal, communication, and conflict resolution skills as you discover your own personal leadership style and purpose
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Develop critical thinking and emotional intelligence
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Understand the power of diversity of perspectives, and leverage it to build and manage effective teams
Business Knowledge & Entre/Intra-preneurial Thinking
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Learn how to identify, launch, scale, and optimize new businesses, both in greenfield and within existing corporations
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Understand and analyze financial statements to develop intuition about the impact of decisions on the company's bottom line
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Develop sound business models for long-term success
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Get comfortable with project management tools and methodologies
Data-Driven Decision-Making
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Analyze problems & situations using statistics, systems thinking, and key tools
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Leverage diverse data sets to build predictive models and make decisions, design experiments, and drive performance
Process & Product Development
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Gain insight into the full innovation cycle from conception through product launch
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Learn customer discovery techniques and how to design & build solutions to solve their needs
The MSEM’s curriculum combines participating in core courses with opportunities for you to practice new skills in hands-on projects, ultimately allowing you to immediately apply your newfound knowledge at your job.
One of the benefits of our customizable program is the complete freedom to adapt your core course load to your life, setting your own personalized pace of study as you complete 1-4 short, 7-week asynchronous courses per semester. While many students complete the MSEM program in 2 years, some choose to extend the experience into subsequent years as a way to spread out the course load and tuition payments, allowing them to take advantage of additional tuition reimbursement funds from their employer.
Core Courses • 18 Credits
Each core course is delivered online so you can join from wherever your life takes you. These short, 2-credit courses are primarily asynchronous so you can study on your own schedule; however, some may feature an optional weekly synchronous session if you’d like to engage further. And you learn from the best – our faculty are industry-expert practitioners who bring their vast knowledge and experiences right to you.
All core courses are custom designed to be engaging and interactive, featuring curated content like short videos, virtual office hours, and small group discussions that build a sense of community while preparing you to lead in an increasingly virtual world. We pride ourselves on our courses being designed for an exceptional online experience; you're right in the action, not simply viewing a livestream of an in-person classroom.
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
Over the course of your MSEM experience, you’ll also complete 2 online 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 • 10 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 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.