MSIM Curriculum
The real magic happens outside the classroom.
The MSIM program is built around three semesters we call Innovation Sprints, made up of 30 total course credits.
So, what does that involve? Fast-paced, intensive team projects that immerse students into the entire innovation cycle: Engaging with customers and testing solutions to real-world problems. Developing in-demand skillsets and inspiring your creativity. Building expertise in marketing, product management, data science, and operations. All supported by hands-on courses and coaching by industry-expert faculty.
Build upon your MSIM to gain additional technical expertise.
The MSIM curriculum is designed to also offer you flexibility and the ability to deepen your technical expertise in a specific area of study, all while gaining the key skills delivered through your Innovation & Management degree. Choose from in-demand disciplines like Biomedical Engineering, Data Science, and more to customize the MSIM curriculum to your personal and professional interests.
Through our MSIM+ program, students can choose to complete a graduate certificate from Tufts School of Engineering at the same time as their MSIM. To earn two master's degrees in just two years, all while saving time and money, students can build upon their MSIM degree with our accelerated Dual Degree program.
Fall Semester: Innovation Sprint #1
Get Ready to Run... with Your Ideas
Work with a team to develop a meaningful new product or service idea. Tap into Tufts faculty's cutting-edge research to create innovative solutions and get world-class mentorship. Let your passion drive your work: Use infrared light to detect breast cancer, develop wearable tech to give independence to the visually-impaired community, treat wastewater via nanofiltration membrane technology.
To fuel this Sprint, you will participate in 12 credits:
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Students learn what questions to ask and actions to take at various phases of new product evolution. Emphasis is placed on customer input and cross-functional team roles and responsibilities. The central focus of this course is the development of a new product concept by cross-functional student teams that integrates learning from other first-semester courses. The student teams formally present their concepts at the end of the semester and develop effective techniques to present to senior management and/or prospective investors.
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Developing the marketing strategy, positioning, messaging, branding, and driving implementation of marketing programs for technology ventures will be covered in this course, along with the essentials of concise, compelling, and clear business communications in a digital age. Students learn and apply principles of effective written and oral communication for different purposes and different audiences in the workplace and on digital platforms.
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Finance for High-Tech Ventures is strategically designed to give you the ability to analyze the financial aspects of a company’s product or service offerings, to evaluate the bottom-line impact of systems and processes, and communicate this information effectively—skills that are essential for anyone launching a startup or leading a company’s new business development efforts. This hands-on course includes business case analysis and a capstone project that entails the creation of a fully vetted financial plan for a new product or service.
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Students learn the basic concepts of leadership, management and teamwork. The uniqueness of this course is within the teaching methodology, which has been developed to accelerate the advancement of self-awareness and interpersonal competencies. Specific topics include: personality types (Myers-Briggs type indicator assessment), best practices in forming and maintaining team performance, giving and receiving feedback, individual and team creativity, communicating to inspire and influencing without authority. The course builds toward systems thinking, team decision making, communication across cultures, shared visions and organizational change.
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- Innovators Mindset Series (Periodic Events/Lectures): Designed to expose you to stimulating and interesting people, places, and experiences.
- Unbounded Perspectives Seminars (3 sessions/3 hours each for the semester)
- Other Events/Lecturers/Company Visits as scheduled to inspire your creativity & learn from local, cutting-edge leaders
- Career and Personal Development: Year-long comprehensive program supports your professional development and prepares you for your future. Learn how to market yourself and navigate the job search through seminars on topics like resume writing, interviewing and networking. (1.5 hours/week)
- Innovators Mindset Series (Periodic Events/Lectures): Designed to expose you to stimulating and interesting people, places, and experiences.
Spring Semester: Innovation Sprint #2
The innovation cycle continues, but even cooler this time.
Whether you continue your venture or take on a fresh challenge next semester, you’ll dive deeper into the innovation process. Prove the real-world viability of your new product or services by further developing your pitch and building out your strategy using data and testing the idea in the market or venture competitions (like the Tufts $100k New Ventures Competition).
During this semester, you'll participate in 15 credits. The standard MSIM requirements are as follows, however, if you're interested in expanding your skills in a specific area of study instead, you can choose to complete a technical certificate concurrently with the MSIM degree. To do so, students work with their academic advisors to replace EM 212 - Applied Data Science, EM 262 - Conflict Resolution, and EM 294 - Special Topics with courses required for their certificate. Graduate certificates offered through Tufts School of Engineering range from Biomedical Engineering, Data Science, Mechanical Engineering, and more.
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Foundational skills for data science practice in business. Using data and systematic methods to generate business value. Shaping data practices within organizations. Students will learn to do data analytics with Python and open source tools including Jupyter and GitHub.
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Students gain the knowledge and skills to lead and manage innovation initiatives in technology-based companies. Topics include understanding technology strategy and its role in the overall business strategy of commercial firms, the role of innovation in entrepreneurial ventures as well as in established firms, and developing skills to present new product development proposals to senior management and/or prospective investors.
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This course introduces conceptual frameworks, tools, and skills to effectively manage conflict and negotiate win/win solutions in the workplace. The course will involve lectures, cases, and role-plays to simulate real on-the-job conflicts.
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This course is a special topics course which varies each year based on current trends. Prior topics have included: Organizational Design of the 21st Century, Managing Operations, Economic Strategies for the 21st Century, and Designing for Inclusion.
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Students in the MSIM program have the opportunity to take two elective courses. You may choose courses that align with your personal and professional interests.
If you're participating in the Dual Degree program or the MSIM+ program, your electives must be from your selected discipline within the School of Engineering.
Tufts Gordon Institute offers courses in a wide variety of topics like Applied Data Science, Product Management, and Marketing: Branding & Strategy.
Click here to view the full directory of elective 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, School of Engineering, and the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy.
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 or the Fletcher School, choose either "AS&E Graduate" or "Fletcher School" 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.
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- Innovators Mindset Series (Periodic Events/Lectures): Designed to expose you to stimulating and interesting people, places, and experiences.
- Unbounded Perspectives Seminars (3 sessions/3 hours each for the semester)
- Other Events/Lecturers/Company Visits as scheduled to inspire your creativity & learn from local, cutting-edge leaders
- Career and Personal Development: Year-long comprehensive program supports your professional development and prepares you for your future. Learn how to market yourself and navigate the job search through seminars on topics like resume writing, interviewing and networking. (1.5 hours/week)
- Innovators Mindset Series (Periodic Events/Lectures): Designed to expose you to stimulating and interesting people, places, and experiences.
Summer Semester: Innovation Sprint #3
The most real-world experience yet.
Choose from a variety of hands-on industry experiences to build your resume & your real-world connections, all within the EM281 Capstone Innovation & Leadership Project (3 credits).
Options include:
- Internship or full-time job: Gain valuable industry experience through an internship or launch your innovation career as a full-time employee at a company anywhere in the world.
- Entrepreneur: Continue working on your previous Sprint project(s) with the goal of turning it into a stand-alone venture.
Choose to stay an extra semester.
The program also offers flexibility if you would like to extend your MSIM experience for an additional semester. Many of our international students choose to stay at Tufts through a second fall semester to extend their internships, work on their ventures, or slow down the pace by taking electives then. You can also choose to deepen your technical expertise with our Dual Degree program that combines your MSIM with a technical engineering master’s.
Earn 2 master's in 2 years through our Dual Degree program.
Develop your innovation, leadership, and management skills while also building your technical depth. Earn two degrees - an MS Innovation & Management (MSIM) and an MS offered by one of the six academic departments within the School of Engineering - in an accelerated timeframe and at a reduced cost.