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This archived information is dated to the 2010-11 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Management Science and Engineering

Emeriti: (Professors) James L. Adams, Kenneth J. Arrow, Richard W. Cottle, Donald A. Dunn, B. Curtis Eaves, Frederick S. Hillier, Donald L. Iglehart, James V. Jucker, Michael M. May, William J. Perry, Henry E. Riggs, David A. Thompson, Arthur F. Veinott, Jr.

Chair: M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell

Professors: Nicholas Bambos, Stephen R. Barley, Margaret L. Brandeau, Robert C. Carlson, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Peter W. Glynn, Warren H. Hausman, Ronald A. Howard, David G. Luenberger, M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, Robert I. Sutton, James L. Sweeney, Yinyu Ye

Associate Professors: Samuel S. Chiu, Ashish Goel, Pamela J. Hinds, Riitta Katila, Ross D. Shachter, Edison T. S. Tse, Benjamin Van Roy

Assistant Professors: Charles E. Eesley, Feryal Erhun, Kay Giesecke, Ramesh Johari, James A. Primbs, Amin Saberi, Thomas A. Weber

Professors (Research): Siegfried S. Hecker, Walter Murray, Michael A. Saunders, John P. Weyant

Professors (Teaching): Thomas H. Byers, Robert E. McGinn

Courtesy Professors: Anat Admati, Stephen P. Boyd, Walter Powell, Tim Roughgarden

Affiliated Faculty: Seenu Srinivasan

Lecturers: Steve Blank, Andrei Z. Broder, Gregory Hamm, Hill Huntington, Vanja Josifovski, Phil Lin, Ann Miura-Ko, Mary Morrison, Donna Novitsky, Lena Ramfelt, Tina Seelig, Rosanne Siino, Lynda Kate Smith, Andreas Weigend

Consulting Professors: Gerd Infanger, Thomas Kosnik, James E. Matheson, D. Warner North, Burke Robinson, Sam L. Savage, Behnam Tabrizi

Consulting Associate Professors: Adam B. Borison, Peter Haas, Gregory L. Hamm, Samuel Holtzman, Hervé Kieffel, Michael Lyons, Audrey MacLean, Dariush Rafinejad, Adam Seiver, F. Victor Stanton

Consulting Assistant Professors: Blake E. Johnson, Jan Pietzsch

Visiting Professor: Olivier de La Grandville

Visiting Associate Professors: Charles Feinstein, Yee-Tien Fu

Visiting Assistant Professors: Arik Lifschitz, Peter Woehrmann

Director of the Industrial Affiliates Program: Yinyu Ye

Department Offices: Huang Engineering Center, 475 Via Ortega, 94305-4121

Mail Code: 4026

Web Site: http://stanford.edu/dept/MSandE

Courses offered by the Department of Management Science and Engineering are listed under the subject code MS&E on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site.

In December 1999, the Board of Trustees authorized the creation of the Department of Management Science and Engineering from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management and the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research. Its main objective is to be the leader at the interface of engineering, business, and public policy. The department's mission is, through education and research, to advance the design, management, operation, and interaction of technological, economic, and social systems. The department's engineering research strength is integrated with its educational program at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels: graduates of the program are trained as engineers and future leaders in technology, policy, and industry. Research and teaching activities are complemented by an outreach program that encourages the transfer of ideas to the environment of Silicon Valley and beyond.

Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) provides programs of education and research by integrating three basic strengths:

  1. depth in conceptual and analytical foundations
  2. comprehensive coverage of functional areas of application
  3. interaction with other Stanford departments, Silicon Valley industry, and organizations throughout the world.

The analytical and conceptual foundations include decision and risk analysis, dynamic systems, economics, optimization, organizational science, and stochastic systems. The functional areas of application include entrepreneurship, finance, information, marketing, organizational behavior, policy, production, and strategy. Close associations with other engineering departments and with industry enrich the programs by providing opportunities to apply MS&E methods to important problems and by motivating new theoretical developments from practical experience. MS&E's programs also provide a basis for contributing to other areas such as biotechnology, defense policy, environmental policy, information systems, and telecommunications.

Mission of the Undergraduate Program in Management Science and Engineering

The mission of the undergraduate program in Management Science and Engineering is to provide students with the fundamentals of engineering systems analysis so that they are able to plan, design, and implement complex economic and technical management systems. The program builds on the foundational courses for engineering including calculus, engineering fundamentals, and physics or chemistry as well as management science. Students may select courses in computer science, information, organizational theory, mathematical modeling, optimization, probability, statistics and finance or production. To allow for greater in-depth exploration in a particular area, students then choose a concentration area. The major prepares students for a variety of career paths, including facilities and process management, investment banking, management consulting or for graduate school in industrial engineering, operations research, economics, public policy, medicine, law, or business.

Learning Outcomes

The department expects undergraduate majors in the program to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are used in evaluating students and the department's undergraduate program. Students are expected to be able:

  1. to apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering;
  2. to design and conduct experiments;
  3. to design a system or components to meet desired needs;
  4. to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems;
  5. to use techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice;
  6. to function on multidisciplinary teams;
  7. to communicate effectively;
  8. to recognize the need for and demonstrate an ability to engage in life-long learning;
  9. to obtain the background necessary for admission to top professional graduate engineering or business programs;
  10. to understand professional and ethical responsibility;
  11. to obtain the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context; and
  12. to obtain a knowledge of contemporary issues pertinent to the field of management science and engineering.

Graduate Programs in Management Science and Engineering

MS&E, in collaboration with other departments of the University, offers programs leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. The department also offers a coterminal B.S./M.S. degree, and a dual master's degree in cooperation with each of the other departments in the School of Engineering.

For University coterminal degree program rules and University application forms, see http://registrar.stanford.edu/shared/publications.htm#Coterm.

Applicants for admission as graduate students in MS&E must submit the results of the verbal, quantitative, and analytical parts of the Graduate Record Examination. The deadline for application to the doctoral program is December 7, 2010, and the deadline for application to the master's program is January 11, 2011.

Except in unusual circumstances, admission is limited to the Autumn Quarter because courses are arranged sequentially with basic courses and prerequisites offered early in the academic year.

Assistantships and Fellowships—A limited number of fellowships and assistantships are awarded each year. Applicants admitted to the doctoral program, who have indicated on their application that they would like to be considered for financial aid, are automatically considered for these assistantships and fellowships.

Information about loan programs and need-based aid for U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be obtained from the Financial Aid Office.

CAREERS IN MS&E

MS&E helps students prepare for professional careers in business, government, industry, non-profit institutions, and universities. Graduates have pursued careers in consulting, enterprise management, financial analysis, government policy analysis, industrial research, line management, product development, project management, strategic planning, and university teaching and research. Some have founded companies specializing in financial services, high technology products, management and systems consulting, or software. Other graduates have helped establish new analytical capabilities in existing firms or government agencies.

Many graduates have become leaders in technology-based businesses, which have an increasing need for well-educated, analytically oriented people who understand both business and technology. The Department of MS&E is attractive to people with engineering, mathematical science, and physical science backgrounds as it complements their technical abilities with the conceptual frameworks needed to analyze problems of investment, management, marketing, operations, production, and strategic planning in a technical environment.

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

The Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD) provides opportunities for employees of some local and remote companies to take courses at Stanford.

The Honors Cooperative Program (HCP) provides opportunities for employees of SCPD Member companies to earn an M.S. degree, over a longer period, by taking one or two courses per academic quarter. Some courses are only offered on campus; HCP students may attend those courses at Stanford to meet the degree requirements. It is possible to complete this program as a remote HCP student although the remote offerings are limited. Students must apply for a degree program through the standard application process, and must meet the standard application deadlines.

The non-degree option (NDO) allows employees of some local companies to take courses for credit from their company sites before being admitted to a degree program. Students apply to take NDO courses each quarter through the Stanford Center for Professional Development. Up to 18 units taken as an NDO student may be applied toward a degree program. For additional information about the NDO application process and deadlines, see http://scpd.stanford.edu, or contact SCPD at (650) 725-3000.

The department offers a certificate program within the framework of the NDO program. A certificate can be obtained by completing three MS&E core courses, plus one MS&E elective course for a total of four courses. For further information, see http://scpd.stanford.edu/scpd/programs/certs/managementSci.htm.

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