Perhaps a Shift in Direction in Engineering Management Education: A Discussion and Work in Progress of Adding Data Modeling Topics to the Foundation of an EM Curriculum

Traditionally, the Engineering Management body of knowledge contains topics such as project management, financial resource planning, and the management of technology, etc. But are these traditional tools enough to prepare an Engineering Management student for the ever more technologically complex and data driven corporate world of the 2020’s? More recently systems engineering concepts have been added to the Engineering Management Body of Knowledge. Is this now enough? Stevens Institute of Technology thinks not. Over the past few semesters, Stevens incorporated more concepts on informatics and other data analytics, modeling and visualization topics beyond Operations Research into its’ curriculum. Recent alumni, and cooperative education students alike, have been impressed with the quality and quantity of employment prospects. Should other Engineering Management programs consider the addition of such topics to the foundation of their curriculums? This article will discuss the pros and the pushbacks to making what others call an ‘area of emphasis’, core to a traditional Engineering Management curriculum.