A Comprehensive Analysis of Current and Future Offerings of Risk Management Topics in the Engineering Management Curriculum

The dynamic society in which we live is full of uncertainties. The component of risk is present in all systems settings and it is becoming increasingly prevalent in this rapidly changing and interactively complex society. As a result, risk management concepts and methods have become a critical topic to be understood by engineers and engineering managers. Historically, risk management was typically focused on schedule and cost analysis and considered a topic for upper management to deal with. However, as projects become more complex and the uncertainty associated with technical aspects of them increases, the risks related to not only those projects but also the environment have to be considered from a holistic or systemic perspective. In this dynamic environment, it is important for engineers and engineering managers to understand various aspects of risk management such as risk identification, risk tracking, risk impact assessment, risk prioritization and risk mitigation planning, implementation and progress monitoring. In this paper, the authors review all the existing courses in their Engineering Management (EM) program and analyze the current offerings of risk management topics in the presented curriculum to future engineering management graduates. Based on this analysis, they will then make recommendations on how to incorporate risk management aspects, in an integrated way, into the curriculum of various courses in their EM program. The goal of conducting this study is to provide a systemic or holistic perspective on risk management to engineering management graduates, which will more effectively prepare them to serve in scientific and engineering communities and industries.