Florida Institute of Technology
High Tech with a Human Touch
Engineering Systems
What is Systems Engineering?
Systems engineering is a multidisciplinary field that assists in developing reliable systems and processes to meet technical, cost and schedule requirements. With today's global competition, products and services must be developed with minimum defects and risks. In the design and development of a system, systems engineering integrates all involved functions by applying proven tools and techniques across life cycle phases.
The masters (MSSE) and doctoral (PhD-SE) degree programs in systems engineering provide engineers and scientists the necessary skills and education to integrate all engineering and management functions involved in a project for its on-time and under-budget completion.
Career Enhancement Benefits
The M.S. program in systems engineering at Florida Tech:
- Addresses technical issues faced by a lead or supervising engineer, engineering manager, or an integrated product team leader in high-tech and traditional industry;
- Enhances the decision-making and problem-solving capabilities of experienced managers with systems engineering tools and techniques;
- Permits students from all branches of engineering, computer science, mathematics and other science disciplines to receive a master's degree that is interdisciplinary in nature and;
- Serves as a natural and high-demand career path for engineers and scientists
After graduation, the student may pursue a Ph. D degree, or start or continue a technical career.
Master of Science Degree Program SE
The Master of Science program in systems engineering meets the systems engineering and system integration needs of a student who has an undergraduate degree in engineering, physical science, computing or mathematics. It draws on expertise and experience in these multidisciplinary areas, preparing the engineering or science graduate in such key advanced subjects as modeling and analysis, systems engineering principles, computer networks, digital communications, software testing, decision and risk analysis, human- machine interface and operations research. Today, an engineer or scientist who joins the workforce in the public or private sector, especially in the high-tech realm, is faced with the challenge of integrating design and development work with the work of other inter-company or intracompany groups. Courses taught in the systems engineering curriculum prepare the engineer to meet this system design and integration challenge with emphasis on technical as well as cost and schedule requirements. A key aspect of the program, and an alternative to completing a thesis, is the team-oriented capstone design project in which the team formulates and solves an industry problem and submits a project team paper. All nonthesis students are required to take this course in the graduating semester.
Admission Requirements
An applicant for admission must have earned a bachelor's degree in engineering, physical science, computing, or mathematics. Applicants should take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test, and are encouraged to submit letters of recommendation and a statement of educational objectives reflecting the applicant's professional experience and career goals. In the case of an international application, particular consideration is given to the academic standards of the school attended and the content of the courses. General admission requirements and the process of applying are discussed in the Graduate Information and Regulations section of the Florida Tech catalog.
Degree Requirements
A minimum of 30 credit hours is required for graduation, including all courses on the following list of required courses and at least four courses from the list of elective courses. Thesis students must also earn six credits of thesis (SYS 5999), and nonthesis students must take SYS 5380 and one additional course from the electives list. Thesis topics may be selected from the fields of computer science, electrical engineering or systems engineering.
| Required Courses (15 credit hours) | ||
|---|---|---|
| SYS 5310 | Systems Engineering Principles | 3 |
| SYS 5350 | System Modeling and Analysis | 3 |
| SYS 5365 | Decisions and Risk Analysis | 3 |
| SYS 5370 | Research Methods in Systems Engineering | 3 |
| SYS 5385 | System Life Cycle Cost Estimation | 3 |
| Elective Courses (15 credit hours from the following) | ||
| AHF 5101 | Human Factors in Man Machine Systems | 3 |
| ECE 5223 | Digital Communications | 3 |
| ECE 5272 | Special Topics in C3I | 3 |
| ECE 5534 | Computer Networks 1 | 3 |
| ECE 5535 | Computer Networks 2 | 3 |
| ECE 5595 | Special Projects in Computer Engineering | 3 |
| SWE 5411 | Software Testing 1 | 3 |
| SWE 5440 | Introduction to Software Architecture | 3 |
| SYS 5375 | Military Operations Research | 3 |
| SYS 5380 | Systems Engineering Design Project | 3 |
| SYS 5420 | System Architecture Fundamentals | 3 |
| SYS 5430 | Enterprise Architecture Integration and Implementation | 3 |
| SYS 5440 | Enterprise Architecture Project Planning, Management and Documentation | 3 |
| SYS 5450 | Service-oriented Architecture Concepts and Theory | 3 |
| SYS 5460 | Systems Requirements Analysis | 3 |
Doctor of Philosophy in Systems Engineering
The Ph.D. program in systems engineering is designed to provide advanced education and research opportunities to qualified students with master’s degrees. On completion, the program prepares students to conduct independent scholarly work, teach in academia or pursue advanced research careers in government, commercial or private sectors.
Admission Requirements
Admission to doctoral study is granted to applicants who have received master’s degrees in systems engineering, engineering, physical science, computer science or mathematics from an accredited institution or from an international institution that provides suitable preparation for doctoral-level studies.
The applicant must have a master’s degree GPA of at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale. International applicants must submit TOEFL scores of 600 or higher in addition to the GPA requirement. All students are required to have a GRE score of 1100 or higher.
Included with the application should be undergraduate and graduate transcripts, TOEFL scores (if required), GRE scores, three letters of recommendation and a statement of objectives.
General admission requirements and the process for applying are presented in the Academic Overview section of the university catalog.
The program is ideally suited to applicants with a master’s degree in systems engineering. Preference will be given to these applicants. If an applicant does not have a master’s degree in systems engineering, five master’s-level core courses (or equivalents as determined by the department) are required before beginning doctoral-level course work, as follows:
| Core Courses | |
| SYS 5310 | Systems Engineering Principles |
| SYS 5350 | Systems Modeling and Analysis |
| SYS 5365 | Decisions and Risk Analysis |
| SYS 5370 | Research Methods in Systems Engineering |
| SYS 5385 | System Life Cycle Cost Estimation |
Degree Requirements
The Ph.D. in systems engineering requires a minimum of 48 semester credit hours beyond the master’s degree including 24 semester credit hours of doctoral-level course work and 24 semester credit hours of dissertation research.
| Course Work and Dissertation Summary | Credits |
| Doctoral course work minimum beyond master's degree | 24 |
| Doctoral research and dissertation | 24 |
| TOTAL MINIMUM BEYOND THE MASTER’S DEGREE | 48 |
In addition ot the 24 semester credit hours of course work, the major adviser may require additional courses to better prepare the student for conducting research in the selected topic.
Each student must have a completed and approved program plan within one month of acceptance into the program. Following successful completion of the courses in the plan, the student must pass the comprehensive examination, prepare a written dissertation proposal and defend that proposal to a committee formed according to graduate policy. Finally, the student must conduct the necessary research to prepare a written dissertation satisfying the elements agreed to by the student’s doctoral committee and defend that dissertation before the committee.
A candidate should have at least one journal paper in review before the dissertation defense, and have completed one conference paper and presented their results at a recognized conference.
General degree requirements are presented in the Academic Overview section of the university catalog.
Curriculum
The program of study must be approved by the student’s doctoral committee and the department head. All prerequisite course work must be completed before beginning doctoral course work. There are no exceptions to this policy.
| Required Courses | |
| SYS 6010 | Advanced Topics in Decision and Risk Analysis |
| SYS 6020 | Advanced Topics in Systems Modeling and Analysis |
| SYS 6030 | Advanced Topics in Process Engineering |
| SYS 6040 | Seminar in Systems Engineering |
Elective Courses
In consultation with the major adviser, the student selects four courses applicable to the program from within the College of Engineering or College of Science. Latitude is permitted with the consent of the major adviser. The adviser may require the student to take additional courses (beyond the total of eight courses) if it is felt these courses are needed for research preparation.
Research
Research topics in systems engineering are interdisciplinary in nature. The student may select a topic from his/her engineering field with the acceptance of the major adviser and the committee. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- System Design and Modeling
- Simulation and Analytical Modeling
- Decision and Risk Modeling
- Design of Experiments
- Statistical Modeling
- Systems Life Cycle Cost Estimation
The student must demonstrate originality and a significant, unique and meaningful contribution to the field of systems engineering. The research must be accurately and completely documented, explained and thoroughly supported in the dissertation and must be defended successfully to the committee as part of the degree requirement.