MEP Manufacturing Certificate Program

Description

The Manufacturing Certificate provides students enrolled in the MEP program with the fundamentals of manufacturing science by supporting their graduate education and research objectives. Students pursuing the Certificate develop skills and knowledge in particular disciplines, and couple that with a general understanding of the entire manufacturing enterprise, while also focusing their abilities on working well as part of a multidisciplinary team.

The Certificate emphasizes the education of engineers, managers, and scientists in all aspects and fundamentals of the manufacturing enterprise. The structured program broadens and enhances the background of students enrolled in traditional academic disciplines, and encourages them to develop strategic knowledge in a variety of disciplines through class work and multidisciplinary teamwork experiences.

Thus, the program balances technical depth with a broad exposure and comprehension of realistic problems and solution methodologies that are faced by manufacturing industries every day.

The Manufacturing Certificate is a part of a graduate degree program (M.S. or Ph.D.) at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  One must complete a graduate degree in any of the College of Engineering's schools to obtain the Certificate.

The Manufacturing Certificate is administered by the Manufacturing Research Center (MARC), with the Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering participating.  Any student (not limited to these three engineering schools) who obtains a graduate degree in engineering from Georgia Tech can participate in the Certificate Program.

The Manufacturing Certificate offers the following advantages for students:

• Solid grounding in manufacturing fundamentals.
• Opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in a particular discipline, as well as of the entire manufacturing enterprise.
• Multidisciplinary team project experience.  Opportunities to broaden educational horizons through a balance of technical depth in an engineering discipline, with a broad exposure to, and comprehension of, systematic problem solving methodologies.

Manufacturing Certificate Program Details

Students should submit an enrollment form, as soon as their studies begin, to the MEP office in Room 380 of the Manufacturing Research Center (MARC) building.

The Certificate in Manufacturing consists of a set of key courses from which students select twelve (12) semester hours.  Students are also required to attend seminars.

The key courses are grouped as shown in the following three course groups: Electrical & Computer Engineering; Industrial & Systems Engineering; and Mechanical Engineering.

Students must complete two courses in each of two of the groupings, and in at least two different schools.  Students may count only one 4000-level course, which must be outside their home school.  The 4000-level courses may be taken as background for the more advanced courses.  Courses with a grade of "D" or "F" do not count.

The three course groups are :

Students are also required to complete ECE/ISyE/ME 6792: Manufacturing Seminar Series .  Students must attend eight (8), one-hour seminars that are related to manufacturing.  At least six will be of their own choosing.  These seminars are to be at Georgia Tech, presented by external speakers, and taken during one semester.

Students are responsible for identifying these seminars.  Up to two seminars per semester may be arranged by the MEP program with leaders in manufacturing, in which case attendance is mandatory for Certificate students.  These two seminars will count toward the eight required seminars.

After attending each of the eight seminars, students e-mail the professor in charge of the seminar short reports, which summarize and critique the seminars.  The professor reviews these reports and informs the students if the seminars attended and the write-ups are acceptable.  Seminar reports should be sent to the e-mail address here: mep.seminar@marc.gatech.edu

All seminar reports, from graduating or continuing students, must be submitted seven (7) days before the last day of semester instruction.

Once the students have attended eight seminars, the seminar series requirement is fulfilled.  Students will receive one hour of pass/fail credit for the seminar requirement.

Distance learning students may attend seminars at their sites.  The seminars may not be by their fellow employees, may not be vendor talks, must be during one semester, and must be approved ahead of time by the course instructor.

Typically, all of these Manufacturing Certificate requirements can be completed within the framework of M.S. and Ph.D. programs.  Upon completion of the MEP program and their graduate degrees, students will receive their Certificate from the MEP office.