The minor in systems engineering offers an attractive complement to many undergraduate majors. Systems engineers define, design, develop, integrate, and test systems. Whereas other engineering disciplines concentrate on individual aspects of a system (electronics, ergonomics, software, etc.), systems engineers focus on the system as a whole. This minor provides students with the fundamentals of systems engineering and operations research. In these courses, students learn how to deal with the system life cycle and to use scientific methods for analyzing operations of a system or organization. The structured set of courses helps students across the technical fields prepare for the information technology work now common in public and private industry. This minor is open to all majors, and especially appropriate for students in the natural sciences, computational sciences, information technology, finance, economics, mathematics, engineering, or computer science programs.
Policies
Eight credits of coursework must be unique to the minor and students must complete all coursework with a minimum GPA of 2.00. For policies governing all minors, see AP.5.3.4 Minors.
Minor Requirements
Total credits: 15
Required Courses
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SYST 473 | Decision and Risk Analysis | 3 |
| Select one from the following: | 3 | |
| Systems Design 1 | ||
| Understanding Systems Engineering 2 | ||
or SYST 205 | Systems Engineering Principles | |
| Total Credits | 6 | |
| 1 | SYST 210 cannot be counted as both a required and additional course. |
| 2 |
Three Additional Courses
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Select any three additional courses from the following. Students are encouraged to take SYST 460 and SYST 461 for technical emphasis in Aviation Systems, SYST 438 and SYST 468 for technical emphasis in Data Analytics, SYST 438 and SYST 488 for technical emphasis in Financial Engineering, and OR 441/MATH 441, OR 442/MATH 442, and OR 481/MATH 446 for technical emphasis in Operations Research. | 9 | |
| Introduction to Computing for Digital Systems Engineering (Mason Core) | ||
| Systems Design | ||
| Dynamical Systems I and Systems Modeling Laboratory | ||
| Object-oriented Modeling and Design | ||
| Dynamical Systems II | ||
| Systems Methods | ||
| Systems Project Management 1 | ||
or SYST 371 | Systems Engineering Management | |
| Systems Thinking | ||
| Analytics for Financial Engineering and Econometrics | ||
| Technologies and Security for Cryptocurrencies and Financial Transactions | ||
| Introduction to Air Traffic Control | ||
| Air Transportation System Engineering | ||
| Applied Predictive Analytics | ||
| Human Computer Interaction 2 | ||
or SYST 470 | Human Factors Engineering | |
| Financial Systems Engineering | ||
| Discrete Systems Modeling and Simulation 3 | ||
or SYST 335 | Discrete Systems Modeling and Simulation | |
| Deterministic Operations Research | ||
| Stochastic Operations Research | ||
| Numerical Methods in Engineering | ||
or MATH 446 | Numerical Analysis I | |
| Total Credits | 9 | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 |
Prerequisites
Some of the courses listed above have additional prerequisites. Students should pay careful attention to prerequisites when selecting courses.