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.

Banner Code: SYST

Minor Requirements

Total credits: 15

Required Courses

SYST 473Decision and Risk Analysis3
Select one from the following:3
SYST 210
Systems Design 1
SYST 101
Understanding Systems and Industrial Engineering 2
or SYST 205
 Systems Engineering Principles
Total Credits6
1

SYST 210 cannot be counted as both a required and additional course.

2

Credit cannot be received for both SYST 101 and SYST 205.

Three Additional Courses

Select any three additional courses from the following. Students are encouraged to take SYST 414 and SYST 496 for technical emphasis in Climate Change, Energy, and Sustainability, 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
SYST 130
Introduction to Computing for Digital Systems Engineering (Mason Core)
SYST 210
Systems Design
SYST 220
& SYST 221
Dynamical Systems I
and Systems Modeling Laboratory
SYST 230
Object-oriented Modeling and Design
SYST 320
Dynamical Systems II
SYST 330
Systems Methods
SYST 370
Systems Project Management 1
or SYST 371
 Systems Engineering Management
SYST 375
Engineering Economy
SYST 414
Systems Thinking
SYST 438
Analytics for Financial Engineering and Econometrics
SYST 440
Digital Twin for Systems and Industrial Engineering
SYST 448
Technologies and Security for Cryptocurrencies and Financial Transactions
SYST 460
Introduction to Air Traffic Control
SYST 461
Air Transportation System Engineering
SYST 468
Applied Predictive Analytics
SYST 469
Human Computer Interaction 2
or SYST 470
 Human Factors Engineering
SYST 475
Production Systems Analysis
SYST 488
Financial Systems Engineering
SYST 496
Sustainable Systems Methods Practicum
OR 335
Discrete Systems Modeling and Simulation 3
or SYST 335
 Discrete Systems Modeling and Simulation
OR/MATH 441
Deterministic Optimization 4
OR/MATH 442
Stochastic Models 5
OR 481
Numerical Methods in Engineering 6
or MATH 446
 Numerical Analysis I
Total Credits9
1

Credit cannot be received for both SYST 370 and SYST 371.

2

Credit cannot be received for both SYST 469 and SYST 470.

3

Credit cannot be received for both SYST 335 and OR 335.

4

Credit cannot be received for both OR 441 and MATH 441

5

Credit cannot be received for both OR 442 and MATH 442

6

Credit cannot be received for both OR 481 and MATH 446

Prerequisites

Some of the courses listed above have additional prerequisites. Students should pay careful attention to prerequisites when selecting courses.