Newswise — ITHACA, N.Y. – A unique doctoral program in systems to be offered by Cornell University’s College of Engineering beginning in the fall of 2016 will prepare students to tackle some of the world’s most complex logistical problems.

Engineering, business and social problems often require individuals to produce solutions for different pieces of an operational problem, but they also need a systems engineer who can use a multidisciplinary approach to coordinate those efforts and ensure the different pieces fit together. For instance, understanding the market for natural disaster insurance requires integrating models of natural hazards, building-specific structural vulnerability, consumer choice, insurance company competition, and governmental action. Organizing networks of earth-observing satellites and predicting the transmission of disease-causing agents through the food supply chain are two other examples of challenges faced by systems engineers.

Cornell’s systems Ph.D. program, which was approved by New York state in May and is now enrolling students for the spring 2017 semester, will build off of the success of its 15-year-old master’s degree in systems. The doctoral level is designed for students and professionals who have a strong technical background, but are now looking to take a leadership role within a research group or company division, according to Patrick Reed, who teaches systems courses as a professor of civil and environmental engineering. The program also provides distance-learning options for professionals wishing to maintain some level of employment while they pursue the degree.

“At a lot of other schools, this would be housed and strongly flavored by one department,” said Reed. “Whereas here at Cornell, the program is multi-departmental and you have everything from very classical engineering all the way through the social sciences that are already interacting with the systems engineering program. Traditionally, that’s very difficult to do,” added Reed, who says that Cornell Tech will eventually be one of the entities interacting with the new Ph.D. degree.

Daniel Selva, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, also instructs systems courses and says Cornell’s strong academics in areas such as economics and social sciences—aspects often overlooked in systems engineering—uniquely position the university to offer the degree. “We try to emphasize the human-centered aspect of designing complex systems. We do a lot of work with how you incorporate empathy into system design, for instance, and on improving the interaction between humans and computational design tools,” said Selva.

The curriculum for the program will be based on a number of required courses, complemented by two minors chosen according to the interests of each Ph.D. student. Students will also be required to participate in a case-based doctoral colloquium.

Graduates are expected to pursue careers as analysts, consultants and managers in the areas of aerospace, defense, energy, climate, water resources, information technology, healthcare, transportation, large-scale retailing and urban planning.

“This is not learning existing techniques. These are people who are going to create the state of the art,” said Reed of the program’s future students. “And so who do you turn to when appropriate techniques don’t exist for innovating complex systems? That’s a systems Ph.D.”

For more information: http://www.systemseng.cornell.edu/academics/phd

-30-