Systems Engineering
The systems engineering program at GW is located in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, which is part of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. In this program, you learn to apply engineering techniques and mathematical methods to assist decision makers in designing and operating systems optimally. You learn to do this by observing, understanding, modeling and predicting the behavior of the systems that naturally arise in fields as diverse as medicine, defense, manufacturing and management.
Related Majors, Minors, and Concentrations
Systems engineering shares concepts with economics and computer science, so students frequently minor in one or both of these fields. Likewise, many of our students do a concentration in management or finance. The systems engineering program also offers a medical preparation option.
What can I expect to learn in the Systems Engineering program at GW?
The program teaches you to apply quantitative techniques to assist decision makers in the optimal design and operation of complex systems. You will learn to use these techniques to define problems and to aid others in dealing with complex tradeoffs and uncertainties.
What is the Systems Engineering community like at GW?
Systems engineering students are part of a small undergraduate community that includes faculty, students and a student chapter of the professional society INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences). The community also includes alumni, who help with networking and contacts that lead to student internships.
What can I do in the Systems Engineering field?
A broad array of options is open to systems engineers. With a systems engineering degree, you can work in the fields of communications, energy, environment, finance, health care, information technology, marketing, national defense, project management, software development or transportation.
Spotlight
- Monumental internships
Monumental internships
One of our students learned project management on the job as an intern with the World War II Memorial construction team.
- Plan for disaster
Plan for disaster
Our Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management conducts risk-analysis studies to help others with crisis management planning.
- Runway to success
Runway to success
In a typical senior design project, a systems engineering student did a cost-benefit analysis of a proposal to add a runway to a local airport.
- Optimizing radiation therapy
Optimizing radiation therapy
Our faculty uses systems engineering techniques to design radiation treatments that maximize the exposure of cancer cells while minimizing the exposure of healthy cells to the radiation.