As the saying goes, some engineers make things, but industrial engineers make things better. From determining the best times for airplanes to take off, the optimal number of products to stock, the most suitable interface for a task, or the shortest path for a vehicle, industrial engineers are passionate about optimizing the world. In other words, industrial engineers strive to make things as efficient, fast, cost-effective, and safe as they can be.
To this end, the Industrial Engineering (IE) program at AUB provides students with the expertise that they need to become successful leaders and difference-makers in this field. Students in the IE program learn a range of valuable skills. The courses in the IE program cover a variety of topics, such as operations research, ergonomics, human-machine interfaces, decision science, and statistics.
The IE program prepares students for careers in industries ranging from transportation and healthcare to manufacturing, logistics, and entertainment. According to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (www.bls.gov), IE “is versatile both in the nature of the work it does and in the industries in which its expertise can be put to use (…) Firms in a variety of industries are seeking new ways to contain costs and improve efficiency, leading to more demand for these workers." Graduates of the IE program are also well-prepared to pursue graduate studies in engineering and related fields.
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation, IE students will be able to demonstrate:
- an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
- an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
- an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audience
- an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal context
- an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objective
- an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
- an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies
The accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https:/www.abet.org, to the Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering (BE) has been obtained in September 2023 for five years, till September 2028, and retroactively since October 2020.