The objectives of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering are founded in Mississippi State University’s Educational Philosophy and in the industrial and systems engineering profession. They were developed to satisfy the needs of the department’s constituents: students, employers, alumni, faculty, and the industrial engineering profession.

The industrial engineering program objective is to graduate students having a broad education, with emphasis in industrial and systems engineering fundamentals and practices, which enables them to function effectively in systems involving people, materials, information, energy, and money.

Consequently, within the first few years after graduation, graduates from the program are expected to:

1. 1. Demonstrate ability to function effectively within an organization with an understanding of its many operations and its management styles.
2. 2. Demonstrate competence in analyzing and designing operation and management systems, and their controls, to safely and effectively produce and deliver the organization’s products and services.
3. 3. Demonstrate ability to understand, explain, and predict system behavior using current or proposed resources, configurations and limitations using, if needed, mathematical and computer modeling.
4. 4. Demonstrate basic and professional skills in communication (both written and oral), economics, physical and social science, mathematics, and statistics.

The broad education the student receives in Industrial Engineering at Mississippi State University, in the arts and humanities, as well as in mathematics, sciences, and engineering prepares the student:

1. 5. To think independently and to critically examine ideas, and make discerning professional judgments that balance intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic considerations.
2. 6. To interact professionally in situations with others having different backgrounds, cultures, education, and interests.
3. 7. To be responsible and informed citizens.
4. 8. For a lifelong pursuit of learning through personal investigations and readings, through conferences, short courses or through formal education.

The faculty and staff strive to provide excellence in instruction in its industrial and systems engineering courses, using advanced teaching methods and technologies in classrooms, laboratories, and other educational settings.

Because of the importance of systems design in the many facets of industrial engineering, instruction of the principles and methods of design is integrated throughout the curriculum of industrial engineering, and culminates in a major design experience in the student’s senior year.