Program Overview

The SEM-PD21 program is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary leadership program designed for senior engineering and technical professionals. By integrating engineering and management elements, the program strives to develop a new kind of leader with a holistic perspective and knowledge of the total life-cycle acquisition system. Students acquire the fundamental skills and strategic perspective required of effective change agents as well as an enhanced ability to recognize barriers to success early in a system's development cycle when corrective actions are least costly. The SEM-PD21 program is the educational foundation needed by technical leaders to drive systems engineering innovations and help achieve acquisition excellence.

Students in the joint executive SEM-PD21 program will be exposed to the latest state of the art concepts, tools and best practices, both private and public, in systems engineering and management. They will learn from experienced faculty, who have worked in the defense industry and completed defense relevant research and/or consulting. One of the key value propositions of the program is collaboration not only jointly within defense and across the services, but also with defense industry partners. Imagine the possibilities when future leaders participate and collaborate in non-threatening educational environments, studying and analyzing how to improve the way defense does business!

The following distance learning delivery method(s) may be used for this program:

• Asynchronous
• Elluminate Live

 Program Announcements

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS!

Joint Executive Systems Engineering Management (SEM)

The Naval Postgraduate School Department of Systems Engineering is pleased to announce this year's offering of the Joint Executive Systems Engineering Management (SEM) distance learning (DL) program offered in partnership with MIT's "Educational Consortium for Leadership in Project Development in the 21st Century" (PD21). The SEM-PD21 program is a two-year, eight-quarter, part-time master’s degree program delivered in an executive format.  The September 2013-2015 class will commence with a two-week kickoff on campus in Monterey, CA., September 16–27, 2013. 

The 2013-2015 class is limited to 25 students.  Each service (Army, Air Force, Navy) and defense contractors are allocated 5 seats each (20 total). The remaining 5 open seats are available to the best qualified candidates from any DoD or federal agency.  The program is open to qualified uniformed officers, federal employees, and defense contractor civilians.  Qualified active duty Navy and Marine Corps officers may be eligible for NPS mission funding but the student or their command will be responsible to purchase books and pay for all travel associated with the program.

Deadline for application is 15 July 2013. Contact Dr. Wally Owen, Program Manager, at wowen@nps.edu, Academic Associate, Prof Ron Carlson, at rrcarlso@nps.edu or the Center for Educational Design, Development & Distribution (CED3) at CED3StudCoord@nps.edu for more information.

Read the full 721-141 Announcement (zip) here.

 Curriculum

NPS and the PD21 consortium believe that this joint engineering & management program offers the best unified curriculum available in systems engineering and end-to-end product development, leadership education. It ideally aligns with defense leadership vision for transformation and acquisition excellence. Students who successfully complete this program will receive:

• MS in Systems Engineering Mgmt, MS in Product Development or MS in Systems Engineering (if ABET) or MS in Engineering Systems (if not ABET)
• Certificate of Recognition from MIT
• DAWIA SPRDE Equivalency (ACQ101, 201, PMT250, SYS101, 202, 203 and 302)

Students have great flexibility in designing an elective structure from 5 current elective tracks, which, together with the 10 core courses, will earn the students additional certifications in:

• Systems Acquisition track for equivalency with DAU PMT352
• Information Systems & Operations
• Advanced Systems Engineering
• Software Engineering
• Space Systems

QTR 1- Fall

• SE3108 - Leadership in Product Development (3-2)
• MN3117 - Organizational Processes (4-0)
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

QTR 2- Winter

• SI4021 - Systems Engineering for Product Development (3-2)
• MN3145 - Marketing Management (4-0)
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

QTR 3- Spring

• SI4022 - Systems Architecture (4-0)
• ME4702 or OS4011 - Engineering Risk Benefit Analysis (3-2)
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

One-week Industry visit at end of quarter

QTR 4- Summer

• MN3156 - Finance & Managerial Accounting (4-0)
• MN3392 - Systems & Project Management (4-0)
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

QTR 5- Fall

• OS3211 - Systems Optimization (4-0)
• Elective Course- see tracks below 
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

QTR 6- Winter

• MN4379 - Operations Management (4-0)
• Elective Course- see tracks below 
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

QTR 7- Spring

• SE0811 - Thesis Research (0-8)
• Elective Course- see tracks below 
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

One-week Industry visit at end of quarter

QTR 8- Summer

• SE0811 - Thesis Research (0-8)
• Elective Course- see tracks below 
• SE3810 - Systems Engineering Seminar (0-2)

Graduation Week at NPS

Course Elective Tracks

Systems Acquisition Elective Track (DAU Certificate for PMT352)

• MN3364(2-0)- Business & Contract Administration
• MN3309 (4-1)- Acq of Embedded Sys S/W
• MN4366 (4-0)- Prog Mgmt Policy & Ctrl
• MN3155 (2-0)- Financial Mgmt for Acq Mgrs (ONLINE)
• MN4602 (2-0)- Test & Evaluation (ONLINE)
• MN3361 (2-0)- Information Technology & Software Acquisition
• MN3363 (2-0)- Manufacturing and Quality Mgmt
• MN3365 (2-0)- Acquisition Logistics Mgmt & Program Sustainment

Information Systems & Operations Online Track (Certificate in ISO)

Space Systems Online Track (Certificate in Space Systems)

Software Engineering Track (NPS Certificate in S/W Engineering)

• SW3460 (3-1)- Software Methodology (ONLINE)
• SW4583 (3-1) Software Design
• SW4590 (3-1)- Software Architecture
• SW4591 (3-2)- Requirements Engineering

Advanced Systems Engineering Track (NPS Certificate in Systems Engineering & Integration)

• SE4354 (4-0)- Test & Evaluation
• SE4353 (3-2) - Risk Analysis and Mgmt for Engineering Systems
• SE3351 (4-0) - Human Factors in Systems Design
• SE4003 (4-0) - Systems Software Engineering
• SE3011 (3-0)- Engingeering Economics and Cost Estimation
• SE3302 (3-2)- System Suitability
• SE3303 (3-2)- System Assessment
• SE3250 (3-2)- Capability Engineering

 Eligibility and Prerequisites

The following are eligible for this program:

• US Military Officers
• Defense contractors with a GS11 equivalency
• US Government Civilians with a grade GS11 or above
• International Students**

**International Students: Ensure that you read and understand the eligibility requirements and application process.

Prerequisites:

• Baccalaureate Degree (BA or BS)
• GPA of 2.6 or better
• At least five years experience directly related to systems development, engineering, acquisition, operations or support. (Requirement reduced to three years for applicants who hold a master's degree.)

 Tuition

Tuition for this program is based on the SEM-PD21 Tuition Schedule for 2011-2013 PDF document.

Please refer to the tuition page regarding general information on tuition for DL programs. You may also contact the tuition-collection POC for this program directly:
CED3Bursar@nps.edu

 Contact Information

For additional information specific to the program, please email the Program Director at PD21DegProg@nps.edu.

For general questions about CED3 supported programs, please email the CED3 Student Coordinator at CED3StudCoord@nps.edu.