Mission Statement:
The mission of the ISE Department at RPI is to pursue excellence in the research and education of industrial and systems engineering by providing a welcoming environment that empowers students, faculty, alumni, and communities to address multifaceted challenges.
ISE Department Credo:
The values that guide our decision-making are spelled out in Our Credo. They are:
- Our first responsibility is to create a welcoming and intellectually stimulating environment for student learning.
- Our teaching and research will be oriented toward advancing scientific knowledge and society.
- We will contribute to our communities and collaborate effectively with our partners.
- We will manage our resources in a responsible manner.
Industrial and Systems Engineers analyze, design and manage the construction of systems involving interaction among humans, machines, and the natural environment. These systems are highly complex and their inherent variability must be modelled and controlled. These models are incorporated into the overall system design to ensure robust and optimized operations. ISE is interdisciplinary: it encompasses engineering, management, computer science, and human factors. ISE is systems oriented: it analyzes the interaction and interplay among components in complex networks. ISE is a unique engineering discipline: it integrates the quantitative engineering approach with qualitative insights of human behavior, while drawing upon the data analytic contributions of computer science.
The ISE department at Rensselaer offers a dynamic and exciting curriculum to educate students to tackle these complex systems, leading to B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees. ISE is the home of the long and distinguished Industrial and Management Engineering (IME) program which was founded in 1933.
Our graduates are highly sought after: they design manufacturing and logistics systems for new products; they plan for and respond to emergency events; they detect and combat security threats to our country; they design distribution systems to satisfy health needs and medical requirements; they ensure the stability and growth of corporations and financial systems. They are valued by Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, civic organizations, and government agencies alike because of their strong technical engineering and computer skills coupled with their broader perspectives from other disciplines and insights into human nature.
