Courses

As an EMTM student, you have access to one of the widest selections of courses possible in both technology and business. Courses share an integrated business-technology perspective and a focus on knowledge that students can apply immediately. In response to student interest and new trends in business and technology, EMTM faculty develop and add new courses each year.

This section provides brief descriptions of current and recent course offerings. For related course and curriculum information, please see Requirements and Options and Sample Curriculum.

Core Courses
The EMTM core includes ten (10) required business and management courses, plus the Emerging Technologies Seminar.

Technology Electives
Students complete at least six (6) courses from a selection of technology course options, either pursuing a specialized cluster, or gaining perspectives across multiple technology areas. Current technology areas include:

• Biopharm & Biotechnology
• IT & Telecommunications
• Nanotechnology & Materials Science

Management Electives
Students can select four (4) ‘open electives’ from among the Technology Elective offerings above, or from a selection of Management and other Technology courses.

• Finance
• Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Leadership-Building
• Marketing
• Operations Management & Other Technology

Core Courses

Accounting
Introduces engineering and technical managers to financial and managerial accounting, enabling them to understand, critique, and direct project evaluation. Financial accounting covers accounting concepts, basic accounting principles, and the structure of the three main financial statements, with detail on a few of the more important transactions. Managerial accounting includes basic cost concepts, product costing systems, and the use of managerial accounting data for decision-making and control.

Corporate Finance
Expands knowledge of the risk-return trade-off and its implications for capital budgeting, portfolio construction, valuation, and financial options. Covers the process of obtaining and allocating capital. Major topics include capital structure, cost of capital, tools for allocating capital (discounted cash flow, economic value-added), measurements of financial performance, and integrating financial and business strategy.

Decision Models

The emphasis of this course is on understanding how to frame and solve complex business problems in diverse industries and functional areas. The primary topics are: decision analysis and the language of probability, decision-making under uncertainty, project prioritization using single- and multi-objective criteria, deterministic optimization using Excel solver and Crystal Ball, simulation using Crystal Ball and stochastic optimization using Crystal Ball.  The course has a threefold purpose. First, it sets a baseline for understanding why uncertainty and risk cannot be ignored in solving business problems where non-trivial investments – often over long time horizons - are necessary. Second, it seeks to provide a methodological approach to establishing a system for project prioritization in organizations that are not yet equipped with sophisticated data gathering techniques. Finally, it aims to provide sufficient exposure to and practice in the world of simulation and portfolio optimization.  It is expected that students will enhance their acuity in framing business problems so that technically defensible and actionable solutions can be brought to organizations in an effort to enhance sustainable portfolio value creation.

Management of Technology
Examines the technical and managerial challenges of leading innovation in high-tech enterprises and industries. Particular consideration is given to the forces affecting the nature and rate of technological innovation and the managerial alternatives available to both established and entrepreneurial organizations.  The course explores sources of innovation, including acquisitions and alliances, real options thinking for investing under uncertainty, managing new ventures and developing effective processes and organizational structures for driving sustainable results.  The course follows a multi-instructor format and draws upon subject experts to provide depth in each topic as well as a course coordinator to support continuity across topics. There is a mixture of lectures, case studies and readings throughout the course.  Analysis of a final case will be used as the primary basis for grading.

Managerial Economics
Introduces basic managerial concepts, methods and practices that are both used and useful to contemporary enterprises. First, students learn the basic analytics tools for applying managerial economics, including supply and demand, elasticity, production technology, costs, and the operation of competitive and monopoly markets. With this basic knowledge, students are prepared for more challenging managerial problems; for example, sophisticated pricing with market power such as price discrimination, bundling, two-part tariffs, and transfer pricing. The course also examines strategic actions and reactions in a game theory context, such as entry and pricing decisions. In addition, it covers expected utility, auctions, asymmetric information, and the issue of externalities.

Marketing
Provides an introduction to marketing concepts, methods, and practices that are important to modern enterprises. As a discipline, marketing is responsible for facilitating the exchange process. This is accomplished through an understanding of the perceptions, preferences, and behaviors exhibited by customers and consumers. That understanding is translated into a complete offering (product/service/features, price, advertising/promotion, and distribution system) consistent with those customer needs, the firm's capabilities, and the competitive environment.

Operations Management
In most industries, some firms are growing and prospering while others are shrinking or failing. Effective operations management is often a key ingredient of success. This course emphasizes processes and the management of these processes to improve quality. The first half of the course concentrates on process analysis: learning how to measure key process parameters, like capacity and lead time, and how to improve a process through approaches such as finding and removing bottlenecks or instituting better division and allocation of work. The second half focuses on variability and its effect on quality and process improvement efforts: examining the foundations of queuing theory, simulation as an analysis tool, and various quality management and control principles.

Organizational Behavior & Design
Promotes understanding of the basic issues involved in designing and managing organizations that motivate people to perform effectively. Examines theories of work motivation — especially for technical and professional personnel; methods of managerial influence and leadership styles; classic principles and emerging dynamic guidelines for designing organizational structures; and approaches to organizational change.

Statistics
This course provides a concise picture of the fundamentals of the mathematical theory of statistics and examples of how these ideas and results are applied in engineering practice. The focus of the course is on regression analysis and the use of modern software to solve statistics problems.

Strategic Management
Addresses managerial decision-making at both the formulation and implementation phases of strategic planning. Integrates concepts from both traditional and non-traditional business disciplines. Since managers usually must make strategic decisions without possessing all the relevant information, the focus is on decision-making under uncertainty.

Emerging Technologies Seminar (ETS)
A series of 90-minute seminars scheduled throughout the first year presents emerging technologies and their potential applications, including the opportunities and challenges of managing these technologies. An expert specific to each technology covers that technology's underlying physical, chemical and mathematical principles, potential commercial applications, competing technologies, and limitations. Highlighted technologies include nanotechnology, quantum computing and information systems, technologies used in the pharmaceutical industry and health-care, and polymers for biomedical and information applications. (Required for first-year students as a part of the EMTM core; open to all EMTM students.)

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Technology Electives

Biopharm & Biotechnology

Business and Biotechnology
This course covers key issues faced by emerging biotechnology companies — from business models and intellectual property management, to fundraising and grant writing, to regulatory approval for different types of biotechnology products. It also looks at disease-specific strategies, including issues related to third world diseases, biosecurity and vaccines. Examples and case studies are drawn from public and private companies that highlight recent partnering deals and business strategies. (Students are expected to be familiar with basic cell and molecular biology.)

Clinical Technology Innovation
Focuses on established and emerging technologies across the clinical area, from over-the-counter $15 pregnancy tests to multimillion-dollar imaging modalities, but distinct from orally-active or injectable pharmaceutical agents. Major topics include diagnostics, biomedical devices, genetic therapies, tissue engineering, advanced drug delivery technologies, imaging, and robotics. Course prerequisite: Modern Biotechnology or prior coursework in biology, chemistry or biotechnology.

Drug Discovery
Introduces concepts and tools from robotics, genomics, biophysics, and statistics that are currently used to accelerate the discovery of key compounds. The course begins by introducing basic molecular biology concepts, and then covers the basic software and statistical tools used to analyze the human genome. It explores automated systems for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs or "snips") that are believed to hold clues about disease progression and drug targets, "molecular diversity space" as it relates to the synthesis and screening of combinatorial libraries; robotic techniques for screening these libraries; assay biophysics; and the impact of biochips and DNA arraying techniques on modern drug discovery.

Introduction to Biotechnology and BioNanotechnology
Introduces the basic concepts of biotechnology and bionanotechnology, and identifies emerging business models. The course covers the molecular building blocks of biological systems and explains the basic functioning of biological cells and cell surface receptors. It then introduces the area of bionanotechnology — building particles and devices that can monitor, manipulate and alter cell behavior — with special attention to what can be learned from viruses. The course also discusses basic tools used to understand bionanotechnology, and the business models that several startup companies have employed to commercialize bionanotechnology.

Medicine and Biotechnology
Provides a basic understanding of the role of biotechnology in medicine for treating patients. Attention is given to the implication of the human genome project for doctors and patients, as well as ethical issues involved. A biotechnology start-up is dissected, and pitfalls identified. The course also highlights leaders in the field of biotechnology. Readings and case studies address issues such as how to position a company in the life science industry, the impact of public pressure on company strategy, and how to mitigate, manage and exploit uncertainties in the field of medicine and biotechnology.

Modern Biotechnology
Biotechnology is one of the leading growth industries in the United States. This course provides a brief background of biological terms and processes, develops an understanding of bioprocessing challenges, and provides the basis for evaluating some of the new commercial opportunities emerging in this field. Includes engineering principles involved in the growing of cells and isolation of bioproducts; new technologies such as protein engineering, DNA fingerprinting, cloning of cells with new genetic characteristics, and genetic mapping; case studies of recent technical, medical and commercial successes and failures.

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IT & Telecommunications

Data Mining
Examines current data-mining methods — how they work and when to use them — and industry trends in both data mining and business intelligence. Techniques covered include decision trees, regression, neural nets, clustering, network analysis, and feature selection. Other topics include evaluation of business-intelligence systems, data warehousing, privacy issues, strategic use of information, and emerging data-mining methods such as text and web mining. Course prerequisite: Statistics.

Enterprise Software Development
The Web has a leveling effect on the playing field for businesses, by making small companies appear larger and large companies appear nimbler. To take advantage of new opportunities while avoiding the excesses of the late 1990s, IT solutions must take into account the enterprise as a whole. The focus of this course is on technologies for the development of enterprise applications following this principle. Concern is given to reusability, integration, scalability, coping with change, security, and speed-to-market. Two technology frameworks lead in this domain. The course concentrates on the platform-independent J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition), with one lecture dedicated to the language-independent .NET framework from Microsoft. Prerequisites: EMTM601 Software Engineering and some experience with software development, in particular the ability to read object-oriented code documentation.

4th Generation Wireless Networks
This course explores the evolution of 4th Generation wireless networks and technologies and the implications for future users. Topics include: a review of fundamental 4G technologies such as Broadband Wireless Networks, Software-defined Radios, Advanced Antennas, and Mobile Ad-hoc Networking; 4G applications such as distributed monitoring, content distribution, and seamless mobility; and potential scenarios for technology and business models. Students get to apply knowledge from the course towards potential business applications for 4G networks.

Human Computer Interaction
Targets how to create effective, efficient and enjoyable human computer interactions using both standard and emerging techniques. The course explores psychological foundations, fundamental concepts, task analysis, requirements analysis and techniques for design and implementation — as well as how anthropological and ethnographic techniques are emerging as important methodologies in computer system development. This is truly an interactive course in all ways, with demonstrations and examples drawn from real and virtual worlds. At the end of the course you should have a heightened appreciation of interfaces to the real and virtual worlds and an understanding of how to make them better for yourself and others.

Information Technology Strategy
Information and Communications technology is changing rapidly, with profound implications for the quality of everyday life, the competitive position of firms in all industries, and the highly volatile activity in the securities market. This course addresses the implications emerging IT business and technology models for competitive strategy in the large companies. The course is recommended for students in technology management and strategy, especially those with an interest in high technology firms. A basic understanding of technologies in the IT and Communications area is required, and a good understanding of technology-driven competitive strategy is important.

IT Security and Privacy
Increasingly, corporations are appointing Chief Security and Chief Privacy Officers to oversee security and privacy programs and policies in their organizations. This course covers basic concepts, technologies and issues of security and privacy in the Information Technology arena. It provides managers with background understanding and with pointers to further explore security and privacy topics as needed. Classes will include several guest lectures from both academic and corporate security and privacy experts.

Software Development
Focuses on issues related to software development including requirements, specification, design, implementation, quality assurance, and maintenance. Other topics include object-oriented analysis, design patterns, UML, and modularity in system architecture such as layers and partitions. The course also introduces software engineering principles and approaches such as programming languages and environments, and reusable components. Other special issues covered are distributed (networked) applications, database applications, and security problems. Throughout the course, concepts will be illustrated with concrete examples from the Java world.

Software Engineering
Introduces software engineering, a systematic, disciplined and quantifiable approach to producing and maintaining reliable software products within budget and on time. The course covers software engineering topics from an individual to a corporate perspective. Topics covered include software process models, requirements elicitation and specification, risk management, software architecture and design, agile development, software testing, human computer interaction and Open Source.

Telecommunications — Introduction to Networking
Explains the principles and protocols of modern data networks and of the Internet. It does not assume prior experience or knowledge of data networks. After an overview of basic networking concepts, we explore local area networks (LANs) and wide-area networks (the Internet). Key concepts of TCP/IP, the protocol suite for the Internet, are examined. The course also explores application protocols, and ends with a survey of security measures.

Telecommunications — Advanced Networking
Explores emerging trends in communications and information technology and provides in-depth technical and business perspectives on each technology area. Topics include backbone networks, last-mile access, wireless networks, internet/IP-based applications, application requirements/quality-of-service (QoS), and advanced security. Students get to apply knowledge from course towards future application scenarios for live businesses, including technology trade-offs and recommended architectures. Course prerequisite: Introduction to Networking or a strong basic knowledge of telecommunications systems.

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Nanotechnology & Materials Science

Advanced Materials
Provides engineering managers with an understanding of the properties, technology, advantages, limitations, and future development of advanced materials, enabling them to critique and evaluate proposed applications and markets. Analyzes the properties of the four classes of advanced materials—metallic alloys and compounds, ceramics, polymers, and composites. Focuses on the major factors that determine the unique properties and applications of these classes in current and future technologies.

Microelectronics
Provides a basic understanding of modern microelectronic devices and technology and the microelectronics industry, including an appreciation of the competitive status of this industry in the global economy. Begins by focusing on semiconductor-based electronics (diodes, transistors) and its products (memories, microprocessors, ASIC's and analog devices), including the latest products and market trends. Ends by focusing on the manufacturing aspects of microelectronics and the various processing steps and equipment needs involved in the realization of an integrated circuit.

Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is heralded as a revolution that will change the landscape of technology in all economic sectors. This course introduces those fundamental concepts necessary to understand why very small systems exhibit new behavior. Techniques for imaging and manipulating nanostructures are illustrated, and both top-down and bottom-up approaches to nanofabrication are described. Applications in computation, information storage, biomedical diagnostics and nanometrology are explored in the context of case studies.

Photonics
Presents a blend of fundamentals in the fast-moving area of photonics with their application to telecommunication systems and high-technology areas. Topics include fundamentals of optical wave propagation, reflection, and refraction; fiber and integrated optics with applications to optical communications; medical devices and industrial use; lasers and their operation and uses; and optical devices and selected areas of optical-signal processing. Integrates technical, scientific, and business considerations throughout.

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Management Electives

Finance

Case Studies in Corporate Finance
Applies the concepts learned in two core courses, Accounting and Corporate Finance, to contemporary situations faced by companies involved in the process of building sustained economic value through profitable growth. Using actual companies as case studies, this course focuses on applications of tools such as discounted cash flow, risk analysis, real options analysis, resource allocation and financial strategy.

Computational Finance
In this course, models for hedging, asset allocation, and multi-period portfolio planning are developed, implemented, and tested. Pricing models for options are also discussed. All these types of models typically require the tools of statistics, optimization, and/or simulation, and they will be implemented in spreadsheets or a high-level modeling environment, MATLAB. Readings focus on the applications of quantitative methods and include recent publications by investment and commercial banks. The course is intended for students with a strong interest in finance.

Real Options Analysis
Introduces real options analysis, and illustrates its applications for decision making in a variety of business contexts such as biotechnology, flexible manufacturing, R&D, marketing, strategy, and transportation. Contrary to traditional net present value (NPV), real options analysis accurately reflects the impact of risk and uncertainty by taking into account managerial and operational flexibility. This course shows how real options analysis is analogous to financial options and discusses diverse types of real options. Each session consists of a theoretical part and a corresponding business case that makes explicit some of the issues that occur when applying valuation models in practical circumstances.

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Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Introduction to New Venture Initiation
Focusing on the development of a business proposal for an innovative new venture, this course centers on ways to exploit new ideas and businesses (as opposed to finding the opportunities). Teams of 1-3 students work on the development of an idea of your choice. The course emphasis is on applying and synthesizing concepts and techniques from different functional areas across an organization in the context of new venture development. Class sessions, which include guest speakers, are designed to familiarize you with the many dimensions of new venture development. The tools and techniques are aimed at both entrepreneurial start-up companies and large corporate settings.

Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship
Practical and intensive, this course examines the critical legal issues confronting start-up and emerging growth companies. Equally applicable to more mature, established companies, the context of the course is early stage companies, providing perspective on how to use the law strategically to manage risk, deploy resources, and maximize shareholder value. Topics include the enforceability of confidentiality, non-competition, and other restrictive covenants in employment agreements; choice of business form including the legal, financial, and tax advantages/disadvantages of general/limited partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies; tax and securities law aspects of raising capital; structuring venture capital, and private equity financing; letters of intent and mergers/acquisitions; employment law; and intellectual property law.

Strategic Management of Innovation
Provides exposure to a mix of approaches and techniques that promote innovative thinking and entrepreneurial behavior. Covers the management of innovation by considering both organizational and strategic factors that determine the successful outcomes of innovation, such as internal structure, processes, resources and especially, core competencies. Concentrates on viable innovations, i.e. products/services or process innovations that come with what economists call "rents".

Technology Entrepreneurship
Investigates the sequential process of transforming a technology-driven idea into a customer-driven product, and then capturing the value of this innovative product through an entrepreneurial startup venture. This course examines this process both from the perspective of the entrepreneur and from the perspective of the corporation pursuing a model of open innovation wherein external ideas are acquired from, or internal ideas are spun-off to, entrepreneurial ventures. Based largely on case study discussions, the course focuses on intellectual property, high-tech product development, venture finance, high-tech market strategy, strategic alliances, and entrepreneurial leadership skills.

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Leadership-Building

Foundations of Leadership
Aims to increase student capacity for leadership through self-reflection, feedback, and in-class action learning. Topics include understanding the "vision thing," valuing and effectively using differences, understanding the dynamics of influence and the use of political savvy, the art of active listening, developing the art of giving and receiving feedback, and maintaining balance between personal and professional life. These abilities are essential in meeting critical personal, interpersonal, and organizational challenges.

Negotiations
Negotiations is the art and science of creating agreements between two or more parties. Designed to improve negotiation skills, this class develops your ability to: identify opportunities to negotiate, prepare for negotiations, build your confidence in negotiations, and analyze and manage the negotiation process. Since negotiations occur in all kinds of organizations, and in many functional areas within an organization, a wide variety of case examples are used, most of which students practice negotiating in-class or through assignments. Ultimately, this course should not only enhance your bargaining skills, but also increase your ability to recognize opportunities for joint gains and to manage interdependent relationships.

Total Leadership
Provides a framework and a focus on concepts and tools for increasing performance but differs from traditional approaches to leadership in its emphasis on all domains of life in addition to work — the home, the community and the self. The total leadership approach integrates across these four domains to improve business results and simultaneously enrich lives. In this class the student is the case and all work flows from the student experience as observed through the total leadership lens. The course provides a rich coaching network of support and feedback for the implementation of experiments during the term. The prerequisite for this course is "Foundations of Leadership."

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Marketing

Models and Tools for Marketing Tactics & Strategy
Reviews quantitative marketing methodology emphasizing the selection and use of models that support managerial decisions concerning strategic problems. Includes analysis of consumer behavior at the individual level; market analysis at the aggregate level; segmentation, targeting, positioning, forecasting methods; and new product decisions. The necessary mathematics, though not difficult, requires a willingness to spend time understanding the models.

Applied Probability Models in Marketing

Over the past five decades, statisticians have developed a number of models that have proven to be highly effective in their ability to explain and predict empirical patterns within many areas in business and the social sciences.  These models use some basic building blocks from probability theory to offer behaviorally plausible perspectives on different types of timing, counting, and choice processes.  The principal objectives of this course are to familiarize students with probability models and their role in marketing, information systems, and other related areas and to provide students with the analytical and empirical skills required to develop probability models and apply them to problems of genuine managerial interest. This course is open to any student who has sufficient mathematical background to handle the advanced methods that will be introduced and discussed.  It is essential that students be very familiar with basic integral calculus.  Furthermore, a mid-level probability/statistics course would be very helpful.  But aptitude to learn and fully understand this type of material is more important than mere exposure to it. 

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Operations Management and Other Technology

Product Design and Development
Expands competence with tools and methodologies for product design and development. Raises awareness of the role of multiple functions (e.g. marketing, engineering design, industrial design, production) in creating a new product. Enables students to critique and evaluate proposed applications and markets. Participants apply the course content to a product development project of a physical object. Topics include identifying customer needs, setting specifications, concept development, design for manufacturing, and industrial design and culminate in the creation of a prototype.

R&D Management
Addresses the significant issues related to managing R&D in a corporate environment from both strategic and tactical perspectives. Designed to meet the needs of students who one day, either as managers, consultants or entrepreneurs, must understand the use of technology in industry as a powerful tool of competitive advantage and growth, in particular the new challenges facing managers as they seek to make R&D serve the needs of the corporation in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Topics include, among others, key R&D business processes, issues in global R&D management, and methods of measuring and optimizing the return on R&D.

Supply Chain Management
Strategies that enhance integration throughout the supply chain can lead to improved performance (in terms of cost, quality, customer satisfaction, flexibility, etc.) and thereby provide firms with a source of competitive advantage. This course focuses on improving the performance of the firm and its supply chain through coordination among multiple sites, functions, and economic actors (customers and suppliers). Students learn how to design and implement strategies for structure and management, both cross-functionally, within the firm, and across an industry value chain among interacting firms. The course equips students with analytical tools to assess performance tradeoffs and support decision making, and students become familiar with supply chain strategies that have been adopted by leading companies.

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