Graduate Courses

This course will serve as an introduction to video production using current video technologies. Students will learn basic production skills and they will be introduced to the history of experimental film and video. There will also be a discussion of visual structure. In this course students will develop and shoot footage that may be used for Video II.

This course covers basic concepts in optimization and heuristic search with an emphasis on process improvement and optimization.  This course emphasizes the application of mathematical optimization models over the underlying mathematics of their algorithms.  While the skills developed in this course can be applied to a very broad range of business problems, the practice examples and student exercises will focus on the following areas: healthcare, logistics and supply chain optimization, capital budgeting, asset management, portfolio analysis.  Most of the student exercises will involve the use of Microsoft Excel's "Solver" add-on package for mathematical optimization.

This course introduces basic methods underlying multivariate analysis through computer applications using R, which is used by many data scientists and is an attractive environment for learning multivariate analysis. Students will master multivariate analysis techniques, including principal components analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modeling, multidimensional scaling, correspondence analysis, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant function analysis, logistic regression, as well as other methods used for dimension reduction, pattern recognition, classification, and forecasting. Students will build expertise in applying these techniques to real data through class exercises and a project, and learn how to visualize data and present results. This proficiency will enable students to become sophisticated data analysts, and to help make more informed design, marketing, and business decisions.

This course covers fundamental concepts of experimentation including hypothesis development, operational definitions, reliability and validity, and measurement and variables, as well as design methods, such as sampling, randomization, and counterbalancing. The course also introduces the analysis associated with different designs as designing solid experiments involves thinking about how to analyze the obtained data. At the end of the course, students present a project, in which they come up with a research question, design an experiment, collect and analyze the data, and try to answer the question. MGT 620 or equivalent is required; basic knowledge of statistics is expected.

The significant amount of corporate information available requires a systematic and analytical approach to select the most important information and anticipate major events. Statistical learning algorithms facilitate this process understanding, modeling and forecasting the behavior of major corporate variables. This course introduces time series and statistical and graphical models used for inference and prediction. The emphasis of the course is in the learning capability of the algorithms and their application to finance, direct marketing, operations, and biomedicine. Students should have a basic knowledge of probability theory, and linear algebra.

This course introduces concepts and theories of social networks as well as techniques to conduct marketing research from a network perspective. Network concepts covered include graph-theoretic fundamentals, centrality, cohesion, affiliations, equivalence, and roles. Network theories covered include embeddedness, social capital, homophily, and models of network growth. Design issues will also be covered, including data sampling and hypothesis testing. Another focus of this course is on marketing applications of social network analysis, in particular the use of knowledge about network properties and behavior, such as hubs and paths, the robustness of the network, and information cascades, to better broadcast products and search targets. Application areas include customer profiling, community detection, targeting, sentiment analysis, and development of recommendation systems.

Please contact the Registrar for more information.
Phone: (201)216-5555
Fax: (201)216-8030
E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu

The objective of this elective course is to study key concepts and techniques in data quality & reliability assessment, monitoring and improvement and prepare BIA students to deal with the real world’s “dirty data” as they enter the workforce.  This will be done through a series of readings and lectures, case studies of the applications, application of technologies typically found in the field, and a semester long, small team project that applies what has been learned.  The course will introduce the different traditional perspectives of data and information quality from management, database, statistics and data mining, and concentrate on the emerging perspective for data scientists and data engineers. This course is open to students in Business Intelligence and Analytics, Information Systems, and Computer Science, or with the permission of the instructor.

Theoretical and practical aspects of risk assessment and management will be covered.  Major topics include: Importance of innovation and technological changes in current competitive environment, risk and uncertainty, decision trees, binomial methods and derivation of Black-Scholes option pricing formula, extension of option methodology to non-financial (real) options, VAR (value at risk), a framework of risk assessment, and several real-world case studies.  The course is designed for all students in the School of Technology Management.

In this course, students will learn about marketing analytics techniques such as segmentation, positioning, and forecasting, which form the cornerstone of marketing strategy in the industry.  Students will work on cases and data from real companies, analyze the data, and learn to present their conclusions and make strategic recommendations.

Supply chain analytics is one of the fastest growing business intelligence application areas.  Important element in Supply Chain Management is to have timely access to trends and metrics across key performance indicators, while recent advances in information and communication technologies have contributed to the rapid increase of data-driven decision making.  The topics covered will be divided into strategic and supply chain design and operations, including -among others- supplier analytics, capacity planning, demand-supply matching, sales and operations planning, location analysis and network management, inventory management and sourcing.  The primary goal of the course is to familiarize the students with tactical and strategic issues surrounding the design and operation of supply chains, to develop supply chain analytical skills for solving real life problems, and to teach students a wide range of methods and tools -in the areas of predictive, descriptive and prescriptive analytics- to efficiently manage demand and supply networks.

In recent years, the progress in sensor technologies, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags, smart phones and other smart devices has made it possible to measure, record, and report large streams of transactional data in real time. Such data sets, which continuously and rapidly grow over time, are referred to as Big Data Streams. Analysis of streaming data poses a number of unique challenges which are not easily solved through direct applications of well-known data mining methods and algorithms developed for traditional static data. This course will serve as a first course on the emerging field of “Data Streams Analytics”. It will provide an introduction to IoT, sensors & devices, the architecture and environment in which these devices generate data streams, the data quality & data cleaning, data acquisition, and emerging methodologies and algorithms for knowledge discovery from data streams. Topics include: synopsis & sampling techniques, sliding windows, computing the entropy in streams, data streams correlations, change detection, outliers & anomaly detection.

The field of Big Data is emerging as one of the transformative business processes of recent times.  It utilizes classic techniques from business intelligence & analysis (BI&A), along with a new tools and processes to deal with the volume, velocity, and variety associate with big data.  As they enter the workforce, a significant percentage of BIA students will be directly involved with big data as technologists, managers, or users.  This course will build on their understanding of the basic concepts of BI&A to provide them with the background to succeed in the evolving data-centric world, not only from the point of view of the technologies required, but also in terms of management, governance, and organization.

Students taking the course will be expected to have some background in areas such as multivariate statistics, data mining, data management, and programming.

The capstone course brings together the key elements of the business intelligence and analytics curriculum.  Students have an opportunity to apply the concepts, principles, and methods they have learned to real problems in an application domain associated with their area of interest.   At the end of the course, students present their projects in a poster session for review by industry practitioners in pharmaceutical and life sciences.

Business intelligence and analytics is key to enabling successful competition in today’s world of “big data”.  This course focuses on helping students to not only understand how best to leverage business intelligence and analytics to become more effective decision makers, making smarter decisions and generating better results for their organizations.  Students have an opportunity to apply the concepts, principles, and methods associated with four areas of analytics (text, descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive) to real problems in an application domain associated with their area of interest. Prerequisites:             Students should complete at least 5 courses in the BI&A curriculum before taking this course.

 This course involves an educationally relevant practical assignment that augments the academic content of the student’s program.  Students engage in a project in a company project related to the focus of their academic program.  The project is conducted under the supervision of a faculty advisor and an industry mentor.  During the semester, the student must submit written progress reports and at the end of the semester, a detailed written report that describes his/her activities and knowledge gained during that semester.  This is a one-credit course that may be repeated up to a total of three credits.

Students will be graded on several team and individual oral presentations and written reports which demonstrate their competency in both oral and written communications. Each student will have an oral/written report card. (0.6 credits)

A technical and managerial perspective that considers the management of an Information Technology (IT) organization for students with little or no academic or professional IT experience.  Topics include: hardware, software, data/information, networks, applications, organization considerations, and frameworks for managing.  Students assess applications, analyze case studies, and explore an important aspect of their company's information technology environment.  This non-credit, web based course is in place to prepare MSIS students that do not have IT experience.  It (or equivalent experience) is a prerequisite for any MSIS course. No credit towards a graduate degree for departmental majors.  Undergraduates are not allowed to enroll in this course.

This non-credit, self-paced, web-based course is provided as a prerequisite to the required finance course for MSIS students. It introduces students to four important business disciplines: Accounting, Microeconomics, Statistics, and Financial Statements. It is intended for students without the respective background from either previous course work or work experience.

This course offers a broad survey of Enterprise Systems technology and IS management considerations with emphasis on the mainframe. The course takes a strategic management perspective in exploring the mainframe’s architectural capabilities and impacts. Specific topics of study include Introduction to the Mainframe Environment, Total Cost of Ownership, Cost of Downtime, Scalability, Security, Access Management, and Mainframe Careers. Enterprise Systems case studies are explored throughout the course.

This course presents and analyzes various approaches to information analysis and development of organizational information systems within a system development life-cycle (SDLC), e.g. the waterfall, concentric, and prototyping approaches. Topics include strategic planning for SDLC, front-end and back-end phases of SDLC, project management, CASE methodologies, and balancing user, organizational, and technical considerations.

This course deals with strategic uses of data, data structures, file organizations and hardware as determinants of planning for and implementing a enterprise-wide data management scheme. Major course topics include data as valuable enterprise resource, inherent characteristics of data, modeling the data requirements of an enterprise, data repositories and system development life cycles.

This course will focus on the design and management of the knowledging organization organizations that generate and apply knowledge. A central theme of this course is the design of knowledge work. We concentrate on both micro- and macro-design and their interrelationships: individual, team, task, process, and organization levels. This courses comprises what is generally termed knowledge management and by extension the learning organization.

This course focuses on the design and management of data warehouse (DW) and business intelligence (BI) systems. The course is organized around the following general themes: Knowledge Discovery in Databases, Planning and Business Requirements, Architecture, Data Design, Implementation, Business Intelligence, Deployment, Maintenance and Growth, and Emerging Issues. Practical examples and case studies are presented throughout the course.

This course will focus on Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery Algorithms and their applications in solving real world business and operation problems. We concentrate on demonstrating how discovering the hidden knowledge in corporate databases will help managers to make near-real time intelligent business and operation decisions. The course will begin with an introduction to Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery in Databases. Methodological and practical aspects of knowledge discovery algorithms including: Data Preprocessing, k-Nearest Neighborhood algorithm, Machine Learning and Decision Trees, Artificial Neural Networks, Clustering, and Algorithm Evaluation Techniques will be covered. Practical examples and case studies will be present throughout the course.

This course will focus on Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery Methods and Models. We concentrate on both methods and applications. The course will begin with a n introduction to probability, statistics, and sampling techniques. Methodological and practical aspects of knowledge discovery tools and techniques including: Principle Components, Linear Regression, Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes Estimations and Bayesian Networks will be covered. Practical examples and case studies will be present throughout the course.

This course introduces the technical, as well as managerial, aspects of distributed information systems. The emphasis is on synthesizing the underlying technologies (networks, databases, and applications) with management approaches (planning, staffing, and organizing). Topics include: opportunities and challenges of distributed information systems, review of network technologies (LANs, WANs, MANs, high-speed networks), network architectures, client/server computing, distributed databases, distributed applications, open systems standards, and the management of distributed information systems. Case studies are introduced to illustrate different challenges and approaches to solutions.

The purpose of this course is to describe the important governance considerations necessary to manage IT outsourcing. The material in this course will be valuable to students/companies who are undertaking IT outsourcing activities and to students/companies who serve as the outsourcing vendors. Topics will include strategic decision making, feasibility considerations, day-to-day management functions (such as managing Service Level Management using dashboards effectively, measuring and assessing value, project prioritization, resource allocation), and the “sunset” decision to close out an outsourcing agreement and reintegrate the functions and processes within the firm. Students can combine the knowledge and skills gained in this course with the more specialized knowledge in the other three IT outsourcing courses to create a valuable skill set for today’s marketplace for all organizations: foreign and domestic, corporate, non-profit, and government.

The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the specialized legal aspects of IT outsourcing needed to manage contract negotiation and for ongoing relationship management and measurement, regulation, off-shoring, and termination of IT outsourcing. Successful completion of the course allows the student to achieve a useful level of specialized management knowledge.

This course will cover the many variations and complex manifestations of Relationship Management (RM) in the 21st century corporation in the context of IT outsourcing. Students will be exposed to both theoretical models and practical case studies to more fully develop a set of knowledge and skills to help them with RM related issues. Students will learn how to place outsourcing relationships within the general context of RM and identify the unique aspect of Outsourcing relative to other areas of RM. The issue of offshore outsourcing will particularly be discussed in the context of RM.

This course provides a basic understanding of social network theories and the way they are applied in online marketing.  Students will develop this understanding from three aspects: (1) social network theories and marketing theories, (2) the techniques and best practices of online marketing, and (3) social network analysis.  The specific topics include the representation of networks and basic concepts of network theories, such as strength of weak ties, centrality, clustering coefficient, small world network.  These topics also include online marketing techniques: such as email marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, etc.  Also students will be expected to conduct quantitative analysis of marketing data, such as MDS, cluster analysis and opinion mining.

The course is a study of every major area of law that has an impact on the IT professional. The focus is on issues pertaining to electronic commerce and other technology-intensive business practices. The course discusses basic commercial law, jurisdictional issues and the contracting environment for online activity, including UCITA, intellectual property law, domain names, the protection of databases, privacy and publicity rights, and government regulation, including content-based restrictions, criminal law, and the prospective taxation of e-commerce. The goal of the course is to provide basic background in these issues for non-lawyers, and to promote sensitivity to the technological and business scenarios in which legal issues arise, enabling better management of their technological resources and commercial opportunities.

In this course, students will evaluate and create their own prospective business strategies. They will develop an understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation in starting and growing a business venture. Students will be given an opportunity to actually start their own business or create a business in their company by learning how to take advantage of the new order of business opportunities of the information age. This course’s main objective is to show students how to identify these opportunities, be able to formulate and evaluate both qualitatively and quantitatively whether the opportunity is worth pursuing, and, of course, how it may be pursued. Actual case studies and experiences will be intertwined with the course content.

MIS 664 is a survey course that provides a comprehensive exploration of how developments in law and policy impact management and IT.  The discussion will address current events in order to see how recent legislation, judicial decisions, rulemaking, and other events have a bearing on the adoption and execution of IT business models, business decision-making at the level of IT ventures, enterprise management, and corporate governance.

The growing use of websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, allows everyone to generate and share content. These social media tools have become integral to our everyday lives. Students will learn various techniques for analyzing user behavior in social media websites by applying prominent theories that influence human behavior in these environments. They will examine these websites and evaluate their positive and negative impacts on society. The skills and knowledge that students acquire in this course will allow them to make recommendations for leveraging websites and other products/services that involve social media technologies.

This course concentrates on IT trends and issues in the financial services industry. Due to the diversity of this industry (banking, brokerage, and insurance), along with the assortment of customer characteristics (i.e. retail vs. institutional), we will modularize the lectures by industry and customer partitions. This segregation will provide for a better understanding of this ever-changing industry. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have a solid understanding of the industry, market dynamics, and how their roles in technology have an immense impact in the industry. This course will cover the structure and functioning of financial services, from the perspective of banking, insurance, capital markets, and brokerage. Topics include industry consolidation and globalization, investment banking, fixed-income markets, the equity markets, the regulatory environment, and financial analysis approaches. Trends in IT and its effect on each of these areas will be discussed.

This course is designed to provide the student with an in-depth understanding of the back-office trade process and the role of information technology (IT) in this process, with the goal of helping the student to be an effective provider of information system development and operations in this arena. The various phases of the trade process will be described, including key regulatory requirements. The current contributions of IT to the process will be reviewed, including straight-through processing, T+1 and foreign exchange trades. Topics include the structure and vocabulary of a trade and trade processing, the street-side view of a process flow, global processing, regulatory and compliance, back-office best practices, improving efficiencies and real-time processing.

This course concentrates on effective selling and marketing IT strategies in the financial services industry. Due to the diversity of this industry (banking, brokerage, and insurance), along with the multiplicity of customer characteristic (retail vs. institutional), we will modularize the lectures by industry and customer partitions. This segregation will provide for a better understanding of this ever-changing industry. Upon successful completion of this program, students will identify client constituent’s product needs and the ability for financial services companies to deliver this product (service) in a timely, cost-effective fashion. Corporate branding and marketing strategies will be reviewed and challenged by the student. Topics include the "sell-side", the "buy-side", the selling distribution process, e-business selling strategies, marketing strategies and corporate bonding, the role of data warehousing and sales data mining, and partnership with the client.

This course has been designed to provide foundational knowledge about the healthcare industry for information technology (IT) professionals working in (or aspiring to work in) the healthcare industry. After an introduction to the U.S. healthcare system from a stakeholder perspective, students learn about the information and communication needs of key interdependent stakeholders: healthcare providers (hospitals, physicians), suppliers of surgical and non-surgical equipment and drugs, third-party insurers and payers (including government), and the healthcare consumer (patients). The course materials include readings by current thought leaders, in-depth case studies, background summaries prepared by the instructor, and public Web-based resources. Students gain up-to-date knowledge about current healthcare IT solutions used by key players in the healthcare valuechain, and also learn about resources for understanding future IT-related trends in this fast-changing industry. This course is also a pre-requisite for three MIS courses that focus on specific types of HIT applications and the process changes and healthcare data needed to support them: MIS 686, MIS 687, and MIS 688

The course begins with an overview of systems acquisition, implementation and support issues, including project management tools and vendor management practices. We then discuss business to business (B2B) applications, including those pertaining to group purchasing, electronic data interchange (EDI); enterprise portals and regional health information organizations (RHIOs); systems pertaining to financial management including supply chain management (SCM) and revenue cycle management (RCM); and the discipline of evidence-based medicine (EBM), including analytical tools to support operational decision-making such as data mining and predictive modeling.

This course focuses specifically on healthcare IT to support clinical workflows and point-of-care decision-making. Students gain an in-depth understanding of implementation, individual and group adoption, and evaluation issues for clinical systems in different types of healthcare settings. Exercises involving case analyses and workflow design are provided and ethical, social, and policy issues are examined. The course materials include readings by current thought leaders, healthcare informatics and information systems researchers, and in-depth case studies of HIT in both U.S. and non-U.S. contexts.

This course focuses on the effective design and usage of patient-centered information technology solutions to improve healthcare outcomes. Technology adoption frameworks are used to assess the potential capabilities of a broad range of applications, including different types of personal health records (PHRs); Internet tools for patient communications; and telehealth applications for diagnosis, monitoring, and disease management. In addition to selected course readings and Web-based tool demonstrations, invited guest experts will share their insights about the effective technical design and implementation of e-Health solutions from the perspective of one or more stakeholders in the healthcare value chain.

This course has been designed to provide the healthcare professional (physicians, nurses, allied health, and other healthcare professionals) with a foundation in information management. The adoption of clinical systems (electronic medical records, computerized physician ordering, e-prescribing) by healthcare providers, and the growth of evidence-based decision support systems within healthcare providers, suppliers, insurers, and payers in the healthcare value chain, is expected to significantly increase. For the effective utilization of these investments, healthcare professionals who have a mastery of IT management fundamentals are needed to participate in the design, development, and support of all of these types of IT investments. Students will gain an up-to-date knowledge about managing healthcare IT (HIT), and also become familiar with resources for keeping up-to-date with IT terminology and trends in this fast-changing industry. 

This course serves as the foundation course for studying strategic supply chain management within the Howe School. The course explores the major elements of the supply chain, and exposes students to leading edge thinking on supply chain strategy as well as practical tools and methods for its implementation. Topics covered include: Supply Chain Management Principles and the Customer; Supply Chain Networks and Organizations; Product Lifecycle Implications to Supply Chains; Forecasting and Inventory Management; Supply Chain Processes; Supply Chain Information Systems; Supply Chain Performance and Metrics; Lean Supply Chains; Risk Management; and Legal and Ethical Issues.

The Procurement and Supplier Management course explores the strategic issues in procurement and supply management, including the purchasing process, procurement cycle, purchasing research, relationships with suppliers, negotiation, commodity planning, as well as price and value analysis. The course covers the organizational, strategic, and operational aspects of procurement and supply management, along with an integrated view of how product/service supply networks are being designed and deployed to meet the needs of a highly differentiated customer base.

The Distribution and Logistics Management course explores the strategic issues in order, transportation, and distribution management, including the provisioning of finished goods and services to meet planned or actual demand. The course covers in-depth Distribution and Logistics Principles; Customer Fulfillment; Product Lifecycle Management; Distribution and Logistics Processes; Information Systems; Future Trends; as well as, Regulatory and Import/Export Issues.

IT organizations must be able to leverage new technologies.  This course focuses on how organizations can effectively and efficiently assess trends and emerging technologies in data and knowledge management, information networks, and analyzing and developing application systems.  Students will learn how to help their organizations define, select, and adopt new information technologies.

This course focuses on the role of Information Technology (IT) in reengineering and enhancing key business processes. The implications for organizational structures and processes, as the result of increased opportunities to deploy information and streamline business systems, are covered.

The course addresses the techniques and concepts required to map, implement, automate, and evaluate business processes. Focusing on the technical and implementation aspects of Business Process Management, the course leads students from technical process design through the implementation and management of workflows to the structure of process-aware information systems. It discusses the distinction between business processes and business rules and outlines how they can be supported by technology. It details the technical structure of process-aware applications and provides an overview of technology standards that affect BPM systems. Modules on the run-time monitoring of processes and post-execution evaluation techniques complete this course.

This course leads students through the identification, analysis, definition, and deployment of service opportunities within public and private organizations.  Each of these phases is analyzed in detail to encompass the principal activities, methods, tools and techniques applied in the respective phase.  Students will learn how to identify appropriate supporting techniques and information technologies for the different phases of the service life cycle, assess the role of technology, and gauge the organizational impact of service-focused operations.  The objective of the course is to enable students to identify, implement and evaluate innovative service offerings in their organization.     

The course introduces PhD students to research areas surrounding the design, implementation, and improvement of organizational processes. The process-oriented analysis of organizations serves as a focal point for the integration of business requirements (in form of business processes) with technology capabilities (in form of process support systems). Research topics within the area of process innovation range from organization theory and workplace design to control theory and the formal representation of processes. Students will discuss seminal research papers in the individual course modules and develop a research paper of their own on a topic related to process innovation (Prerequisite: MIS 710 or permission of the instructor)

The course introduces PhD students to research areas surrounding the design, implementation, and management of knowledge organizations. The theory of organizational knowledge creation serves as a focal point for the elucidation and integration of knowledge subjects. Research topics within the area of knowledge management range from the design of knowledge processes and work to knowledge-oriented technologies and cultures. Students will discuss seminal research papers in the individual course modules and develop a research paper of their own on a topic related to knowledge management. This is a required course for PhD IM students.

This course focuses on the issues surrounding the design of an overall Information Technology architecture. The traditional approach in organizations is to segment the problem into four areas - network, hardware, data, and applications. Instead, this course concentrates on the interdependencies among these architectures. In addition, this course will utilize management research on organizational integration and coordination. The student will learn how to design in the large, make appropriate choices about architecture in relationship to overall organization goals, understand the different mechanisms for coordination available, and create a process for establishing and maintaining an ongoing enterprise architecture.

This course focuses on ways of designing an integrated enterprise architecture. The course explains the different forms of corporate information systems and their interaction. Mainframe systems will be the focus of the architecture. While in the past, mainframe systems were often self-contained, in current systems, it is more likely that such systems are part of an overall architecture including many smaller hardware devices and operating systems. The student will learn about the building blocks of current enterprise architectures, and then will learn how to connect them to solve the problems of large companies.

MIS 735 entails the examination of architecture and process considerations for maximizing the quality and integrity of IT services and software, including measurements, compliance testing, and audits. The course maps to the Service Strategy and Service Design domains of ITIL.

MIS 736 entails the examination of architecture and process considerations for maximizing the quality and integrity of IT services and software, including measurements, compliance testing, and audits. The course maps to the Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement domains of ITIL.

The objective of this course is to investigate and understand the organizational infrastructure and governance considerations for Information Technology (IT). It concentrates on developing the students’ competency in current/emerging issues in creating and coordinating the key activities necessary to manage the day-to-day IT functions of a company. Topics include: IT’s key business processes, IT governance, IT organizational structure, value of IT, role of the CIO, outsourcing, systems integration, managing emerging technologies, change management, and human resource considerations.

In this workshop lab, students will learn several skillsto help them present and write more effectively. Specific topics include components of effective writing, ten steps for effective presentations, using advanced computer technologies in oral presentations, and portraying the correct image.

Students will be graded on several team and individual oral presentations and written reports which demonstrate their competency in both oral and written communications. Each student will have an oral/written report card.

The objective of this course is to address the important question, "How does one improve the alignment of business and Information Technology strategies?" The course is designed for advanced graduate students. It provides the student with the most current approaches to deriving business and Information Technology strategies, while ensuring harmony among the organizations. Topics include business strategy, business infrastructure, IT strategy, strategic alignment, methods/metrics for building strategies, and achieving alignment.

With permission of the instructor. Limit of six credits for the degree of Master of Science.

A participating seminar on topics of current interest and importance in Management of Information Systems.

This course provides the student with the opportunity to research current and emerging seminal trends in the responsibilities of the lead IT executive. It addresses IT topics such as alignment, strategy, governance, value, processes, outsourcing, organization and human resources, and managing emerging technologies. Students will be required to seek out and review current seminal research that defines the job of the CIO and the IT organization as it strives to align with the business. In particular, because this course is for doctoral students only, there is an emphasis on investigating these topics, becoming familiar with leading researchers and publications in the area, and presenting the results of individual assessments.

For the degree of Master of Science. Six to 12 credits with departmental approval.

A technical and managerial perspective that considers the management of an Information Technology (IT) organization for students with little or no academic or professional IT experience. Topics include: hardware, software, data/information, networks, applications, organization considerations, and frameworks for managing. Students assess applications, analyze case studies, and explore an important aspect of their company's information technology environment. This non-credit, self-paced, web based course is in place to prepare MSIS students that do not have IT experience. It (or equivalent experience) is a prerequisite for any MSIS course.

This non-credit, self-paced, Web-based course is provided as a prerequisite to the required Finace course for MSIS student. It introduces students to four important business disciplines: 1) Accounting, 2) Microeconomics, 3) Statistics and 4) Financial statements. It is intended for students not havingthe respective background from either previous course work or work experience.

This is a concentrated course in basic economics with particular emphasis on price theory; it is a prerequisite for candidates for the master’s degree. Topics include: the nature of economic decisions, the theory of market processes, models of imperfect competition, public policy towards competition, the allocation of factors of production, and current economic problems.

Every firm needs to devise and execute marketing strategies for their offerings to translate into customer value and profits based on an understanding of the consumer and the marketplace.  This course is designed to give students an intensive and application-oriented look at how marketing strategy works in the real world.  It will include examples and exercises of the role quantitative analysis plays in marketing strategy decisions.  The emphasis of this course will be on cases, analysis, real life examples, and presentations.

Marketing begins and ends with the consumer.  The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the study of consumer behavior.  This is an interdisciplinary course that integrates perspectives from marketing, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics in order to examine the elements of the consumer decision-making process and to enable formulation of marketing strategies.  Students will take the perspective of a marketing manager who needs knowledge of consumer behavior in order to develop, evaluate and implement effective marketing strategies.  The course integrates lectures, case analysis, and discussions to focus on the implications of social science concepts for marketing strategy.

Students learn to perform the function of a technology manager assessing the commercial prospects of early-stage technology. Modules cover various phases of the commercialization process: technology assessment, patentability studies, competitive research, market research, technologypartitioning and investment advice for licensing or spinning out companies. This course is geared primarily for students in the Engineering School, and is also offered as an elective for students in the Howe School.

This course introduces managers to the essence of business economics – the theories, concepts and ideas that form the economist’s tool kit encompassing both the microeconomic and macroeconomic environments. Microeconomic topics include demand and supply, elasticity, consumer choice, production, cost, profit maximization, market structure, and game theory while the Macroeconomic topics will be GDP, inflation, unemployment, aggregate demand, aggregate supply, fiscal and monetary policies. In addition the basic concepts in international trade and finance will be discussed.

This course examines the use of economic information and analysis in making business decisions. Topics include modeling concepts, demand analysis and forecasting, production and cost analysis, pricing, capital budgeting, and uncertainty.

The objective of this course is to develop competency in the analysis of macroeconomic phenomena as they shape the state of the American economy. Topics include: recent macroeconomic history, the monetary system, models of macroeconomic markets, unemployment, inflation, international trade and finance, macroeconomic policies, and the use of macroeconomic data in management decision-making.

This course deals with the basic problems of managing a project, defined as a temporary organization built for the purpose of achieving a specific objective. Both operational and conceptual issues will be considered. Operational issues include definition, planning, implementation, control, and evaluation of the project. Conceptual issues include project management vs. hierarchical management, matrix organization, project authority, motivation, and morale. Cases will be used to illustrate problems in project management and how to resolve them.

This course provides a theoretical perspective on project management for a better understanding of project implementation in modern organizations. The course is based on the premise that success in project leadership depends on a proper managerial style and attitude, and not on specific tools for planning and controlling. The course focuses on developing the manager’s conceptual thinking and on building "the project manager’s mind." The course helps managers see the entire project landscape and the long-term issues that are critical to project success. It will also address the organizational aspects of initiating and running the program.

Formalized procedures, tools, and techniques used in conceptual and detailed planning of the project. Development of work breakdown structure as the foundation for project cost and project duration. Application of project data in monitoring the project progress and in formulating remedial actions in response to unexpected occurrences.

Project success depends, largely, on the human side.Success in motivating project workers, organizing and leading project teams, communication and sharing information, and conflict resolution, are just a few areas that are critical for project success. However, being primarily technical people, many project managers tend to neglect these "soft" issues, assuming they are less important or that they should be addressed by direct functional managers. The purpose of this course is to increase awareness of project managers to the critical issues of managing people and to present some of the theories and practices of leading project workers and teams.

A comprehensive, all-inclusive description of the Project Management Office (PMO), highlighting features most appropriate and relevantto specific project situations. Motivations for adopting a PMO, such as project performance, project manager competency or the organizational desire to excel. Short-term and long-term functions are identified and discussed. Project evaluation models and PMO implementation guidelines are presented and discussed in detail.

This course deals with advanced problems in project management that were not addressed in previous courses. It also expands on several previously mentioned topics. The course addresses the critical points in project management for the experienced project manager and looks at projects in their broad sense, as seen by top management and from an organizational global perspective.

This course provides an overview of critical leadership and management applications and strategies unique to the healthcare industry, such as customer/patient analysis, criterion-based performance evaluation and TimeLine mapping. Current field dynamics of healthcare organizations are explored and instruction in essential management accountabilities directly relevant to the industry is presented comprehensively in both theory and practical application.

This course provides project managers with the framework, tools and approaches to meet the quality requirements of their projects and their customers, ensuring project success.

This course focuses on key leadership skills for addressing the complex challenges posed by program management, highly-matrixed environments and cross-national collaborations It’s purpose is enhance individuals’ abilities to develop others, strategically integrate efforts across groups, and drive change.  The concepts presented are theory and research driven so that participants can deepen their conceptual understanding.  At the same time, the course calls upon learners to address real-life challenges they face as program and or director level leaders.  Each session presents effective techniques and uses experiential exercises or assignments to provide plenty of practice. The course also requires participants to further transfer learning to their workplaces through focused development planning and coaching support.

The major portion of the course covers an introduction to the probabilistic and statistical concepts and models used in day-to-day business decision-making. Topics include data analysis, correlational techniques, regression, statistical inference, and forecasting.

This course covers mathematical and computer-based models which assist managers in decision-making, including resource allocation, transportation, inventory management, congestion phenomena, service processes, and shortest routes and maximum flow of goods. Emphasis is on model formulation from real-world situations, development of alternative solutions using computer models, and post-optimality analysis.

This course covers the fundamental principles of finance. The primary concepts covered include the time value of money, principles of valuation and risk. Specific applications include the valuation of debt and equity securities as well as capital budgeting analysis, financial manager’s functions, liquidity vs. profitability, financial planning, capital budgeting, management of long term funds, money and capital markets, debt and equity, management of assets, cash and accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets. Additional topics include derivative markets.

This course is designed to familiarize the student with the current workings of the capital markets. This course describes fundamental analytical techniques and state-of-the-art financial instruments. It begins with the time value of money and progresses to bond mathematics, portfolio management, and derivatives. The role of information technology is emphasized in both the development and delivery of financial instruments. Students will learn to structure IT applications to meet the needs of a trader or broker. Topics include the time value of money, bond math, the yield curve, analytical tools, trading and investment strategies, money market instruments and repurchase agreements, corporate bonds, macroeconomic dynamics, derivatives, securitization, equities, and the role of IT in capital markets

This course addresses the fundamentals of venture capital, which includes the venture capital industry, the structure of venture capital firms and venture capital investments.  It addresses in some detail the relationship between venture risk and return, the cost of venture capital and the valuation of high growth companies.  The course covers a variety of valuation methods as well as analysis of company capital structure or “cap tables”.   Students use software tools to determine the value of stocks, options and special features of preferred stock.  Subjects related to the finance of innovation and the relationship between strategy and venture finance are also covered.  Lessons learned are reinforced through case analyses and real examples from the industry. 

This course takes a practical approach to managing investments. It covers a wide variety of investment vehicles ranging from pure equity and debt offerings to complex derivatives and options. Various investment strategies are presented which are focused on the different fundamental approaches and tactics used by leading investors to achieve their financial goals. The course also focuses on  investment styles, including momentum, growth, income, distressed, asset allocation, and vulture investing, to name just a few. Students participate in real time simulation experiences to create viable portfolios of stocks, bonds and other investments; while tracking their performance against the overall market and the class on a weekly basis throughout the course.

This course covers the fundamentals of financial derivatives, including the basic properties and the pricing of futures, options and swaps.  It also explores trading and hedging strategies involving financial derivatives. Special topics, such as exotic options and credit derivatives, are explored. The course provides the foundation of financial derivatives and lays the ground for a rigorous risk management course and other advanced quantitative courses, such as stochastic finance.

This is an intermediate/advanced level course that addresses money flows and the cost of credit for major money market institutions, including banks, bank holding companies and the “shadow banking” system. It entails a broad survey of the structure and financial condition of the banking industry. The course provides a theoretical and practical understanding of why these markets exist, who the key players are; how the markets work, the rules governing their operation and how they are evolving. We will spend considerable time in discussing regulation of the financial markets and financial services industry.The course also covers associated economic issues involving the macro aspects of monetary supply and demand pertaining to the domestic and international banking industry. It reviews the risks and returns that can be expected over the longer term in these markets, as well as how the participants create new products to manage risk and how regulators will need to oversee this industry.

Provides a broad, multidisciplinary understanding of global business. The theoretical context for engaging in international trade is established, with attention to the current economic and political environment. Then the business-level rationale and techniques for initiating trade, as well as the functional area decisions that must be made, are discussed. Topics include: comparative advantage, culture, protectionism, financial flows, entry strategies, marketing, managing payments, material, and manufacturing.

Executives make decisions every day in the face of uncertainty. The objective of this course is to help students understand how decisions are made, why they are often less than optimal, and how decision-making can be improved. This course will contrast how managers do make decisions with how they should make decisions, by thinking about how “rational” decision makers should act, by conducting in-class exercises and examining empirical evidence of how individuals do act (often erroneously) in managerial situations. The course will include statistical tools for decision-making, as well as treatment of the psychological factors involved in making decisions.

This course serves as a second semester sequence in corporate finance. Students enrolling should have a mastery of the topics of covered in Managerial Finance I (EMT 623), including time value of money, capital budgeting, risk adjusted hurdle rates, managerial accounting, and ratio analysis. Among the topics covered in EMT 723 are: leverage on the balance sheet and weighted average cost of capital; bankruptcy, turnarounds, and recapitalizations; international currency hedging; stock options; private equity valuation; mergers and acquisitions; and the issuance of public and private securities.

The study of marketing principles from the conceptual, analytical, and managerial points of view. Topics include: strategic planning, market segmentation, product life-cycle, new product development, advertising and selling, pricing, distribution, governmental, and other environmental influences as these factors relate to markets and the business structure.

This course provides students with an exposure to management in the international economic environment: global industries and regional markets, multinational corporations and international economic organizations. Casestudies, business games and presentations illustrate different strategies of firms considering the competitive environment, the national culture, legislation and taxation policy of local governments, and the organizational structure of the firm.

This course introduces students to the social science techniques and change interventions used to improve organizational effectiveness and enhance the personal development of individuals. Special emphasis is given to the application of systems theory for diagnosing and planning change efforts at the organizational, group, and individual levels. Relationships between organization development and broader issues such as strategic planning and environmental contingencies are also stressed. The efficacy of organization development initiatives is also critically considered, as are the challenges posed in trying to simultaneously improve an organization’s performance while also helping it to be more responsive to the interests and needs of its members.

Covers the general area of management of operations, both manufacturing and non-manufacturing. The focus of the course is on productivity and total quality management. Topics include quality control and quality management, systems of inventory control, work and materials scheduling, and process management.

In this course, students will evaluate and create their own prospective business strategies. They will develop an understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation in starting and growing a business venture. Students will be given an opportunity to actually start their own business or create a business in their company by learning how to take advantage of the new order of business opportunities of the information age. This course’s main objective is to show students how to identify these opportunities, be able to formulate and evaluate both qualitatively and quantitatively whether the opportunity is worth pursuing, and, of course, how it may be pursued. Actual case studies and experiences will be intertwined with the course content.

The course introduces students to the fundamental concepts and legal principles that they can expect to encounter in various roles as managers/professionals in public and private companies, consultants and/or entrepreneurs, together with the ethical criteria, moral values and social norms in the environments they will face.  The course will cover the American judicial system, international law in a global economy, ethics and business decision making, and different forms of business structure, contracts, business torts, products liability, insurance, employment law, criminal law and the recent Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act.

This course introduces the student to topics in the management of technology and examines the critical role of technology as a strategic resource to enable management to achieve organizational objectives. Topics include entrepreneurship, developing and managing new ventures, managing innovation, the technology life-cycle and technology forecasting, management of research and development (R&D) personnel and projects, evaluation of R&D projects ,and integrating technology strategy with the organization’s overall business strategy.

This course examines the valuation, patenting, and licensing of early-stage technology as a means to exploit innovation. By understanding technology to be a negotiable asset for the firm, we take a fundamentally different approach than venture capital models, which focus on the enterprise, rather than the commercialization of technology itself. Accordingly, we study the economics and theory of intellectual property; valuation of intangible assets; IP agreements and protection regimes; negotiations and trading techniques; and licensing and litigation strategies.

This course is focused on the globalization paradigm and its effects on the management of innovation. It is an interdisciplinary course, which analyzes the different managerial areas of strategy, organization, technology, and market as integrated with the innovation process in a global context. The underlying theories and models are explored to understand how the innovation process is affected by local, national, and global influences; what cultural and organizational drivers are at work; and how to manage commercialization of new products on a life-cycle basis, in a diverse and ever-changing global market. Case studies will be used to support the theoretical constructs and reinforce learning.

This course provides students with the most current theories of innovation when organizations create new tangible products and intangible services. From team and organizational processes, to the evolving portfolio, the innovating enterprise competes on the basis of change. By building upon material covered in Technology Innovation Management (MGT 671), this course will deepen students’ knowledge of the innovation process in the enterprise and will pay special attention to service industries. The course will be taught with lectures and real-world cases. Upon completion, students will have enhanced their knowledge of the innovative enterprise and increased their practical skills for careers in technology management.

This course discusses emerging technologies, how they evolve, how to identify them, and the effect of international, political, social, economic, and cultural factors on them. Topics covered in the course include accuracy of past technology forecasts, how to improve them, international perspectives on emerging technologies, future customer trends, and forecasting methodologies such as monitoring, expert opinion, trend analysis, and scenario construction. Emerging technologies will be examined through student company examples, invited speakers, and videos.

Management’s need for information has greatly increased in importance and complexity. This course introduces students to the use of computerized information systems to satisfy strategic business needs. Subjects include types of information systems, use of the computer to leverage information in support of key decision-making responsibilities, computer technology from a manager’s viewpoint, prioritization of information system needs, and systems development methodology. The student will analyze an organization’s information needs and prepare an information systems plan.

Organization scientists generally think of organizations as being comprised of three levels of analysis: the individual, the group or department, and the organization itself. Using a systems perspective, this course focuses on the group and interpersonal factors accompanying an organization's operation. Topics covered include understanding organizations as structured systems, individual differences and performance, group dynamics and performance, learning, motivation, leadership, and principles of communication particularly as they relate to decision-making and conflict management.

This course provides an overview of the drug and biologics development process from discovery through regulatory approval. Special attention is given to the roles, functions, and importance of the various disciplines involved in the R&D process, their interactions with each other, and the strategic management of these functions. Attention will also be given to key technologies used throughout the R&D process. The economics of pharmaceutical R&D, as well as trends in licensing, outsourcing, and partnerships will be covered. The student will gain an understanding of R&D strategy and the relationship between R&D and sales, marketing, and manufacturing.

This course addresses the business issues, management activities and technologies pertaining to the management of the modern pharmaceutical supply chain. This includes all components of the drug development life cycle starting from the sourcing of materials needed to support pharmaceutical R&D, and ending with the distribution of drugs to retail pharmacies and physicians. The course focuses on the organizational, management and information technology issues and considerations related to the logistics-related activities of the pharmaceutical industry which are comprised of sales, marketing and supply chain management related functions.

Please contact the Registrar for more information.
Phone: (201)216-5555
Fax: (201)216-8030
E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu

The course will provide an overall look at IT in the pharmaceutical industry, its structure, and trends and issues which have driven it, are affecting it now, and are likely to change it in the future. This course will focus on the business forces shaping the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, this course will use management research on the integration of IT with the business. The student will learn how to evaluate important business trends and how IT can be used to support business success. Topics include a pharmaceutical industry overview, regulatory compliance, new drug development, manufacturing and logistics, product marketing, the role of IT in the pharmaceutical industry, company strategies, e-pharma, and 21st century pharmaceutical-market future trends.

This course focuses on the issues surrounding supply chain design, planning, and execution for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries from drug discovery to delivery. This course will use research on information systems, optimization, e-business, and decision-support technologies and lessons learned from their effective use in global supply chain management for manufacturing and distribution in the process industries. Students will learn how to evaluate global supply chain issues from the perspectives of various stakeholders in relationship to overall organization and societal goals. They will further understand the different mechanisms for collaboration and create a process for establishing and maintaining an effective global SCM solution architecture. Topics include good manufacturing practice and regulations, advanced planning and scheduling, global competition, mergers and acquisitions, innovation, new tools and partnerships, effective global supply chain management, and qualifying for a global supply chain manager position.

This course exposes students to the macro and micro aspects of organizational behavior and theory that are essential to technology management.  The macro aspects will focus on structural contingency theory as an approach to effective organizational design.  The micro aspects will focus on leadership, teams, and individual behavior (e.g., motivation, job attitudes).  Specific issues and problems which are covered include:  the relationship of the organization with the external environment, the influence of the organization's strategies, culture, size, and production technology on the organization's design, and strategies for managing organizational processes such as teams, conflict, power/politics and organizational change. Current topics, that are key to technology management (e.g., virtual teams), will be stressed.

Organization scientists generally think of organizations as being comprised of three levels of analysis: the individual, the group or department, and the organization itself. This course focuses on the problems and challenges managers face in dealing with the organization as a whole and the interrelationships between organization groups. Specific issues and problems which are covered include: the relationship of the organization with the external environment; the influence of the organization’s strategies, size, and production technology on the organization’s design; and strategies for managing organizational processes such as conflict, culture, and change.

Innovative organizations are led by people who relentlessly nurture creative collaborations. These leaders stimulate imagination, teach others how to turn imagination into creativity, and build group structures and processes to enable people to turn creative ideas into innovations that drive business results. This course builds individual awareness of creativity and collaboration skills while increasing the student’s capacity for both. It teaches the science behind techniques, tools, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, organizational strategies, and environmental designs that increase group effectiveness. The overall goal is to strengthen the student’s ability to lead others to address meaningful problems and possibilities wherever they may be found.  

This course deals with the theory and methods associated with design thinking, a problem-solving protocol that spurs innovation and solves complex problems. Design thinking involves a unique form of inquiry which goes well beyond product and service design.  Students will develop an appreciation for design and develop skills for studying design systems.  These concepts and methods have wide applicability as they can be used to design organizations of people, information structures, compensation systems as well as the entire consumer experience.  Applying these approaches can often create entirely new systems that are more useful and usable.  The logic of this approach can sometimes solve "wicked problems" which have defied previous solutions.

An interdisciplinary course which examines the elements of, and the framework for, developing and implementing organizational strategy and policy in competitive environments. The course analyzes management problems both from a technical-economic perspective and from a behavioral perspective. Topics treated include: assessment of organizational strengths and weaknesses, threats, and opportunities; sources of competitive advantage; organizational structure and strategic planning; and leadership, organizational development, and total quality management. The case method of instruction is used extensively in this course.

An introduction to the science of designing statistical models of economic processes. Students will be required to build and estimate a number of models during the term. Topics include: regression theory, statistical difficulties in regression analysis, advanced topics in single-equation regression, models of qualitative choice (such as, probit, logit), and simultaneous equation estimation.

Please contact the Registrar for more information.
Phone: (201)216-5555
Fax: (201)216-8030
E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu

This course involves an educationally relevant, practical assignment that augments the academic content of the student’s program. Students engage in a project in a company project related to the focus of their academic program. The project is conducted under the supervision of a faculty advisor and an industry mentor.   During the semester, the student must submit written progress reports and at the end of the semester, a detailed written report that describes his/her activities and knowledge gained during that semester. This is a one-credit course that may be repeated up to a total of three credits.  With approval of the Program Director and faculty supervisor, students may also take this course for three credits in one semester. 

Primarily for doctoral candidates. Will concentrate on features of information systems applications, particularly their design, implementation, effectiveness, reliability, and maintainability. Aspects of emerging technologies, such as hypertext, full text, automatic indexing, imaging, simulation, neural networks, and virtual reality, will be considered as part of organizational information systems.

Primarily for doctoral candidates. Will concentrate on the features that information and computer-based communication systems need to support the goals and responsibilities of various components of the organization, as well as the effect that the introduction and use of information and computer-based communications systems have on the organization’s performance. Will include measures of effectiveness, organization characteristics, job enrichment, and distribution of responsibility for information systems and computer-supported group work. (Research Seminar)

Primarily for doctoral candidates; will include such topics as psychological implications of technological change, advanced concepts in modelling, and quantitative aspects of systems development.

This course is a Ph.D. seminar course in entrepreneurship. Research on the performance of entrepreneurial new ventures will be analyzed from a theoretical perspective. Relevant studies will be drawn from the economics, management science, and strategic management literatures dealing with entrepreneurship. Emphasis will be placed on the strategic management and competitive environments of new ventures in their early development stages, and topics will be discussed in relation to theoretical concepts in technology and innovation management.

Expert systems involving various advanced features still considered research topics in artificial intelligence will be explored. Among these are systems for forecasting, planning, and design; systems involving explicit representation of belief and uncertainty; systems modeling business rules; systems used as intelligent tutoring and training devices; and/or systems making explicit use of natural language understanding.

Specialized topics at the leading edges of research and theory in information management/technology management will be intensively explored. Each research seminar will focus on a different set of topics.

Experimental design, statistical estimation, and hypothesis testing from multivariate distributions. Topics covered will include regression models, multivariate analysis of variance, canonical correlations, classification procedures, and factor analysis. Computer applications of these techniques will be examined.

Research philosophy, ethics, and methodology will be discussed. Each student will, under the guidance of the instructor, formulate a problem, search the literature, and develop a research design. In addition, the student will examine and criticize research reports with special emphasis on the statement of the problem, the sampling and measuring techniques that are used, and the analyses and interpretation of the data. Emphasis is on applying research methodology to real-world organizational problems.

This course is designed to develop the doctoral student’s knowledge about a range of qualitative research approaches currently used to conduct management research. Methodological readings authored by social scientists and management researchers on ontological and epistemological assumptions underlying positivist, interpretive, and critical approaches will be examined. Empirical research published in leading journals using case study, action research, ethnography, grounded theory, and other methods will be assessed based on established criteria with the goal of preparing students to conduct and evaluate qualitative research. Students will acquire skills in qualitative research design, data generation, and data analysis techniques through readings, written critiques, and seminar discussions, as well as participation in a qualitative research study.

Specialized topics at the leading edges of research and theory in information management/technology management will be intensively explored. Each research seminar will focus on a different set of topics.

This course is designed to develop the doctoral students knowledge about a range of qualitative research approaches currently used to conduct management research. Methodological readings authored by social scientists and management researchers on ontological and epistemological assumptions underlying positivist, interpretive, and critical approaches will be examined. Empirical research published in leading journals using case study, action research, ethnography, grounded theory, and other methods will be assessed based on established criteria. Students will acquire skills in qualitative research design, data generation, and data analysis techniques through readings, written critiques, and seminar discussions, as well as participation in a qualitative research study.

This course starts with the design and analysis of one factor analysis of variance. Methods of testing specific questions using planned comparisons are stressed. Models with two or more factors are considered with detailed instruction on the analysis of interactions. Repeated-measures designs are also covered, as well as designs with random and fixed factors.

A substantial portion of the models developed to describe phenomena in both the physical and social sciences utilizes regression analysis from simple linear regression to multiple regression; non-linear coefficient estimators are derived, their properties discussed, and numerous examples are used to demonstrate various aspects of interpretation. Tests of significance are also covered for most of the techniques presented.

In this graduate Ph.D. seminar, we will actively explore design science. We will read the existing literature and write our own papers. As part of this, we will run simulations and design new mechanisms and interfaces. The end result of the course will be the production of models: simulations that represent social and technical phenomena – and a paper, authored individually or jointly, suitable for publication.
Master’s students with strong professional design experience may be admitted to the course with permission of the instructor. These students may fulfill the requirements through a final design project, appropriately documented.   

This course focuses on developing theoretical knowledge and understanding of economic concepts related to decision-making, consumer behavior, and competitive strategy. It introduces the methods and techniques for analyzing economic activities. It aims to improve the understanding of managerial decision-making processes by presenting analytic tools by examining the principal theories of decision-making and strategic behavior.Prerequisites: Only for accepted Ph.D. students 

Specialized topics at the leading edges of research and theory in information management/technology management will be intensively explored. Each research seminar will focus on a different set of topics.

A comprehensive, all-inclusive description of the Project Management Office (PMO), highlighting features most appropriate and relevant to specific project situations. Motivations for adopting a PMO, such as project performance, project manager competency or the organizational desire to excel. Short-term and long-term functions are identified and discussed. Project evaluation models and PMO implementation guidelines are presented and discussed in detail.

This course deals with advanced problems in project management that were not addressed in previous courses. It also expands on several previously mentioned topics. The course addresses the critical points in project management for the experienced project manager and looks at projects in their broad sense, as seen by top management and from an organizational global perspective.

Emphasis is on the practical aspects of the Box-Jenkins methodology for fitting and forecasting linear stochastic models of industrial time series; model identification, model estimation, model diagnostic checking, and model forecasting of seasonal and nonseasonal series; contrasts with exponential smoothing;and laboratory analysis of selected time series.

This course introduces students to the relevant management and organizational theories used in management research, including their origins, substance and significance to the effective conduct of research. In addition, students are expected to develop the capacity to identify and apply theories to the study of specific management phenomena.

In this workshop lab, students will learn several skills to help them present and write more effectively. Specific topics include components of effective writing, ten steps for effective presentations, using advanced computer technologies in oral presentations, and portraying the correct image.

Students will be graded on several team and individual oral presentations and written reports to demonstrate their competency in both oral and written communications. Each student will have an oral/written report card.

This course is designed to provide doctoral students with an in-depth knowledge about the research process in technology management and related disciplines. The course content includes assigned readings about conducting academic research in general, as well as assigned readings related to public Howe School research colloquium presentations by different guest speakers during the course of the semester. Students will prepare for the presentation by reading the assigned papers and writing up a set of questions to be posed during the discussion with the presenter, which will take place after the presentation. Each semester there will be six or seven guest speakers who will formally present their research during the first hour of the seminar. After the talk, guest speakers will discuss issues related to conducting research with doctoral students. In the weeks without guest speakers, students discuss assigned readings related to conducting academic research with other class members.Only for accepted Ph.D. students

This course addresses concepts and theories of social networks and social network analysis. Core concepts include representations and models of networks, basic descriptive statistics at the individual and network level, and standard models of network formation.  The course also covers more advanced topics in network theory, including community detection, processes over networks such as contagion and influence, and models of dynamic networks.   Prerequisites: Only for accepted Ph.D. students 

The significant amount of corporate information available requires a systematic and analytical approach to select the most important information and anticipate major events. Statistical learning algorithms facilitate this process understanding, modeling and forecasting the behavior of major corporate variables.
This course introduces statistical and graphical models used in time series, machine learning and data mining for inference and prediction. The emphasis of the course is in the learning capability of the algorithms and their application to finance, direct marketing, and operations. Students should have a basic knowledge of probability theory, linear algebra, and multivariate analysis.Prerequisites:   Basic course in probability and statistics at the level of MGT 620. It is suggested that students should have also taken MGT 718 Multivariate analysis. Knowledge of linear algebra is very useful.
 

This course will survey current research and theory in seven different areas related to the management of innovation. These areas include: creativity, the front-end of innovation, innovation management, leadership and teamwork, project management, the economics of innovation, and CSCW and groupware: brainstorming and creativity. Students will read leading-edge papers in each area and lead discussions with a faculty member who is expert in each area facilitating the discussion. Each student will write a research proposal on one of the topics covered in the course.

This course is designed to integrate the student’s knowledge of accounting, engineering economics, and multi-attribute decision-making techniques for evaluating and selecting complex systems, such as telecommunications networks for corporate communications. A review of accounting, financial, and engineering economic concepts will be followed by the study of utility analysis and simple and multi-attribute decision analysis. Case studies involving telecommunications facilities will be used and issues of equipment acquisition, financing, accounting, cost estimation, and system performance will be discussed.

This is the capstone course for the program.  It is designed to integrate the knowledge developed in the other courses via a business simulation in which teams of students compete in running their companies in a complex simulated environment.  The course includes lectures and workshops that demonstrate theory and techniques of cross-functional decision making in the management of technology.  Individuals and teams will be observed and assessment feedback will be given.                                                                

With permission of the instructor. Limit of six credits for the degree of Master of Science.

With permission of the instructor. Limit of six credits for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

This will test the project management knowledge of students who have completed approved training programs in project management. Upon successful completion, (graded pass/fail) students will be awarded 12 credits toward the Master of Science in management with a Project Management concentration. The credits cannot be used toward the Project Management Graduate Certificate of Special Study and are not transferable to other institutions.

This will test the project management knowledge of students from AT&T, Lucent Technologies and Verizon who have completed company-sponsored project management courses. Upon successful completion, (graded pass/fail) students will be awarded three credits towards a Master of Science degree. The examination is normally given twice each year.

A participating seminar on topics of current interest andimportance in Management.

Written and oral communications training and assessment are conducted in this online workshop which carries zero credit and will not appear on the student’s official transcript.  All full-time graduate students are required to take MGT898.  To this end, students in certain required graduate courses are automatically enrolled in MGT 898. Students who do not pass the written assessment will be required to take MGT 897: Online Writing Tutorial.

Starting in the fall semester 2010, all entering Howe School graduate students must participate in an online ethics workshop before they will be allowed to graduate. This requirement does not apply to students who entered a Howe School graduate program before fall 2010. The ethics requirement is part of the course work for Mgt 609 - Introduction to Project Management. Students are automatically enrolled in MGT 899 - Ethics Workshop at no cost. This workshop carries zero credit and will not appear on the student’s official transcript.  Completion of all exercises associated with the Ethics Workshop is sufficient to satisfy the ethics requirement.

For the degree of Master of Science. Six to 12 credits with departmental approval.

Original research leading to a doctoral dissertation. Hours and credits to be arranged.

This course involves an educationally relevant, practical assignment that augments the academic content of the student’s program. Students engage in a project in a company project related to the focus of their academic program. The project is conducted under the supervision of a faculty advisor and an industry mentor.   During the semester, the student must submit written progress reports and at the end of the semester, a detailed written report that describes his/her activities and knowledge gained during that semester. This is a one-credit course that may be repeated up to a total of three credits.  With approval of the Program Director and faculty supervisor, students may also take this course for three credits in one semester. 

MIS 735 entails the examination of architecture and process considerations for maximizing the quality and integrity of IT services and software, including measurements, compliance testing, and audits. The course maps to the Service Strategy and Service Design domains of ITIL.

This course involves an educationally relevant, practical assignment that augments the academic content of the student’s program. Students engage in a project in a company project related to the focus of their academic program. The project is conducted under the supervision of a faculty advisor and an industry mentor.   During the semester, the student must submit written progress reports and at the end of the semester, a detailed written report that describes his/her activities and knowledge gained during that semester. This is a one-credit course that may be repeated up to a total of three credits.  With approval of the Program Director and faculty supervisor, students may also take this course for three credits in one semester. 

This course introduces managers to the essence of business economics – the theories, concepts and ideas that form the economist’s tool kit encompassing both the microeconomic and macroeconomic environments. Microeconomic topics include demand and supply, elasticity, consumer choice, production, cost, profit maximization, market structure, and game theory while the Macroeconomic topics will be GDP, inflation, unemployment, aggregate demand, aggregate supply, fiscal and monetary policies. In addition the basic concepts in international trade and finance will be discussed.

This course examines the use of economic information and analysis in making business decisions. The goal of the course is to provide an understanding of the economic principles that enable managers to direct scarce resources most efficiently. A secondary goal is to provide students with a familiarity with the economic environment in which business operates.

This course covers the fundamental principles of finance. The primary concepts covered include the time value of money, principles of valuation and risk. Specific applications include the valuation of debt and equity securities as well as capital budgeting analysis, financial manager’s functions, liquidity vs. profitability, financial planning, capital budgeting, management of long term funds, money and capital markets, debt and equity, management of assets, cash and accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets. Additional topics include derivative markets.

This course presents concepts regarding the collection, processing, and reporting of financial information in a technology-based business. Managerial accounting and cost accounting, and their uses and limitations will be discussed. Use of financial statements, budgets, and cost estimates in management decision-making will be emphasized. The impact of the risk and uncertainty associated with financial decisions will be illustrated via case studies.

This ramp course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the basic tools and procedures of accounting in order to assure a common level of understanding for the class. The course consists of a web-based, self-administered tutorial with quizzes and problems, a three-hour lecture and Q&A class prior to the first class meeting of EMT 624, and a post-test. The class and tutorial can be waived if a student has sufficient background in accounting. The post-test is mandatory.

This is a comprehensive course in global business and markets providing a broad, multidisciplinary understanding of global business. The theoretical context for engaging in international trade is established, with attention to the current economic and political environment. Then the business level rationale and techniques for initiating trade, as well as the functional area decisions that must be made, are discussed. Topics include: cultural differences; international trade; regional economic integration; international monetary system; entry strategies; strategic alliances; exporting and importing; global production and logistics; global marketing.Post cold war political and economic changes have opened up previously closed borders and have reduced barriers to trade. Concurrently, technological developments in communication, information and transportation technologies have enabled faster and better channels for doing business.This change to an outward looking orientation has resulted in an era of increased globalization. The impact of increasing international trade has provided access to new markets, greater interdependence and foreign competition on domestic turf.More firms, large and small, have become adept at selling across borders. Understanding the fundamentals of international trade prepares managers to grasp more aspects of a firm’s business initiatives.Many of the issues that a business encounters in the global context present difficult choices from and economic and profit point of view and also from a human and cultural point of view. The resolution of these issues rarely has a single right answer. The course material will evoke several of these ill-structured problems so students will have a chance to grapple with the complexities the problems present.

Executives make decisions every day in the face of uncertainty. The objective of this course is to help students understand how decisions are made, why they are often less than optimal, and how decision-making can be improved. This course will contrast how managers do make decisions with how they should make decisions, by thinking about how “rational” decision makers should act, by conducting in-class exercises and examining empirical evidence of how individuals do act (often erroneously) in managerial situations. The course will include statistical tools for decision-making, as well as treatment of the psychological factors involved in making decisions.

This course serves as a second semester sequence in corporate finance. Students enrolling should have a mastery of the topics of covered in Managerial Finance I (EMT 623), including time value of money, capital budgeting, risk adjusted hurdle rates, managerial accounting, and ratio analysis. Among the topics covered in EMT 723 are: leverage on the balance sheet and weighted average cost of capital; bankruptcy, turnarounds, and recapitalizations; international currency hedging; stock options; private equity valuation; mergers and acquisitions; and the issuance of public and private securities.

This course focuses on the methodology involved in developing and writing an effective marketing plan. It covers how to obtain the information that is needed and how to write a rigorous marketing plan for a product or service. The course details the steps needed to perform a market opportunity analysis (MOA) and explores how to develop market-based strategies and tactics to capitalize on the identified opportunities.

The course introduces students to the fundamental concepts and legal principles that they can expect to encounter in various roles as managers/professionals in public and private companies, consultants and/or entrepreneurs, together with the ethical criteria, moral values and social norms in the environments they will face.  The course will cover the American judicial system, international law in a global economy, ethics and business decision making, and different forms of business structure, contracts, business torts, products liability, insurance, employment law, criminal law and the recent Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act.

This course examines the valuation, patenting and licensing of early-stage  technology as a means to exploit innovation.  By understanding technology to be a negotiable asset for the firm, we take a fundamentally different approach than venture capital models, which focus on the enterprise, rather than the commercialization of technology itself.  Accordingly, we study the economics and theory of intellectual property; valuation of intangible assets; IP  agreements and protection regimes; negotiations and trading techniques; licensing and litigation strategies.

 This course provides students with the most current   theories and tools to
 function effectively in the corporate environment when   there is constant
 change.  By building upon material covered in Technology   Innovation Management (MGT 671), this course will deepen students' knowledge of   the innovation process in the enterprise and will pay special attention   to service industries.  The course will be taught with lectures and   real world cases. Upon completion, students will have enhanced their   knowledge of the innovative enterprise and increased their practical skills for   careers in technology management.

This course discusses emerging technologies, how they evolve, how to identify them, and the effect of international, political, social, economic, and cultural factors on them. Topics covered in the course include accuracy of past technology forecasts, how to improve them, international perspective on emerging technologies, future customer trends, and forecasting methodologies such as monitoring, expert opinion, trend analysis, and scenario construction. Emerging technologies will be examined through student company examples, invited speakers, and videos.

Innovative organizations are led by people who relentlessly nurture creative collaborations. These leaders stimulate imagination, teach others how to turn imagination into creativity, and build group structures and processes to enable people to turn creative ideas into innovations that drive business results. This course builds individual awareness of creativity and collaboration skills while increasing the student’s capacity for both. It teaches the science behind techniques, tools, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, organizational strategies, and environmental designs that increase group effectiveness. The overall goal is to strengthen the student’s ability to lead others to address meaningful problems and possibilities wherever they may be found.

This course deals with the theory and methods associated with design thinking, a problem-solving protocol that spurs innovation and solves complex problems. Design thinking involves a unique form of inquiry which goes well beyond product and service design.  Students will develop an appreciation for design and develop skills for studying design systems.  These concepts and methods have wide applicability as they can be used to design organizations of people, information structures, compensation systems as well as the entire consumer experience.  Applying these approaches can often create entirely new systems that are more useful and usable.  The logic of this approach can sometimes solve "wicked problems" which have defied previous solutions.

This course discusses the technology strategy process and develops skills, methodologies, and critical thinking in order to achieve technological competitive advantage. Subjects covered include technology life-cycles, type and characteristics of RD&E project portfolio selection, and an overview of successful development strategies. Case studies will be used to build competence and confidence in the concepts.

This course focuses on the major elements of the strategic management model, including mission, external and global environment, company profile, strategic analysis and choice, long- and short-term objectives; action plans/tactics, policies, restructuring, reengineering, strategic control, and continuous process improvement (CPI). Student teams analyze and formulate strategies for companies they select.

This course focuses on understanding the interplay of group, inter-group, and organizational factors on the performance of multifunctional teams in technology-based organizations. The course integrates theory and research on multifunctional teams with the skills necessary for effectively managing them. Topics covered include managing decision-making and conflict in multifunctional teams, managing the team’s boundary and inter-group relations, organizational designs that support working cross-functionally, and measuring and rewarding team performance. Cases are used to illustrate the problems of working cross-functionally. Individuals are given feedback on their team management skills.

This course provides a theoretical and practical perspective on modern project management and leadership in technology-based organizations and forms the conceptual basis to develop "a project leader mindset." The course will focus on strategic project success, as well as project cultures, project organization, and project processes as they are employed in different project types and for different levels of project uncertainty, complexity, and pace. The leadership part of the course is based on the premise that people are the real engine behind project results, and they must be led and motivated in a very unique way. Different leadership styles will be discussed, together with motivation and career issues, in different project and organizational settings.

This course focuses on corporate venturing and entrepreneurship. Business and financial issues associated with starting and buying an entrepreneurial, high-technology business are addressed. Subjects covered include a discussion of previous corporate ventures, critical success factors, and an international perspective on corporate venturing. Lessons learned from new technology start-ups will be discussed, along with an evaluation of the decision processes used by venture capitalists. The final project is the development of a venture plan for the student’s company. Over half of the business plans receive funding. Startup funding on previous projects has ranged from $50,000 to $1,000,000,000.

In this workshop/lab, students will learn several skills   to help them present  and write more effectively.  Specific topics include   components of effective  writing, ten steps for effective presentations, using   advanced computer  technologies in oral presentations, and portraying the   correct image.  Students will be graded on several team and individual   oral presentations and  written reports throughout the program to demonstrate   their competency in both  oral and written communications.  Each student will have   an oral/written  report card.

This is the capstone course for the program. It is designed to integrate the knowledge developed in the other courses via a business simulation in which teams of students compete in running their companies in a complex simulated environment. The course includes lectures and workshops that demonstrate theory and techniques of cross-functional decision-making in the management of technology. Individuals and teams will be observed and assessment feedback will be given. (5.0 credits)

1 to 6 credits. Limit of 6 credits for the degree of Master of Technology Management (EMTM).

A participating seminar on topics of current interest and   importance in  Management of Technology.  

This course will include the essential elements of artificial intelligence (AI) ;knowledge representation, search techniques, heuristic, typical problems and colution methodologies which constitute the less-than-precise definition of AI which exists today.  Current practical uses of AI in information management and decision-support systems (such as intelligent agents, neural networks, and search engines) will be discused and their relative merits/success rates evaluated.  A potential application will be proposed and presented by the students.                                                    

This course is open only to doctoral students in Information Management with the permission of the instructor.  Students should normally have completed all M.S.  level core courses before they enroll.  It will cover vital topics in Information Management that will help the student prepare to perform original research in some significant aspect of Information Management.  The stress will be both on the technical and organizational aspects of the information resource and in particular how these aspects interrelate.  Students will be expected to do a wide range of readings, participate in seminar presentations given by Stevens and outside professional speakers, as well as prepare and present their own research projects.                                          

This course is open only to doctoral students in Information Management with the permission of the instructor.  It is generally recommended for students who have completed Principles of Management I.  Students should normally have completed all M.S.  level core courses before they request to enroll.  The stress will be both on the technical and organizational aspects of the information resource and in particular on how these aspects interrelate.  Students will be expected to do a wide range of readings, participate in seminar presentations given by Stevens and outside professional speakers, as well as prepare and present their own research projects.                      

The goal of this course is to provide students with the background in calculus necessary for the telecommunications curriculum. Topics covered include review of algebra, coordinates in the plane and functions, differentiation, series, geometric series and exponential series, elements of counting, illustrations of the material on discrete distributions, z-transform, integration of simple functions, integrals over the entire line and basic probability densities. The eleven topics listed can be expanded or contracted depending on how students react to the material. E.g. the topic of functions of two variables can be changed by emphasizing discrete functions and their relationship to joint distributions. Some topics (e.g. coordinates in the plane and functions) may require two sessions. However, it is planned to cover the entire material in 13 sessions.

This course sets the foundation for courses that are to follow, covering concepts and major technologies of the telecommunications industry. Telecommunications regulations, end-to-end service, and historical events are stressed. This course is open to Telecommunications majors only and is intended for students with a minimal telecommunications background.

Wireless systems and their unique vulnerabilities to attack; system security issues in the context of wireless systems, including satellite, terrestrial microwave, military tactical communications, public safety, cellular, and wireless LAN networks; security topics: confidentiality/privacy, integrity, availability, and control of fraudulent usage of networks. Issues addressed include jamming, interception, and means to avoid them. Case studies and student projects are an important component of the course.

This course addresses the fundamentals of wireless networking, including architectures, protocols, and standards. It describes concepts, technology, and applications of wireless networking as used in current and next-generation wireless networks. It explains the engineering aspects of network functions and designs. Issues such as mobility management, wireless enterprise networks, GSM, network signaling, WAP, mobile IP, and 3G systems are covered.

This course covers required technical concepts of applied telecommunications and an overview of the industry as a regulated and competitive environment. The main issues of telecommunications systems and network transmission, signaling, and switching are covered. Attention is given to the following topics: analog and digital communications, telephony, data communications, signal types, modulation, multiplexing,; network design concepts, and relevant standards. These topics are presented with attention to the functional interrelationship of the various sectors of the industry, business, and government regulatory bodies, all of which are affected by this technology.

This course provides a background in probability and stochastic processes necessary for the analysis of telecommunications systems. Topics include: axioms of probability, combinatorial methods, discrete and continuous random variables, expectation, Poisson processes, birth-death processes, and Markov processes.

Concentrated study of data and computer communications, information network architectures, and standards. Topics include: IP networking, information characteristics and requirements for voice, video, image, and data; protocol definitions and performance analyses for distributed networks; network topologies; local area networks (LAN) functional characteristics, performance, and analysis studies for Ethernet and token ring as primary technologies; internetworking; metropolitan area networks (MAN) including FDDI and DQDB; and wide area networking (WAN) technologies including frame relay and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM).

This course covers a wide range of emerging state-of-the-art transmission and switching technologies, evolving communication protocols, and their applications. This course is a super-loaded look at the key technologies that are about to enter the mainstream. The course studies technologies that impact both the service provider industry, as well as the corporate enterprise IT environment. Topics included in this course are: VoIP protocols (H.323, SIP, SGCP, MGCP, IPDC, etc.) and soft switches; Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and their applications such as VPN and Traffic Engineering; Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) and optical switching; Gigabit/10 Gigabit Ethernet and Storage Area Networks (SAN); Wireless LANs (IEEE 802.11a/b/g, 802.15, 802.16, etc.); management and performance modeling tools.

Historical perspective of telecommunications as a regulated industry; effects of regulation on industry growth in pre- and post-divestiture environments; special case of divestiture of AT&T; government regulatory agencies and processes; management issues related to business between regulated and non-regulated corporations; and tariff structures, rules, and rate-making in the regulated environment. Issues of privatization and deregulation in international telecommunications and their effects on global companies are also studied.

This course covers topics in intelligent extraction of data and information from data stores and data warehouses. The course complements several theoretical techniques such as neural networks, data-driven decision, rule-based systems, machine learning, and decision trees with case studies from several telecommunications companies, such as Bell Atlantic, U.S. West, etc.

Introduction to the principles of traffic engineering and performance analysis which play a crucial role in the design, provisioning, measurement, management, and control of modern telecommunications systems. Topics include models for traffic arrival and service processes, superposition and decomposition, traffic burstiness, grade of service (GOS), quality of service (QOS) issues, efficiency, trunk reservation priority, peakedness, interactive systems, throughput/delay tradeoffs, bottleneck analysis, overload performance, and control and buffer management principles. Open, closed, and mixed queuing network flow control models are studied, as well as throughput and delay analysis for controlled and random access LAN.

This course provides a broad overview of the important field of wireless and personal communications. Topics to be examined include the mobile wireless standards of AMPS, North American TDMA (IS-138), GSM, and CDMA (IS-95). Security and privacy, network management, and interworking in wireless systems (IS-41) will also be examined. An overview of RF propagation factors and selected cellular design approaches is presented. Wireless data are introduced by examining cellular digital packet data. Selected goals and challenges of the field of mobile computing are examined, along with the resulting network architectures and applications.

This course is focused on the global wireless industry and mobile wireless systems. The course will analyze the various complexities facing management when deploying or operating a wireless mobility system. The four main areas of the management of mobile wireless systems that will be covered in the course are the global wireless mobility market, regulatory requirements, management challenges, and decision methods. The course will utilize a combination of traditional instructor-led material in addition to homework assignments that will be geared toward reinforcing the lecture material. A team-based class project will also be assigned. Specific topics covered include the global wireless industry (service providers, handset and infrastructure vendors, and standards and trade organizations), international regulation, wireless operators’ organization and metrics, and the initial planning, deployment decisions, forecasting, and budget considerations in wireless system deployment.

This course provides a broad perspective on the services, applications, requirements, architecture, standards, and impact of emerging wireless networks. The new wireless services and applications, which are driving the development and deployment of new wireless networks, are defined and differentiated. The tradeoffs between customer requirements and network performance are analyzed. The fundamentals of next generation network interfaces and resource management and the impact of multiple international standards are explored. The architecture and operational scenarios of the two major third generation standards (UMTS and cdma2000) are examined and differentiated. UMTS and cdma2000 are compared from multiple perspectives, including network evolution, services and applications, global markets, and financial perspectives. Specific topics examined include services, applications, and QoS in next generation wireless networks along with the architecture and operational scenarios of global standards (UMTS and cdma2000) in next generation wireless networks.

This course develops a fundamental understanding of the performance, management, and life-cycle analysis of emerging mobile wireless networks. The major components of a mobile wireless network, the Radio Access Network (RAN), and the core Back-Bone Network (BBN), are described in terms of their major functional elements. The impact of these functional elements upon the ability of the system to achieve established performance metrics is examined. This course will also examine the trade-offs in system performance and management that each of the elements has on system complexity, planning, and ability to meet the required performance objectives. Life-cycle analysis and, in particular, the migration of mobile wireless systems to third generation networks is discussed with emphasis on the impact of migration on system architecture and cost. The topics of system performance, management, and life-cycle analysis are crucial to wireless managers and professionals in the planning and migration of mobile wireless networks. The course includes a team project where the students will apply the knowledge covered by the course to a practical case study.

The course provides an understanding of electronic commerce and related architectures, protocols and technologies. The course introduces the E-commerce concept, objectives, and market drivers, and identifies its requirements, underpinning techniques, and technologies. These include Internet techniques like tunneling and Telnet and WWW techniques like Forms, and Common Gateway Interface (CGI). Other related topics such as multimedia, intelligent agents and their applications in E-commerce, the client/server model, and Commitment, Concurrency and Recovery (CCR) are also presented. Network, service, and application management, which are important aspects of E-commerce, are discussed. Quality of Service (QoS) management, Service Level Agreement (SLA) management, Application Programming Interface (APIs), and the role of Application Service Providers (ASPs) are discussed. There will be strong emphasis on the important topic of securitymanagement. Topics here include security concepts and technologies, types of security attacks, encryption techniques, public key systems, Data Encryption Standard (DES),and authentication techniques. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), secure tunneling techniques, firewalls, Intranets, extranets, and VPN management are covered. The policy and regulatory issues in E-commerce are discussed. Finally, various E-commerce applications in the areas of finance, securities, trading, auctions, and travel are described. The course includes some E-commerce case studies and demonstrations.

This course covers the technologies of switching systems for circuit, packet, and broadband-switched networks. The focus of this courses switching systems instead of transmission systems. Topics include: telephony switching, switching fabric architectures and analysis of theircomplexity, optical and photonic switching, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) forbroadband networks. The various layers of ATM are investigated with switching fabric and architecture alternatives. Included in this course is the study of high-speed packet networks based on Label Switching (MPLS) and their applications (e.g., VPN, Traffic Engineering). Other related topics include IP telephony and its standards such as H.323, SIP, SGCP. This course also covers circuit-switched network signaling used in user-to-network and network-to-network call control. Major topics include Common Channel Signaling System (CCS7), Signaling Transfer Point (STP), ISDN User Part (ISUP), Transaction Capabilities Part (TCAP), and routing techniques. The course will cover Inter-working of SS7 and IP Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), H.323 signaling protocol series. Included in the course are discussions on existing products in the industry such as Lucent Technologies' 5ESS, Ericsson's AXE10, Juniper's M160, Tellium's Aurora System.

This course presents technical management issues of network control and operations. This subject is approached with and introduction of organization issues and requirements for network systems groups within corporations, and then principally concentrates on the current technical issues of network management standards such as SNMP and SNMPv2. The course requires the students to engage in the detailed study of the evolving standards of Management Information Bases (MIB) in the industry and the messaging protocols required to implement Network Management Systems (NMS). Semester projects include the group development of computer based simulated network management systems to apply the knowledge gained in the course and detailed competitive analysis of current systems implemented in industry. Topics include network management concepts; administrative and operational management; performance management; fault management; configuration management; security management and accounting management; Remote Network Management (RMON).

This course provides a broad and comprehensive study of the technologies enabling broadband services and networking. High-speed network access technologies, core-network architectures, and the broadband service environment are the focus of this course. The broadband access technologies of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable modem service, optical fiber-based access, and the high-speed wireless technologies of WiFi and WiMAX are examined and differentiated. The core-network technologies of DWDM, MetroEthernet, MPLS, RSVP, as well as the services-converging IP Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) are discussed and studied as enabling technologies for broadband services. An overview is provided of key broadband services: VoIP, IPTV, streaming video and Video on Demand. Security standards and regulatory issues are addressed. The course concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and threats posed to service providers and the communications industry by the emerging disruptive technologies of broadband networking.

Broadband Service Management is a comprehensive course for those interested in deploying and operating broadband networks from a technical and managerial aspect. A broadband network’s success is based on its ability to deliver a desired service with a specific service requirement referred to as a Service Level Agreement (SLA).  The Service Level Management whether it is with an operator, infrastructure vendor, Third Party Vendor (3PV) or customer all have specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI) associated with them. The ability to define, identify, and manage those Key Performance Indicators associated with a broadband network Service Level Agreement requires a thorough understanding of the entire broadband ecosystem.  
The course will present key topics and criteria required to implement and sustain a network. Emphasis will be placed on the ability to define performance quantities and manage the network balancing business risks while minimizing costs to meet the objectives of the broadband network.

This course examines two important new network technologies and architectures; Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). These two closely related approaches are a direct response to the changing requirements to support new networking services in an integrated and flexible approach.  The reason for each architecture is presented and their ability to meet the changing network requirements is examined.  The architecture, standards, and applications for each is presented and studied.  Each architecture is differentiated and compared and the potential interworking of each is considered.  The course concludes with an introduction and study of the Internet of Things (IoT).  The course is guided by both a required textbook and recently published scholarly papers on these topics.

The growing use of websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, allows everyone to generate and share content. These social media tools have become integral to our everyday lives. Students will learn various techniques for analyzing user behavior in social media websites by applying prominent theories that influence human behavior in these environments. They will examine these websites and evaluate their positive and negative impacts on society. The skills and knowledge that students acquire in this course will allow them to make recommendations for leveraging websites and other products/services that involve social media technologies.

This course surveys sector implementation of corporate telecommunication networks and the business issues involved in their selection. Issues of equipment acquisition, financing, and accounting will be studied in depth. Additionally, the equipment/system selection process will use the techniques of probabilistic outcomes, simulation, sensitivity analysis, and multi-attribute analysis to better define the risks and opportunities of these investments. Also studied are telecommunications systems’ effects on the balance sheet of the corporation as financial assets or liabilities: strategic assets, active revenue-producing tools, or passive service provision in the corporation’s realization of a business plan.

Information assurance and security are recognized as very important issues in electronic business transactions and financial systems, from the managers, users, and providers viewpoints. This course addresses the security of e-business and cyber environments from an end-to-end perspective, including data center security and access security. Topics include: application, server, and database security, virtual local area networks (VLANs), secureaccess techniques, and secure electronic payment systems like SET (Secure Electronic Transaction). The course also reviews financial Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and smart card security in banking applications. The course includes a project and some lab experiments related to SSL, SET, EDI, server and application security.

Please contact the Registrar for more information.
Phone: (201)216-5555
Fax: (201)216-8030
E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu

A participating seminar on topics of current interest and importance in the field of applied telecommunications technology and networking.

Network industries play a crucial role in modern life and the economy would be very much diminished without communications and information networks. This course analyzes the economics of networks and communications services. Theoretical and practical aspects of the subject will be covered based on three pillars: technologies, pricing, and special topics (auctions, trading bandwidth, and regulation). Communications technologies are reviewed, traditional as well as new, such as the Internet, ATM, and wireless. The course then provides in-depth analysis of the economics of monopoly, oligopoly, and perfectly competitive markets, as applied to the telecom markets. Pricing alternatives are formalized using simple mathematical models. Students learn how network control and performance of networks tie with the economic analysis of consumer behavior. Special topics related to game theory, risk management of telecom operations, trading of bandwidth, as well as auctions of bandwidth and spectrum, are covered towards the end of the course.

An investigation of a current research topic under the direction of a faculty member. A written report is required which should have the substance of a publishable article.

With permission of the instructor. Limit of six credits for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

A participating seminar on topics of current interest and importance in Telecommunications Management.

For the degree of Master of Science. Six to 12 credits with departmental approval.