SYST Graduate Courses

SYST 500 - Quantitative Foundations for Systems Engineering
Cross-Listed with CSI 600
Provides quantitative foundations necessary for core courses in systems engineering and operations research master’s program, and certificate program in C4I. Topics include vectors and matrices, infinite series, partial differentiation, multiple integrals, differential and difference equations; linear systems; Laplace and Z-transforms, and probability theory. Students receive graduate credit for this course, which, when used on plan of study, extends minimum credit requirements for degree.
Prerequisites : MATH 203, 213.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 510 - Systems Definition and Cost Modeling
Comprehensive examination of methods and processes for the identification and representation of system requirements. Investigation of the systems acquisition life cycle with emphasis on requirements definition, including functional problem analysis. Examination of the systems engineering definition phase including requirements, problem analysis, definition, and functional economics. Specification of functional and nonfunctional requirements, and associated requirements proto-typing. Functional economic analysis, including the use of prevailing cost estimation models and planning and control of common operating environments. Lecture and group project including creation of requirements and use of cost estimation model.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 513 - Total Systems Engineering, Reengineering and Enterprise Integration
Principles of strategic quality, including TQM. Quality standards including ISO9000 and 14000. Organizational leadership, cultures, and process maturity, reengineering. Quality, organization learning, and reengineering approaches to enable information integration and management and environment and framework integration in the systems engineering of knowledge intensive systems. Emphasis is placed on the role of integrated product and process design teams, standard and commercial off-the-shelf products in enterprise integration. Architecture-driven system characteristics are studied, as is transition management of legacy systems.
Prerequisites : SYST 510 or 520.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 520 - System Engineering Design
System design and integration methods are studied and practiced, including structured analysis and object-oriented based techniques. Life cycle of systems is addressed, including definition and analysis of life cycle requirements. Software tools are introduced and used for the systems engineering cycle. Identification of preliminary architectures. Students are expected to develop a system design for a system of their choice using both the structured analysis and object-oriented techniques presented in class and they will make presentations on these designs.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 521 - Network Analysis
Cross-Listed with OR 643
Network nomenclature. Elementary graph theory. Linear and nonlinear network models: multi-commodity flow, mathematical games and equilibria on networks, network design and control. Dynamic network models. Applications to transportation, telecommunications, data communications, and water resource systems.
Prerequisites : MATH 213 and 203 or equivalent; OR 441 or 541.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 530 - System Management and Evaluation
Provides techniques for evaluating cost and operational effectiveness of system designs and systems management strategies. Discusses performance measurement, work breakdown structures, cost estimating, quality management, configuration management, standards, and case studies of systems from different application areas.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 540 - Analysis for Systems Management
Cross-Listed with OR 540
Operations research techniques and their application to managerial decision making. Mathematical programming, Markov processes, queuing theory, inventory models, PERT, CPM, and computer simulation are covered, as well as use of contemporary computer software for problem solving. Case-study approach to problem solving is used. OR/MS and SE/MS.
Prerequisites : MATH 108 and STAT 250 or DESC 210; or equivalent.
Notes : Majors do not receive credit.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 542 - Decision Support Systems Engineering
Cross-Listed with EEP 602
Studies design of computerized systems to support individual or organizational decisions. Teaches systems engineering approach to decision support system (DSS) development. DSS is end product of development process, and process is key to successfully integrating DSS into organization. Any DSS is built on a theory (usually implicit) of what makes for successful decision support in given context. Empirical evaluation of specific DSS and the underlying theory should be carried on throughout development process. Course examines prevailing theories of decision support, considers issues in obtaining empirical validation for theory, and discusses empirical support that exists for theories considered. Students design decision support system for semester project.
Prerequisites : SYST 301 or graduate standing.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 560 - Introduction to Air Traffic Control
Introduction for those who plan professions in aviation industry. Surveys entire field, presenting history of ATC and how it came to be, technology on which system is based, procedures used by controllers to meet safety and efficiency goals, organizational structure of the FAA, challenges facing system, and means under investigation to meet these challenges. Involves some field work for data collection and analysis. Class project requiring system simulation required.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 563 - Research Methods in Systems Engineering and Information Technology
Provides foundation for one of the most important activities in systems engineering: information gathering to support drawing conclusions and making decisions about design options and process improvements.Develops understanding of scientific process, use of empirical evidence to support and refute scientific hypotheses, and use of scientific information in decision-making. Covers different sources of scientific evidence: designed experiments, quasi-experiments, field studies, surveys, and case studies. Discusses process of formulating testable hypotheses, and methods of measurement including approaches to measuring soft, hard-to-quantify factors. Presentation of results is discussed. Students do project involving empirical research.
Prerequisites : STAT 346 and 354, or equivalent.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 571 - Systems Engineering Management
Study of more advanced topics in systems engineering management. Seminar style; students expected to read selections from current literature as well as make presentations and produce papers on engineering management topics. Examines issues such as multiproject management, quality programs, and the impacts of process change on the organization. Focuses strongly on the practical impacts of various system engineering management techniques and practices on projects, organizations, and personnel.
Prerequisites : SYST 471 or 530.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 573 - Decision and Risk Analysis
Cross-Listed with OR 681
Study of analytic techniques for rational decision making that address uncertainty, conflicting objectives, and risk attitudes. Covers modeling uncertainty; rational decision-making principles; representing decision problems with value trees, decision trees, and influence diagrams; solving value hierarchies, decision trees, and influence diagrams; defining and calculating the value of information; incorporating risk attitudes into the analysis; and conducting sensitivity analysis.
Prerequisites : STAT 346 or equivalent.
Notes : Offered concurrently with SYST 473. Students may not receive credit for both SYST 473 and 573.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 574 - Quality Control and Process Management
Cross-Listed with OR 574
Provides fundamentals of quality control and process management methodologies that are applicable in manufacturing industries.  Introduces the basic concepts of engineering process and product quality management techniques.  Provides exposition of fundamentals of lean Six Sigma and total quality management and maintainability.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing or permission of instructor.

SYST 576 - Manufacturing Systems Analysis
Cross-Listed with OR 576
Provides fundamentals of modeling and analysis of general manufacturing systems that are also applicable to semiconductor manufacturing. Introduces the basic concepts of scheduling, inventory control, and enterprise resource management.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing or permission of instructor.

SYST 588 - Financial Systems Engineering I: Introduction to Options, Futures and Derivaties
This course is an introduction to financial engineering. Financial engineering is a cross-disciplinary field which relies on mathematical finance, numerical methods, and computer simulations to make trading, hedging, and investment decisions. This course will introduce basic types of derivatives, such as forward, futures, swaps, and options; as well as financial models such as Brownian motion; Ito's formula, and Black-Scholes model.
Prerequisite: Engineering or Math graduate standing, or permission of instructor.

SYST 611 - System Methodology and Modeling
Provides broad yet rigorous introduction to methodologies. Emphasizes systems modeling and performance. Topics include system model and behavior analysis linear and nonlinear systems, discretization and linearization, optimization, dynamic programming and optimal control. Methodologies address system performance issues, and assist in the evaluation of alternative system designs. Resource allocation for planning and control introduced.
Prerequisites : SYST 500 or equivalent.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 619 - Introduction to Architecture Based Systems Engineering.
Cross-Listed with ECE 672
Lifecycles in systems engineering and the role of systems integration and architecting in these. Conceptual frameworks for systems architecting. Structure, function, and purpose of systems architecting and integration. Risk management and systems architecting and integration. User requirements and functional specifications in systems architecting.
Prerequisites : SYST 510 or 520, or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 620 - Discrete Event Systems
Cross-Listed with ECE 673
Introduces modeling and analysis of discrete event dynamical systems. Course covers elements of discrete mathematics and then focuses on Petri Net models and their basic properties. Relation to other discrete event models of dynamical systems.
Prerequisites : SYST 611 or ECE 521, or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 621 - Systems Architecture Design
Cross-Listed with ECE 674
Intensive study of relationships between different types of architecture representations and methodologies used to obtain them. Approaches based on systems engineering constructs, such as structured analysis and software engineering constructs, including object orientation, are used to develop architecture representations or views and to derive an executable model of the information architecture. Executable model is then used for behavior analysis and performance evaluation. Roles of systems architect and systems engineer are discussed. Examples from current practice including the C4ISR architectures are used.
Prerequisites : SYST 619/ECE 672 and SYST 620/ECE 673 or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 622 - System Integration and Architecture Evaluation.
Cross-Listed with ECE 675
Covers system integration problem, role of architectures in systems integration, integration in system of systems and federation of systems. Evaluates architectures, measures performance and effectiveness. Assessment of system capabilities. Analysis of alternatives.
Prerequisites : SYST 620/ECE 673 and SYST 621/ECE 674 or permission of instructor.
Corequisite : SYST 621/ECE 674.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 659 - Topics in Systems Engineering
Topics not covered in department’s regular systems engineering offerings. Course content may vary each semester depending on instructor and the perception of students’ needs.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes : Course may be repeated once for credit.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S

SYST 660 - Air Transportation Systems Modeling
Cross-Listed with OR 660
Introduces wide range of current issues in air transportation. Issues include public policy toward industry, industry economics, system capacity, current system modeling capability, human factors considerations, safety analysis and surveillance systems, and new technological developments. Develops broad understanding of contemporary and future issues. Knowledge evaluated through class discussions, take-home midterm exam, and term project to be completed by end of semester.
Prerequisites : SYST 460/560 or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : S

SYST 664 - Bayesian Inference and Decision Theory
Cross-Listed with STAT 664
Introduces decision theory and relationship to Bayesian statistical inference. Teaches commonalities, differences between Bayesian and frequentist approaches to statistical inference, how to approach statistics problem from Bayesian perspective, and how to combine data with informed expert judgment in a sound way to derive useful and policy relevant conclusions. Teaches necessary theory to develop firm understanding of when and how to apply Bayesian and frequentist methods; and practical procedures for inference, hypothesis testing, and developing statistical models for phenomena. Teaches fundamentals of Bayesian theory of inference, including probability as a representation for degrees of belief, likelihood principle, use of Bayes Rule to revise beliefs based on evidence, conjugate prior distributions for common statistical models, and methods for approximating the posterior distribution. Introduces graphical models for constructing complex probability and decision models from modular components.
Prerequisites
STAT 544 or 554, or equivalent.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : S

SYST 671 - Judgment and Choice Processing and Decision Making
Cross-Listed with OR 671
How do people make judgments and decisions? Course presents initial review of scientific literature directed toward answering this question, and emphasizes importance when performing decision analysis and designing systems to support judgment and decision processes.
Prerequisites : STAT 510 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 674 - Dynamic Programming
Cross-Listed with OR 674
Theory and practice of dynamic programming, i.e., optimal sequential decision making over time in the presence of uncertainties is covered. Stresses intuition, the mathematical foundations being for the most part elementary. It will introduce the theory, applications (finance, engineering, and biology), and computational aspects of dynamic programming for deterministic and stochastic problems.
Prerequisites : OR 442 or OR 542 or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 677 - Statistical Process Control
Cross-Listed with OR 677/STAT 677
Introduces concepts of quality control and reliability. Acceptance sampling, control charts, and economic design of quality control systems are discussed, as are system reliability, fault-free analysis, life testing, repairable systems, and role of reliability, quality control, and maintainability in life-cycle costing. Role of MIL and ANSI standards in reliability and quality programs considered.
Prerequisites : STAT 554 or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 680 - Principles of Command, Control, Communications, Computing, and Intelligence (C4I)
Cross-Listed with ECE 670/OR 683
Broad introduction to fundamental principles of command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I). Principles and techniques applicable to wide range of civilian and military situations. Discusses modeling and simulation of combat operations. Studies in detail sensing, fusion, and situation assessment processes. Derives optimal decision-making rules; discusses concepts of C4 architectures; and develops tools to evaluate and design C4 systems such as queuing theory.
Prerequisites : ECE 528, SYST 611, or OR 542; or equivalent.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F

SYST 683 - Modeling, Simulation, and Gaming
Develops methods for designing combat models and games. Existing combat models critical to the C4I process. Exercises and games demonstrate value of properly developed C4I modules in a combat simulation.
Prerequisites : MATH 213, SYST 500 or equivalent, and graduate standing.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 684 - Sensor Data Fusion
Examines design issues in multisensor fusion systems. Studies use of probability, evidence, and possibility theories for object identification. Studies Bayesian networks, blackboard architectures, and spatial and temporal reasoning for situation assessment.
Prerequisites : SYST 680 or ECE 670.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 685 - Estimation and Tracking: Principles and Techniques
Principles and estimation techniques for static and dynamic systems, linear and nonlinear, discrete and continuous time. Estimation for kinematic models, track initiation, bearing-only tracking, tracking maneuvering targets with adaptive filtering, MM (Multiple Model) and interactive MM algorithms. Tracking single target in clutter, nearest neighbor algorithm, tracking and data association, Multiple hypothesis tracking. Tracking performance evaluation.
Prerequisites : ECE 528, OR 542, STAT 544, or equivalent.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 688 - Financial Systems Engineering II: Derivative Products and Risk Management
Financial engineering is a cross-disciplinary field which relies on mathematical finance, numerical methods, and computer simulations to make trading, hedging, and investment decisions, as well as facilitating the risk management of those decisions. This course will focus on risk management for both market risk and credit risk. It will cover a broad range of derivatives products and hedging strategies with emphasis on how risks are managed in financial institutions.
Prerequisite: OR/ SYST 588 or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week:  0

SYST 698 - Independent Study and Research
Study of a selected area in systems engineering or C3I under the supervision of a faculty member. Written report required.
Prerequisites : Graduate standing, completion of at least two core courses, permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0
When Offered : F, S, SUM

SYST 699 - Masters Project
Capstone project course for MS/SE program. Key activity is completion of major applied team project resulting in an acceptable technical report, and oral briefing. Students should plan to take course in last semester of studies.
Prerequisite: 21 graduate credits

SYST 735 - Topics in Stochastic System Simulation
Cross-Listed with OR 735
Special topics and recent developments in Monte Carlo simulation methodology for discrete-event stochastic systems. Contents vary; possible topics include statistical analysis of simulation output data, random number and random ariate generation, variance reduction techniques, sensitivity analysis and optimization of simulation models, distributed and parallel simulation, object-oriented simulation, and specialized applications.
Prerequisites :OR 635 or permission of instructor.
Notes : May be repeated for credit when topics are distinctly different.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 740 - Advances in Multi-Modeling
Cross-Listed with ECE 760
Focuses on the inter-operation of multiple models expressed in different modeling languages but which draw from the same data set: i.e., multi-modeling. Socio-technical systems often require a variety of modeling tools to define their operation accurately. An ontology based approach is used to analyze the validity of a proposed modeling architecture and workflow to address a specific issue.
Prerequisite: SYST 620 or ECE 673 or permission of instructor

SYST 750 - Advanced Topics in Systems Engineering
Advanced topics not covered in department's regular systems engineering offerings. Course content may vary each semester depending on instructor and the perception of students' needs. May be repeated for credit when topics are distinctly different.
Prerequisite: 600 level course that varies with content of course

SYST 760 - Special Topics in Command, Control, Communications, Computing, and Intelligence Systems Engineering
Special topics in the C4I area, with different content in different terms. Representative areas include quantitative evaluation of C4 systems, applications of artificial intelligence in C4 systems, and military communications systems.
Prerequisites : SYST 680.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 763 - Research Methods in Systems Engineering and Information Technology
Cross-Listed with IT 763/OR 763
Examines alternative paradigms of scientific research and their applicability to research in information technology. Topics include fundamental elements of scientific investigation, basic principles of experimental design and statistical induction, philosophy of science and its relation to the information technology sciences, and case studies of information technology research.
Prerequisites : STAT 554.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 781 - Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery
Cross-Listed with STAT 781
Statistical and computational methods and systems for deriving user-oriented knowledge from large databases and other information sources, and applying knowledge to support decision making. Information sources can be in numerical, textual, visual, or multimedia forms. Covers theoretical and practical aspects of current methods and selected systems for data mining, knowledge discovery, and knowledge management, including those for text mining, multimedia mining, and web mining.
Prerequisites
One of the following courses: CS 687, CS 650, INFS 614, STAT 663, STAT 664, or permission of the instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 799 - Master's Thesis
Research project chosen and completed under the guidance of a graduate faculty member, which results in a technical report acceptable to a three-member faculty committee, and an oral defense.
Prerequisites : 21 graduate credits and permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 0
Hours of Lab or Studio per week :0

SYST 842 - Models of Probabilistic Reasoning
Cross-Listed with IT 842/OR 842
Survey of alternative views about how incomplete, inconclusive, and possibly unreliable evidence might be evaluated and combined. Discusses Bayesian, Baconian, Shafer-Dempster, and Fuzzy systems for probabilistic reasoning.
Prerequisites : STAT 544 or OR 681, or permission of the instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 850 - Systems Integration Engineering
Cross-Listed with IT 850
Covers lifecycles; large systems comprising heterogeneous components; human, organizational, and technological basis for integration; societal and cultural basis; conceptual frameworks; structure, function, and purpose of industry; risk management; user requirements and functional specifications; bid and proposal process; systems integration and federal government; standards; integration of systems and federations of systems; integrated process and product development; architectures; systems management and cost estimation; reengineering; quality management; increasing returns to scale, network effects, and path dependency issues; and systems integration ecology and evolutionary systems integration
Prerequisites : SYST 510 or 520.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 888 - Distributed Estimation and Multisensor Tracking and Fusion
Cross-Listed with ECE 753/IT 888/OR 888
Centralized and distributed estimation theory, hierarchical estimation, tracking and data association, multisensor multitarget tracking and fusion, distributed tracking in distributed sensor networks, track-to-track association and fusion, and Bayesian networks for fusion.
Prerequisites : ECE 734 or SYST 611.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0

SYST 944 - The Process of Discovery and Its Enhancement in Engineering Applications
Cross-Listed with OR 944/ IT 944
Studies ingredients of imaginative reasoning as they concern efficient discovery of new ideas and valid evidential test of them. Topics include different interpretations of Peirce’s theory of abductive reasoning and other forms of reasoning, Hintikka’s analysis of process of inquiry, and current attempts to design systems that provide assistance in discovery-related or investigative activities.
Prerequisites : SYST 842 or permission of instructor.
Hours of Lecture or Seminar per week : 3
Hours of Lab or Studio per week : 0