You like figuring out how to make things work better. You like solving puzzles and finding solutions. Find a career in people-oriented engineering at Volgenau’s Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research.
"Systems Engineering provides a comprehensive understanding of how individual engineering disciplines fit into the development of complex, large-scale systems. It considers all aspects of a system throughout its entire lifetime, which is pretty amazing when it comes to problem-solving."
Finding a Way to Make Things Work
If you look at a device, organization, or system and immediately see how it could be improved or made more efficient, this is your field.
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Systems engineers determine the most effective ways for an organization to use all components — people, machines, materials, information, and energy. They plan, design, implement and manage complex systems that assure performance, safety, reliability, and maintainability on deadline at a reasonable cost.
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Operations Researchers use scientific methods in management decision-making to best allocate limited resources. They find order in apparent chaos by identifying the structure in complex situations and understanding how the components or organizations interact. This lets them explain and predict the effect of actions on these systems.

Graduates know they have a future filled with possibilities.
Data analytics studies train you to examine, model, replicate and apply systems that solve big data questions. You'll get an understanding of the technologies and methodologies necessary for data-driven decision-making. Career fields include finance, marketing, operations, business intelligence, digital forensics, financial engineering, and business analytics.
Your choices are unlimited SEOR degrees are applicable to a huge variety of areas: |
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Health Care |
Economic Systems |
National Defense |
Environmental Systems |
Advanced Transportation Systems |
Architecture-Based Systems Integration |
Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Intelligence, and Cyber |
Financial Systems Engineering |
Systems Engineering Analysis |
Systems Engineering of Software-Intensive Systems |
Systems Management |
Scientific Exploration |

C4I and Cyber centers, such as this one at the 24th Air Force, help our nation get the intelligent edge on the enemy. Whether you want to advance your military or civil service career, or want to build the country's cyber defense, Mason is the place to be. We were the first, and continue to be the only Center of Excellence in C4I at a public civilian university.