Tailoring with Electives

Students can tailor their MPD experience to best suit their interests and career goals. Tailoring is done through the careful selection of electives in the Fall or Spring semesters with the guidance of their advisor. The interdisciplinary nature of Carnegie Mellon offers students the opportunity to tap into a broad range of courses offered by our seven world class colleges and departments including:

College of Fine Arts
Design, Architecture

Carnegie Institute of Technology
Mechanical, Biomedical, Material Science, Chemical, Electrical, and Civil Engineering

School of Computer Science
Robotics, Human Computer Interaction, and Entertainment Technology

Tepper School of Business
Business

H. John Heinz III College
Public Policy and Information Systems

Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Psychology, Statistics, and Anthropology

Mellon College of Science
Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics

Elective Requirements

• Students must take at least 2 electives totalling 24 units.
• Courses must be relevant to the product development process.
• Courses must be approved by the advisor.

• Courses must be at the graduate level to count toward your QPA. 


Pre-Approved Electives



Below is a sampling of pre-approved electives organized by concentration that relate to the practice of product development. Many MPD students have taken and thoroughly enjoyed many of these courses. Please note that this list not complete and that there is no guarantee a student will be able to secure a spot in these courses. Also note that some courses are offered in the Fall or Spring and some are offered in both and that some course schedules may conflict with the schedule of a required MPD course. For the most up to date information about these courses and others offered across the CMU campus, please visit the CMU Schedule of Classes website.

Design

Designing & Leading a Business (51-834)
Experimental Form (51-434)
Communication Design Fundamentals (51-262)
Designing for Service (51-785)
Prototyping (51-824)
Tinker Lab (51-714)
Semantics & Aesthetics (51-876)
Conceptual Models (51-783)
Care in Design (51-786)
Strategy Lab (51-736)
Research Methods - Emotion-based Design (24-789)
Graduate Independent Study (51-799)

Mechanical Engineering

Technology Identification and Product Design (24-687)
Research Methods - Emotion-based Design (24-789)

Mechatronics Design (24-778)
Engineering Design Projects (39-605/39-606)
Advanced Mobile Robot Development (16-865)

Leadership for Engineers (18-603)
Research Project (24-794) 



Biomedical Device Design

Medical Devices (42-744)
Bio Inspired Robots (42-641/24-676)
Introduction to Biomechanics (42-752)
Rehabilitation Engineering (42-747)

Surgery for Engineers (42-660)

Introduction to Biomaterials (42-511)

Computer Science/Human Computer Interaction

Rapid Design & Prototyping of Computer Science (39-648)
Special Topics in HCI - Designing Mobile Services (05-899)

Robotics
Advanced Mobile Robot Development (16-865)

Biomechanics & Motor Control (16-899)
Bio Inspired Robots (42-641/24-676)
Sensing & Sensors (16-722)

Ethnography:How Context Affects Technology Use (16-764)

Social Innovation/Public Policy

Social Innovation Incubator (90-845)
Foundations of Social Innovation & Enterprise (90-811)
Sustainability
Life Cycle Assessment and Green Design (12-714)

Sustainable Operations (45-868)

Business/Management/Entrepreneurship

Designing & Leading a Business (51-834)
Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (45-881)
Entrepreneurial Business Planning (45-882)
Acting for Management (94-801)

Negotiation (94-800, 45-895)
Consulting & Conflict Resolution (45-951)
Financial Accounting (95-715)