MIIPS Program Details: 9 Month Format
Prepare to work closely with talented engineers, designers, and business professionals as you embrace the fuzzy front end of product and service development and learn how to get comfortable with ambiguity in a hands-on, practical setting.
Get the necessary skills to accelerate your career— and get back into the workforce quickly to put those skills to use.
Program Features:
- 9 months (August-May)
- Ideal for candidates with some professional experience looking to build skills in an accelerated format
- Part-time option available for professionals local to Pittsburgh
Curriculum
The majority of the coursework is designed specifically for the MIIPS program. Students will take core courses across engineering, business, and design, in addition to specialized courses in AI, product and brand management, product development, and leadership.
Curriculum Requirements
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The MIIPS curriculum requires students to complete a minimum of 102 units of coursework over two semesters, Fall & Spring.
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Students can complete a maximum of 60 units during the fall term & 48 units during the spring term.
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At least 18 units of the total must be used toward electives relevant to the product development process and be approved by an advisor. This includes 6 units of electives completed within the Integrated Innovation Institute (49-xxx).
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To work with industry sponsors during the degree-required Integrated Product Development capstone course, signing contractual terms regarding intellectual property and non-disclosure agreements may be required to complete the course project.
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All coursework must be completed with graduate-level courses.
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Students must have a minimum QPA of 3.0 to graduate.
As part of the MIIPS curriculum, students complete required courses in the following areas:
Featured Courses
Integrated Product Development
This hands-on, studio-style course covers the critical thinking, processes, frameworks, methodologies, artifacts, and deliverables typically associated with innovative product development. Working both individually and in teams, students will be challenged through case histories, mini-lectures, readings, a variety of hands-on exercises, and more.
Mastering Collaborative Strategies and Business Environments
This course builds finance, operations, and marketing skills to help students assemble a decision-making framework. Students will understand the multi-dimensional reality of how business is conducted while solving novel problems in a collaborative, team-based setting.
How Things Can Be Made
For the engineer and non-engineer alike, this course teaches students to work on collaborative teams to understand the perspectives, processes, and requirements for bringing products and services to fruition. Engineers will apply what they know more deeply, while non-engineers will learn the ways that engineers approach decision-making.
The MIIPS Experience: In Their Own Words
"Experiencing the entire development process, interacting with clients, learning from responsive faculty, and engaging with incredibly diverse, maker-minded peers transformed the way I work. The program provided me a framework that I use daily to translate user-centered research into strategic solutions for important healthcare problems."
"It was a one-year program, just two semesters, so it really fit into my professional career. I was able to bring my technical background as a mechanical engineer and focus on design methodology and design thinking, and business acumen as well. All of that was really important in further developing my career."
"The program's multi-disciplinary approach of cross-pollinating design, engineering, and business has helped me understand how to identify the most important problems to solve by understanding needs in a deeply meaningful way."