mandatory courses
Leadership and Management Developmentdesign courses
Design Thinking Design Innovation Visual Thinking Creativity & Innovation Special Topics in Engineering Design Other Courses From Computing & Software, Mechanical or other Engineering Departmentsustainable community courses
Design of Sustainable Community Infrastructure Energy Efficient Buildings Sustainable Energy – Technology and Options Selection Development of Sustainable Local Communities Total Sustainability Managementprocess systems courses
Process Design and Control for Operability Process Modeling and Optimization Process Design and Integration for Minimal Environmental Impact Other Courses From Civil, Mechanical or other Engineering Departmentproduction systems courses
Manufacturing Systems Sustainable Manufacturing Process Computer Integrated Manufacturing Materials Selection in Design & Manufacturing Other Courses From Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical Engineering or other Engineering Departmentinterdisciplinary courses
Project Management Reliability and Risk Management Statistics for EngineersStudents can take graduate level courses from entire graduate program at McMaster and up to 2 courses from other universities.
Leadership and Management Development
Managerial competence is a function of knowledge, skills, and experience relevant to management. The purpose of this course is to develop skills in diagnosing situations that require change in organizational life and to facilitate such changes. Within the context of organizational behaviour, the course will emphasize the acquisition of personal, interpersonal, and group skills that are required to lead and manage people effectively in modern organizations.
Design Thinking
This course will explore the creative design process, tools and methods that will enable students to discover, identify, and analyze opportunities and develop those opportunities into innovative design solutions. Based on a series of self-contained exercises and small projects, students will work to research a well-conceived design concept by the end of term. This is a reading course.
Design Innovation
This course will explore the creative design process from concept to design. Students will learn processes, tools, and methods for prototyping, analyzing, visualizing, and validating a design with the goal of delivering innovative design solutions. Students will work in small teams to develop a specification by the end of the term, supported by scheduled gate reviews, in-class presentations, and peer review. The outcome of the course will be a final presentation where students will demonstrate their appearance model. The course is studio-based with a lecture component.
Visual Thinking
This course will explore the use of visual tools and methods to enhance the creative design process. Student will learn to represent, map, organize and analyze complex product and system topics in a clear, holistic manner. The ability to visualize research information will enable students to identify design issues, discover opportunities and define design directions and to clearly present their ideas to others. The outcome of the course will be a final presentation where students will present their design analysis of a specific topic. The course is studio-based with a lecture component.
Creativity & Innovation
This course will explore the inventive systems design process from problem to specifications using established design practices from industry. Students will identify stakeholder needs, explore one or more technological design spaces, model their design, and validate it. The outcome of the course will be specifications and one or more identified engineering problems for the practicum. Students will work in small groups, supported by scheduled gate reviews, in-class presentations, and peer review. The course is studio-based with a lecture component.
Special Topics in Engineering Design
Studies selected from specialized areas of research or representing special areas of expertise in areas of engineering design with regard to either process systems and operations, product design or sustainable infrastructure.
Other Courses From Computing & Software, Mechanical or other Engineering Department
Students can take any other courses from Computing & Software, Mechanical or other engineering department courses
Design of Sustainable Community Infrastructure
This course will give the underlying theory and practical applications for understanding the design of the following elements of a sustainable community: the public realm (streets, sidewalks, parks and open space); urban energy systems.
Energy Efficient Buildings
The objective of the course is to provide students with a good understanding of (1) building energy sources, (2) energy efficient technologies for commercial and industrial‐type buildings, and (3) energy efficient buildings. Topics covered: Building major energy sources and areas of end use including building envelope, HVAC, distribution system, lighting system, internal loads, etc.; building energy balance, energy audit of buildings, energy conservation measures, building simulation tools, design of integrated systems.
Sustainable Energy – Technology and Options Selection
Assessment of potential current and future energy systems, covering resources, extraction, conversion, and end-use, with emphasis on meeting regional and global energy needs in the 21st century in a sustainable manner. Renewable and conventional energy technologies are presented (solar, wave and tidal, wind, hydropower, biomass, geothermal, nuclear, fossil) and their attributes described within a framework that aids in evaluation and analysis of energy technology systems in the context of political, social, economic, and environmental goals.
Development of Sustainable Local Communities
Development of local sustainable communities Local economy as a basis for sustainable communities. Deciding on the role of the community (thinkers, makers, traders) and development of economic competitive advantage and the associated business clusters. Community corporations. Pro-community local governance. Regeneration of livable cities. Case studies on Ontario regional economies.
Total Sustainability Management
This course introduces sustainability within a unified framework of Total Sustainability Management that will teach the student how to deeply embed sustainability into the enterprise through the use of Design principles, Bill-of-Rights of the Planet and through public policy. This approach will apply to not only a company product but also to its business strategy and business model. Furthermore, the course will teach the student a problem-solving approach that combines innovation, design and policy to emphasize the synergetic interplay between them. The student will learn how to think of sustainability as a "Way of Thinking." The course will make liberal use of appropriate case studies, and call on several internal and external speakers who are recognized subject-matter experts.
Process Design and Control for Operability
Process design involves tradeoffs to achieve performance over a range of operations due to uncertainty, variability of inputs, and a range of production goals. A flexible design functions acceptably over the range and well at the typical conditions. Processes safety (seven layers, HAZOP, LOPA, quantitative analysis), effect of structure on reliability and plant dynamics. Classical supervisory control methods and typical applications to major equipment and systems.
Process Modeling and Optimization
Architecture of simulation programs, solution algorithms, integration of simulation models from different simulators. Steady-state and dynamic simulation via sequential modular and equation-oriented algorithms. Optimization of steady-state and dynamic performance, sensitivity of the optimum, multi-objective optimization. Analysis of plant data, gross error detection, parameter estimation to match the plant performance. On-line monitoring and optimization of process performance.
Process Design and Integration for Minimal Environmental Impact
The course focuses on integration of process units and on the design of Energy Utility Systems, Heat Exchanger Networks (HEN) and Water Distribution Systems and presents methodologies that lead to energy efficient, water saving and economically attractive designs. Methods for heat integration (HEN, utility selection, heat engines, heat pumps, refrigeration cycles, and pinch analysis), cogeneration and integrations with industrial sites, water and cooling minimization and their applications.
Other Courses From Civil, Mechanical or other Engineering Department
Students can take any other courses from Civil, Mechanical or other engineering department courses
Manufacturing Systems
This course studies the organization and control of manufacturing systems. Types of production systems, the role of inventory, capacity and production control planning, scheduling, push-, CONWIP- and JIT-systems. Use of analytic, heuristic and numerical analysis and design methods.
Sustainable Manufacturing Process
Sustainable development, materials cycles, methods for measuring environmental impact, life cycle analysis, waste treatment and recycling technologies
Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Computer integrated manufacturing. Flexible manufacture. Retrieval and generative process planning. Design for manufacturability, assembly and inspection. Simulation of manufacturing systems. Manual, automated and robotic assembly. Integrating sensors in manufacturing.
Materials Selection In Design & Manufacturing
Materials selection charts, materials selection with mechanical constraints, coupled materials selection and processing/fabrication routes, effect of microscopic and macroscopic shape of materials selection, design of hybrid materials, eco-selection.
Other Courses From Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical Engineering or other Engineering Department
Students can take any other courses from Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical Engineering or other engineering department courses
Project Management
Project Management is a critical skill in today's business environment. This course covers the basics of project management techniques and tools to improve project success. Students will learn how to apply effective project management to a variety of common business situations, including starting a company, bringing a product to market, constructing a physical facility, and developing a major piece of software, among others. Case studies and guest speakers will be used to explore real-life examples of project management successes and failures.
Reliability and Risk Management
The course presents a broad treatment of the subject of engineering decision, risk, and reliability. Emphasis is on (1) the modeling of engineering problems and evaluation of systems performance under conditions of uncertainty; (2) risk-based approach to life-cycle management of engineering systems; (3) systematic development of design criteria, explicitly taking into account the significance of uncertainty; and (4) logical framework for risk assessment and risk benefit tradeoffs in decision making. The necessary mathematical concepts are developed in the context of engineering problems.
Statistics for Engineers
Linear regression analysis in matrix form, non-linear regression, multi response estimation, design of experiments including factorial and optimal designs. Multivariate statistics. Special emphasis on methods appropriate to engineering problems.
