Georgia Tech Launches State’s First Professional Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Leadership
ATLANTA - September 23, 2015 - Georgia Tech Professional Education has partnered with the Georgia Tech Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) and the Georgia Tech College of Engineering to offer a professional master’s degree in manufacturing leadership (PMML), the first of its kind in Georgia. The degree program is designed to prepare leaders for companies and organizations in the manufacturing industry of the 21st century.
The professional master’s program was developed in response to President Barack Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership’s (AMP) recommendation, made in its July 2012 report entitled, “Report to the President on Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing.” In the document, the AMP recommends that research universities “establish new masters-level professional degrees in manufacturing leadership” that provide “a comprehensive overview of manufacturing as well as technological and operational perspectives” to meet the nationally accepted trends for advancing manufacturing education.
The manufacturing sector accounts for 12.0 percent of GDP, with its contribution to the economy having risen from $1.73 trillion in 2009 to $2.09 trillion by 2014, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), based on 2014 data by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The degree answers the requirement for the development of a highly qualified workforce able to manage the complex and wide-ranging demands of a changing industry. “This post-graduate program is customized to address the unique needs of manufacturing, from financial analysis of production systems and sustainable system design to leading change management and supply chain,” said Norman Marsolan, executive director, Renewable Bioproducts Institute. “Those meeting the challenge will be on the frontline in addressing the challenges and opportunities that await us in the coming decades and beyond,” he said.
Geared to science or engineering graduates, with at least one year’s work experience in manufacturing, the program is intended to equip professionals to assume positions of business and technical leadership on a manufacturing site or at the corporate level.
“This program is designed to bridge the gap between higher education and the workforce,” said Nelson Baker, dean, Georgia Tech Professional Education. “It combines manufacturing-specific, technical, leadership and management training to prepare candidates to meet the day-to-day challenges of the modern manufacturing environment,” he said. Delivery of the professional master’s degree in manufacturing leadership includes online instruction and one-week on-campus sessions three times during the two-year program, which begins in the 2016 academic year. For more information, visit our website.
“The College of Engineering is proud to offer a degree that supports American manufacturing and encourages more Georgia Tech students to take leadership roles in the field,” said Gary May, dean of CoE and Southern Company Chair. “Our nation’s economy has always been tied to manufacturing excellence, and this new degree assures Georgia Tech will be part of this sector's future,” he said.
About Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE)
Georgia Tech Professional Education, an academic division of the Georgia Institute of Technology, offers short courses, certificate programs and professional master’s degrees in a variety of formats to meet the needs of working professionals and industry partners worldwide. It educates over 16,000 individual learners representing more than 3,000 companies annually. Visit Georgia Tech Professional Education.
About the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) at Georgia Tech
The Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) at Georgia Tech builds on nearly a century of lignocellulosics research at Georgia Tech—one of the nation's premier public research universities and engineering schools. RBI is advancing both science and engineering for the transformation of biomaterials into new products, including traditional and new forest products, renewable energy, chemicals, advanced materials and pharmaceuticals. Visit Georgia Tech Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI).
Georgia Tech College of Engineering (CoE)
From the opening of the Institute and the establishment of the School of Mechanical Engineering in 1888, the College of Engineering (CoE) has continually grown. Today, the College incorporates eight engineering schools with a fall 2015 full-time enrollment of more than 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students. CoE is the largest producer of women and minority engineers in the country. The College is consistently ranked among the country’s top 10 engineering schools and among the top in the world and its schools all rank in the top ten nationally. The College has more than 98,000 alumni, and more than 7,500 of its alumni hold prominent business leadership roles. Visit Georgia Tech College of Engineering.
