Elective Tracks

Customize your degree to match your career goals

Through our elective tracks, Duke Engineering Management students in our campus program select courses that support the job roles and career goals they have in mind.

The elective tracks help guide those choices by grouping courses by the skills needed to prepare you for your potential job role.

Customer Experience and Product Design

Create or improve products that exceed customer expectations and increase satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Customer Experience Data Analyst
  • Customer Success Analyst
  • Quality Engineer
  • Software Engineer

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 542: Competitive Strategy in Technology-Based Industries
  • EGRMGMT 556: Consulting or Industrial Practicum
  • EGRMGMT 560: Project Management
  • EGRMGMT 575: Software Quality Management
  • EGRMGMT 576: Design Thinking and Innovation
  • EGRMGMT 578: Designing Customer Experiences in Technology
  • EGRMGMT 579: Using Real-Time Data to Improve Customer Quality Experience
  • EGRMGMT 587: Data Visualization for Engineering Managers
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Managing Product Design

Course descriptions »

Data Analytics and Machine Learning

Prepare for a role using data science to improve, accelerate and transform—or even disrupt—an industry

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Business Intelligence Analyst
  • Financial Analyst
  • Data Analyst
  • Data Scientist

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 534: Quantitative Financial Analysis for Technology-Driven Investment Decisions
  • EGRMGMT 556: Consulting or Industrial Practicum
  • EGRMGMT 579: Using Real-Time Data to Improve Customer Quality Experience
  • EGRMGMT 585: Fundamentals of Data Science in Engineering Management
  • EGRMGMT 586: New Opportunities in Big Data
  • EGRMGMT 587: Data Visualization for Engineering Managers
  • EGRMGMT 588: Machine Learning Principles and Applications for Engineering Managers
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Digital Marketing with Machine Learning

Course descriptions »

NOTE: In addition to the Master of Engineering Management, Duke Engineering offers discipline-specific master's degrees focused on data analytics and machine learning. Learn more »

Operations and Supply Chain Management

Gain skills in designing, operating and improving the systems that create and deliver primary products and services

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Operations Data Analyst
  • Supply Chain Data Analyst
  • Associate Supply Chain Manager
  • Project Manager
  • Program Manager
  • Process Engineer
  • Industrial Engineer

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 556: Consulting or Industrial Practicum
  • EGRMGMT 560: Project Management
  • EGRMGMT 562: Operations Management
  • EGRMGMT 563: Supply Chain Management
  • EGRMGMT 580: Decision Models

Course descriptions »

Product Management

Prepare for a career planning, forecasting, producing, or marketing at any stage of the product lifecycle

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Associate Product Manager
  • Product Management Analyst
  • Product Development Engineer
  • Associate Offering Engineer

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 512: Product Management in High-Tech Companies
  • EGRMGMT 514: Negotiations and Consultative Selling in Technology
  • EGRMGMT 532: Advanced Corporate Finance for Technology-Based Companies
  • EGRMGMT 542: Competitive Strategy in Technology-Based Industries
  • EGRMGMT 556: Consulting or Industrial Practicum
  • EGRMGMT 560: Project Management
  • EGRMGMT 572: Innovation Management in Technology-Based Organizations
  • EGRMGMT 574: Commercializing Technology Innovations
  • EGRMGMT 576: Design Thinking and Innovation
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Sustainable Products for Green Energy Transitions
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Managing Product Development
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Managing Product Design
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Digital Marketing with Machine Learning

Course descriptions »

Software Management

Understand the powerful role computer software plays—and how leaders manage teams to commercialize and maintain it

Skills acquired

  • Business ecosystems
  • Digital transformation
  • Software business management
  • Information technology consulting
  • Software design and architecture
  • Software development life cycle
  • Agile Software Development Frameworks
  • Requirements & change management
  • Information Technology & Enterprise Architecture
  • Business operations management and automation

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Sales Engineer
  • Technical Sales
  • Software Marketing Manager
  • Software Engineering Manager
  • Software Product Manager
  • Software Development Manager
  • Software Project Manager
  • Agile Development Manager
  • Enterprise Architect
  • Release Manager/Engineer
  • Customer Support Manager/Engineer
  • IT Project Manager
  • IT Consultant
  • IT Business Strategist
  • IT Manager/Engineer

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 575: Software Quality Management
  • EGRMGMT 588: Machine Learning Principles and Applications for Engineering Managers
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Software Engineering Management (Software Management Fundamentals)
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Software Business Management
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Software, Solution, and Enterprise Architecture
  • EGRMGMT 590.XX: Digital Transformation
  • FINTECH 514: Secure Software Development

Course descriptions »

Technology Development and Commercialization

Preparation for roles that transform innovations into solutions

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Business Analyst
  • Business Technology Analyst
  • Associate Consultant
  • Strategy Analyst

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 514: Negotiations and Consultative Selling in Technology
  • EGRMGMT 532: Advanced Corporate Finance for Technology-Based Companies
  • EGRMGMT 542: Competitive Strategy in Technology-Based Industries
  • EGRMGMT 556: Consulting or Industrial Practicum
  • EGRMGMT 560: Project Management
  • EGRMGMT 572: Innovation Management in Technology-Based Organizations
  • EGRMGMT 574: Commercializing Technology Innovations
  • EGRMGMT 576: Design Thinking and Innovation

Course descriptions »

Entrepreneurship

Start a new venture or be an intrapreneur—and bring innovative solutions to market

Potential Job Roles

Dependent upon experience

  • Entrepreneur
  • Founder
  • Intrapreneur
  • Innovation Engineer

More about this elective track »

Course Offerings

  • EGRMGMT 532: Advanced Corporate Finance for Technology-Based Companies
  • EGRMGMT 542: Competitive Strategy in Technology-Based Industries
  • EGRMGMT 560: Project Management
  • EGRMGMT 572: Innovation Management in Technology-Based Organizations
  • EGRMGMT 574: Commercializing Technology Innovations
  • EGRMGMT 576: Design Thinking and Innovation

Students may choose from these courses without completing the track.

Build Your Own

Design an elective track to fit your goals

Engineering Discipline-Focused

Browse graduate engineering courses in:


Global Health

Note: Permission is required to participate in this option.

Selected students receive priority in registering for courses. They must take the Key Courses listed below and have the option of selecting the fourth course in the Duke Global Health Institute, listed below under Other Notable Courses.

See additional information on the Duke Global Health Institute website »

Key Courses
  • GLHLTH 701: Global Health Challenges
  • GLHLTH 750: Health Systems in Developing Countries
  • GLHLTH 755: Global Health Policy: Transforming Evidence into Action
Other Notable Courses
  • ENVIRON 538: Global Environment Health: Economics and Policy
  • GLHLTH 590: Introduction to Global Health
  • GLHLTH 751: Developing Implementation/Operational Research for Improving Health Interventions
  • GLHLTH 773: Global Injury and Injury Prevention
  • GLHLTH 774: Program Evaluation for Health

Independent Study

A path of your design.


Across Duke

* Note: Fuqua School of Business offers courses on a space-available basis with instructor consent required. Fuqua courses are in six-week terms rather than semesters. A Master of Engineering Management student is limited to one (1) Fuqua course per term, two per semester. Fuqua courses require a separate registration process.


In the Research Triangle Region

Relevant courses at other nearby universities, including:

Further Options

New Industry Themed Offerings

MEM frequently develops new technical elective offerings focused on the latest technology/business themes in industry.

Choosing these courses as technical electives allows students to further customize a main technical elective track (Product Management, Operations & Supply Chain Management, Entrepreneurship, etc.) into these thematic areas.

Clean Energy/Sustainability Courses

Digital Transformation Courses

Course descriptions »

Further non-MEM technical elective options for these themes can be found in approved Pratt, Nicholas or Fuqua courses. Approved non-MEM technical electives

Careers in Consulting

Many of our courses develop skills necessary for success in a career in consulting.

Students interested in consulting should consider topic areas such as:

  • Information technology
  • Finance
  • Product development

Courses helpful in consulting include:

Course descriptions »

Aakruti Mehta"As a Duke Engineering Management student, I handpicked the courses that would be most beneficial in my chosen industry."

Aakruti Mehta '16 | Gartner Inc.