What I Did With My EMP Degree

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Biomedical Engineering

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 23:07:16 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Biomedical Engineering Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/07/2022 - 16:07

As a project manager for the healthcare technology company Medtronic, Sam Tobey works at the cutting-edge of biomedical engineering in Boulder, Colorado. In his role, Tobey helps to develop new surgical tools for use across many different areas, including general, gynecologic and thoracic surgery.

A recent graduate of the Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Program at CU Boulder, Tobey enjoys working with colleagues outside of the usual engineering realm while remaining hands-on in the engineering process.

It’s a career that not only satisfies his engineer’s passion for building things and solving problems but also one that he finds incredibly fulfilling, knowing that he is helping to improve the quality of life for many people.

"When I learn that one of our new devices has been used on a human for the first time and how it helped that patient, it's really rewarding,” says Tobey.

Despite Tobey’s passion for biomedical engineering, the field wasn’t always on his career radar.

Healthcare Engineering—A Fast-Moving Industry

As the son of engineers and with a passion for science, technology and math, Sam Tobey always knew he wanted to be an engineer. While studying mechanical engineering as an undergraduate at CU Boulder, he set his sights on a high-flying career in aerospace engineering. However, an internship in that industry taught him that aerospace engineering didn't quite move fast enough for him.

“I thought that my direction was going to be aerospace,” says Tobey. “I wanted to do airplanes and satellites, but then I did an internship in the aerospace industry. I was unimpressed with the speed of the projects. Also, I like to see the 'big picture' when I'm working on a project. As an intern in the aviation industry, I didn't feel like I had a clear vision of the grand scheme of things.”

Unsure of his next step, a chance meeting at a career fair introduced him to the world of biomedical and healthcare engineering.

“I was able to get in with a couple of medical device companies' subsequent engineering internships,” says Tobey. “That's where I found my niche. While the projects are long and still heavily regulated, it is faster than aerospace. I also feel like I am building something that I know is going to improve somebody's quality of life every day.”

Based on his experience of moving his focus from aerospace to healthcare engineering, Tobey advises fellow engineering graduates to take their time when selecting the industry they want to specialize in.

“If you are lucky enough to know where you want to take your career right after graduation, then more power to you,” says Tobey. “But for those engineers who are still trying to find their way, they should absolutely work in a couple of different industries. Take your time to find that niche that you are dedicated to and in which you can make a difference.”

Biomedical Engineering: Seeing The Bigger Picture

Despite now working in the biomedical engineering field, Tobey has no regrets about following a mechanical engineering path.

“I don't regret the choice of mechanical engineering,” says Tobey. “It helped me understand more holistically what systems thinking needs to happen to build a product that works where there are hundreds of moving pieces.”

This desire to understand the “bigger picture” also contributed to Tobey’s decision to return to study for his Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree at CU Boulder.

“I realized that I was interested in all the different functional areas of the biomedical engineering field,” says Tobey. “There are so many different people and different groups that are needed to develop, manufacture, regulate, market, and sell a medical device. So I applied for the Engineering Management Program at CU Boulder because I knew it would help me get a better understanding of the bigger picture.”

This approach helped Tobey move from a research and development role into a broader project management position.

"I wanted a higher-level understanding of how to develop a product," says Tobey. "Instead of being a subject matter expert in a singular thing and being a mile deep and an inch wide in my knowledge, I wanted to be a mile wide and an inch deep, and have my fingers in all the different pies.”

Studying for an Online Engineering Management Degree Versus an MBA

As a graduate of CU Boulder’s Engineering Management Program, Tobey is often asked why he selected the EMP route instead of studying for an MBA.

“I didn't want to lose my engineering focus,” says Tobey. “I didn't necessarily want to go into marketing or finance. Instead, I wanted to become better at leading technical organizations and leading technical projects. An MBA may have taught me how to be a project manager. But an engineering management degree helped me understand how to be a leader in the fields that are going to make technical breakthroughs with companies like Medtronic—things that are going to blow people’s minds.”

Essentially, the EMP degree allowed Tobey to grow within the company while still following his passion.

“I want to stay involved,” says Tobey. “I am not going to lead from a position where I don't get my hands on the device. I don't want to just have numbers in front of me that say this project costs this much, is going to deliver this much revenue, therefore let's prioritize it over that one. I want to get out to the manufacturing line. I want to get into the Operating Room.”

Why CU Boulder?

Growing up in Littleton, about an hour south of Boulder, Tobey quickly admits that he is incredibly lucky to have been raised, educated and employed in Colorado.

“I made it to California for a single summer and missed Colorado so much that I came back as fast as I possibly could," says Tobey.

As well as being Tobey’s “local” school, he has family connections to CU Boulder.

“My parents are alumni of CU Boulder,” says Tobey. “So again, there was a little bit of history and the implicit bias that I wanted to be a Buff.”

As an undergraduate, Tobey was also attracted to CU Boulder because of its reputation as a great engineering school with an incredible campus.

“It has that great outdoorsy feel,” says Tobey. “I knew that I was going to be able to find ways to be motivated outside of the classroom to get out and do things that are beyond academics. So I joined the rowing team here in Boulder, and that's actually where I met my wife. It was the best decision I made in my undergrad years because it kept me physically fit and gave me a good core of friends that I still see regularly.”

Online Engineering Management Master’s Degree

Despite working full-time in his R&D role at Medtronic as he was studying for his master’s degree, Tobey was able to do some of his studies on CU Boulder’s campus.

“I was kind of doing a hybrid option,” says Tobey. “I signed up as an online student, but whenever possible, I would try to make it to campus. The classes started after normal working hours, and so I was able to make it down there. I'm a person who engages better when I’m able to be in the same room with people.”

While Tobey preferred to attend classes on campus, he is quick to admit that online learning didn’t present too much of a learning curve.

“Obviously, spring of 2020 was the only semester where I had to do it exclusively online because that was the start of the pandemic,” says Tobey. “I think that presented a little bit of a learning curve for everybody. But honestly, I thought it was easy enough to log in and follow the Program.”

Tobey particularly appreciated the live online classes due to the high levels of engagement with the professors and fellow students.

“It helps so much when you are having a conversation, and you can stop and ask a question or go down a tangent,” says Tobey.

Optimizing Online Learning

Tobey highlights how technologies adopted by many people during the pandemic have made online learning more accessible.

“Technologies like Zoom have made a huge difference and helped people connect online,” says Tobey. “If I was in the Program today, I wonder if I would spend so much time on campus.”

While Tobey admits that there are additional challenges for students not used to online learning, he offers some excellent advice for staying engaged.

“I think just some of the basic best practices of online learning are courtesies like turning your camera to stay engaged with your professor. It can make a huge difference in the value you get from a class,” says Tobey. “It’s also important to make sure that you keep yourself accountable and do the pre-reads. I would say the last thing is just to make sure that you have that time dedicated for those asynchronous classes that you can take any time. I only took one, but it was way more helpful when I said, ‘OK, Tuesday nights are the night that I'm going to do that.’ That way, I didn't always put it off until Sunday at 4 p.m. and have to rush things."

Engineering Confidence

Tobey believes graduating from the Engineering Management degree Program proved to both himself and his employers that he was heading in the right direction in his career.

“I was an R&D engineer throughout my Program," says Tobey. "Completing the Program showed my leaders at Medtronic that I was dedicated and that project management was absolutely the career path that I wanted to go down. It allowed me to go to my future boss and say, 'You should give me a chance as a project manager working on these high level and important assignments.’”

Tobey highlights how working with engineers from other industries while in the Engineering Management Program has paid dividends in his career at Medtronic—both for both him and his employers.

“Working with engineers from other fields gave me a real insight into how other industries get work done,” says Tobey. “I’ve been able to take this experience and factor it into making medical devices faster, better and cheaper. “

Tobey believes this has made him a more creative engineer.

“I think it gave me an ability to think about things in a creative manner not necessarily dictated by my colleagues at Medtronic," says Tobey. "So instead of asking them how they would have done things, it gave me the confidence to go out and try something new.”

A Day in the Life of a Biomedical Engineer

According to Tobey, a typical day for him depends on what stage of product development a team is working on.

“Right now, we're working on moving a product through the final verification and validation exercises to generate the evidence to submit to regulatory bodies,” says Tobey. “At this point, it is really about firefighting. What is the largest issue that is going to derail us or delay our schedule? It involves going out and making sure that you are working with every functional group to understand what you need. It’s about collaboration and making sure that everybody is moving in the same direction.”

The early stages of a project are more about planning.

“This helps us understand who our stakeholders are in order to be collaborative so that no one feels like their opinions are left out,” says Tobey. “This helps keep everyone motivated and ensure projects stay on scope.”

Tobey's favorite part of the job is when a device is finally placed in the hands of a surgeon.

“Next month, we’ll be asking surgeons to perform certain procedures for the first time using a new medical device on a model,” says Tobey. “We’ll ask them: ‘Were you able to do this procedure? Was it superior to the technology that you currently have? And does it meet your needs for safety and efficacy?’ To hear surgeons give us feedback about all the hard work that the team has put in is the best part of the job and incredibly rewarding.”

Career Progression

Tobey hopes the leadership skills and creative strategies he developed while studying for his master's will see him progress further in his career.

“I want to work at a level where instead of managing individual products, I’m able to work at that portfolio level,” says Tobey. “How are we going to find the synergies between our robotics group and our stapling group and our electrosurgical group? How can we benefit each other and be more collaborative? How can we find ways to jump ahead of our competitors and essentially become a one-stop shop for our healthcare professionals?”

Learn More 91��Ƭ�� the EMP

Visit the Program page on our website, to learn more about how a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management from CU Boulder can help you develop your career as an engineer while climbing the management ranks of your organization. You can speak with an advisor or request more information by contacting: Kendra.Thibeault@colorado.edu or call 303.492.0954.

Learn how an engineering management master’s degree from CU Boulder helped one graduate develop a career at the cutting edge of biomedical engineering.

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What I Did With My EMP Degree: Renewable Energy

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 18:11:41 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Renewable Energy Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/31/2021 - 12:11

As an undergraduate, Andrea Watson developed her love of the natural world by studying biology. During this time, her interest in marine life created opportunities to study in Costa Rica and Australia, where her attention quickly turned toward protecting fragile and changing ecosystems. This prompted Watson to reconsider the direction of her career and eventually saw her graduating with a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree from CU Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

“I recognized that I wanted to do something in the climate change space,” says Watson. “One area I could have worked was studying the impact of climate change on the natural world. Of course, biologists do that, and the work is important, but I wanted to be a little more focused on solutions. So I became interested in renewable energy.”

Watson started her career in renewable energy working for a small startup company in Wyoming that installed small wind and solar energy systems on properties, including schools and off-grid homes. She then moved to New York, where she worked for the city as their solar energy coordinator.

“That role was really interesting,” says Watson. “At that time, Con Edison, the utility company in New York, had safety and reliability concerns about solar photovoltaics deployment on rooftops within the city boundaries. I helped the utility and community come together to find solutions.”

In recent years, attitudes have begun to shift as more large corporations put their weight behind clean energy.

“Big companies that rely on huge computational needs, like Apple and Facebook, are looking for clean energy to run their data centers,” says Watson. “Amazon would like to run their entire fleet on electricity for deliveries if they can find affordable technology to do that. Those companies are positioned to make a difference if they lead in that energy solutions space.”

Finding Renewable Energy Solutions: NREL

Watson was recruited from her job in New York to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where she initially worked as a researcher. NREL is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

“NREL looks at the challenges and opportunities that come with transitioning to a power system based predominantly on clean energy technologies,” says Watson. “My current role as Laboratory Program Manager for Strategy is a lab-wide position, helping the laboratory stay focused on what we want to accomplish over the next five to ten years.”

According to Watson, it’s NREL’s job to find creative energy solutions to help the nation achieve its energy goals and transition to a clean energy economy.

“Wind and solar energy are likely to be a huge part of the transition,” says Watson. “We’re talking on a terawatt scale here. There are both challenges and opportunity with this kind of transition that NREL will be involved with, from critical materials and sustainability to clean pathways for developing fuels, materials and chemicals.”

In addition to clean energy technology development, NREL also looks at issues relating to energy distribution, ensuring the grid remains secure and reliable.

“As our energy needs change, our traditional grid system will also change,” says Watson. “NREL is pushing leading edge research that will help us operate a grid system that is resilient, reliable and affordable as we see more and more clean energy integration."

NREL also looks at the challenges of “hard to decarbonize” sectors.

“These are areas like aviation fuel, long haul trucking, shipping, and industrial processes” says Watson. “We think about the pathways to producing the energy-dense fuels that those sectors need. We are looking at using renewable energy to convert CO₂or water to some of the fuels, chemicals, and materials that we need. Today, these items are overwhelmingly produced from fossil fuels.”

Environmental concerns are not the only reason why Watson is so passionate about a clean energy future.

“We want to see renewable energy be a good choice for a lot of reasons,” says Watson. “It’s certainly the most cost-effective. The vast majority of new electricity generation capacity is wind and solar energy because it’s incredibly cost-effective and is also very quick to build and deploy. But it’s also got to be reliable and secure, and contributing to good, well-paid jobs.”

A Career As a Renewable Energy Specialist

Watson has worked at NREL for 12 years and has been promoted twice, initially to group manager and then, in November 2020, to her current position where she is responsible for leading strategy for the laboratory.

It’s Watson’s job to work with NREL’s executive team and researchers to consider the various challenges, solutions, and pathways to a clean energy future and work toward creating a strategy to reach these goals.

“I'm putting in place an actual strategic plan for the laboratory,” says Watson. “I don't come up with the strategy alone. Instead, I work with all the executives to develop a strategy that has a deep level of ownership and commitment from NREL leadership.”

Watson is also responsible for setting KPIs for the laboratory on the strategy to track progress and measure against targets which allows NREL to make investment decisions and prioritize its resources most strategically.

According to Watson, the biggest challenge in her job is creating a strategy that takes the organization to the place it needs to be in five or ten years, motivates everyone in the laboratory, and is something everyone can get behind.

“I think one of the things that makes it easy to attract talent at NREL is that we have a vision that matters,” says Watson. “We have a mission space that matters, and we are trying to make a positive impact and make the world a better place.”

Watson has no doubts about the importance of the work she is involved with at NREL.

“I work in a very exciting world right now,” says Watson. “We are at a point where I think we can change the world. We are at a precipice. The policy is coming into alignment, and the United States is extremely motivated to see a lot more clean energy deployment. I think we can get to really high levels of clean energy in the near future, and that would be a game-changer.”

How Does The EMP Degree Help You Meet Your Professional Goals?

It was while initially working as a researcher at NREL, that Watson enrolled in the Engineering Management Program (EMP) at CU Boulder.

While Watson isn’t 100% sure she was promoted to her current position because she had the EMP degree on her resume, she is certain that the Program helped set her up for success in the role.

“Thanks to the training I had received in the EMP, I had the confidence that I could do strategy,” says Watson. “I felt comfortable stepping into a 100% management role focused on long-term strategic planning.”

Watson references a class on quality strategy and value as being particularly useful.

“The professor, Dr. Daniel Moorer, was phenomenal,” says Watson. “I'd taken other strategy courses, but what made this one different was that it wasn’t overly rooted in economic theory. It was about how you set and execute a strategy within an organization, and that's just what I needed. The professor laid out a way to trickle down a strategy from leadership through all the parts of the organization and shared the theories behind how you align people to that strategy. I appreciated that.”

Watson highlights the fact that despite its name, the Engineering Management degree is not a technical degree.

“A lot of students in the EMP already had their master’s degrees in technical fields and were doing it as a pathway into management positions," says Watson. "Even though it’s in the engineering school, it’s not an engineering degree. I think it is more similar to a management or business administration degree, which is going to help people be successful in management within their engineering or science institutions.”

EMP: A Degree Tailor-Made for Working Professionals

Watson says many things appealed to her about the Engineering Management Program at CU Boulder, but it was the fact it was tailored to the needs of professionals that made it especially attractive to her.

“I was aware that CU Boulder has an excellent engineering school and a good business school, so those things were on my mind,” says Watson. “However, one of the most important things to me was the way the Program was designed to cater to professionals.”

This was key for Watson because she did not want to make sacrifices at work to find the time to study for her degree.

“I'm ambitious at work,” says Watson. “I was going to school to be better at my job—I didn’t want to lean out of my workplace.”

Watson also appreciated the fact that CU Boulder did not require her to take an entrance exam to join the Program.

“I just had no interest in trying to figure out how to study for the GMAT while working full time,” says Watson. “As a working professional, I didn't see myself gaining anything through sitting for that test. I didn't feel I needed to demonstrate through a test that I’m competent enough to do a master’s degree. Instead, it set the tone that professional experience speaks for people, and that dictates who they admit. That was super important to me.”

By making the EMP more accessible to professionals, Watson believes CU Boulder was able to enhance the Program further.

“Many people in the class had real-life experience, and they were bringing that experience to the table,” says Watson. “I appreciated that and felt it added value to the Program.”

Balancing Work and Education With Online Learning

Despite living in Boulder at the time of enrolling in the Program, Watson knew she wouldn’t be turning up on campus very often.

“I traveled a lot for work, and the Engineering Management Program was accommodating to that,” says Watson. “Thanks to the opportunity to attend class online, I was able to be a fully engaged student remotely.”

Watson describes CU Boulder’s online learning platform as excellent.

“They had video lectures that you could watch asynchronously,” says Watson. “So you didn’t have to watch them at a specific time. However, the professors worked hard to motivate you and made sure you kept on schedule and were ready for your assignments.”

As a remote student, Watson never felt at a disadvantage to those attending the Program on campus.

“It was just like being a regular student,” says Watson. “What I liked about the online format was that the lectures were recorded with in-person students in the room. So it wasn't quite as dry as some online programs where you just get a disjointed voice over a slide. You get to know the professors as personalities because they are up there truly lecturing.”

Watson also benefited from the flexible approach to the number of classes she had to take each semester.

“I wasn’t in a hurry to graduate,” says Watson. “It took me about five years. I took one or two classes, so I was able to get it done around work on a couple of evenings and on the weekend."

Learn More

Watson describes the Engineering Management Program at CU Boulder as the "perfect fit" for engineering, science, and technology professionals to complement their careers.

“The Engineering Management Program was an incredible experience,” says Watson. “If you are looking for a master’s degree and you are a professional, it’s a ‘no regrets’ option. I would definitely do it again. I was able to manage my studies around my professional and personal life, and at the same time, I got a great education that helped me in my career.”

If you would like to learn more about CU Boulder’s EMP offerings, you can speak with an advisor or request more information. Just visit the CU Boulder EMP website or contact: Kendra.Thibeault@colorado.edu or call 303.492.0954.

Read how Andrea Watson, a renewable energy professional, boosted her strategic planning skills and enhanced her career in management with a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree from CU Boulder.

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What I Did With My EMP Degree: Manufacturing Engineering

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 16:17:29 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Manufacturing Engineering Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/23/2021 - 10:17

Irene Diep works for one of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands, PepsiCo. Throughout a decade of experience in manufacturing engineering, she’s held a variety of operations and supply chain management positions with the multinational food and beverage company.

“The things I learned in EMP helped in every role I’ve had,” she explains of her CU Boulder experience. Today, Diep is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project manager based out of PepsiCo’s Chicago headquarters.

Building a Foundation in Manufacturing Engineering and Consumer Goods

Diep always enjoyed mathematics and science in high school, especially when those classes involved applied and practical activities.

“That’s how I landed in engineering in college,” she explains. As an undergraduate at Boston University, she had a few choices about which aspect of the field to pursue. Ultimately, she chose manufacturing engineering because, at the time, it was the only concentration that offered a co-op program during the final year.

"I always knew, even early on, that I didn’t want to be an engineer that sat at a desk working on prototypes,” says Diep. She was also drawn to the engineering faculty members who came from industry versus those who came solely from academia. Not only did they know their stuff, but they were also the ones with good connections to companies in the region and around the country.

During her senior year, Diep completed a manufacturing engineering co-op with Z Corporation in Burlington, Massachusetts, following a summer internship with GE Aviation. After finishing her bachelor’s, she completed a two-year commercial leadership rotation at Praxair, the oldest and largest producer of industrial gases in North America.

From there, she joined PepsiCo as an associate manufacturing leader, which would be the first of several positions at this international consumer goods company.

Leveling Up Her Experience with an Engineering Management Degree

A graduate degree was always on Diep’s radar. While she was at Praxair, she thought about returning to school for a master’s of business administration. However, she decided not to move on to the MBA idea just yet because she wanted more time to figure out her end goal for earning an advanced degree.

“Fast-forward to Frito-Lay, where I was working in supply chain management,” she says. “I felt like I was starting to plateau a bit.”

Diep explained that while she excelled in her role, she felt like she was falling behind on technology and best practices outside her immediate position at work. She took advantage of internal learning opportunities when they came her way, but felt a bit limited by the content.

“The company has classes you can take, but they are either too general or too specific to our brands or business practices,” she says. “I wanted to hear different perspectives and be exposed to new viewpoints. I wanted to learn to think outside the PepsiCo box.”

Among her main goals for professional development was to expand her capacity for creative problem solving, which led her back to engineering—this time for a master’s in engineering management.

The Benefits of an Online Engineering Management Master’s Degree

Diep, then living in Denver and working at PepsiCo full-time, looked at CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Program. It was not only close to home, but it also offered an alternative way to attend class.

“I knew I wanted an in-person program, but with a distance-learning option,” Diep explains. While she wanted to attend most classes on campus, the option for taking her classes in engineering management online was a relief, knowing she might have some late nights at work and be unable to make the commute.

When Diep was in the classroom in Boulder, she noticed how attentive her instructors were to the students who were learning from home.

“I really appreciated that, regardless if someone was attending in person or distance learning, the faculty did a good job engaging students. They always prompted the students who videoed in,” she says. “And this was pre-pandemic when it was more awkward to be on camera in class.”

This observation made her feel much more comfortable about distance learning. In her second year, she became one of those on-screen students. “I thought it would be weird to be the person who was not physically there, but it was seamless,” she says.

The decision to choose a program with engineering management online options also paid off when Diep got a promotion at PepsiCo while she was still a student. She’d been at the company for a few years and was gaining more experience with supply chain management.

“I was reaching another plateau,” explains Diep. “Near the end of the EMP, I started looking for internal opportunities. The positions available in Denver weren’t the ones I wanted,” she says. Instead, she had her sights set on one of PepsiCo’s corporate headquarters; the options at the time, New York, Chicago and Dallas.

Always drawn to the energy of New York City—also home to PepsiCo’s beverage division—she applied for a position there. And she got it.

“I would have had to pass on that opportunity, but the distance learning option meant I didn’t have to make that sacrifice,” she says. So Diep relocated to the East Coast and completed her master’s degree from New York City while taking on a new role.

Applying What She’s Learned in Real Time: Communication, Leadership, Engagement & Project Management

While Diep was nervous about attending graduate school part-time, she quickly realized the value of working full-time while earning a degree. It goes back to her original reasoning behind choosing manufacturing engineering: She loves the practical application.

The pace of CU Boulder’s EMP allowed Diep to benefit from what she was learning immediately. “From lecture to lecture and course to course, I was able to change my approach to things at work. I’d learn something new and think, ‘I can try that,’” she explains. “I’d be able to see if it worked or if it didn’t work by the following week’s lesson.”

Diep says that what she learned in the EMP has helped her in every professional role she’s had since, including her current position in enterprise resource planning. Here’s a snapshot of some of her key takeaways from her engineering management degree experience.

Communicating as an Engineering Management Professional

Diep immediately applied many communications-related concepts. These lessons were covered in a required Engineering Communication class, but they were also sprinkled throughout her EMP coursework.

“I felt like I got something helpful out of every meeting. I changed how I approached communicating with others,” she explains, adding that learning about body language and other non-verbal communication was especially relevant during 2020’s pandemic when more work and collaboration was done remotely.

Also on the communications front, Diep says she has fine-tuned how she gives and receives feedback, learned new and effective ways to present information, and improved her “elevator pitches” when sharing information with internal stakeholders.

Diep feels especially confident in communicating her accomplishments and value within the company.

“A big part of what EMP changed for me is how I’m able to explain projects I’ve worked on,” she says. “How I communicate what the problems are, how I approach solutions, how I explain my approach and share the results. It’s all more cohesive today.”

Leaning Into Leadership in Manufacturing Engineering

For Diep, leadership courses were also some of the most valuable in the EMP. Not only did she learn more about conflict resolution and leading others, but she also discovered how she’s grown as a professional after nearly a decade of experience at consumer goods companies. In one of her classes, she and her peers took the StrengthFinders assessment (now called CliftonStrengths), an exercise she’d done at a previous job years prior.

“The interesting thing about that is my results had changed,” she explained. “My strengths evolved as I went through school and as my responsibilities changed. And then I was able to lean into that.”

From her leadership courses, she also realized that discovering strengths isn’t always about seeking new opportunities or finding things to fix, but rather also about leveraging your strengths in your current roles or situations.

When Diep teamed up with five other EMP classmates for a project management group assignment, she found the project to be a leadership lesson in itself.

“It was a huge learning experience. We all had interesting backgrounds, but there wasn’t one standard foundation of knowledge,” she explains. “This experience taught me to take a step back, which is especially helpful for me when working with new hires.”

Building Project Management Skills

As Diep grew in her career with PepsiCo, she became more acquainted with managing high-level projects. At one point, she even considered pursuing a professional certification in project management (PM). So she found it extremely valuable that CU Boulder’s Engineering Management degree program includes several PM-related courses.

“I unexpectedly landed in a PM role, so all of the tips and takeaways from the project management courses have helped me,” says Diep.

Boosting Employee Engagement

In Diep’s current role, she’s managing an enterprise-level project that involves getting buy-in from internal stakeholders across a global corporation. She says it was instrumental to her success that many courses in CU Boulder’s EMP addressed employee engagement in some way.

“The topics around how to improve and facilitate employee engagement—that’s something I use every day,” she explains, adding that the success of her company’s new software integration hinges on establishing and maintaining relationships.

Diep says these engagement best practices, coupled with her leveled-up communication skills, have allowed her to effectively explain the project to internal subject matter experts. She’s been able to convey to colleagues from across the company, from IT to accounting, how transitioning to a new enterprise system will impact (and improve) their processes and the company’s overall core business practices.

Colorado, Classmates and Community

Diep says she attended 95% of her engineering management classes in person while living in Denver. The rest were completed online, after moving across the country to take the PepsiCo promotion. Online or off, though, she says the EMP community was memorable.

One of her favorite professors was Dr. Daniel Moorer, scholar in residence and professor of engineering practice. Moorer, who has a doctorate in aerospace engineering, remains active in the industry in addition to his teaching.

“He always asked probing questions which facilitated great class discussions,” she says of learning with Moorer. “His lessons made me consider and adapt my approach to my day-to-day work.”

Diep also enjoyed learning from her classmates, those sitting next to her and those videoing in from other cities and states.

“If I were to ever want to leave my current company, I have people I can network with now,” she explains, adding that her classmates have diverse professional backgrounds. “A lot of them work in the aerospace field and manufacturing. Some in software or even academia. We even had a couple of entrepreneurs.”

The Endless Possibilities of EMP

The diversity of Diep’s classmates says a lot about the versatility in CU Boulder’s Engineering Management Program. Available on-campus or online, the engineering management degree is flexible not only in schedule and format but also with course selection.

As an EMP student, you’re required to take 10 courses: five core classes and five electives. With dozens of options on the electives list, you can truly build a graduate experience tailored to your professional goals. Whether you’re interested in leadership-level jobs in manufacturing like Diep or want to grow your career in project or supply chain management, you’ll find courses that will prepare you for your next challenge.

With all her experience in manufacturing engineering and consumer goods, Irene Diep says, without a doubt, earning a master’s degree in engineering management has helped her career go in new directions—before she even graduated.

“Many of my classes altered how I approach people and situations, and that’s something I could not have done on my own,” she says. “I've had five different roles with my company since I started the Program, and I have EMP to thank for adding to my professional toolkit.”

To learn more about earning your master’s in engineering in engineering management online (or on campus) from CU Boulder, please visit the EMP website or contact: Kendra.Thibeault@colorado.edu or call 303.492.0954.

Irene Diep took her manufacturing engineering and supply chain experience to new levels with a master’s degree in engineering management from CU Boulder.

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What I Did With My EMP Degree: VA/VE Engineering

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 15:57:11 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: VA/VE Engineering Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/20/2021 - 09:57

As an undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering, Daniel Broe knew that he would eventually have to study for an advanced degree if he was going to differentiate himself from all of the other engineers graduating around the same time—and progress into a leadership position.

“There were 400 other engineers graduating that year,” says Broe. “There would be another 400 the following year, and that was just from my school. So I knew I needed to do something else if I was going to stand out from the crowd.”

Although he hadn’t planned it at the time, within a year of graduating and landing his first job in an engineering maintenance and reliability role at an aluminum manufacturing plant in Oswego, New York, he would be studying for a master’s of engineering management online degree at CU Boulder—a move that would ultimately take him to his current role as a VA/VE engineering (value analysis/value engineering) professional.

Educational Assistance

Broe’s employer offered an educational assistance program to its employees. This financial aid was a key influencer in his decision to return to the classroom so soon after graduating from his undergrad program.

“I didn't really intend to start my continued education right away,” says Broe. “It was only a year after I graduated. But, I told myself that I knew I wanted to pursue a master’s degree, and if my employer is going to help pay for it, it makes sense to do it now before I have a family and all the extra-curricular things that go with that.”

Before selecting the Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Program (EMP) at CU Boulder, Broe considered several different options.

“I knew that I wanted to get some business experience,” says Broe. “When you look at leaders within your company, a lot of time they have an advanced degree in business administration. Because of this, I did actually consider a number of MBA programs around the country.”

Broe eventually decided on joining an engineering management program instead of an MBA because he wanted to develop his technical skills alongside his business leadership acumen.

“I wanted to be the type of leader who leads people with technical minds,” says Broe. “Engineers tend to focus on specific problems and solutions and don’t always see the big picture and think about the users. I've always seen myself as a people person first and then an engineer. I saw there was a leadership gap and a big opportunity in the engineering space for engineering leaders and engineering managers who could look beyond the specific problems they were trying to solve.”

Engineering Management Online Degree

Working full-time, Broe was drawn to the availability of online degree programs offered by several universities.

“I knew I wanted an online program,” says Broe. “I wanted the flexibility to take night courses from home or on the road if I was traveling for work.”

According to Broe, CU Boulder’s experience in delivering online learning was a major plus.

“The engineering management Program at CU Boulder had been around for much longer when compared to the other online offerings,” says Broe. “They took the initiative to create the online course very early. So I thought to myself that this is a Program that will probably have a lot of the wrinkles ironed out of it.”

Cost-Effective Learning

Broe describes the process he used to select the engineering management Program at CU Boulder as typical of an engineer.

“I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, so I put together a spreadsheet with the top five schools I was looking at,” says Broe. “As such a well-known engineering school, CU Boulder jumped right up my list. The Program also had the Lockheed Martin name attached to it, and that made it very attractive. It was also at an excellent price point. It just seemed like a winner and kind of sold itself.”

According to Broe, the cost of the CU Boulder engineering management online Program was particularly important because the educational assistance program offered by his employer was capped at around $5,000 per year, and he didn't want to have to pay too much out of pocket himself. The financial cap meant that he would have to take his time to complete the Program. Taking two classes every semester, Broe graduated from the Program after five years, during which time he only had to pay for a couple of classes himself.

Broe believes his in-depth research paid dividends.

“I never questioned my decision ever because I never had any problems with the online distribution of the course material or the quality of the Program,” says Broe. “I was always satisfied. I never had any problems communicating with my professors or guidance counselors. I think that is one definite selling point of the Program. You don't even have to consider those kinds of things. You can just focus on the education piece of it.”

Although Broe took the Program online, he never felt isolated from the other students who attended classes on CU Boulder’s campus.

“Being a graduate degree, the class sizes were relatively small," says Broe. "So it felt like there was a real community within the EMP. Course after course you recognized more faces and got to know the different people and their personalities. Through the project work, you got a good feeling from interacting with the professors and all the other students.”

Work/Life Balance

As one of the youngest students in the Program, Broe wasn’t in a hurry to graduate and found the pace of study suited his lifestyle.

“I had to dedicate maybe an hour or two every night to the work and then maybe a few more hours on a Sunday,” says Broe. “My wife, who was my fiancée at the time, was pursuing her nurse practitioner master’s degree and her license at the same time, so we shared a lot of those same work/life balance struggles and supported each other through it.”

Despite being a lot younger than many of his peers, Broe never felt out of his depth. In fact, his classmates proved to be an additional learning opportunity.

“I was one of the youngest students in all my classes,” says Broe. “A lot of people had very different life experiences than me. They had families and children and much more career experience, so I tried to be a sponge and learn as much from them as I could. However, I never felt that my opinion was not respected. The faculty definitely made that known.”

VA/VE Engineering

Two years into the Program, Broe changed jobs.

“My current employer, Eaton, approached me with an opportunity to differentiate my engineering experience and take on more of a design engineer role,” says Broe. “I thought that design experience would be a good cornerstone for my engineering career and it would be advantageous to get it while I was still relatively early in my career.”

The fact that Eaton also offered an education assistance program—meaning that Broe could continue with his education—was a significant catalyst in Broe’s decision to change jobs.

“I was probably 50-75% through the curriculum,” says Broe. “I didn’t want to have a break at all. I wanted to keep going until I graduated, so I took the opportunity and continued with the Program. I've been with Eaton now for four years.”

Eaton works within a harsh and hazardous engineering environment.

“A lot of our products are sold to oil refineries and drilling companies,” says Broe. “The products that I specifically work on are LED lighting products. As the world turns to more efficient lighting solutions, LED is at the forefront of that.”

Broe works in Eaton’s cost-out engineering group as a value analysis/ value engineering (VA/VE) engineer.

“We are basically looking at our existing products and seeing how we can make them more efficient and add value for our customers,” says Broe. “But we’re also looking at reducing costs, whether that be through design work or through resourcing to more competitive vendors. It's a lot of project work. So we have project cadence, proposal, design, testing, R&D, and then launching a product and bringing it to market.”

Engineering Project Management and Leadership

In his current role as a VA/VE engineer at Eaton, Broe constantly refers back to the lessons he learned during the project management course in the engineering management Program.

“Because we work cross-functionally, you have to interact with so many different people,” says Broe. “There are your colleagues in engineering, and then there's the supply chain and marketing and sales. We're not in silos. So we need to break down those barriers.”

Broe also found the leadership classes in the EMP to be very relevant to his work.

“There were two leadership courses in the Program,” says Broe. “The first was leading one's self. That was interesting because there's a lot of information about meditation and self-internalization. It was really about knowing who you are before taking the next step and learning about other people. We all have internal strife, and sometimes as engineers and technically minded people, we don't always think about this."

The second leadership course was all about leading others.

“Now that you have a good understanding of how to self-regulate, you take that and apply it to help others to be better versions of themselves,” says Broe. “Although I don't have anyone who directly reports to me at work, a big part of my job is trying to garner influence and work with people to achieve common goals. So you still need those kinds of interpersonal and leadership skills.”

Broe believes his professors did a great job of explaining the difference between management and leadership.

“I know the Program is called ‘engineering management,’ but really, I think the professors did a great job of drilling into us that you are a leader, not a manager,” says Broe. “You want to guide your employees and not just be the long arm of the law.”

A Typical Day in VA/VE Engineering

Broe’s working day starts early.

“We're a global company,” says Broe. “Eaton has manufacturing and R&D locations all over the world, so I typically start at 7 a.m. with meetings with team members in China or India. Then, the morning is typically going through project meetings, getting updates on all the different projects I work on. Then, later in the morning, there's usually a time where I can look at email and start looking at my action items for the day.”

Broe’s office has an R&D lab attached to it.

“When I am in the office, I'm usually in our lab working with our test technicians to prepare our test prototypes certification testing samples,” says Broe. “It's not a bad cadence. I kind of know what to expect every day.”

As part of his responsibilities in VA/VE engineering, Broe particularly enjoys working with his colleagues in manufacturing.

“I do get to interact with our manufacturing location in Syracuse, which is nice,” says Broe. “I get to talk with a lot of people who are perhaps not engineers. They are the blue-collar workers who are dedicating their lives to something that I played a piece in designing. That’s pretty cool. They offer so many insights into how to do things better, and I take that feedback back into the office as well. So I do enjoy those opportunities.”

Engineering Future Opportunities

Broe wasn’t motivated by the immediate opportunities the engineering management degree would afford him and is conscious that he is still at a relatively early stage of his career.

"In engineering, you put your time in and move up the career ladder, but that happens gradually," says Broe. "My mindset was, whether I get an immediate advancement or not through this degree Program, it is something I will always have; it cannot be taken away from me.”

While Broe has yet to advance into a management position, he believes his engineering management degree has helped him become a more valuable employee.

“It has helped me to think about problems more holistically,” says Brow. “This helps me put our customers and our stakeholders at the center of the problem, and that’s incredibly powerful.”

Broe’s advice to any peers considering following his path and studying for an engineering management degree is clear.

“If you have the time to do it, then you should almost certainly do it,” says Broe. “Even if you don't have the time, you should still consider the EMP. This is a degree Program for people who want not only to help themselves but help others in the engineering field.”

Learn More

Read how one VA/VE engineer, Daniel Broe, uses his master’s of engineering management online degree from CU Boulder EMP to be a more effective engineering professional.

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What I Did With My EMP Degree: Enterprise Software Sales

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 16:19:52 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Enterprise Software Sales Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/09/2021 - 10:19

Everyone’s educational and professional journey is unique, based on their strengths, interests, goals and life circumstances. No one personifies this truth more than CU Boulder alumnus Hamed Yazdi.

Yazdi’s path to success in the field of enterprise software sales has taken him from his hometown of Boulder, Colorado to schools and countries around the world and back again. And his story goes to show that there’s never just one way to earn a master’s degree — or use engineering management skills.

Gaining a Global Perspective — And Taking on a Double Challenge

Originally from Boulder, Yazdi moved from his home in the U.S. to Iran, where he finished high school. From there, he attended the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he started his undergraduate education in engineering.

After taking a few years off from school and working while living in Lebanon, Yazdi moved back to Colorado, transferring to CU Boulder to complete his undergraduate degree. “I attended CU Boulder largely because it was my hometown college,” he says. “I started in civil engineering and transferred to mechanical engineering.”

While he was working toward his bachelor of science degree, Yazdi discovered some of the undergraduate courses offered as part of CU Boulder’s Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program (EMP) that were available as electives.

“I was always interested in business, and I had run my own businesses in the past and been involved in sales and marketing,” Yazdi says. “And I realized that those classes resonated with me more than my engineering electives. So I pursued my EMP certificate.”

Knowledge and Skills that Last a Lifetime

As an EMP student pursuing his master’s degree, Yazdi immediately saw value in what the program had to offer. While his background and mechanical engineering pursuits at the undergraduate level were very technical in nature, he was always drawn to sales and envisioned a future in sales related to enterprise software solutions.

Several of his EMP courses delivered knowledge and skills in areas that he knew would be directly and immediately applicable in a sales capacity.

“I enjoyed the courses a lot, I got a lot out of them, especially the leadership courses. If I had to think about one course that helps me more than any other course in my current position and career, it would be the leadership class. My leadership class taught by Professor Barbara Lawton was my favorite class because it had a profound impact on my approach toward leadership, personal development, and soft skills,” Yazdi says.

While his main interest focused on sales, Yazdi knew there was a good chance that at some point in his career he would find himself managing others and felt that developing leadership skills would be essential.

“The understanding of emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, understanding change in an organization, those were topics that were very impactful,” he says. “And the mindset that was taught in that class, was important; for instance, how to transition to a position where you’re responsible for anything that happens. There were some tactical teachings, but it was more life and leadership skills that can be used in any position. I think it just had a more lasting effect on me.”

The leadership class has a very direct impact on Yazdi’s work. “I think the soft skills in today’s business environment, the people skills, are what differentiates those who can be successful and excel beyond the technical aspects,” Yazdi says. “I deal with a lot of people working in sales, and those soft skills are very valuable.”

Other coursework areas in the Program that Yazdi points to as being particularly valuable for him and his career in enterprise software sales include ethics and business simulation, where students build a company in simulated environments. “We learned a lot about marketing and demand generation and making great financial decisions,” he says. “The accounting class and learning the basics of financial management was also very helpful.”

Launching His Future in Software Solutions Sales

After completing the engineering management Program, Yazdi started in a sales role and moved into an account manager position with Tech-30, a value-added reseller offering a wide-ranging portfolio of solutions designed to help organizations improve operations and efficiency.

At the time Yazdi joined Tech-30, the company was in dire financial straits and on the verge of bankruptcy. Fortunately, Yazdi was part of the team that was able to turn things around to the point where Tech-30 was in good financial health once again.

“At the time, my title was Director of Business Development,” Yazdi says. “Our goal was to sell software solutions in addition to training and implementation services. So we had application engineers and salespeople on staff, along with other resources like marketing, HR, IT. But my focus was to manage the sales and technical teams.”

In fact, Tech-30’s fortunes improved to the point where it became an attractive acquisition target for other value-added resellers. This is exactly what happened in June 2020, when the company was acquired by a larger competitor.

At that point, Yazdi’s professional focus turned exclusively to sales. “I gave up my managerial responsibilities so I could focus on sales because that’s what I love doing — being with the customers and working with them to find out how to position our solutions to best solve their problems,” he says.

Transitioning to Enterprise Software Sales

Two of the primary types of sales that are recognized within the profession are transactional sales and enterprise sales.

While transactional sales typically involve a shorter overall sales cycle, crucial for newer companies and startups looking to build their business, enterprise sales involve cultivating relationships over many months with multiple decision-makers and developing larger-scale corporate solutions.

With a background primarily focused on transactional sales, Yazdi saw an opportunity after the acquisition to transition his work to more of an enterprise software sales role.

“My title today is Sales Director at Sconce, and I’m 100 percent focused on sales,” he says. “Sconce has been a value-added reseller and software developer and services provider for about 20 years.”

Yazdi’s new company is a much larger value-added reseller than his original company and that opened new opportunities for him.

“One of the things I wanted to do was get more experience doing ‘enterprise’ selling,” he says. “My boss, our VP of Sales, has over 20 years of experience selling solutions to very large companies, and I wanted to gain that experience.”

Delivering a Wide Range of Software Technology and Solutions

At Sconce, Yazdi cultivates long-term relationships with major corporations, selling a wide range of software technology and solutions. They focus primarily on companies in the manufacturing sector, servicing everything from medical devices and automotive parts to industrial products, consumer products, oil and gas, and high-tech companies.

“The solutions that we focus on primarily serve manufacturing, any company that does any kind of manufacturing is a candidate that we can talk to,” Yazdi says.

In his role at Sconce, Yazdi works closely with customers to understand their organization’s distinct needs and develops a solutions-based approach to deliver the types of technology and software that will best meet those needs. Major companies that Sconce works with include Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, Komatsu, Pfizer and Woodward, among many others, Yazdi says.

In addition to computer-aided design (CAD) software solutions, other technologies that are widely used by Sconce customers include product lifecycle management software, industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications and augmented reality platforms.

“Product lifecycle management is a product that manages all that CAD data,” Yazdi says. “You have to manage it properly, create workflows for revision control and releasing data to manufacturing, things of that nature.”

“We also have a product called MathCAD, which a lot of CU Boulder engineering students will be familiar with,” Yazdi says. “We also have Onshape, which I think was recently adopted by CU Boulder also, it’s a SaaS-based CAD tool.”

“We’ve also grown into other areas, which have become my primary focus, which are industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications, we also refer to it as Industry 4.0 technologies,” he says. “Our IoT platform is called Thingworx. And one other product that’s part of our portfolio is an augmented reality platform called Vuforia.”

What makes all of the products and software solutions Yazdi sells work together is a concept Sconce refers to as “digital thread.”

“Digital thread means, how do you get company information, whether it be CAD data, documentation, anything that allows you to define a product, to go through the entire enterprise and support a faster time to market, a higher quality product and a more efficient operation?” he says. “We sell all these different solutions to help our customers become more innovative, reduce costs, improve value and efficiencies within their operations.”

The EMP Effect

Yazdi says there isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t find himself applying many of the skills he gained as an EMP student at CU Boulder, especially the concepts he learned in the Program’s leadership coursework and the soft skills covered within the program.

“I use these skills daily, whether it’s dealing with my internal team, trying to get application engineers to deliver what I had requested, working with them, empathizing with them, or making sure that they view us as a team and we’re all working towards a common goal.”

“It also comes into play when I’m managing expectations internally and giving forecasts in our sales pipeline,” he says. “I need to make sure I’m forecasting accurately and communicating that information effectively so my boss has the right information he needs and that ownership can understand from a financial standpoint how our company is doing.”

“These skills also play a major role in working with our customers,” he says. “Being able to understand their needs and challenges and how our software solutions can meet them. Really digging deeper and, within our customer account, understanding what each person is responsible for and what their goals are. So on many different levels, understanding how to communicate, collaborate and empathize helps me become more successful.”

His technical engineering background also plays a big part. Yazdi says that one factor that contributed to the success he achieved in enterprise software sales in a relatively short amount of time is the technical background he was able to bring to the sales field. This gives him a deeper understanding of his customers’ needs and perspectives. At the same time, his sales experience and soft skills enable him to effectively communicate with those who don’t have a technical background.

“I was fortunate to understand a lot of what my customers were doing because of my engineering background. It helps to understand the industry. Being able to couple that with a solid understanding of the business and management aspects is invaluable,” Yazdi says. “If I’m working with an application engineer, they’re focused on the technical side of things and I have to be able to work with them on that front. If I’m working with executives or the CEO, they’re less interested in the technical aspects and are more focused on the impact to the bottom line.”

And while he’s enjoying his current role being 100 percent focused on enterprise software sales, he says he wouldn’t rule out a return to management at some point down the road.

“I’m managing a lot of things, I’m just not managing people directly,” Yazdi says. “When I did manage a sales team I enjoyed it. I love teaching and I love coaching and mentoring. But I was not going to be able to become the salesperson that I knew I needed to grow into if I stayed in that role. I wanted to learn enterprise sales, and that’s something that I hadn’t been able to experience.”

If Yazdi were to advise someone considering the EMP to advance their career, he would tell them to complete the Program while continuing to work in their current position.

“I’d suggest to anyone considering the EMP to pursue it in parallel with their employment,” he says. “It’s great to be working while taking these courses, and that’s what a majority of the students in the Program are doing. There’s a good chance your employer will pay for it. And it’s really valuable being able to apply the skills you’re learning on the job the next day. The material is very relevant.”

One additional piece of advice: “Try to implement everything you learn in some aspect of your personal or professional life as quickly as possible, so you can solidify the concepts for yourself. It’s definitely a program where the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.“

CU Boulder alumnus Hamed Yazdi is succeeding in enterprise software sales; learn how his Engineering Management Program degree helped him get there.

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What I Did With My EMP Degree: Aerospace Engineer

Anonymous — Tue, 25 May 2021 19:47:45 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Aerospace Engineer Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/25/2021 - 13:47

The sky is no longer the limit for engineers with the right degree under their belts. With a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering, Josh Lawrence's career was already taking off at Lockheed Martin, where he successfully landed his first job out of college as a systems engineer at its satellite operations facility in Colorado. However, after graduating from CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Program (EMP), Lawrence’s career as an aerospace engineer reached a much higher orbit.

Now working as a software engineer manager, Lawrence supervises a team of 20 software engineers, systems engineers and research scientists working on the backend systems for Lockheed Martin’s Next Generation Geosynchronous (NGG) satellite program.

“We do ground software and hardware for everything needed to command and control certain satellites,” says Lawrence. “My program specifically works on satellites for which the primary use is detecting heat signals for missile warning systems.”

While certain aspects of Lawrence’s job require security clearance, he can talk about it at a high level.

“The team I'm currently part of does what we call ‘mission processing,’” says Lawrence. “This is where applied mathematics and software come together to get the telemetry from the spacecraft so the operator can see the infrared signatures on a globe that could potentially be missiles. So it's a little bit of a unique domain."

Lawrence may have found his niche as an aerospace engineer working on government and military projects, but the space industry is certainly not a niche industry.

“I think I always wanted to work in the space industry,” says Lawrence. “It wasn't until I started at Lockheed that I realized how many different space programs there are in both military and civilian fields.”

Taking the Next Step with an Engineering Management Degree

After two years of working as an individual contributor at Lockheed Martin, Lawrence set his sights on a management position within the company. But, as one of many ambitious engineers in the aerospace industry, Lawrence knew that this would mean going back to school.

“I wanted to continue with my education and do a master’s degree,” says Lawrence. “I wasn't sure if I wanted to do an MBA, which is more business orientated, or a systems engineering degree, which is a little bit more technical. Both had their cons because they would have channeled me in one direction or the other. I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself into either a technical or business-orientated degree.”

Lawrence found the solution to his problem in the Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Program at CU Boulder.

“When I found the engineering management Program at CU, I was pleasantly surprised because it seemed like a perfect opportunity for me,” says Lawrence. “I didn't feel like I was pigeonholing myself into a certain direction with my career. I thought I could take that degree and still have the flexibility to take different routes.”

According to Lawrence, once he started looking deeper into the Program, a number of additional benefits jumped out at him.

CU Boulder was conveniently located close to where Lawrence lived and worked, meaning he could attend some of his classes on campus.

“It's a beautiful campus,” says Lawrence. “You go to CU Boulder, and immediately there are great views of the Flatirons rock formations. Then there’s the architecture. I thought that was all fantastic.”

Another plus was the flexibility afforded by the availability of online classes, which helped Lawrence balance his studies around his professional and personal life.

“The ability to take some of my classes online was fantastic,” says Lawrence. “I still had homework due on a weekly basis, but I could study when it was convenient for me. The lectures were recorded and made available online. It was a very friendly and easy-to-use interface, and I felt like I was learning just as much online as I was in person. As a software engineer, my life was already online, so it was a straightforward transition for me.”

However, it was the quality of the faculty at CU Boulder that sealed the deal for Lawrence.

“I started looking at the resumes of some of the lecturers in the Program,” says Lawrence. “It seemed like the Program had a lot of people who had ties to NASA. There were also a lot of successful business owners who had transitioned into academia later in life. I just thought that hearing from those people rather than somebody who grew up focused on academia their entire career would offer a different perspective. I think that's what really attracted me to the Program.”

Beyond Engineering

Lawrence already knew he was going to get a lot out of the Program’s project engineering and systems engineering courses. However, there were several other courses in the Program that Lawrence particularly found useful and which went beyond the typical requirements to be an aerospace engineer.

“Reflecting on the Program, there were two courses that surprised me and left a really big impression on me," says Lawrence. "There was a marketing course that helped me think about problems from the customer’s perspective. The marketing course also taught me how to become a better communicator. I think that really helped me to become a better advocate and sell my ideas and objectives to my team at work.”

Lawrence also highlighted the finance for engineering managers course as incredibly valuable to his career development.

“Finance for engineering managers was fantastic because that really helped develop my business IQ," says Lawrence. "Now, when I'm involved in more technical problems, I'll also be thinking about the business objectives. So that has really influenced a lot of the decisions that I have made in a good way. Also, just being able to have more business language fluency when I'm talking with people in finance has really been beneficial to me.”

Lawrence is conscious of the fact that although his clients are primarily government and military organizations, his team still has to offer value for money and remain competitive.

“We have a number of competitors out there, so we still have to put together cost estimates and submit proposals to the government,” says Lawrence. “We still have budgets that we have to keep under, and we are continually providing earned value reports for the programs we work on to the government. So even though the customer is the military or the government, we still deal with budgets just like you would in private industry.”

Work/Life/Study — Getting Down to Business

Lawrence graduated from the master’s Program after three years of study.

“It was certainly challenging,” says Lawrence. “I was working full-time and doing the courses in the evenings. I was also dedicating one day of my weekend each week to doing homework.”

Despite dedicating so much of his time outside of work hours to the Program, Lawrence didn’t feel the pace was too arduous.

“It didn't feel like just busywork,” says Lawrence. “I always felt like the faculty did a great job bringing in guest speakers and lecturers, and that got people engaged. I was constantly learning about new topics and I never felt like I was dreading going into class. It was like switching my brain into a new mode and learning about something new, which I enjoyed."

Lawrence, who recently became a father for the first time, jokes that he didn’t have much spare time when he was studying for his master’s degree, but having a baby is a lot more difficult.

“Before kids, it was pretty sustainable to study for my master’s degree while going to work for 40-hours a week and still have a life outside,” says Lawrence. “I certainly didn't have a lot of time after all that, but the balance wasn't too bad.”

Leveraging Your Engineering Management Degree

While Lawrence didn’t have a particular career move in mind when he joined the Engineering Management Program, he believes the skills he developed were instrumental in his promotion to a management position at Lockheed Martin.

“It’s not like I showed them my degree and I all of a sudden got promoted,” says Lawrence. “However, it was clear to my employers that I was leveraging the things that I learned in my coursework and adding more value to my work at the company.”

Lawrence highlights the skills he learned in his systems engineering classes as being particularly beneficial to his employer.

“I learned about how more efficient processes worked and I was able to apply that to my job,” says Lawrence. “That helped me to modify some processes I used at work, which helped reduce risk and just be more efficient. I also tried to focus on my newly developed communication skills. Simple, clear and consistent communication is just so important for engineering teams working on complex systems."

This effort didn't go unnoticed by Lawrence’s employers at Lockheed Martin.

"91��Ƭ�� a year after I got my master's degree, my managers started to think, 'Maybe we should put Josh in one of these supervisor roles,'" says Lawrence. "I didn't necessarily apply for the role. I was just tapped on the shoulder and asked if I would be interested. So the timing worked out pretty well for me."

A Typical Working Day in Engineering Management

Lawrence describes a typical day in engineering management as helping his team to reach their goals.

“There’s a lot of interacting with people on my team,” says Lawrence. “I'm really trying to be fully focused on how I can set my team up for success. So I’m taking time to understand the objectives of what my team is working on, what are their struggles, what is blocking their progress, and what do they need to be successful.”

Lawrence describes his role in Lockheed Martin as a "servant leader."

“There’s a lot of communication involved,” says Lawrence. “I'm providing some one-way communication which flows down from the top, and then a lot of dialog from various team members on the problems we're working on to make sure everyone is appropriately tasked.”

Lawrence believes his master’s degree in engineering management was instrumental in preparing him for his management position.

“Coming out of the engineering management Program, I felt very prepared to manage people and scope the technical and cost implications of a project,” says Lawrence. “It really helped me develop a big picture mindset. Before the master’s Program, I felt like I was always in the weeds looking at a single technical problem. But, through the accumulation of all the coursework in the Program, I learned how to consider the customer’s point of view, the business objectives and developing more efficient processes. I think those are the universal lessons from the Program. It’s certainly benefited me in the space industry, but I'm sure it could benefit others who are in other industries as well.”

Lawrence believes the investment he made in himself by studying for his master’s degree will continue to pay dividends long into the future. But for the time being, he's thoroughly enjoying his current role.

“Right now, I feel fully engaged and fully tasked working with my teams," says Lawrence. "Maybe my next step will be into a senior manager role, but at this stage in my career, I'm very happy in my current management role."

Engineering Management — Just Do It

Lawrence advises anyone interested in studying for their Master of Engineering in Engineering Management not to overthink it and, "Just do it."

“I don't think there are any cons with the Program,” says Lawrence. “It is a blend of technical and business coursework. So whether a person is going to remain an individual contributor or has ambitions to become a supervisor in their career, I think no matter which route you follow, this Program will help you add more value to the company you work for.”

Learn More 91��Ƭ�� the EMP

To learn more about how the EMP at CU Boulder can help you take your engineering career to new heights, visit the Master of Engineering in Engineering Management Program page on our website.

After graduating from CU Boulder’s Engineering Management Program (EMP) with an ME in Engineering Management, Josh Lawrence’s career as an aerospace engineer reached a much higher orbit.

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What I Did With My EMP Degree: Civil Engineering

Anonymous — Mon, 17 May 2021 18:23:08 +0000

What I Did With My EMP Degree: Civil Engineering Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/17/2021 - 12:23

As the Director of Engineering for the City of Richardson, Texas, Shawn Poe is responsible for many of the civil engineering projects that keep the city running smoothly. It’s a job where Poe constantly draws on his 26 years of experience in civil engineering and the management and leadership skills he developed in the Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree (EMP) Program at CU Boulder.

What Does a Civil Engineer Do?

“It’s a pretty big job,” says Poe. “Our team of civil engineers oversees the capital projects delivery for all of the construction of the capital infrastructure for the city. We’re talking about roads, sewers, storm drainage, and all of that kind of infrastructure stuff. We manage the construction contracts for any kind of upgrades or maintenance projects that are done on this infrastructure. Our team also oversees the 25 occupied facilities the city currently owns and maintains.”

According to Poe, civil engineers in public service jobs have to be agile and ready for anything.

“There's a lot of putting out ‘fires’ during the day," says Poe. "If we get a call from the city manager’s office or a customer about an issue, our team jumps on it and tries to get a solution or find a resolution as quickly as possible.

Ironically, Poe defines “being taken for granted” as a metric for success in jobs with civil engineering obligations in state and local government.

“If the phone isn’t ringing, then things are going pretty well,” says Poe. “When the city staff starts receiving phone calls telling them people have low water pressure or they cannot flush their toilets, or they are getting stuck at traffic signals, that's when we know something could be wrong and there is an opportunity to respond to address the concerns.”

Engineering Management Degree

The desire to do a better job inspired Poe to study for his Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree at CU Boulder.

“I was at a crossroads in my career,” says Poe. “I knew that I wanted to move up in the organization I was working for at the time or get a promotion at another city. I felt having my master’s degree would make me a little bit more valuable and help me get more noticed.”

Poe considered several different options before selecting the Engineering Management degree at CU Boulder.

“I did consider a master’s of public administration and a master’s of business program,” says Poe. “However, I felt like the Engineering Management degree at CU Boulder checked all the boxes when it came to the structure and the topics within the Program, as well as having an engineering focus.”

Poe describes the process of going back to school for his master's degree as very different from his experience of studying for his bachelor's degree in civil engineering as a traditional student straight out of high school.

“I liked college and I really enjoyed being a student,” says Poe. “I had a little too much fun, so it took me about six and a half years to get my bachelor’s degree. It's funny how your study habits and your motivation change. With the master’s degree, I couldn't wait to get to class and learn. It’s a different paradigm and a different perspective, that's for sure.”

It wasn't just Poe's attitude to learning that had changed. The ability to study online was a leading factor in selecting the Engineering Management Program at CU Boulder.

“The Program at CU Boulder piqued my interest because it was online and was very flexible," says Poe. "It was only 30 hours and could be balanced around my work/life schedule. Obviously, work and family had to come first. In addition, the setup at CU Boulder meant I could study with either an asynchronous or synchronous learning format. That model and the ability to juggle it worked for me.”

Poe admits that he had reservations about online learning at first.

“Initially, I didn't know how I was going to handle online learning, but it took me a lot less time than I thought to get up to speed,” says Poe. “CU Boulder did a great job with the online tutorials before the classes started. They really helped you get tuned in to how the online learning platform worked. You knew where the buttons were and how to participate.”

As soon as the classes started, Poe quickly felt at home with online learning.

“One of the things I was worried about with the Program was that the online students wouldn't have the attention or the engagement that professors usually want from us in class as participants,” says Poe. “However, the way everything was set up, the professor and in-class students could see the online students on the screen; if the online students raised their hand or spoke up, the professors were really good about stopping and asking for our thoughts or questions.”

Poe suggests that online learning platforms are very similar to many technologies being used today in business to navigate social distancing regulations in the wake of the pandemic.

“Had COVID-19 happened in 2014, perhaps I would have been a lot less nervous about the technology,” says Poe. “It was an adjustment, but it wasn't something that the average person couldn't quickly overcome.”

Work/Life/Study Balance

While Poe enjoyed the flexibility of online learning, he is quick to highlight that taking an online degree isn’t an easy option and students need to be prepared to put in the work.

“There were some late nights for sure," says Poe. "In my world at the time I was in school, I was required to attend city council meetings and planning and zoning meetings. There were nights when those meetings clashed with classes. I tried to attend every class synchronously so that I could have that interaction live. The times I had meetings for work, I had to either wait until the next day to watch the video or do it that night.”

As an engineer who "goes looking for challenges," this was all part of an experience that Poe enjoyed.

“I found getting up in the morning and watching a couple of hours of class videos helped get my day started,” says Poe.

Poe admits that the Program did require a significant investment in time over the two years he committed to his studies.

“I was taking two classes a semester,” says Poe. “So that was two hours a night, four nights a week, and then you've got your time afterward. I was probably spending three or four hours per day on my studies. To be able to get it done in two years, I had to take some summer classes. They were back-to-back and quite arduous. But I got through it, and it allowed me to graduate in two years.”

Developing Leadership Skills in Local Government

As with many other jobs in local government, Poe has to balance his department’s output with finite resources.

“My department is comprised of just 38 people,” says Poe. “We are very lean, so making good efficient use of our time is imperative.”

Based on these challenges, Poe found the EMP’s leadership classes to be the most valuable and enjoyable.

“The lean management concept I was introduced to was just fascinating,” says Poe. “It helped me with some of my management and project management challenges and how I could apply total quality management to my job.”

The Program enhanced Poe’s understanding of the psychology of leadership.

“The authentic leadership class opened my eyes because it got into the psyche of leadership, emotional intelligence, and how you motivate people to perform,” says Poe. “I'd heard of emotional intelligence before being at CU Boulder, but I didn't have a full grasp and understanding of what it was. Finally, something clicked, and it opened my eyes to how to be more humble and how to improve relationships .”

Poe also found the ethics classes incredibly useful.

“The ethics course was fantastic,” says Poe. “It gave me an understanding of how different people across different cultures think. For example, a person may think one thing is ethical, whereas, in another culture, it’s not acceptable. It made me understand the importance of knowing who my audience is, who I'm communicating with, or doing business with.”

Poe applies many of the leadership skills he developed in the master's Program to his daily work routine.

“I learned you need to have a good channel of communication from the bottom up," says Poe. "You've got to make sure you are approachable, you are available, and your employees are comfortable speaking to you if they have any concerns.”

Poe typically starts his working day by walking around his office and speaking to his staff.

“I like to enjoy my tea and take a ten to 20-minute walk around the office and just get people started,” says Poe. “I ask them how their day is going or how their weekend was. I think it’s very important that a leader gets out and gets to know their staff. That's something I took from Dr. Moorer’s classes in the Program based on his background in the military. He calls it ‘management by walking around.’ I learned a lot from Dr. Moorer.”

Career Progression: Beyond Civil Engineering

Poe believes he still has a lot to learn about local government but believes his engineering management degree will help him take the next steps in his career.

“Eventually, I would like to become an assistant city manager or maybe become a city manager for a smaller town or city in Colorado after I retire in Texas,” says Poe. “My dad is still in Windsor, Colorado, just outside of Fort Collins, and two of my daughters are there now, so I hope to join them one day. The engineering management degree would set me up for that because they usually require a graduate degree to become an assistant city manager. But before then, I've got a lot to learn about city management in general and not just from the civil engineering side of things. From human resources to all of the quality of life disciplines, parks, recreation and all that good stuff; there's a lot to learn."

Why CU Boulder?

Despite calling Texas home for most of his adult life, Poe considers himself a "Forever Buff." Named after CU Boulder’s Buffaloes football team, a Forever Buff is someone who proudly calls CU Boulder their alma mater and strives to support other Buffs whenever and wherever they can.

“I was born in Colorado and grew up a Buff,” says Poe. “I've always liked CU Boulder, and I’ve become an advocate for the Engineering Management Program and the school. So every chance I get the opportunity to talk about it, I sell it."

Despite being an online student, Poe believes he was able to build authentic relationships with his cohorts and CU Boulder's faculty.

When Poe finally got the opportunity to meet his fellow students and professors in the flesh at his graduation, he felt like he knew them.

“I told my professors they did an awesome job of engaging the online students to make us feel like we were there in the class,” says Poe. “It was pretty seamless.”

While Poe’s career is deeply rooted in local government, many of his cohorts are employed in the private sector. As a result, working with people with different perspectives on project management added to his experience and understanding of engineering management across all sectors.

Poe still keeps in touch with several students from the Program and is actively involved with the CU alumni association in Texas.

“We are a tight-knit community," says Poe. "I could pick up the phone and call them any time. We meet up to go to restaurants and watch football. Most of them were traditional students. I think I might be the only online graduate in the group, but they don't treat me differently. It's part of the community of being a Buff.”

Learn More

To learn more about how CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree can help you develop the leadership skills demanded by employers in state and local government and the private sector, visit the Engineering Management Program page on CU Boulder’s website.

As the Director of Engineering for the City of Richardson, Texas, Shawn Poe is responsible for many of the civil engineering projects that keep the city running smoothly.

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