ISE
Integrated Systems Engineering

The jobs that our department prepares students for are often truly interesting. The alumnus is often right in the middle of the greatest concerns to management and there is a pleasing mix of abstraction and concreteness. In some cases, the application of sophisticated mathematical methods plays a key role in achieving improvements that substantially improve peoples' lives.

-- Dr. Ted Allen

Why ISE? Since my interest was in human factors engineering and this area of study comes under the ISE umbrella I have become part of the ISE dept. Why ISE at OSU? ISE at OSU has a holistic approach to preparing the students to face real world situations. The students in the department are constantly encouraged to work with team projects that provides exposure to hands on application of what is taught in the class room. Students are provided with individual attention by faculty members according to specific needs of the students. This I say through personal experience. As a graduate student I have been given leadership opportunities to develop my personal skills through an academic society such as OSU's student chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. This has been a great opportunity to form connections between the industry and the academic world. Overall I have enjoyed my first year of graduate school in the ISE dept.

-- Monica Johnson, Doctoral Student and Graduate Research Associate

I discovered the Welding Engineering Program by a chance conversation with some recent alumnus. They told me about their co-op and internship experiences at John Deere, NASA, and Lincoln Electric, the program's small class size (about 45 students/year), great job placement percentages, excellent starting salaries (averaging around $52k/year for a B.S.), and most importantly their relationships with the faculty and academic advisor.

Welding engineering offers a broad engineering degree covering many aspects of electrical, mechanical, industrial, and materials engineering. During my undergraduate career, the classes that I enjoyed the most were the welding processes and metallurgy courses, both of which focused on practical applications of engineering mechanics and materials science. As an undergraduate I was programming and troubleshooting arc welding robots, using failure analysis techniques to examine fractured welds, and working with new laser technologies to make welds smaller than a human hair! The hands-on opportunities mixed with classical engineering curriculum, I don't believe I could have gotten at any other university or in any other department.

However, what really makes this program great is the dedicated faculty that drives it forward. The level of professionalism and degree of caring from each faculty member of this department are the reasons I chose to stay and get my Master's degree here.

-- Matt Sinfield, BS, OSU Welding Engineering Program, Masters Student and Graduate Research Associate (MS awarded 2007)