A growing national and international focus on developing consumer and industrial products has created an environment where many engineers and industrial designers seek additional education to enable them to play a more substantial role in Product Development. Carnegie Mellon has been a leader in the area of product development, and in particular integrated product development. The close relationship between Mechanical Engineering and the School of Design has provided a unique environment of collaboration and education for our students. In addition, further participation by Tepper, our business school, has broadened the educational offerings for our students. We have taken advantage of our capabilities and the growing interest in
product development to create a professional masters degree to meet the emerging needs of industry.

The targeted student for this one year program has a BS degree in
engineering or a BFA (BA, or BS) in Industrial Design, or related fields with some experience and a strong interest in product development. This program will allow you to gain a better understanding of the interdisciplinary approach required to develop products. You will be able to define a program that gives you access to nationally ranked and internationally respected programs in design, engineering and business. Each student will be able to create the right blend of courses that will help to give you a competitive advantage when either starting a career or returning to industry. The capstone class Integrated Product Development will allow you to work in interdisciplinary teams working on corporate sponsored projects directed by an interdisciplinary faculty team.

In the engineering field, Mechanical Engineers, in particular, often have a background that is particularly well suited to product development. However, a traditional engineering degree provides only the foundation. The student must also gain skills in the design process, manufacturing, industrial and communication design, and business. From the Design side, Industrial Design students may already have a background in Product Development. However, few designers have a background in integrated Product Development or any background in engineering. In fact, most ID programs do not focus on the complete product development process; they tend to concentrate on form-giving and aesthetics. Communication Designers also have a background that may be suitable for Product Development with additional training.

Because of the diverse sets of experiences and backgrounds of the targeted students, each program of study will be adapted to the needs of the individual student and approved by one of the co-directors of the program. The program is run jointly by the School of Design and Mechanical Engineering with support from Business (Tepper). The focus of this degree will be the creation of physical, functional devices that meet a user's or stakeholder's value expectation. However, many of the skills and knowledge
from this program also apply to the development of services, interfaces, and the general creation of any product that meets a value expectation.