Would masters in Industrial engineering be good?

What are some interesting courses one must take while pursuing his/her masters in Industrial Engineering?

• I would be pursuing my masters in IE from Fall 2013. Analytics, supply chain and logistic engineering are some of my interests. I am currently planning my coursework and I thought this would be a right forum to request for help. Thank you.

• Answer:

  I don't know if this is trolling me here (since I haven't done a Masters' degree) but more than happy to venture a few guesses based on my observations. :) Given the interests mentioned here, I'd go with some of the following courses: Analytics is an area of interest, so databases, data mining, big data, business intelligence systems would all be associated subjects of interest. There are sure to be courses on databases and data mining in Computer science and Engineering, or a customized version of this course may exist in  IE. Supply Chains are a hot topic in a global and connected world. I'd look at how supply chain optimization is working in large organizations where they have challenges in reconciling cost, quality, availability and market impact across the world. So discrete event simulation, convex optimization, robust optimization and associated courses would do you good, I should think. Logistics and supply chains are closely related, and I suppose supply chain optimization and related subjects would cover these closely. Another thing. Let me put myself in the shoes of someone doing a technical degree. I'd want to take interesting courses other than the main subjects for a well rounded college-going experience. Something that'd expand my horizons. So here we go: Music theory 101. For long I've been a self-taught guitarist and would jump at the chance to take a music theory class to understand how melody, rhythm, harmony all come together. So this should be immense fun. Science/Technology/Engineering and Society. A lot of engineers graduate with a narrow world view. I'd want to buck that trend, so this kind of a course. There are different ones in different universities, so I'm sure this would be a differentiator. Mandarin Chinese, German, French or other language of wide international currency. English is the "lingua franca" (ironic) of the world, but in a global workplace, knowing another language is like finding another lever. If you're vocationally oriented after the masters, it'd make sense to add another language to your portfolio. Hope this helps!