Professional Certificate Programs
In the last few years, commercially available digital systems (microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory chips, interface systems, and systems that handle image, voice, music, and other types of signals) have experienced explosive growth in the electronics industry. These devices are increasingly powerful, cheap, and flexible as design components.
The certificate in embedded systems, which is offered by the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering and the Center for Advanced Engineering and Technology Education, with support of the Division of Continuing Education, offers students the hardware and software knowledge and skills needed to design and implement these systems. The curriculum consists of two core courses and one elective course from an approved list. The two core courses are:
ECEN 4613/5613 Embedded System Design
ECEN 4623/5623 Real-Time Embedded Systems
The list of approved electives is periodically updated and currently includes:
ECEN 4573 ECE Capstone
ECEN 4543/5543 Software Engineering of Stand-Alone Programs
ECEN 4633/5633 Hybrid Embedded Systems
Applicants for the certificate program must have been or currently be enrolled for a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution and have satisfied the prerequisites for each course through course work or work experience. They need not be enrolled in a degree-granting program at CU-Boulder. A grade of B- or better is required for each course applied toward the certificate. For more information, visit ecee.colorado.edu/academics/cert_programs/overview.html.
Engineering Entrepreneurship (12 credit hours)
| This certificate is offered in partnership with the nationally renowned Deming Center for Entrepreneurship in Colorado. It provides the student with the essential knowledge, understanding, and skills to successfully practice entrepreneurship in a start-up venture or within a larger corporation (intrapreneurship). The focus is on how much to launch, lead, and manage a viable business starting with concept validation to commercialization and business formation. The program culminates with the development of a business plan for a project that the student chooses and then pitches to business community leaders and venture capitalists. |
| EMEN 5051 Technology Ventures and Leadership |
| EMEN 5710 Business Simulation |
| EMEN 5090 High Technology Marketing |
| EMEN 5825 Business Plan Development |
Engineering Management (12 credit hours)
| The certificate provides a broad-based view of the key principles and concepts that are important for technical managers, including finance and accounting, leadership and management, quality management, and project management. The certificate requires four courses selected from the five core courses in the Engineering Management graduate curriculum. |
| EMEN 5010 Introduction to Engineering Management |
| EMEN 5020 Finance and Accounting for Engineers |
| EMEN 5030 Project Management Systems |
| EMEN 5040 Quality, Strategy, and Value Creation |
| EMEN 5050 Leadership |
Leadership and Ethical Decision-making (9 credit hours)
| Engineers and scientists can think systemically, visualize complex technical and human interactions, and resolve conflicting viewpoints. This certificate develops technical professionals so that they may apply these talents more broadly and play a leadership role in their organizations. Students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to lead and learn the ethical decision-making processes they need to make real-world decisions. There are two core courses: |
| EMEN 5050 Leadership |
| EMEN 5080 Ethical Decision-making |
| The third course is chosen by the student from the following list. Each of these courses provides grounding and context for the different situations in which technical professionals work. |
| EMEN 5010 Introduction to Engineering Management |
| EMEN 5040 Quality, Strategy, and Value Creation |
| EMEN 5825 Entrepreneurial Business Plan Preparation |
Managing Applied Research in Technology (12 credit hours)
| This certificate provides engineering managers with the tools to effectively and efficiently manage applied research in areas such as sustaining engineering, customer and supplier evaluation, quality improvement and problem solving, new process and facility start-up, the design of complex and interdependent systems, and cost reduction analysis. Methods taught include advanced experimental design, sample sizes, use of powerful parametric and nonparametric analyses, and data mining. |
| EMEN 5042 Methods for Quality Improvement |
| EMEN 5610 Advanced Statistical Methods for Engineering Research |
| EMEN 5620 Data Mining and Screening Experiments for Engineering Research |
| EMEN 5900 Research Methods |
Managing Research and Development (9 credit hours)
| The formal name for innovation within a corporate setting is R&D. Innovation has become essential to every company’s survival and well-being. Innovation takes many forms including product, process, and business model innovation. Individuals who understand and can manage innovation and creativity have great career opportunities. This certificate provides proven concepts and tools for managing the innovation process of strategy formation, portfolio development, and project execution in both hardware and software environments. |
| EMEN 5030 Project Management Systems |
| EMEN 5300 Management of Research and Development (R&D) |
| EMEN 5400 Principles of Product Management or EMEN 5430 Software Product Management |
Performance Excellence in Technology Management (12 credit hours)
| This certificate provides a cutting-edge model for Business Performance Excellence (BPE). BPE is a facilitating system, enabling companies to successfully execute their improvement program efforts, such as Six Sigma, to increase profitability. In addition to cost reduction, the application of quality principles and allocated cost accounting enables identification of revenue generating “sweet spots” for profit optimization. |
| EMEN 5040 Quality, Strategy, and Value Creation |
| EMEN 5041 Advanced Topics in Value Creation |
| EMEN 5042 Methods for Quality Improvement |
| EMEN 5050 Leadership |
Project Management Professional Certification (9 credit hours)
| This certificate is designed around the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and builds a foundation for the preparation of PMP certification. This certificate can be completed in one calendar year. |
| EMEN 5030 Project Management Systems |
| EMEN 5032 Advanced Topics in Project Management |
| EMEN 6830 Project Mangement Capstone or EMEN 5050 Leadership and Management |
Quality Systems for Product and Process Engineering (12 credit hours)
| This certificate provides engineering managers with the technical expertise needed to manage initiatives in quality improvement, problem-solving, and reliability improvement. Upon completion, students are certified as Green Belts for Six Sigma programs. |
| EMEN 5040 Quality, Strategy, and Value Creation |
| EMEN 5042 Methods for Quality Improvement |
| EMEN 5043 Advanced Topics in Quality Systems/Engineering |
| EMEN 5900 Research Methods |
Technology Ventures and Product Management (12 credit hours)
| Technology venture management and product development is key to the sustained success of any high-technology business in today’s intensely competitive and global marketplace. This certificate is designed for the engineer in any size company (Fortune 500 to start-up) who wants to embrace the challenge of managing the strategy and implementation of new technology product development. Using case studies and realistic business emulation exercises, the student will gain an understanding and practice the skills required to evaluate technology, consider its viability as a product, and manage the development effort required to deliver a product that provides an exceptional customer experience. |
| EMEN 5051 Technology Ventures and Leadership |
| EMEN 5090 High Technology Marketing |
| EMEN 5710 Business Simulation |
| EMEN 5400 Principles of Product Management |
The professional certificate in museology provides professional museum training for CU-Boulder graduate students and for museum professionals who seek to upgrade their skills and credentials. The museology certificate serves a range of disciplines in the arts and sciences, education, and engineering, as well as the Colorado museum community.
The curriculum for the professional certificate consists of the core museology sequence for the Museum and Field Studies degree program:
MUSM 5011 Introduction to Museum Studies and
Three of the following five courses:
MUSM 5030 Museum Education
MUSM 5031 Exhibit Development
MUSM 5041 Museum Administration
MUSM 5051 Collections Management
MUSM 6110 Seminar in Museum Issues
This 12-credit curriculum is supplemented by a 75-hour internship (which may be waived for comparable professional experience).
Power electronics is a key enabling technology in essentially all electronic systems ranging from wireless communication devices, portable and desktop computers, to telecommunication infrastructure systems and industrial systems. The necessity for power electronics technology in these rapidly expanding areas creates a rising need for design engineers equipped with knowledge and skills to follow sound engineering principles and actively participate in multidisciplinary teams. The power electronics field has evolved rapidly with the advances in technology and introduction of many new application areas. As a result, it is likely that the required knowledge and skills were not in the curricula when many of today’s professionals were in college. This creates a strong ongoing demand for continuing education of the workforce in the area of power electronics. The certificate program addresses the ongoing demand for skilled power electronics design engineers.
This program offers an opportunity for electrical engineers to obtain the specialized knowledge required to practice power electronics. It is intended for students and engineers having a BS degree in electrical engineering or equivalent.
The courses required for the professional certificate in power electronics are:
ECEN 5797 Introduction to Power Electronics
ECEN 5807 Modeling and Control of Power Electronic Systems
ECEN 5817 Resonant and Soft-Switching Techniques in Power Electronics
The certification program was initiated by the Colorado Power Electronics Center, and is operated through the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering and through the Center for Advanced Engineering and Technology Education (CAETE). A grade of B- or better is required for each course applied toward the certificate. For more information, go to ecee.colorado.edu/academics/cert_programs/overview.html.
Experienced software professionals work in a field that has maintained a relentlessly rapid rate of change for decades, making it impossible to stay current in all aspects of software engineering. Those with limited experience find that the challenges of work assignments exceed their preparation from most undergraduate degree programs. In a typical computer-related undergraduate curriculum, it is not possible to devote enough credit hours specifically to software engineering to address all aspects of engineering complex systems including, for example, design for maintainability, concurrency, and distributed systems.
The professional certificate in software engineering, offered by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Division of Continuing Education, covers the body of knowledge necessary to develop products more predictably and reliably for stand-alone programs as well as for software in more complex environments. The courses required for the professional certificate in software engineering are:
ECEN 4033/5543 Software Engineering of Stand-alone Programs (same as CSCI 5548)
ECEN 4043/5043 Software Engineering of Multi-program Systems
ECEN 4053/5053 Software Engineering of Distributed Systems
Applicants for the certificate program must have received or currently be enrolled in a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution and have satisfied the prerequisites for each course through class work or work experience. They need not be enrolled in a degree-granting program at CU-Boulder. A grade of B- or better is required for each course applied toward the certificate. For more information, visit ece.colorado.edu/academics/cert_programs/overview.html.
