The main feature of the ORIE Master of Engineering Program – and what sets it apart from other graduate-level OR programs – is a team-based engineering design project that provides students with an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to a real-life situations: meeting with representatives from a corporation or other enterprise, analyzing a specific problem, and making a proposal for a solution, through an oral presentation to the sponsor and a written report.
Through their projects and in their course work, students are exposed to a wide-range in areas as diverse as decision support systems, foreign currency exchange rates, and risk reduction for credit card companies. In the process, students gain greater breadth and depth of technical knowledge and hands-on experience with mathematical modeling and the application of quantitative techniques to the design and operation of systems.
The Financial Engineering Concentration encompasses the design, analysis, and construction of financial contracts to meet the needs of enterprises. There is an increasing demand for professionals in this field, especially those trained in both the underlying mathematics/computer technologies and finance. ORIE’s excellent rack record of training students to meet that demand has been further enhanced by the launch of the Operations Research Manhattan, located in the heart of New York’s financial district, and the new Cornell Financial Engineering Manhattan (CFEM) offered through OR Manhattan. The internships offer graduate students an opportunity to gain Wall Street experience, while providing financial services firms with access to an exclusive talent pool and cutting-edge academic research.
The curriculum in Financial Engineering is difficult for students without a background in ORIE to complete in two semesters. For that reason, we have designed a three semester program to begin in fall 2007. Prerequisites are required for both the two and three semester programs and are detailed in the Master of Engineering Student Handbook.
"The Cornell M.Eng. in ORIE credential not only carries much weight here, but also has prepared me to enter the workforce confidently. I can see what I learned in and out of the classroom in a practical application." —Robyn Chung '99, Business Consulting Analyst