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Graduate Certificate Program in Design and Manufacturing Engineering

Gain a solid foundation in product design and expand your understanding of quality and process engineering with UMass Lowell's online Graduate Certificate in Design and Manufacturing Engineering.

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Online Graduate Certificate in Design and Manufacturing Engineering

Build your knowledge of modern design, manufacturing practices and different methods for experimental design with UMass Lowell's online Graduate Certificate in Design and Manufacturing Engineering. This four-course online program enables engineers to become effective decision-makers and technical leaders. You will explore best practices related to the design, fabrication and delivery of premium, high-quality products at the lowest possible cost within engineering project budgets and schedules.

Offered by UMass Lowell's Department of Mechanical Engineering, this certificate is intended for engineers who want to boost their product design and manufacturing expertise. A bachelor's degree in engineering or science background is recommended but not required for enrollment in this program.

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Complete in 9 Months

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One of the Most Affordable Tuitions in the Nation

Career Outlook

668,248
Jobs (2020)
+2.9%
% Change (2020-2021)
$99.2K/yr
Median Earnings
69,798
Annual Openings
Source: Lightcast, 2022

Occupations

  • Emerging Products Manager
  • Engineering Project Leader
  • Industrial Designer
  • Manufacturing Design Engineer
  • Manufacturing Engineering Manager
  • Mechanical Engineer
  • Medical Device Design Engineer
  • Plastics Process Engineer
  • Product Design Engineer
  • Product Engineering Manager
  • Prototype Engineer
  • Senior Product Development Manager
  • Quality Assurance Engineer

Key Takeaways

Deepen your knowledge of a range of topics, including:

  • Concepts of robust product design and statistical Design of Experiments (DOE) as applied to high-tech product design, development and manufacturing
  • Analytical approaches related to maintaining project schedules and budgets
  • Structural methodologies for identifying customer requirements and managing manufacturing process design, control and selection
  • How, why and when to use various reliability engineering tools to achieve the reliability goals of the total design cycle
  • The manufacturing and production of composites, electronics, and ferrous and non-ferrous plastic and ceramic materials
  • Market assessment, regulatory planning, and brainstorming and early prototyping of new medical devices

One Success Leads to Another

Apply credits from lower credentials to higher ones. Our programs are designed to build upon themselves:

Curriculum Outline

- 4 Courses / 12 Credits

Course Descriptions

ENGN.5400 Designing Sustainable Products (3cr)

The course introduces students to the sustainability aspects of product design. Sustainable products are designed to conserve materials and energy, select low-impact materials, eliminate toxic substances, extend product life, re-use materials, and reduce the generation of wastes. The entire product life cycle will be considered including: material extraction, material processing, manufacturing, transportation, product use, and disposal. Students will learn the impact of design solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context. The students will learn strategies to identify the sustainability impacts throughout the product life cycle, as well as the application of sustainable product design principles and strategies to address these impacts.

MECH.5710 Quality Engineering (3cr)

Focuses on methodologies used by world class companies to guide the design and development of high quality, low cost products in the most timely manner through the use of analytical tools in case studies: Topics include: new product creation strategy and process, organizational aspects of multi-disciplinary design teams, concurrent project management, and structural methodologies for identifying customer requirements and manufacturing process design, control and selection. In particular, focus is on the interrelationship of CE, manufacturing and Quality tools and methodologies and how they contribute in determining the appropriate level of product/process quality and design efficiency.

MECH.5720 Manufacturing Processes (3cr)

Ferrous and non-ferrous, plastic and ceramic material behavior and properties. Electronic manufacturing processes, including printed circuit board fabrication, population and soldering. Castings, materials forming and shaping. Surface preparations and heat treatment. Additive manufacturing and fabrication of composites.

MECH.5740 Design For Reliability Engineering (3cr)

(3-0)3 Design for Reliability Engineering provides a systematic approach to the design process that is focused on reliability and the physics of failure. It provides the requirements on how, why, and when to use the wide variety of reliability engineering tools available in order to achieve the reliability goals of the total design cycle. Topics include the product design cycle and customer requirements, analytical physics, reliability statistics, accelerated testing, accelerated reliability growth, industry standard predictive models, design reliability assessment, reliability FMEA, product risk evaluation and thermodynamic reliability.

MECH.5750 Industrial Design of Experiment (3cr)

Concepts of Robust Design and statistical Design Of Experiments (DOE) as applied to the design and manufacturing of new high technology products. Classical and current methodologies of DOE including Full Factorial, Fractional Factorial, Taguchi, Central Composite and Yates Algorithms. The course will also provide for different methods for experimental design and analysis, including average and variability analysis. Commercial software packages and case studies using industrial experiments will be used to illustrate the material.

Requirements:

CSCE Graduate Restrictions

MECH.5760 Engineering Project Management (3cr)

Skills are developed enabling engineers to be effective decision makers and technical leaders in an environment where technology management, business operations and strategies for contract compliance are critical to achieving competitive advantage. Elements of the Project Planning and Control System are presented along with analytical methods important for maintaining Projects on schedule and within budget.

PLAS.5180 Plastics Product Design (3cr)

This course reviews the theoretical principles and the engineering practice associated with the development of new plastic products. The course focuses on design practices for products that will be produced by conventional and advanced injection molding processes. Topics include design methodology, plastic materials selection, design for manufacturing, computer aided engineering, mechanical behavior of plastics, structural design of plastic parts, prototyping techniques, experimental stress analysis, and assembly techniques for plastic parts.

Requirements:

26.211 Engineering Mechanics, 26.218 Introduction to Design or Graduate career students. (Pre-requisites are enforced only for undergraduate plastics engineering students).

PLAS.5530 Medical Device Design I (3cr)

A systematic approach to inventing new medical devices. The class details the process of validating medical needs including market assessment and the evaluation of existing technologies; basics of regulatory (FDA) and reimbursement planning; brainstorming and early prototyping for concept creation. Course format includes expert guest lecturers and interactive practical discussions with faculty. Students will prepare a medical device proposal and presentation.

Graduate Certificate Requirements

Students enrolled in graduate certificate programs through UMass Lowell must complete all courses indicated in the curriculum outline. Students may complete the certificate program at their own pace by registering for and successfully completing one or more courses each semester, depending upon his/her personal time constraints. Students are required to maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.000 with no more than one course grade below B to receive the certificate.

Online courses meet throughout the year during the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters (see Calendar for details). Online students generally log into their online course website one or more times per week to retrieve lectures and assignments or to participate in a chat session. Online students should expect to spend 6 to 10 hours per week engaged in course-related activities for each course. For more information on online courses, visit our online program home page .

Completing a Graduate Certificate Program

Graduate certificate courses must be completed within a five-year period with a minimum 3.000 grade point average and no more than one course with a grade below B. Once all courses for a graduate certificate have been completed, students must complete and submit the Graduate Certificate Clearance Form. Students must submit their clearance form to their coordinator. The coordinator will apply them in SIS, Graduation Tracking.

Tuition & Fees

Tuition at UMass Lowell is typically half the cost of private colleges, and our online tuition is among the lowest in the nation. Tuition for online programs offered through the Division of Graduate, Online & Professional Studies is the same whether you live in-state, out-of-state or outside of the U.S.

Spring 2025 Tuition

Cost Per Credit Cost Per 3-Credit Course*

Graduate

Online $600 $1,800
Online Business1 $655 $1,965
Online HyFlex $750 $2,250
Select On Campus courses2 $600 $1,800
All other On Campus courses3 View Here
*Tuition is priced on the listed credit hour unless the contact hour is different. Tuition is then based upon the listed contact hour.
1Applies to ACCT, BUSI, ENTR, FINA, MGMT, MKTG, MIST and POMS courses.
3Applies to graduate on campus courses excluding select courses

Additional Costs

Cost
Term Registration Fee $30
Returned Check Fee $30
Graduate Engineering and Business Degrees and Certificate Applications $75

Please note: Tuition and fees are subject to change.

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Looking for Financial Assistance?

UMass Lowell offers a variety of financial aid and scholarship options.

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For Graduate Certificate Programs, Please Submit:

  • An application
  • An application fee*
  • An official transcript indicating a completed bachelor's degree. If your bachelor's degree is from outside the United States, you may be required to take the TOEFL examination.
  • No Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required for graduate certificate programs

F1 student visas are not issued for this program. Applications can be completed and submitted at any time during the year. Your application will be processed as soon as all admission materials have been received. You may apply to more than one certificate program but can only take 12 credits maximum before enrolling in an advanced degree. Learn more about specific application requirements for your program of interest.

*There is a $75 application fee to apply to this graduate program.

Count Your Graduate Certificate Toward a Master's Degree

Credits earned from a graduate certificate may be used toward a related graduate degree.

Graduate Program Admissions Requirements

Admission to all graduate programs at UMass Lowell is contingent upon successful completion of a bachelor's degree. In many cases, applicants may register for a course before formally applying to the program; however, students requiring financial aid may want to wait until they have been formally accepted into the program to ensure that their course(s) will be covered. Contact UMass Lowell's Office of Graduate Admissions if you have questions about the application process.

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Graduate Application Questions

Please check your application status emails. Still have questions? Contact Graduate Admissions at Graduate_Admissions@uml.edu or 800-656-4723. International students: Please call 978-934-2390.

For General Assistance:

For general questions about registering for courses or to find out who the advisor is for your graduate program, call 800-480-3190. Our admissions and advising teams are here to help!

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