The Cockrell School of Engineering has launched a first-of-its-kind program in graduate education at The University of Texas at Austin that allows participants to pursue career-focused course bundles that can be applied as academic credit toward a graduate degree.
To start, the Cockrell School is offering two graduate certificates — a Mechanical Engineering Controls Certificate and a Petroleum Engineering Data Analytics Certificate. The programs, which have been developed and led by Texas Engineering Executive Education, the school’s professional education division, aim to make it easier for remote learners to earn relevant skills and stack credentials.
The stackable certificates are available to individuals who have been admitted to the university as either degree-seeking or non-degree-seeking graduate students, and external learners are encouraged to apply to enhance their engineering skills. Students can apply credit from certificate coursework toward a master’s degree, creating a stackable pathway for advanced education.
“We are very excited to offer these innovative continuing and professional education programs, and we hope more working engineers will take advantage of this opportunity to build their skills remotely,” said Sharon L. Wood, dean of the Cockrell School. “These certificates, which have been designed by our world-class faculty members in two top-ranked programs, will meet workforce needs for companies while helping professionals advance in their careers.”
Both programs are being offered 100% online, further supporting students who are primarily learning online and remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic and creating a new opportunity to learn at one of the nation’s best engineering schools — from anywhere. Faculty members from the Cockrell School’s Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering and Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering will teach the certificate courses.
“These new micro-credentials allow us to meet industry and employer needs and provide working engineers with critical skills and knowledge that they can apply immediately in their jobs,” said Eric Roe, assistant dean for continuing education in the Cockrell School. “We can now support the educational development of both baccalaureate degree holders and working professionals who already have advanced degrees with flexible opportunities to acquire graduate-level credentials without completing an entire degree program.”
The Mechanical Engineering Controls Graduate Certificate is designed for working mechanical and petroleum engineers who want to boost their skills in the control and optimization of processes and systems and feature courses in statistical methods; modeling, simulation and control; and automatic control.
The Petroleum Engineering Data Analytics Graduate Certificate is designed for working petroleum engineers who want to master the ability to use analytics on the massive amounts of data being generated in the industry to better inform decision-making. Course topics include stochastic methods for reservoir modeling, subsurface machine learning and high-performance computing.
“When the learner is ready, they can take the credit earned in these two graduate certificates and apply it to a master’s degree,” Roe added. “These new stackable, remotely accessible, high-value credentials that create pathways to degree attainment is a win for engineering learners anywhere.”
The certificate programs will start in Spring 2021 and interested participants can begin applying today. For application and other information, contact
About Texas Engineering Executive Education
Texas Engineering Executive Education provides working engineers with top-tier continuing and professional education and real-world training that accelerates career development and strengthens companies. Our executive master’s degree programs and custom on-site courses for companies are led by Cockrell School faculty members and industry experts to deliver results-based programs with immediately applicable tools.
