Founded in 1999, the Cornell Systems Engineering Program was established in response to strong interest from leading corporations such as General Motors, Xerox Corporation, Applied Materials, and Lockheed Martin. These industry leaders and others seek engineers who not only have solid depth in a particular undergraduate discipline, but who also possess a breadth of knowledge that enables them to work across disciplinary boundaries and take on leadership from a systems perspective.
Our Program is designed to equip students with the skills necessary to apply a systems engineering approach to problem-solving, preparing them for leadership roles in their careers. Recent college graduates, as well as working professionals, benefit from our graduate-level educational offerings tailored to their career stage, allowing them to develop solutions for healthcare delivery, resilient infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, and clean energy transitions.
Our degree programs combine rigorous analytics, digital technologies, and real-world partnerships to advance systems innovation for sustainable and healthy societies. Through our on-campus and distance-learning degree programs, M.Eng. pathways, and initiatives such as Systems Studio, the Systems Engineering program collaborates with Cornell University’s engineering departments and distinguished faculty to offer a transdisciplinary curriculum of exceptional depth and strength, spanning a variety of application areas, including aerospace and defense systems, manufacturing and logistics, transportation, infrastructure, energy systems, health care, and information systems.
Our Systems M.Eng. projects now serve as an open laboratory for industry-academia collaboration, and our Ezra Systems Scholars Program and the annual Cornell Systems Summit bring together emerging leaders to tackle complex challenges at the intersection of engineering, management, and policy. These initiatives reflect our belief that systems engineering must evolve beyond analysis—it must engage with society.
“The systems mindset is not just about managing complexity—it’s about designing harmony,” said Oliver Gao, Howard Simpson Professor of Engineering and Director of Cornell Systems Engineering. “It’s how we move from fragmented effort to integrated progress, from technology for its own sake to technology for humanity. Together we are shaping the next frontier of systems leadership—for a sustainable, equitable, and healthy future.”
Leadership
“At Cornell, Systems Engineering is about the complicated and messy real world. Yes, you learn the methodologies for design and analysis. You also learn the unwritten rules: that everything connects to everything, that every choice has a ripple effect, that every decision has a price, and that you have to be willing to make trade offs until the price and performance are right. ”
H. Oliver Gao Director of the Systems Engineering Program
Mission and History
-
Mission
The Cornell Systems Engineering Program equips students with the skills necessary to apply a systems engineering approach to problem-solving, preparing them for leadership roles in their careers. Our commitment is to shape resilient, intelligent, and healthy systems that empower people and protect the planet.
-
Vision
The convergence of engineering, health, and environmental systems defines the frontier of modern systems science. The next era of systems leadership will be measured by our ability to integrate climate analytics, digital engineering, and health informatics into clear next steps for sustainable futures. The overarching vision is for the Systems Engineering Program to become an internationally recognized high-impact institutional and intellectual home for students and researchers to address systems challenges, and to invest in people, programs, and infrastructure. We invite partners—from academia, industry, and government—to join us in creating solutions that link technological innovation with human well-being.
Our research continues to grow in scope and impact:
- Developing AI-driven models for systems design and decision making
- Applying digital twin technologies to monitor and optimize health and infrastructure networks
- Integrating systems modeling with environmental and health analytics to inform climate-resilient urban policy and operations
-
History
The Cornell Systems Engineering Program was founded in 1999—in response to requests from several large U.S. corporations that included GM, Applied Materials, Xerox, and others— when the first systems engineering courses were offered at Cornell. Starting with offering only an on-campus M.Eng. degree in 2001, Systems added a distance-learning M.Eng. degree in 2009, providing the same fully accredited M.Eng. degree that was available through their on-campus program. The Ezra Systems Scholars Program (a research collaboration that welcomes visiting scholars, postdoctoral associates, and Executives-in-Residence to share ideas) was launched in 2011.
In 2015, Oliver Gao, Howard Simpson Professor of Engineering in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was appointed to be the director of the Systems Engineering program. Motivated by the success of its professional programs and faculty interest, in 2016 Gao initiated on-campus M.S. and Ph.D. programs that focused on research in systems science and engineering, and these degrees launched in 2017, followed by the establishment of the Energy Systems Engineering M.Eng. professional pathway in 2019.
Gao also spearheaded a transformative partnership between Cornell Engineering and Weill Cornell Medicine to create the flagship Health Systems Engineering Pathway in 2024 and successfully secured a new gift in support of the Health Systems Engineering Initiative.
The Cornell Systems Summit (an annual conference that brings leaders in the field to Ithaca to discuss issues at the forefront of systems engineering), also launched in 2024. In 2025, the Semiconductor and Industrial Systems Engineering M.Eng. pathway was added, and Cornell Systems Studio (an open lab that fosters collaboration between students and industry) was launched.
Systems Engineering continues to expand its variety of pathways available to M.Eng. students, while expanding opportunities to share knowledge and advance the field.
For inquiries about our program, academic offerings, or opportunities to support Systems Engineering, please contact us. We look forward to assisting you.
