The Enterprise Systems Center (ESC) was formally established in 1995. This multidisciplinary center is committed to providing student experiential learning and leadership development primarily through industry value creation. The ESC maintains a network of industry partner relationships to serve as a platform for Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Department course projects, summer and co-op projects and leadership activities. Partnership and teaming on projects and programs is important and occurs primarily with the ISE Department as well as other departments and centers in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Since its inception, more than 1,125 research and development projects with over 450 industry partners have been completed. More than 4,125 undergraduate and graduate students from the engineering, business and arts/science colleges collaborated to help achieve deliverables having a high rate of return on investment.
The Center seeks to advance interdisciplinary research and scholarship relating to analytics, information technology, new process development, systems optimization, sustainable manufacturing and enabling businesses to maintain global competitiveness. Additional research initiatives focus on discovering new methods for collaboration among academic, industry and government partners through the use of advanced technology. Emphasis is given to innovative systems approaches to problem-solving. The ESC is conveniently housed in Mohler Laboratory which is also the location of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
The ESC engages students along with professors, senior fellows, subject matter experts, and industry partners, who utilize a layered-mentoring approach. This helps companies use existing or develop new technology tools to grow and compete in a global marketplace. Commonly, research teams are interdisciplinary and engage both undergraduate and graduate students.
Educational goals include developing world class practitioners as well as future leaders. The ESC enables leadership skill set development which helps students to transition from an initial role of individual technical contributor to managerial positions directing the efforts of others in global organizational settings. This is accomplished through course content, projects emphasizing experiential learning, a leadership minor, hosting the student chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success, and programs such as the Innovation and Leadership Residency (ILR). Students with ESC experience report a great advantage when interviewing with corporate recruiters.
