Undergraduate Minors

Minors offer another opportunity for industrial engineering (IE) students to tailor their education to support their future career plans. Students are urged to meet with their advisers as early as possible to discuss the steps necessary to complete a minor.

In April 2016, the University Faculty Senate approved a new policy (59-00) indicating that at least 6 credits of a minor must be unique from any other degree or minor earned by a student. This policy applies to students entering the University in summer 2016 or later. How students are able to double-count credits is affected by this policy. For specific information on how credits can double count for both the IE major and a particular minor, click on the link below.

Double counting credits between IE Major and Minor »

Listed below are minors that integrate well with the IE major; we encourage students to read through them to find one that best meets a student’s individual interests and goals.

• Any Foreign Language
• Biomedical Engineering: This interdisciplinary minor is designed for students interested in the application of engineering principles to medical and biological problems. The minor is particularly suitable for students pursuing an undergraduate degree in a different engineering major, physics, or other applied science who are seeking careers in health-related professions. Students interested in pursuing this minor should contact the Department of Biomedical Engineering with any questions or for more information.
• Business and the Liberal Arts: This minor offers fundamental courses in business, the opportunity for more advanced business courses, and Liberal Arts coursework emphasizing entreprenuership, ethics, and a range of perspectives on business.
• Economics: Economics is the study of how individuals, firms, and governments allocate their scarce resources. This major is designed for those who seek a broad understanding of the operation of the economic system and training in the methods and uses of economic analysis. Graduates are equipped for employment in many areas of business operations, labor unions, and agencies of government at all levels; and to undertake the graduate work necessary to become professional economists.
• Engineering Leadership Development: This interdisciplinary minor is designed to provide engineering students with critical principles and skills. Engineering graduates must demonstrate the ability to assume leadership roles in a competitive technologically complex global society. There are increasing demands for engineers to be able to deal effectively with other people, including the ability to work in teams and to interact with customers and other organizations on both national and international levels. Students will employ engineering case studies in active and collaborative classroom settings to develop these skills. The minor consists of 18 semester hours. Students in all engineering majors are eligible.
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Entrepreneurship and innovation is an interdisciplinary field that deals with new enterprise creation and the process of change and transformation in methods, ideas, and products. It is about problem-solving and the creation of value and positive change in business and society.
• Information Sciences and Technology for Industrial Engineering: Collection and processing of information have increased in all sectors for solving engineering problems, including manufacturing and service related problems. Efficient and timely analysis of data is critical for the survival of companies. There is a need for industrial engineers with a strong background in information technology and systems. The minor in Information Sciences and Technology for Industrial Engineering will augment the skills of students in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in the information systems area. All students pursuing a baccalaureate degree in industrial engineering are eligible for this minor.
• Mathematics: The minor is designed to provide students with an interest in mathematics an opportunity to study a broad range of mathematical topics. The requirements allow students a great deal of flexibility in choosing courses of interest.
• Nanotechnology: The Nanotechnology minor is designed to help prepare students from diverse disciplines for careers in a broad range of industries innovating with nanotechnology. The minor builds on the singular strengths of Penn State's nanofabrication facilities including its class 1 and class 10 clean rooms, its faculty, and existing academic programs. The minor provides students with fundamental knowledge and skills in simulation, design, modeling, syntheses, characterization, properties, processing, manufacturing, and applications at the nano scale.
• Product Realization- PENDING REMOVAL
• Psychology: The Psychology minor is designed to provide undergraduate students with a broad overview of topics and domains within psychology, knowledge and skills related to research methods in psychology, and deeper knowledge of research, theory, and application in one or two specific content domains. Students completing this minor will find a flexible selection of coursework in psychology. The content domains from which students may select courses include biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, industrial-organizational, and social psychology. Students may choose courses that emphasize theory or application of psychological principles. A number of these courses examine the application of psychological research to societal issues.
• Service Enterprise Engineering: The service sector represents over 80 percent of the economy and represents more than 70 percent of jobs in the U.S. Service enterprises constitute a wide range in terms of labor intensity, information intensity, and prevailing productivity. Examples of service enterprises include hospitals, retailers, banks, financial institutions, and airlines. This minor is designed for students interested in learning about applying industrial engineering techniques to service enterprises. Students completing this minor will gain an understanding of applying industrial engineering and operations research tools for modeling, analysis, design and control of service enterprises.
• Six Sigma: Six Sigma has been increasingly internalized by companies involved in manufacturing, health care, and service industries. The Six Sigma process has also been used to address environmental concerns such as water quality and energy conservation. Thus, this minor is designed for students who are interested in the Six Sigma statistical methodology for increasing productivity and enhancing quality. The minor will provide students with an understanding of how business models are changing in response to globalization and how the Six Sigma process and product improvement methodology is thus a vehicle for industry prosperity in this climate. Students completing the minor will develop their analytical and statistical skills, and gain a competitive advantage in the work place.
• Statistics: The Statistics minor introduces students to the quantitative aspects of research. Understanding statistics is useful for research in many areas including agriculture, business, education, social science and sciences as well as many jobs in industry and government.
• Supply Chain and Information Sciences and Technology: The minor in Supply Chain and Information Sciences and Technology (SCIST) is structured to provide students not majoring in Supply Chain and Information Systems (SC&IS) or Management Information Systems (MIS) with the opportunity to develop working knowledge of information technology, supply chain management, and their interdisciplinary synergies. The joint minor is designed for professional careers in business, information systems, software development, consulting, and government. The successful minor must, at a minimum, possess basic knowledge of quantitative techniques, computer applications, and microeconomics.