At a Glance
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- Instructor(s): Joseph Holmes
- Semester(s) typically taught: Fall and Spring
- Units: 3.0
- Grading scale: Graded (A-F)
- Required or elective for MEM degree? Elective
- If elective, applicable elective track(s): Customer Experience and Product Design, Data Analytics and ML, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Product Management, Technology Development and Commercialization
- Requirements: Consent of instructor
- Recommended previous courses: n/a
The Engineering Management Practicum is a 3-credit elective (EGRMGMT 556) that gives students an opportunity to gain real-world consulting experience by participating in industry-sponsored, team-based projects. We harvest projects from venture-backed firms that need help solving/seizing some business-oriented problem/opportunity. Students often participate to build their resumes, make industry connections, prove they can work successfully with others on a team, and gain compelling job-interview content.
Special Notes:
- Remember that the CPP is different than other electives. You cannot just register on your own – you must first apply (like a job) and get invited to participate (and only those invited will receive a permission code to register). You also are not allowed to audit the course.
- If you are not an MEM student, then the onus is on you to check with your faculty adviser to be sure that the CPP counts as a viable elective in your degree program. For example, the CPP is NOT an approved elective in the FinTech program.
Course Description/Synopsis (from DukeHub)
The Engineering Management Practicum provides a real life view of various challenges faced by organizations. Projects at the intersection of engineering and business will be chosen for this practicum. Students will work in teams and will conduct a mentored, semester-long project for an organization. The learning objectives of this course include:
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- (i) Learn how engineering and technology impact organizations and how they are integrated into an organization to achieve desired results;
- (ii) Understand, through an experiential environment, how organizations function and the difference between theory and implementation in an organizational setting; and
- (iii) Develop team based skills in an applied environment and learn how to communicate technical issues to a variety of personnel in an organization.
Duke MEM Consulting Practicum Program (CPP) Fall 2024 Information
For the Fall 2024 semester, MEMP leadership requested that all CPP team members be registered before classes begin on Aug. 26. To achieve this, the announcement-to-registration process will be conducted remotely from Aug. 14 to Aug. 25. The “current” schedule is provided here: Duke-MEM-CPP-Fall-2024-Schedule-Preview
Students will receive all CPP announcements via email from joseph.holmes@duke.edu and all schedule details will be updated once the CPP App Guide is distributed on Aug. 14.
Student Testimonials (from Course Evaluations)
- “I am very pleased with the course. I got what I had expected of it. I got to work on a real-life case with the least possible guidance. This allowed our team to work on our own and helped us grow a lot. The course helped us learn how to work with clients and gave a valuable peak into the industry.”
- “I felt that the minimal yet important inputs from the mentor were very helpful. It helped us to work and figure out things on our own as a team. This facilitated us to deal with clients and problems in a professional manner.”
- “Prof Joey Holmes managed the course very well. I believe assigning each student to a project and then managing it single handedly initially is quite a herculean task.”
- “Students are able to work on real life projects because of Prof Holmes’ efforts. If it weren’t for him then we would never have gotten a chance to participate in this wonderful course.”
