All posts by Nora Douglas

Fall 2021 Incoming Cohort

Fall 2021 Welcome Message from the MEM Academic Coordinator

Greetings, incoming MEM Fall 2021 students!

Congratulations and welcome to Duke! You are one day closer to the beginning of your graduate degree. I hope you are as excited as we are to have you join the Master of Engineering Management Program. My name is Katie Douglas and I am the academic coordinator for MEM. My role here is to assist students and faculty and to provide support to facilitate the academic experience.

We know that you have career goals and ideas about your future, and we want to make sure you achieve those goals. We also want you to be able to get the best experience you can on your educational journey with us here at the Pratt School of Engineering.

GETTING STARTED

By now, you should have received an email from Bridget Kerwin, the Assistant Director of Graduate Student Programs and Services in the Pratt School of Engineering, with a New Student Checklist. The items on this list are critically important to help you successfully transition to graduate school. Please complete the items on this checklist according to the deadlines given. Additional reminders to complete these checklist items will be sent out throughout the next few months as you prepare for your arrival on campus in August.

Attached you will find a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from incoming MEM students. Please review these, as they will answer many of the questions you likely have about starting the MEM Program. In addition, please review the Bulletin of the Pratt School of Engineering, which contains a plethora of information about Pratt and MEM policies. (Note: The current bulletin linked is for the 2020-2021 academic year. The 2021-2022 Bulletin will be available later this summer.)

REGISTERING FOR FALL 2021 COURSES

The Fall 2021 course list will be made available to students on June 28 when shopping carts open, and course registration for Fall 2021 will begin on July 7. You will use the DukeHub system to register for your courses. For guides about navigating DukeHub and registering for courses in DukeHub, please click here.

The Fall 2021 academic calendar is available here. The first day of the Fall 2021 semester will be August 23. While Duke anticipates offering classes in-person for students who are in Durham, we understand that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created travel and visa challenges for our international students. Therefore, the MEM Program will be offering classes both on-campus and online in Fall 2021, to accommodate those students who are unable to travel to the United States within 30 days of the Fall semester start date. Those students who are in Durham will be expected to take classes in-person on campus, but separate sections of courses will be offered for those students who will be learning online. Additional information about in-person and online courses will be provided closer to registration time.

OPTIONAL MEM VIRTUAL SUMMER EVENTS

The MEM Program will be offering a number of optional virtual events this summer to incoming students to get to know one another, to connect with faculty and staff in the program, and to begin engaging with Duke and the Pratt community. Please be on the lookout for emails from Carolyn Gilbert, the Assistant Director of Student Services in the MEM Program, for more information about these events in the coming weeks.

In addition, I will be offering virtual office hours via Zoom every Tuesday from 9:00AM-11:00AM (Eastern Time), beginning May 25, to answer questions you may have about MEM Program academics (e.g., course registration, policies, etc.).

ACADEMIC ADVISING SURVEY

As a part of providing students with an excellent educational experience, we want to ensure you are getting career, academic and professional mentoring and advice. We want all students to have someone they can speak to if they have questions about a certain course. With that in mind, we will be assigning an academic advisor to you before you arrive at Duke. However, we want your input to ensure you are paired with an advisor whose expertise and career interests mirror your own.

Please fill out this survey by June 23 to let us know what your interests are so that we can pair you with the advisor that will best fit your needs. Your advisor will be a great resource to you for course and career questions during your graduate studies. Advisors will be assigned the first week of August. You will be emailed with the name and contact information for your academic advisor after they are assigned to you.

Finally, for answers to many of the questions that you have about the MEM Program, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions document included here:
MEM Campus Incoming Student FAQs-final

If you have additional questions or concerns, or if there is any way that I can be helpful, please let me know. I am here to serve as a resource for you! 

Again, we are excited to have you join the Master of Engineering Management Program and look forward to seeing you this fall. Go Duke!

-Katie

The MEMO

Summer Term 2021 registration is now open!

It’s hard to believe, but it is time to register for Summer Term courses. Registration for Summer Term 1 and Summer Term 2 has opened today, March 1st. Many Engineering Management students choose to fulfill their internship requirement during this time. If you will be working at an internship this summer that you would like to count for your MEM internship requirement, please register as follows:

  • If you plan to graduate in Summer 2021 and have not yet fulfilled your internship and internship assessment courses, please plan to register for EGRMGMT 550.03 and EGRMGMT 551.03 for Summer Term 1.
  • If you will be continuing your MEM studies into Fall 2021, you may register for EGRMGMT 550.01 for Summer Term 1.

Please note: You do not need to have an internship offer in hand in order to register for EGRMGMT 550.

Only students who are graduating in Summer 2021 may enroll in EGRMGMT 551 during the Summer Term.

As a reminder, students who are F-1 visaholders must complete two semesters of full-time enrollment before they are eligible for CPT to work in the United States. If you are an international student on an F-1 visa and have questions about your CPT eligibility, please contact Kelsey Liddle (Pratt Student Records Coordinator) or Katie Douglas (MEM Academic Coordinator).

SIPP was created in 2020 to address the need for student work experience after COVID-19 caused hiring freezes across many of the industries in which our students secure internships. SIPP will be returning in 2021 to provide students with the opportunity to work in teams alongside industry partners on real-world projects for 10 weeks during the summer. More information about the program may be found here (Duke login required).

Students who are in a position to secure an on-site or remote internship this summer are encouraged to pursue their internship search as a first priority. We encourage students to apply for SIPP if they are not eligible for a summer internship or are not in a position to secure one. F-1 visaholders do not have to apply for CPT to participate in SIPP. Students participating in SIPP may count this experience toward their internship requirement. Most students participating in SIPP should enroll in EGRMGMT 550 during Summer Term 1. If your plan of study anticipates you still enrolled for Summer 2022, please be aware that if you complete EGRMGMT 550 in Summer 2021, you will not be eligible for CPT in Summer 2022. In this situation applies to you, you should not enroll in EGRMGMT 550 in Summer 2021.

If you are interested in joining SIPP this summer, please complete the student interest survey. Completing this survey does not commit you to participating in SIPP, and it does not guarantee you that you will be matched with a project. Projects will be posted on the SIPP website and students will then be able to apply to projects that interest them. Teams for each project will be selected based on merit and fit. If you have any questions about SIPP, please contact Carey Rudell or Jon Reifschneider.