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ISEM is a flexible and interdisciplinary program that emphasizes the enterprise architecture, planning and management issues at global levels.

An ISEM student may specialize in the following areas: artificial intelligence, business intelligence, digital government, digital health, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, information security, smart cities, software engineering, systems development, and technology management as part of their individualized concentration.

HU graduate studies in ISEM cut across the following three active areas of work:

  • Information Systems: latest technologies and approaches (e.g.  artificial intelligence, blockchains, business intelligence, cloud computing, databases, mobile computing and wireless communications, and emerging technologies);
  • Systems Engineering: systems thinking and emphasis on integrated systems instead of individual components; enterprise architectures consisting of people, processes and technologies; and,
  • Management: business strategies, entrepreneurship, planning integration, security, governance, global enterprises and agile enterprises.

Program Concentrations

Individualized

The Master of Science in Information Systems Engineering and Management student can choose electives totaling up to 12 credits from any graduate-level program. This option allows the Information Systems Engineering and Management student to build their own customized specialization and concentration.

What separates the ISEM MS program from its peers?

The focus is on how the current and next generation of Digital Enterprises will be planned, engineered and managed.  This implies:   

Why Choose ISEM?

  1. ISEM is a flexible blend of business and technology — it cuts across Information Systems, Systems Engineering and  Management.
  2. ISEM offers flexible specializations in Digital Transformation, Technology Management, AI and BI for Business, Blockchains, Smart Cities & Communities, Industry 4.0 and many more.
  3. You can build your own specialization by taking any three courses in a topic area and then completing a related capstone project.
  4. You can start with MS in ISEM and finish with a PhD in ISEM.
  5. It’s suited for career enhancement and career changers (e.g., from Business to Technology & vice versa).

Information Systems Engineering and Management Advisory Board

The Information Systems Engineering and Management program is guided by leaders in industry to ensure the program produces graduates capable of stepping into a variety of roles. We thank the following Advisory Board Members for their continued guidance and support:

Jason Hebbe Chief Technology Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

jason hebbeJason Hebbe was named the Chief Technology Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in June 2021.

Jason participates in the development and execution of the commonwealth’s information technology strategic plan. He has nearly three decades of information technology expertise across multiple industries, including banking, insurance, manufacturing, logistics and state government. During his career, Jason has held multiple IT leadership positions, focused efforts on IT architecture to design and implement solutions to meet business needs and brought a passion for using technology to bring value and efficiency to the customers and organizations served to all that he does.

Jason has completed studies in leadership, finance, project management and has held multiple technology certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, EMC and the Linux Professional Institute. He is also a graduate of the Government Technology Institute’s Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIOTM) Program and is ITIL Foundations Certified.

Outside of work, he is actively involved in his church and volunteering to serve others. He has a wife, two children and two stepchildren.

Jennifer Magaro Vice President, enGen

jason hebbeAs VP of Integrated Experience Platform and Delivery at enGen, a wholly owned healthtech subsidiary of Highmark Health, Jennifer Magaro facilitates an integrated experience platform layer that supports and simplifies the health care experience for all.

Leading enGen’s digital operating model transformation and technology portfolio, Jennifer enables the organizations Living Health strategy to reinvent the health experience of a person and their clinician. Previously, she led the diversified business technology platforms of Highmark Health, focusing on the United Concordia Dental and HM Insurance Group platforms, servicing over nine million members nationwide.

With more than 25 years’ business and technology leadership experience, Jennifer demonstrates a thorough understanding in her field, showcasing a skillset that includes platform ownership, portfolio management, process improvement, delivery methodologies, and employee engagement.

An active supporter of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs throughout her local community, Jennifer is a champion for the Junior Achievement of South Central Pennsylvania STEM Summit program, as well as a board member of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania.

Jennifer holds a master’s degree in management information systems from Shippensburg University, and a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Pittsburgh. Jennifer resides in Central Pennsylvania and is married to her husband, Shawn, and has two children, Nick and Gabe.

Patricia A. Marrero Vice President of Organization Develop & Talent Acquisition, Phoenix Contact

Patricia MarreroPatty has been with Phoenix Contact for 17 years. During that time she has been worked closely with the business to establish apprenticeship programs geared to developing skill sets that are greatly needed in the manufacturing industry. Several of those programs have a focus on IT. She also co-chairs the NextGen Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in Southcentral PA. The employer group works to address the issues that restrain the growth of manufacturing in the region. Patty also sits on the Board of Directors for the South Central PA Manufacturing Association.

Prior to joining Phoenix Contact, Patty spend 7 years in healthcare and 10 year working for public utility. Her entire career has been focused on organization and people development. She is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania where is earned her undergraduate degree in Education, and Villanova University, where she earned her master degree in Human Resources.

 

Patrick McDonald IT Consultant, Deloitte’s Government and Public Services Practice

Patrick McDonaldPatrick McDonald is an IT Consultant with over 15 years’ experience delivering technology solutions for Federal, state and local government agencies. He specializes in IT delivery modernization through cloud and automation, helping organizations implement strategies aimed at accelerating the speed of IT service delivery that align to industry frameworks such as CMMI, ITIL, SAFe and Agile methodologies. In his current role he manages IT operations for local government agencies as part of Deloitte’s Government and Public Services Practice. He holds a M.S. in Information Science and Technology from Temple University.

Brad Milbrand Transition and Optimization manager for CAI’s Application Managed Services (AMS) account with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Brad MilbrandBrad Milbrand serves as the Transition and Optimization manager for CAI’s Application Managed Services (AMS) account with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is responsible for setting up and transitioning new projects to the AMS account and works across all AMS teams to identify process and procedure improvements to provide better client solutions.

Brad earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Penn State University and started his career as an application developer for several fortune 500 companies. He earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Eastern University and transitioned into team and account leadership. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University with a concentration in private industry. He is currently working on his dissertation which focuses on team culture within information technology organizations.

Brad and his wife, Kendra, along with their two daughters, live in Enola and enjoy spending time running to soccer games, scouting activities, band competitions, and family events. When he gets some free time, he enjoys spending time in his woodshop.

Arijith Roy VP Consulting Sigma Resources, LLC

Arijith RoyI am a firm believer in the quote “Staying focused on human beings is one of the most important tenets of building a successful business”. I am a curious technologist, passionate about innovative products, service design and delivery. In my 20+ years consulting with various clients I have interacted with and learned from C-level execs, business line managers, and peers to have a keen focus on customer needs while empowering implementation teams to deliver business value.

“I want to express my gratitude for the two excellent courses that [Dr. Amjad Umar] teaches (ISEM 500 and ISEM 540) which helped me learn a lot. I used the learnings, strategies and SPACE projects in my interview for my dream job as a Product Manager with a technology company.

I was given a case to build a business around a high quality video technology and I applied the enterprise architecture principles. I am thankful to Harrisburg University for a very practically designed curriculum due to which I got my dream career in the field of product management which combines technology, business and design.”

Charu Manglani

“ISEM graduate program is a highly flexible graduate program that offers a balanced mixture of information systems, systems engineering and management. The setting of courses is closely integrated with the development directions of industry.”

Rui Wang

“ISEM has been an intuitively flexible and interdisciplinary department at HU. I have been a designer and community advocate with 15 years of experience in the domain. I wanted to jumpstart my career so I could merge my passion for social justice with that of technology and the ISEM program turned out to be the best decision as it gave me a lot of confidence in the choice I made to advance my career, furthermore move to the next phase of my educational journey as a Ph.D. candidate. I would not have done so much in the field and realized my calling if it weren’t for Prof. Amjad Umar and the ISEM faculty who have genuinely been supportive throughout my journey as a student at the university.”

Hamida Khatri

Program Lead

 Robert  Pittman, Ph.D.

Robert Pittman, Ph.D. Program Lead and Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering

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Full Time Faculty

Iheb Abdellatif, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Information Technology & Management

Siamak Aram, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Computer Science and Data Analytics

Barry Boyer, MS-ISEM

Instructor of Information Systems Engineering & Management

Ozlem Cosgun, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management

Robert Pittman, Ph.D.

Program Lead and Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering

Thomas Plunkett

Assistant Professor of Blockchain Technologies

Amjad Umar, Ph.D.

Professor of Information Systems Engineering and Management

Richard Wirth

Assistant Professor of Information Sciences

Corporate Faculty

Program Courses

This program requires a total of 36 semester hours: 18 semester hours from the core courses, 6 semester hours of experiential courses, and 12 semester hours of concentration courses. The semester hour value of each course appears in parentheses ( ).

ISEM 500 – Strategic Pln for Digital Transform (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic principles (systems thinking and quantitative methods) of systems engineering and shows how these principles can be used to strategically plan, integrate, secure and administer the complex information systems that support and drive the current and future digital enterprises. Topics include: digital enterprises, aligning information technology strategy to business strategy, enterprise applications (customer relations management, procurement, supply chain management), ecommcerce, decision support, knowledge management, artificial intelligence (AI) applications, cost/benefit analysis and information technology infrastructure. These topics are explained through case studies and examples by using a strategic planning methodology.

ISEM 502 – User-Centered Design (3 credits)

A high level of end-user and client involvement is absolutely critical in creating usable and effective software and technology that attracts audiences and/or generates revenue. User-centered design (UCD) describes an approach to business analysis and technology development that demands user interaction and user feedback in all stages of the development lifecycle. The UCD process involves a collection of activities and techniques that can be used to create the more usable, intuitive, and effective technology possible. This course covers the full range of UCD methods and demonstrates the importance of these techniques in designing and building interactive technology, focusing mostly on software applications.

ISEM 503 – Artificial Intelligence Prin & Apps (3 credits)

Interdisciplinary presentation of artificial intelligence as a coherent body of knowledge to acquaint the student with the key concepts and applications in business, science and engineering. The course covers models of intelligent behavior, including problem solving, knowledge representation, reason, planning, decision making, learning, perception, pattern recognition, action, communication and interaction. Recent developments in knowledge management, expert systems, computer-aided consulting and integrated intelligent systems are covered through a wide range of case studies, examples, and hands-on experiments.

ISEM 530 – Systems Engineering Principles (3 credits)

This course prepares the student to analyze business information systems in the digital age and to build models and logical designs that can be later implemented. The emphasis will be on the business processes and business requirements needed to build conceptual models that help in analysis of business requirements. This course prepares the student to design complex systems and to build applied designs and architectures.

ISEM 534 – Database Design and Management (3 credits)

This course emphasizes the practical aspects of the design and administration of modern Database Management Systems (DBMSs) that host enterprise data. Specific topics include the role of data in modern enterprises and the data life cycle that spans conceptual database design, database query languages such as SQL, database integrity rules, database administration, and data warehouses. This course utilizes commercially available relational DBMSs for hands-on experiments and explore how to create an entity-relationship data model, translate that model into relational schema, build and use a relational database that implements the schema, create SQL queries to retrieve and manipulate needed data, provide access to remote databases from web browsers, and experiment with DBA (Database Administration) capabilities. The student also investigates recent developments in database technologies (e.g. NoSQL). This course prepares the student for database design and administration positions and will also provide the necessary background for more specialized courses in database systems.

ISEM 536 – IT Infrastructure and Cloud Computing (3 credits)

This course concentrates on the practical aspects of Internet technologies, architectures and administration. Topics include: IT infrastructure, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), communications network principles, Internet Protocols, IPv4, IPv6, TCP sockets, and Internet of Things (IoTs). Administrative topics are network management, website administration, introduction to network security, wireless technologies and mobile computing. Classroom projects expose the student to network architectures for small to large enterprises. This course prepares the student for network planning administration positions and provides the necessary background for more specialized courses in communication networks.

ISEM 540 – Enterprise Architecture & Integr (3 credits)

Modern digital enterprises are characterized by increased automation, mobile services, extended B2B operations with global business partners, and on-demand business services. The main issue in such enterprises is to architect and integrate a very wide range of services quickly and effectively. This course presents a ‘systems’ perspective based on service oriented architecture (SOA) that combines processes, people and technologies, and highlights the role of information and communication technologies, enterprise models, and emerging SOA standards in developing flexible and integrated business architectures.

ISEM 550 – Cyber Security Management (3 credits)

This course covers the technical and administrative aspects of security, privacy and control issues that are vital to IS management. A comprehensive overview of security and IT control principles and practices that are needed to satisfy the IS systems integrity, confidentiality and availability requirements are addressed. Topics include security awareness, IS Security and Control Practices, IT audit principles and standards, risk analysis, and process flow analysis for auditing.

ISEM 558 – IoTs and Industry4.0 (3 credits)

This course is an introduction to the area of Internet of Things (IoTs) with a special focus on Embedded Systems and their applications. The course addresses a wide breadth of technologies and standards used to support this rapidly evolving domain. This includes the embedded system hardware, software, and operating systems. It also goes through wireless connectivity systems used for IoTs, as well as the cloud support. The student will have an opportunity to explore current and future applications of IoTs and embedded systems in healthcare, energy, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and other vial sectors.

ISEM 565 – Bus Intelligence/Dec Support Sys (3 credits)

Modern “electronically enabled” enterprises rely increasingly on knowledge that needs to be managed and processed through a variety of intelligent tools. This course covers the vital issues of business intelligence and knowledge management in modern enterprises and discusses how the decision support and expert systems tools can be used for effective decision making in organizations.

ISEM 572 – Smart Cities & Strategic Intel (3 credits)

This course addresses advances in research, technologies, systems, and applications as related to “strategic intelligence.” Strategic intelligence (SI) refers to the intersection of Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and Competitive Intelligence for improving the strategic decision making in Smart Cities. Instead of intelligence on one topic area, Smart Cities need strategic intelligence that covers multiple topic areas. This course discusses methodologies, trends, challenges, and applications as related to knowledge management, intelligent systems, automated planning and scheduling systems, analytics, and Big Data.

ISEM 574 – Block Chains and Trusted Systems (3 credits)

Blockchain technologies is believed to be a disruptive innovation that enables secure global business transactions. Blockchain was originally developed for the digital currency, Bitcoin, that is currently valued at more than 9 billion USD. Several new applications of blockchain “as a platform” are currently under investigation in several countries such as Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Dubai. Some applications include but are not limited to cybercurrency, insurance, and food safety. In this course, the student will study the concepts of blockchain, the type of applications that this platform will enabled and why this “digital gold” is expected to be similar to the coming of Internet in the late 90s.

MGMT 510 – Bus Strategy & Mgmt Principles (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic concepts of business strategy and management principles of planning, organizing, staffing, developing, and monitoring/control. The context is global markets and their impact on business strategies and managerial processes. The course explores the best practices in global strategic management, organizational design, human resource processes, and organizational behavior.

International Admissions

Information for Students who want to come to the U.S.

The University is home to more than 5,000 international students representing 110 countries.

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