It typically focuses on the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, etc. Industrial and systems engineering often relies on, among others, the analysis and synthesis of mathematical, physical, social sciences, and the principles and methods of engineering design to specify, predict and evaluate results from such systems or processes.

Industrial and systems engineering prepares students for industrial practice in product design, process design, plant operation, production control, quality control, facilities planning, work system analysis and evaluation, and economic analysis of operational systems.

Students are prepared to use engineering principles to solve problems that require a quantitative basis for decision making and the application of economics, operations research, statistics, mathematics and engineering analysis, with dependence on the computer. The curriculum also provides the preparation necessary for graduate study.