Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) recently joined forces with Amazon to help shape and develop ISyE’s master’s degree in supply chain engineering (MSSCE). The company and School will work together to develop fulfillment systems analysis and design curriculum. To this end, ISyE, the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL), and Amazon have announced funding of $665,000 from Amazon during the next five years.  A key goal will be to attract and recruit underrepresented minorities to this growing field.

“We are pleased to support Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering to attract diverse talent to the field of supply chain engineering,” said Akash Chauhan, Amazon’s vice president of North American operations. “Amazon has exciting opportunities available on our growing supply chain, logistics, engineering, and robotics teams, and our support of Georgia Tech will help prepare the next generation of leaders.”

To support this student experience, ISyE faculty have developed the new Systems Design Track for the MSSCE program. The track includes courses in mechatronics and robotics through Georgia Tech’s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, ranked second nationally, as well as a course in industrial systems design.  

“ISyE’s strengths line up very well with Amazon’s strengths and core competencies. Amazon is a leader in supply chain, fulfillment innovation as well as robotics, and ISyE – and Georgia Tech as a whole – fosters an environment focused on developing ‘what’s next,’” said SCL Managing Director Tim Brown.

Amazon seeks to attract and maintain a diverse professional workforce. Georgia Tech, with the largest engineering college in the U.S. – positioned in the top five in overall rankings – and ISyE, with its long-standing No. 1-ranked graduate and undergraduate programs, is uniquely positioned to help Amazon with this goal.

Georgia Tech graduates more female and minority engineers than any other university in the country and has long-established undergraduate transfer programs with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or schools whose student base consists of mostly individuals who identify as a minority. This transfer program is the Regents’ Engineering Transfer Program (RETP). In support of Amazon’s diversity recruiting objectives, Amazon and Georgia Tech plan to leverage the RETP program and foster relationships with the HBCUs. As part of its financial support, Amazon will provide four fellowships to masters’ students in the supply chain engineering program at $12,000 per year for five years.

In addition, the MSSCE Systems Design track students will be given preferential consideration for internships with Amazon. Undergraduate diversity recruiting scholarships may also be awarded by Amazon.