Management of Technology Graduate Minor

MOT student smiling, wearing black turtleneck, background is brightly lit from window and glass panes

Broaden Your Perspective

Gain greater insight into business, leadership, and innovation with a Management of Technology (MOT) graduate minor. This program is designed to equip graduate students with the management knowledge and skills needed to take on future leadership roles.

Career Success Skills

Business basics are needed to understand how decisions are made, how to influence them, and ultimately how to make them yourself. The key differentiators of career success are the communications, teamwork, and innovation management skills obtained in our MOT minor program. Having the MOT minor on a resume, along with a technical major, says you are ready to lead in a technological enterprise.

Download the MOT Graduate Minor Program Here

Prerequisites

MOT Minor Curriculum photo

Whether you’re taking one MOT minor course or pursuing the MOT master’s or doctoral minor, a bachelor’s degree in engineering, science or another technology-related field from an accredited program is required.

In order to pursue the Management of Technology graduate minor, you must meet the following prerequisites:

  • Bachelor’s degree from an accredited program
  • Currently enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program at the University of Minnesota
  • 3.0 GPA from all prior coursework

Applied Learning

MOT minor courses help students develop an understanding of business principles, complementary to a science or engineering graduate major. Three (3) courses are required for the minor, and they may also be taken by non-degree seeking students. Electives are selected in consultation with the director of the MOT minor. Other courses may be counted toward the MOT minor with prior approval.

 

MOT Minor Curriculum

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Required Courses

Fall

MOT 5001 Technology Business Fundamentals (2 credits)
Gain the decision-making knowledge for technology-driven businesses, with topics including innovation, marketing opportunity assessment, business modeling, financial decision-making, and organizational roles (such as R&D, marketing, finance, manufacturing, supply chain, and executive management).

MOT 5002 Creating Technological Innovation (3 credits)
This hands-on, project-based course provides students the perspective of a Technology Leader of an organization or product team. Details the innovation process, from an idea's inception through impact in the economy, regardless of organizational setting. Explores how solutions are developed to become ready for broader market deployment. Includes testing and development of the problem-solution fit, probing of solutions for robustness, and testing of both technical and operational scaling of proposed solutions. Examines the human aspects of innovation, specifically issues of team building and readiness. Considers the broader system for innovation, including the role of key stakeholders in shaping its success in order to arrive at an impactful solution. Addresses intellectual property, the effect of regulations and social and cultural differences across varied global markets, and the personal skills necessary to align and manage these issues.

Spring

MOT 5004 Leading Innovation Teams (3 credits)
This hands-on, project-based course provides students the perspective of a Chief Technology Officer leading the transformation of technologies to products entering the market.  Includes iterating, testing, and developing value propositions and product-market fit. Examines the human aspects of company culture and building a team for growth. Consider the broader requirements for business model, go-to-market, funding, and resources required to build and scale a business.  Addresses the skills needed to effectively communicate the organization’s strategy, technology roadmap, and growth and impact objectives.

Elective Courses

MDI 5101 Intro to Medical Device Cybersecurity (3 credits)
This course will introduce the student to all the security-specific activities needed to meet regulatory and customer expectations across the entire medical device lifecycle. This begins at the concept phase, where a comprehensive understanding of the security user needs are gathered, through security requirements and security risk management activities to develop a secure device architecture.  Emphasis on security testing and post-market vulnerability management are also essential goals.

Other courses that have been approved as electives include:

  • ENTR 6020 Business Formation (4 credits)
  • ENTR 6036 Managing the Growing Business (2 credits)
  • HSCI 5401 Ethics in Science and Technology (3 credits)
  • HSCI 5421 Engineering Ethics (3 credits)
  • IDSC 6040 Information Technology Management (2 credits)
  • IDSC 6423 Enterprise Systems (2 credits)
  • IE 5111 Systems Engineering I (2 credits)
  • IE 5441 Financial Decision Making (4 credits)
  • IE 5541 Project Management (4 credits)
  • MBA 6110 Leading Others (2 credits)
  • MBA 6300 Strategic Management (3 credits)
  • ME 8221 New Product Design & Business Development I (4 credits)
  • ME 8222 New Product Design & Business Development II (4 credits)
  • MGMT 6004 Negotiation Strategies (2 credits)
  • MGMT 6040 International Strategy & Organizations (2 credits)
  • MGMT 6084 Management of Groups (2 groups)
  • MGMT 6305 International Environment of Business (4 credits)
  • MILI 5589 Medical Technology Evaluation & Market Research (2 credits)
  • OLPD 5607 Organization Development (3 credits)
  • PA 5711 Science, Technology & Environmental Policy (3 credits)
  • PA 5741 Risk, Resilience & Decision Making (1.5 credits)

 

 

 

 

Note: To earn a graduate minor, students must be enrolled in a University of Minnesota graduate degree program.

Non-Degree Seeking Students

Select courses in the Management of Technology minor are also open to non-degree seeking students. These courses provide great professional development for industry professionals.

Explore Your Options

Interested in our Minors?

 Please contact David Nguyen (dhn@umn.edu) to see how the MOT Graduate Minor could best serve you.

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