Systems engineering master’s concentration with dual MBA fits the big thinking career graduate has in mind 

Mia Reed traces her path to a career in engineering  to the time her grandmother needed heart surgery and was offered a mechanical artery as an option, something a younger Reed had never heard of and that prompted her to go research the technology. 

“I thought, this would be really cool to make these,” Reed said. 

At Louisiana State University, she started out by focusing on robotics with the idea of a career in developing prosthetics. But while she liked robots – she was on her school’s combat robotics team –  her robotics classwork didn’t intrigue her. 

Through a summer internship with Collins Aerospace in Colorado Springs, Colo., she found that she really liked the aerospace field. She switched to materials engineering with a focus on composites common to the aerospace industry. That led to an internship and a full-time job with Lockheed Martin in New Orleans, her hometown. 

Now an engineer with the digital twins team at Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, Reed is planning a career where she becomes a team manager on the way to an executive position making strategic decisions on her company’s future. To help her make those goals a reality, she chose Purdue University’s 100% dual online Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Engineering with a concentration in systems engineering and Master’s of Business Administration dual degree program. 

She considered pursuing a master’s in engineering management, but after talking with colleagues and mentors saw advantages in earning a technical engineering master’s first and an MBA down the road. Then, she found out about Purdue’s dual degree program. 

“I was like, I can have classes that count for both, so save time and money, and get two degrees,” Reed said. “Let’s do it.” 

A coworker once told her that she “needed a bumper sticker,” that is a catch phrase capturing what she was all about. His was “the guy you call when no one else can solve the problem.” Reed decided that hers is “the person you call to get it set up right the first time.” 

She likes looking at the big picture, being involved early in the process, figuring out how everything is going to function harmoniously. Purdue’s concentration in systems engineering was a great fit for the career she has in mind. 

“Systems engineering is looking at the entire problem not just one part,” Reed said. “You know a car has a bunch of parts, it has a motor, it has a transmission, it has doors and seats, and all that. I like looking at the larger picture and figuring out how things are going to work together. That’s why I did systems engineering.” 

The online option allowed her to work on the two degrees while working full-time and the program’s flexibility, and its numerous elective course options, let her tailor her coursework in large part to her interests and career needs, and to her preference for project-based learning. 

“My classes did not have live class times I had to show up to, and my schedule was kind of nuts with work and things, so being able to watch lectures when I could was very, very helpful to me,” Reed said. “Also, you had so many options in the classes you can take, and I really enjoyed that. You basically get to create your own degree.” 

Being able to pick and choose some of her courses didn’t mean the curriculum wasn’t rigorous. Reed talked about spending 40 hours over a Thanksgiving break fighting to get one math-intensive project moving ahead. But there was always help available when she needed it. 

“The professors were really good about making sure you understood they were there, you could pop in on Zoom for office hours and talk to them just like you could pop in on campus,” Reed said. 

The professors were really good about making sure you understood they were there, you could pop in on Zoom for office hours and talk to them just like you could pop in on campus.

Mia Reed

Interdisciplinary Engineering/Dual Degree

Faculty also were good about facilitating student project and study groups and Reed thinks she benefitted from interacting with fellow students from around the country and the world, from different backgrounds, and in career stages ranging from just out of undergraduate to decades of experience. 

“I never felt isolated,” said Reed, who received her Purdue engineering master’s in May 2024 and went on to complete her MBA. 

For more information about Purdue’s fully online dual master’s in Interdisciplinary Engineering and MBA program, visit the program website.