Course presentation and educational aims
|
Academic Year |
2020/2021 |
|
Title |
Mechanical, Manufacturing, Management and Aerospace Innovation (M3AI) |
|
Curricula |
|
|
Location |
Palermo |
|
Associated Universities |
|
|
Department |
Ingegneria |
|
Partnerships |
|
|
Coordinator |
|
|
Vice-Coordinator |
|
|
Research visits abroad |
12 months |
|
Overall number of grants |
9 |
|
Services for PhD Students |
Presentation and educational aims
The PhD proposal in "Mechanical, Manufacturing, Management and Aerospace Innovation" places the Department of Engineering (DI) in the trend of the most prestigious international polytechnic schools (MIT, GeorgiaTech, Purdue, Berkeley) and is consistent with the T-model "Global Engineer" defined by the "National Academy of Engineering Education" and by the "National Science Foundation", which integrates a multiplicity of vertical technical and scientific skills with a set of horizontal skills typically of a more managerial and entrepreneurial nature.
The PhD graduate that the DI trains with the M3AI PhD program is an "Entrepreneurial Technology Scientist" who has vertical technical-scientific skills in the research fields of mechanical engineering, production engineering, management engineering and aerospace engineering, and horizontal skills in disciplines such as the management of technological innovation, entrepreneurship, human resource management, creativity in science and technology. In particular, he/she has competencies in design and develop innovative manufacturing processes
In particular, they have competencies in design and develop innovative manufacturing processes and production cycles of industrial plants and cyber-physical production systems within the smart factory, in the aerospace industry and in the machine construction area.
The innovative solutions the PhD student will investigate, besides being validated under technical aspects, will also involve economic and environmental sustainability assessment thanks to the horizontal competencies acquired.
As far as the horizontal skills are concerned, the related research fields are the management of technological innovation, entrepreneurship, quantitative models for decision making, innovative business models, big data management, project management, sustainability, supply chain management and financing, maintenance and safety, human resource management and the statistical advanced methodologies and nonstandard numerical methods to solve problems with high complexity.
The synergy between vertical competencies, levered by the cross-functional perspective acquired with the horizontal competencies, makes the PhD student able to address the market and community innovation needs and to develop innovative supply chain models able to deal also with social emergency that represent further research fields.
The vertical research areas are widely developed within the DI in particular by the DI’s faculty involved in the M3AI PhD board and are valid in the panorama of Industry 4.0. In addition, it has internationally recognized research skills also in the field of horizontal components such as in economics, business, entrepreneurship, and management. The prestigious international scientific collaboration largely represented in the M3AI PhD board, will offer the PhD student the opportunity to develop their research project in a challenging international environment spending one year abroad to foster their international experience.
The PhD program study includes courses to develop research, teaching and cross-functional knowledge useful for future career opportunity and development.
Career and job opportunities
The PhD graduates in M3AI are professionals with the knowledge and skills to take responsibility for high-end research, design and production activities in technologically advanced industries.
Career and job opportunities are related to industrial and academic sectors, in particular: 1. continuation of research activities at post-doctoral level at Italian and foreign research institutions; 2. employment in private companies mainly within research and development centers, but also in other corporate functions such as, production and supply chain management, marketing, management control; 3. employment in process and/or strategic consulting services companies.
Finally, future PhD graduates can be natural candidates for the management of industrial research projects, constituting a fundamental factor of connection and collaboration between companies and universities.