Multidisciplinary System Design Optimization
MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics offer this graduate course on designing complex engineering systems that must perform well while also delivering life-cycle value. The material covers quantitative optimization methods alongside the less formal, creative aspects of engineering design, treating three linked problems together: how systems span multiple disciplines, how to structure the design process for them, and what optimization tools are available. Course materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include lecture notes, readings, and problem sets used in the original MIT class. No certificate is offered, since MIT OpenCourseWare publishes course content for free self-study rather than as a credentialed program. The course suits students who already have an engineering background and want methods for balancing competing performance and cost objectives across interacting subsystems.