Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology

The Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology (also known as M&T) is a joint-degree program offered at the University of Pennsylvania for undergraduates.

About the program

M&T is known for its high selectivity and rigorous academic curriculum at the undergraduate level, integrating aspects of both the business and the technical worlds. The majority of program graduates choose careers in either investment banking

Investment banking

An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...

or management consulting

Management consulting

Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement....

upon graduation, though a number follow other career paths in the technology, nonprofit, entrepreneurial and medical professions.

Applicants are asked to submit an additional essay as part of their application package to the University of Pennsylvania, and acceptance rates for the program are among the lowest of any department or program at the university. The current target freshman class size for the program is approximately 50 to 55 students with five slots available annually for Wharton and Engineering students wishing to transfer into the program at the end of their freshman years. Transfers from other universities into the program are not possible.

The majority of M&T students complete the program in four years. Students generally take five or six classes per semester, whereas the average Penn student takes four or five. Many alumni return to graduate school at Wharton or elsewhere to pursue MBA degrees after gaining work experience.

Degrees

All M&T students, upon graduation, receive a Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

in Economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

(B.S. Econ.) degree from the Wharton School (ranked as the #1 undergraduate business school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...

for 17 consecutive years from 1994 to 2010). Students gain fundamental business knowledge over the course of their four years at M&T; in addition, they must specialize in one of several fields: accounting, operations and information management, entrepreneurship, finance

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

, management, marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

, real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

, or other areas.

On the engineering side, students will receive either a Bachelor of Science in Engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

(BSE) or a Bachelor of Applied Science

Bachelor of Applied Science

The Bachelor of Applied Science, often abbreviated as BAS, BSAS. BASc or BAppSc is an undergraduate degree awarded for a course of study that generally lasts three to four years in the United Kingdom and Australia, and four to six years in Canada, the Netherlands and the United States.-Usage:In...

(BAS) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science

The School of Engineering and Applied Science, also known as SEAS, is one of the four undergraduate schools of the University of Pennsylvania. The School offers a boutique approach to the study of engineering in that its programs emphasize hands-on study of engineering fundamentals while...

. A Bachelor of Science degree is a traditional engineering degree accredited by ABET

Abet

Abet may refer to:* Abet Guidaben , former Philippine Basketball Association basketball player* ABET, Inc., a non-profit organization that accredits higher education programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology....

; Penn's program provides intensive study in nine major curricula: Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

, Computer Engineering, Computer Science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

, Digital Media and Design, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...

, Materials Science and Engineering

Materials science

Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...

, and Systems Science and Engineering

Systems engineering

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...

. M&T students must choose one in which to major. As an alternative, students can pursue a Bachelor of Applied Science. This degree is generally selected by students who have interest in math and science, but do not necessarily want to pursue a career in a field of engineering. BAS candidates select a field of specialization in either Biomedical Science, Computer & Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Computational Biology, or an individualized curriculum (through the Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering).

History

The program was started in 1977 as the Management and Technology Program. It was modeled after a quotation from founder Dr. William F. Hamilton: "If I had it to do over again, I would try to find a college which gives a program in business administration along with a thorough knowledge of engineering." As such, it is the university's oldest undergraduate joint-degree program (the University of Pennsylvania is known for its emphasis on interdisciplinary instruction). The impetus for its creation was a report by the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering, which commented that the understanding of the fundamentals of engineering and technology is as essential to the background of future leaders in business and industry as is a sound knowledge of management principles. They pointed to the growing need for people who can bridge the management and technical disciplines. Dr. Hamilton, the Ralph Landau Professorship of Management and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, was the founding director of the program and continues to lead it today.

In 1995, Jerome Fisher, a Wharton School alumnus (Class of 1953) and founder/chairman of the Nine West Group, donated $5.5 million to support the Management and Technology Program. The Program boasts over 1,500 alumni around the world and celebrated its 30th Anniversary (based on the graduation class) in November 2009.

Alumni

M&T alumni have founded companies including Stubhub

Stubhub

StubHub is an online marketplace owned by eBay, which provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater and other live entertainment events....

, Flixster

Flixster

Flixster is a social movie site allowing users to share movie ratings, discover new movies, learn about movies, and meet others with similar taste in movies. The site allows users to view movie trailers as well as learn about the new and upcoming movies in the box office. The site is based in San...

, Traffic.com

Traffic.com

Traffic.com, also known as Navteq Traffic, Traffic Pulse and Mobility Technologies, is a United States nationwide aggregator and provider of traffic information via a number of media, including the Internet, cell phones, radio, satellite radio and television. The company is headquartered in Wayne,...

, Register.com

Register.com was founded as a provider of Internet services by brothers Richard and Peter Forman and Dan Levine in 1994. In 1999, the company officially changed its name to Register.com....

, Intellifit, ComVentures, Money Saver, Athleague, Edusoft, Velocity Investment Group, Dropps, Innova Materials, Half.com

Half.com

Half.com is a subsidiary of eBay, in which sellers offer items at fixed prices, usually items that have a UPC, ISBN or other kind of SKU, rather than rare, old or collectible items...

, Crederity, Glass5 LLC, Forefront Capital Management, and AQR Capital Management.

Garrett Reisman

Garrett Reisman

Garrett Erin Reisman is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He was a backup crew member for Expedition 15 and joined Expedition 16 aboard the International Space Station for a short time before becoming a member of Expedition 17. He returned to Earth 14 June 2008 on board STS-124 on...

, an astronaut who traveled to the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

, is an M&T graduate.

On January 6, 2009, Internet Capital Group

Internet Capital Group

Internet Capital Group , is a publicly-traded venture capital firm founded in 1996 by Ken Fox and Walter Buckley. ICG raised $178.8 million in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq in August 1999....

Inc., a venture capital firm founded by Ken Fox

Ken Fox

Kenneth Allen "Ken" Fox is an American business man best known as an entrepreneur and investor. He was a co-founder of Internet Capital Group who has gone on to form Stripes Group, Sentinel Fund, Syndero and A10 Capital.- Early life :...

and Walter Buckley, announced that it had promoted M&T '83 graduate Doug Alexander to the position of president. Alexander had previously served as ICG's managing director, working with portfolio companies and analyzing potential investment opportunities Alexander joined ICG in 1997 and served on the original advisory board. Before joining ICG, Alexander co-founded Reality Online in 1989, a company developing financial planning tools and online services for investors. In February 1994, Alexander sold Reality Online to Reuters

Reuters

Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

.

In 2009, Alex Mittal was named by BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...

as one of America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs for his work with Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders – International is an international association of some national EWB/ISF groups, whose mission is to facilitate collaboration, exchange of information, and assistance among its member groups that have applied to become part of the association...

on microbial technology. Mittal started the company Innova Materials in 2007 after graduating from M&T with a dual degree.

M&TSI

Each year, M&T hosts a for-credit summer program (Management and Technology Summer Institute) for about 50 rising high school seniors (and a select few rising juniors) who want to learn about the integration of technological concepts and management principles. Held on Penn's campus and taught by business and engineering faculty, the program also incorporates field trips to companies and R&D facilities. A large component of the program is the group project. Over the course of the three-week program, students (in groups of five) work on conceiving a product idea in consumer electronics

Consumer electronics

Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...

, making a "looks-like" model, writing a comprehensive business plan and executive summary, and giving a 10-minute presentation of their product idea. M&TSI culminates with a product fair, in which students (in groups of five) display their product ideas on poster boards and give pitches to viewers. Viewers of this public fair have the opportunity to vote for the best product in three categories: Most Innovative Product, People's Choice, and Best Overall Product.

Another key component of the program is lab work. Students are exposed to several types of engineering, listening to lectures and participating in relevant labs. Under the guidance of SEAS professor Sid Deliwala (ESE Lab Director), students gain exposure to mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, bioengineering, materials science, computer science, and electrical engineering

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

. The schedule features lectures by professors from each discipline, as well as corresponding hands-on labs to reinforce the concepts covered in the lectures. On the business side, Jeffrey Babin, Director of Engineering Entrepreneurship, instructs the group in business and management concepts in daily lectures and activities. After the first week, M&TSI students participate in a business simulation involving the manufacture of cardboard car racers, reinforcing the values of cost structure, early innovation, competitive advantage, and team dynamics.

In 2009, M&TSI featured field trips to Neat Co., Navteq

NAVTEQ

Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps...

, Bresslergroup

Bresslergroup

Bresslergroup is a full service product development firm founded in 1970 by industrial designer, Peter Bressler. They are headquartered in Philadelphia, PA in the Marketplace Design Center...

, Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

, NYSE, and Synthes

Synthes

Synthes Holding AG is a multinational medical device manufacturer based in Solothurn, Switzerland and West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the world's largest maker of implants to mend bone fractures, and also produces surgical power tools and advanced biomaterials...

External links