Cornell Engineering online project management certificate launches

According to Deloitte, the successful organizations of the future will likely be those that can “move faster, adapt more quickly and learn more rapidly.” A total of 15.7 million new project management jobs are expected to be created this decade, as organizations position themselves to create the speed and agility today’s digital world demands.

Now, professionals can build skills for the project-driven future with eCornell’s new Project Management online certificate program, while accumulating 50 education hours toward a Project Management Professional certification.

“This program is for anyone who works in a project environment, regardless of function or industry,” said faculty author Linda Nozick, professor and director of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell. “Professionals gain a concise understanding of today’s project management space, learn practical skills and tools, and address crucial behavioral issues affecting project success.”

The Project Management program includes five online courses that can be completed over three months, in three to five hours per week. Students will learn and practice how to:

Get organized: Schedule, track and control projects using work breakdown structures, project networks, Critical Path and PERT calculations;
Plan and manage resources: Combat “creeps” in scope, budget, effort and time by identifying critical project resources over the course of the project, resource leveling, “crashing” or “fast tracking” certain tasks and understanding behavioral dynamics;
Manage risk: Understand types of project risk, and use tools to conduct a risk analysis, assess risks associated with forcasting project duration, understand how heuristics and biases effect decision-making;
Track performance and forcast future performance using earned value management (EVM) to summarize project performance across budget, deliverables and schedule as work unfolds;
Think agile: Learn the agile project management mindset, where best to use it, and how it differs from waterfall and LEAN methodologies.

The Project Management certificate is relevant for team leaders, managers, and individual contributors from any functional area who are responsible for the success of projects.