Building upon foundations in mathematics, statistics, operations research, and economics, Systems Engineering involves the design, control and management of complex systems arising in manufacturing, transportation, telecommunications, and the environment. By considering the system as a whole, rather than individual components of the system, systems engineers provide direction to the optimal design of the system as well as its on-going operation and maintenance. Systems engineering exists as a discipline because the complexity of large scale systems tends to defy effective design of the whole. The core of the discipline focuses on certain areas of mathematics and methodology rather than in particular physical sciences, as is typical of other engineering specialties.
Systems engineers learn to model, simulate, optimize, integrate, and evaluate systems.
Most systems have mechanical, electrical, and other aspects to them. They usually include one or more computers as well. For detailed design and analysis of these aspects of a system, we usually turn to a specialist in mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering. The specialty of the system engineer is in integrating the pieces of a system into an effective whole. The combined efforts of engineers of various specialties are needed to produce an effective system.