Industrial engineering pertains to the design, improvement, installation and operation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy with the purpose of determining efficient ways to make a product or provide a service. Industrial engineering draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical and social sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design.

The underlying concepts for the BSE program in industrial engineering include certain business principles but emphasize the use of mathematics and information technology to build models to describe, understand and optimize system performance. Depending on the subspecialties involved and the intended application, industrial engineering may also be known as operations management, management science, operations research, systems engineering or manufacturing engineering.