David Donovan and male graduate student working on a machine together

Reliability and Maintainability Nuclear Engineering Graduate Certificate

Reliability and maintainability (R&M) are crucial aspects of engineering because they directly impact the performance, safety, cost-effectiveness, and lifespan of products and systems, making them an essential foundation in the nuclear engineering field. Obtaining a grad certificate in this area sets students and professionals apart with specialized skills highly valued in the nuclear engineering industry.  

Program overview

The reliability and maintainability nuclear engineering graduate certificate program is an interdepartmental initiative designed for students who wish to pursue careers in Reliability and Maintainability Engineering within the nuclear engineering industry. It is also suitable for professionals and managers currently working in the field looking to improve their knowledge and skills.  

The program consists of four graduate engineering courses, two required courses and two elective courses. The two required courses introduce the student to the fundamentals of maintenance engineering and reliability engineering. The two elective courses are selected from a list of RME-related courses that currently includes courses in five traditional engineering disciplines.  

With industry standards and compliance constantly evolving at a fast pace, it’s important for nuclear engineers to continue learning R&M best practices to gain a professional edge and support movement into leadership and strategic roles.  

What can you do with a Certificate in Reliability and Maintainability Nuclear Engineering?

Certificate holders are better equipped for roles in reliability engineering, maintenance management, quality control, and asset management within the nuclear engineering field. Completing this program equips individuals with a unique set of skills that opens the door to pursuing careers as reliability engineers or data analysts, maintenance engineers, quality assurance specialists, predictive maintenance technicians, R&M consultants, and many more.  

Featured Courses

Below are some of the courses that students in our program can choose to take. For a list of all courses, visit the graduate catalog.

NE 483 Introduction to Reliability Engineering

Probabilistic failure models and parameter estimation (maximum likelihood, Bayes techniques). Model identification and comparison, accelerated life tests, failure prediction, system reliability, preventive maintenance, and warranties.

NE 484 Introduction to Maintainability Engineering

Principles of maintenance and reliability engineering and maintenance management. Topics include information extraction from machinery measurements, rotating machinery diagnostics, nondestructive testing, life prediction, failure models, lubrication oil analysis, establishing a predictive maintenance program, and computerized maintenance management systems.

NE 585 Process System Reliability and Safety

Qualitative and quantitative techniques for assessing and improving process systems reliability and safety. Probabilistic risk assessment, event tree analysis, fault tree analysis, statistical inference, and associated dependent failure analysis.

NE 579 Empirical Models for Monitoring and Diagnostics

Development and application of advanced statistical and artificial intelligence-based techniques for process and equipment monitoring and diagnostics. Linear, non-linear, parametric, and non-parametric techniques including ridge regression, principal component analysis, kernel regression. Data preprocessing, model optimization, and uncertainty analysis will be taught.

Students talking with one another and working on their computers while in the graduate library

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