The Mathematical Engineering Program (Bachelor + Master) was inspired by a new and innovative

professional profile, transversal in many ways to the other engineering courses and at the same time
quite different from both the Mathematics and the Applied Mathematics programs, currently offered
by the School of Sciences.
The project led in 2001 to a well defined and robust university curriculum which realizes a synergy
between advanced mathematical methods and engineering mentality, capable to face complex
problems from applied sciences and technology, through the construction and the analysis of
mathematical models. As is the case for all engineers, also mathematical engineers must acquire a
solid understanding of the problems by means of a number of courses ranging from physics to
chemistry, to economics, to computer science. On the other hand, a number of courses on the basic
principles of engineering provide the students with a technological insight.
Having an engineers forma mentis constitutes a fundamental element of the program. This
feature marks a deep difference from the above mentioned courses in Mathematics or Applied
Mathematics, whose aim is mainly focused to investigate from a more abstract point of view
concepts, and principles of mathematics with a high standard of rigor. The training of an engineer
student is directed towards an optimal use of those concepts and tools in a great variety of
contingent and concrete situations. A mathematical engineer must know how to interpolate between
both of these attitudes in order to use the methodologies at his/her disposal choosing a level of
depth and rigor adapted to the the significance and difficulty of the problem to be solved. Ideally,
the mathematical engineer should know how to choose the model to be used, based on a
compromise between desired accuracy and tolerated complexity, searching for a satisfactory
adherence to reality whilst optimizing costs in terms of time and money.
During the program, the pure mathematics courses provide the student with the flexibility to
understand and use any other mathematical topic needed to be used or analyzed; in the applied
mathematics courses the main objective is to see how tools and algorithms, theoretically presented,
work on typical model problems.
Learning objectives
The main objective of the Mathematical Engineering Program (MEP) is to prepare professionals
able to analyze complex systems where a strong interdisciplinary knowledge is required, through
the acquisition of an engineers mentality and of methodologies provided by various sectors of
applied mathematics. Thus, MEP is characterized by a continuous synergy between Mathematics
and Engineering methods and provides the students with the skill to face problems from various
scientific and/or technological sectors and concerning both artificial systems, constructed through
human action as well as natural systems where human intervention is absent or insignificant.
The Bachelor degree (in Italian: Laurea di primo livello or, simply, Laurea) constitutes the first part
of the above formation process with the specific primary aim to provide a solid knowledge of the
basic principles of engineering, together with an adequate spectrum of modern mathematics,
physics, informatics. In this way the students have the possibility to start acquiring the necessary
flexibility to analyze problems of relatively complexity. All these features will be refined and
completed throughout the two years of Laurea Magistrale.

The main objective of the Mathematical Engineering Program (MEP) is to prepare professionals
able to analyze complex systems where it is required a strong interdisciplinary knowledge, through
the acquisition of an engineers mentality and of methodologies provided by various sectors of
applied mathematics. Thus, MEP is characterized by a continuous synergy between Mathematics
and Engineering methods and provides the students with the possibility to face problems from
various scientific and/or technological sectors and concerning both artificial systems, constructed
through human action as well as natural systems where human intervention is absent or
insignificant. Clearly, during the program, the students can only be exposed to a limited number of
such problems. However, the opportunity to examine a number of problems in depth, chosen among
different sectors of Engineering, together with a solid mathematical and scientific grounding, gives
future graduates a flexibility sufficient to deal professionally also with problems that are quite
different from those studied.
In conclusion, the master of science mathematical engineer constitutes an innovative and flexible
professional profile, endowed with a wide spectrum of basic scientific notions and engineering
principles, together with a deep knowledge of modern pure and applied mathematical techniques
oriented to the modeling, the analysis and the solution of complex systems, planning, control and
management problems.