Course list

Successful projects begin with a solid plan. In this course, you'll learn the foundational principles, frameworks, and terminology that effective project managers use to initiate, plan, and manage projects across industries.

Professor Linda Nozick, Director of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell, introduces practical tools for defining project scope, breaking complex work into manageable tasks, developing project schedules, and establishing realistic timelines and resource plans. Through hands-on exercises, you'll build the skills needed to organize, track, and manage projects with greater confidence.

Whether you're new to project management or preparing for future PMP® certification, this course provides a strong foundation in the concepts and practices that support successful project delivery.

Note: This course uses Microsoft Excel (with the free Solver add-in) for selected exercises. No specialized project management software is required.

  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Sep 30, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Oct 28, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Nov 25, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026

Research shows that a high percentage of projects take significantly longer than expected and cost more than anticipated. Moreover, if you ask people for an estimate of how long a task will take them to complete, their estimate will usually be overly optimistic.

Sometimes, if you bring in extra people to help with a task, that actually slows down progress instead of accelerating it. Why is this so? And what can you do about it? In this course, from Linda K. Nozick, Director and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell, you will examine these questions. Students will identify strategies to integrate resource availability constraints into project planning, scheduling, and control.

This course is designed for project managers who seek better practical results for aligning available resources with tasks and bringing activities to completion on time. Students will examine compression strategies for bringing a project that's running late back on track and will explore how to handle common types of project creep, such as handling customer requests that require extra time, and working with team members who decide independently to invest extra effort in a task.

This course combines a focus on formal project management mechanisms with an emphasis on the human element: what can project managers do to resolve issues brought about in the normal course of working with customers, team members, and stakeholders?

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

  • Organizing the Project and Its Components
  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Sep 30, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Oct 28, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Nov 25, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026

Risk management is a key function in project management. Project managers should be able to apply a variety of risk-management tools in their work, including performing risk identification, quantification, response, monitoring, and control.

In this course from Professor and Director of Civil and Environmental Engineering Linda K. Nozick, you will examine the nature and types of project risk and learn to apply specific mitigation strategies.

You'll have an opportunity to analyze a past project you've worked on and assess what the risks might have been and why. Then you'll analyze the outcomes: Did the known risks come to fruition? What were the leading indicators? What could they have done for contingency planning at the beginning? By asking these questions, you'll then be able to perform several calculations to compute the probability that a project will finish on time.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

  • Organizing the Project and Its Components
  • Planning and Managing Resources
  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Sep 30, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Oct 28, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Nov 25, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026

Successful project managers don't wait until a project is complete to evaluate performance—they monitor progress throughout the project lifecycle to identify issues early and make informed decisions. Earned Value Management (EVM) is a proven framework for measuring project performance, forecasting outcomes, and keeping projects on track.

In this course, Professor Linda Nozick, Director of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell, introduces the principles and practical application of EVM. You'll learn how to measure project performance against scope, schedule, and budget, interpret key performance metrics, forecast project outcomes, and determine when corrective action is needed to improve project success.

Through practical examples and exercises, you'll build the confidence to use EVM as a decision-making tool that supports stronger project controls and more effective communication with project stakeholders.

Students will be most successful if they have a foundational understanding of project planning concepts, including project schedules, budgets, work breakdown structures, and project networks.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

  • Organizing the Project and Its Components
  • Planning and Managing Resources
  • Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk
  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Sep 30, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Oct 28, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Nov 25, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026

In traditional project management, we tend to make assumptions: the customer knows precisely what they want, or the team's workflow and tasks will go according to plan and in sequence.

Practically speaking, this is rarely the case. Sometimes the customer doesn't know what they need until they see an early iteration of your team's work and can provide feedback. Because of this, work is usually done incrementally. We must build flexibility, even agility, into the model in order to succeed.

This course is designed for project managers who want to get better practical results with adaptive approaches to projects. Students in this course will be most successful if they have a foundational understanding of traditional project management tools and processes including project networks, budgets and schedules.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

  • Organizing the Project and Its Components
  • Planning and Managing Resources
  • Assessing, Managing, and Mitigating Project Risk
  • Using Earned Value Management for Project Managers
  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Sep 30, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Oct 28, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Nov 25, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026

Earning the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification demonstrates a high standard of project management knowledge and professional expertise. This facilitator-led study group is designed to help you reinforce the concepts covered throughout the Project Management Certificate and prepare confidently for the PMP certification exam.

Through live online sessions, you'll review key PMBOK® Guide concepts, work through guided practice exams, and engage in collaborative discussions with fellow professionals preparing for certification. Your facilitator will provide personalized guidance, clarify challenging topics, and share proven exam preparation strategies to help you strengthen your readiness for exam day.

By combining structured review, practice exams, and expert instruction, this study group helps you deepen your understanding of project management principles and approach the PMP certification exam with confidence.

Required study materials

  • Sep 16, 2026
  • Oct 14, 2026
  • Nov 11, 2026
  • Dec 9, 2026
  • Jan 6, 2027
  • Feb 3, 2027
  • Mar 3, 2027

Symposium sessions feature two days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today's most pressing topics. The Project Management Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium, in which we'll share experiences from across industries, inspiring dialogue around best practices, innovation, and the future of project management. You will support your coursework through discussion and application of your knowledge, exploring pressing challenges and trends. By participating in relevant and engaging conversations with eCornell classmates, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections.

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.

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How It Works

  • Team leaders  
  • Managers 
  • Anyone responsible for the success of team projects and initiatives 
  • Professionals with exposure to project management efforts or tools but no formal training 
  • Project management professionals preparing to take the PMP exam

Frequently Asked Questions

Projects in every industry face the same pressures: tight timelines, limited resources, shifting requirements, and high visibility when things go off track. In this certificate program, authored by faculty from Cornell's prestigious Duffield College of Engineering, you will build practical, repeatable project management skills you can use immediately to plan work, manage uncertainty, and improve cost and schedule control. You will learn how to define scope and deliverables, build work breakdown structures, construct project networks and Gantt charts, identify critical paths and float, and quantify schedule uncertainty using approaches like PERT. You will also practice resource leveling, schedule compression decisions (fast tracking and crashing), risk identification and mitigation, and earned value management (EVM) forecasting so you can detect variance early and take corrective action. You should choose Cornell’s Project Management Certificate because the curriculum is designed by Cornell faculty and delivered in an applied, project-based format. This means that you will leave with tools, templates, and a shared project management language that you can apply to projects of many sizes and types, including cross-functional initiatives. If you are planning to pursue the PMP (Project Management Professional) credential, this certificate is also designed to support that goal by providing 50 project management education hours toward your PMP certification and exam requirements. You also have the option to join an intensive 5-week PMP study group with live online sessions and guided practice exams (study books purchased separately).
You are not just watching content and hoping it sticks; you are building project management capability through structured practice, feedback, and workplace application. Unlike typical self-directed online programs, this certificate combines Cornell faculty-designed curriculum with a facilitated learning experience that keeps you moving from concept to implementation. You will work through short, focused courses that build on core project management tools then apply them in multi-part projects that reflect the realities of your role. Key differences you can expect include: * Applied, multi-part project work that asks you to use frameworks like WBS, network diagrams, critical path and float analysis, resource leveling, risk tools, and earned value calculations on real or realistic project scenarios * A clear progression from planning and scheduling fundamentals to resource management, risk mitigation, earned value project controls, and adaptive delivery approaches such as agile, lean, scrum, and XP * Practical tools and templates you can keep using, including worksheets and Excel-based templates for activities such as WBS development, schedule building and leveling, and project duration simulation under uncertainty * Live interaction opportunities within the course experience, plus ongoing guidance and feedback from your facilitator as you refine how you plan, monitor, and correct project performance
The Project Management Certificate is designed for professionals who are responsible for getting initiatives across the finish line and want a practical, structured way to strengthen how they plan, track, and control projects. You will be a strong fit if you: * Lead projects or workstreams and want better tools for scoping, scheduling, and managing risk * Manage cross-functional initiatives where dependencies, handoffs, and resource constraints drive delays * Are a team leader, manager, or individual contributor who has been exposed to project management practices but has not had formal training * Want to improve your ability to make schedule and resource trade-offs, run effective control meetings, and forecast performance using earned value concepts * Are preparing to take the PMP exam and want to build education hours and reinforce core concepts with practice and project-based work Familiarity with project management language is helpful but not required.
In the Project Management Certificate, you will complete applied, multi-part projects that help you translate project management concepts into work products you can use on the job. You will practice defining scope, building schedules and budgets, analyzing uncertainty and risk, and selecting the right delivery approach when requirements change. Examples of past learner projects include: * Designing and executing a high-stakes cybersecurity infrastructure build to isolate an entire regional technology environment, using iterative delivery to manage shifting regulatory and technical requirements * Building a climate change adaptation strategy for an Indigenous community by combining climate projections, community engagement, and cross-department coordination to move from planning to fundable, shovel-ready actions * Compressing a complex industrial equipment delivery schedule to under 12 months by managing long-lead supply risks, shop capacity constraints, and quality control trade-offs under tight deadlines * Managing a rapid humanitarian health response by adapting mobile service locations and procurement plans in real time as conflict conditions and supply constraints change on the ground * Leading a multi-country retail expansion and systems integration effort by iterating on master data governance, partner onboarding, and cross-functional dependencies to reduce rework and accelerate go-live readiness Across the program, projects are designed to be practical and job relevant, so you can apply tools like work breakdown structures, network diagrams, critical path and float analysis, resource leveling, risk mitigation plans, and earned value forecasting to your own professional context.
This certificate will help you strengthen your ability to lead projects with more discipline, credibility, and control across scope, schedule, resources, risk, and cost. After completing the Project Management Certificate, you will: * Examine the project management life cycle and key project characteristics * Develop a work breakdown structure * Construct a project network to identify task durations * Construct a Gantt chart * Use float information for decision making * Identify the critical path * Recognize shortcomings in computation * Identify sources of uncertainty in task durations * Examine PERT computations Students commonly report that the program is practical and easy to fit into a busy schedule and that it helps them apply project management concepts immediately on real projects rather than keeping the learning theoretical. In survey feedback, learners frequently emphasize stronger project planning and organization, improved confidence as a project manager, and greater ability to use techniques such as scheduling, critical path thinking, earned value analysis, and risk and uncertainty management in day-to-day work. They also highlight clear instruction, supportive facilitation, and reusable tools, templates, and resources that continue to be valuable after the certificate ends. In addition, because eCornell represents the pinnacle of premium online professional education, participants of eCornell’s programs often experience long-term career transformation such as promotions to more senior roles, salary increases, improved networking opportunities, and successful career transitions.
The Project Management Certificate is built for working professionals who need flexibility without losing structure. Each of the 5 short courses runs for 2 weeks and requires about 3 to 7 hours of work per week. The certificate is designed to be completed in about 3 months. In this program, each course is designed around manageable weekly effort, and you will complete most work asynchronously on your schedule, including video lessons, readings, and project submissions. You'll also have opportunities to join live sessions that support discussion and practical application. If you choose to add the optional 5-week PMP study group, you should plan additional time for live sessions and practice exams during that period.
Students commonly describe this program as a practical, career-relevant learning experience that’s easy to fit into a busy schedule. Many emphasize that the coursework doesn’t just explain project management concepts; it helps them use those concepts immediately on real projects, with clear instruction, supportive facilitation, and tools they can keep using after the course ends. Across responses, students frequently highlight outcomes such as stronger project planning and organization, improved confidence as a project manager, and the ability to apply techniques like scheduling, critical path thinking, earned value analysis, and risk/uncertainty management in day-to-day work. They also note that the online experience feels structured and engaging, with a well-paced flow that builds skills step by step. Commonly mentioned strengths include: * Clear, easy-to-follow explanations of core PM concepts * Practical assignments tied to real workplace scenarios * Downloadable templates, checklists, and resources for on-the-job use * Flexible, self-paced structure designed for working professionals * A well-organized platform and intuitive course layout * Knowledgeable facilitators who provide timely, constructive feedback * A mix of videos, readings, quizzes, and discussions that reinforces learning * Confidence-building preparation for broader PM responsibilities and next-step credentials
Yes. When you complete Cornell’s Project Management Certificate, you earn 50 project management education hours that can be applied toward the education requirement for the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification and exam. If you want additional exam-focused preparation, you also have the option to join an intensive 5-week PMP study group. It includes live online sessions, guided practice PMP exams, and preparation strategies designed to help you get ready for the PMP exam. You are required to purchase the accompanying study books for the optional study group.
You do not need formal project management software (such as Microsoft Project) to complete the program. You will build core planning and control artifacts, such as work breakdown structures, network diagrams, Gantt charts, and earned value calculations, using practical templates. You will need Microsoft Excel for some course activities. In particular, the first course requires Excel with the free Solver add-on installed.
Yes. You will learn both adaptive delivery approaches and project controls so you can manage projects when requirements change and maintain visibility into schedule and cost performance. In the agile course, you will explore agile philosophy and lean principles, compare agile to traditional approaches, and learn how frameworks such as scrum, extreme programming (XP), and kanban can be applied and adapted based on project characteristics. In the earned value course, you will learn how to compute planned value, earned value, and actual cost; interpret schedule and cost variance; use performance indexes (SPI and CPI); and forecast cost at completion using standard earned value methods.