School of Industrial Engineering and Management
PhD Degree Program
The Doctor of Philosophy degree is designed for the student who desires to participate at the leading edge of knowledge in the profession of industrial engineering and management. The degree requires the completion of at least 66 credit hours beyond the master's degree, including a minimum of 18 credit hours of dissertation research and 6 credit hours of research methodology.
Preliminary Assessment
A one-day preliminary assessment is given in the latter part of the first semester of enrollment and is administered by a committee consisting of the student's faculty advisor and at least two other IE&M faculty. This written and oral assessment provides the student with the opportunity to demonstrate integration and conceptualization skills of industrial engineering concepts, to exhibit written and oral communication skills and to demonstrate intellectual maturity. The assessment is used to determine if additional prerequisite or other remedial action is necessary in order to continue in the program.
Plan of Study
The overall Plan of Study must include a minimum of 66 graduate credit hours with at least 30 graduate credit hours of coursework beyond the Master's degree. Courses for graduate credit are selected by the student with the approval of the advisory committee.
The Plan of Study must also include at least 18 credit hours of dissertation research and 6 credit hours of research methodology courses. The specific number of credit hours allocated to courses and research is determined by the advisory committee and depends on the student's ability to accomplish the dissertation research objectives.
Academic Qualifying Exam
A weeklong take-home qualifying exam is given near the completion of the coursework portion of the program. This written and oral exam is used to determine the student's ability to proceed with the research portion of the program.
Dissertation Proposal
The student's development of the dissertation topic and proposal should be an ongoing process following the completion of the Plan of Study meeting. The student typically submits the dissertation proposal to the advisory committee after the successful completion of the academic qualifying examination. This is followed by an oral defense of the proposal. After successful completion of the proposal defense, the student applies for admission to candidacy.
Final Defense
The final oral defense will normally occur no sooner than one week after each advisory committee member has received a copy of the student's completed dissertation. The student will give a short presentation summarizing the dissertation results followed by a question and answer session with the advisory committee. After successful completion of the dissertation defense, the student prepares the dissertation document for submission to the graduate college.