Graduate Doctoral Program

Please refer to the Graduate Manual for more details.

The doctoral program prepares the student for the rigorous demands of developing and implementing effective operational and management systems, and for careers in research and development, or academia. Depending on the student's individual interest, the student is educated at the frontiers of knowledge in operations research, manufacturing systems, information systems or engineering management. This leads to a potential for mastery in ideas related to technical management, systems design, and decision-making concepts. Dissertation research often requires a strong background in applied mathematics, probability theory, optimization techniques, simulation, and computer programming. Most Ph.D. students are full-time students. Although it is possible to seek candidacy as a part-time student, the Ph.D. candidate must spend at least one academic year full-time on campus.

Course and Dissertation Credit Requirements

In addition to the basic core courses, the doctoral student will specialize in one of the department's areas of concentration, take whatever courses may be required in preparation for the Ph.D. comprehensive examination and the student's dissertation topic. These courses are selected in conjunction with a program approved by the student's adviser and must include at least two courses in a cognate area.

According to University regulations, the Ph.D. requires at least 72 credits beyond the bachelor's degree or 42 credits beyond the master's degree, including 18 credits for dissertation research. Course credits typically include the following at a minimum:

IE 2000 (Required for all students who do not have an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering) - 1 credit
Qualifying Core Courses(IE 2001, 2003, 2072, 2006, 2007) - 15 credits
Other Required Courses (IE 2082, 2100, 2084, 2088) - 12 credits
Additional Elective Courses (at least 6 credits of which must come from offerings outside the Industrial Engineering Department) - 27 credits
Dissertation Research (IE 3997 / IE 3999)- 18 credits

Total - 72 credits

Examination Requirements

A candidate for the PhD degree is required to appear for the following examinations:

Ph.D. Preliminary Examination:

This examination allows the department to assess the student's academic preparation and creative ability to conduct doctoral-level research. It is given once a year in early May. The typical student who enrolls in Fall must take this examination after the first two terms in the program. Students who start in Spring have the option of taking the exam at the end of the term or waiting a year until the next May. In order to appear in this examination, the student must have:

faculty approval
an outstanding undergraduate record
a grade point average of 3.3 or better in graduate work
a desire to do independent research

The examination is an oral one and encompasses the following areas: Operations Research, Probability & Statistics, Engineering Management, Manufacturing Systems and Basic Industrial Engineering. A student will be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy only after he/she has passed the preliminary examination. The examination allows the department to assess the student's academic preparation, breadth of knowledge and potential to study and conduct research at the doctoral level. After passing the qualifying examination, the doctoral candidate is expected to choose the area in which he/she will write his or her dissertation and an advisor who will guide the dissertation. The doctoral student is expected to specialize in one of the department's areas of concentration and take whatever additional courses are required to prepare for the Ph.D. comprehensive examination and the student's dissertation. After sufficient progress has been made in his or her research, the student, under the guidance of the advisor is expected, to appoint a committee consisting of a minimum of four members of the graduate faculty at least two of whom should be from the Industrial Engineering department and at least one of whom should be from outside the department. This committee will then administer the following three examinations to the student:

Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination:

The purpose of this examination (which is normally taken at the end of the student's second year) is to test the student's acquisition of depth and breadth in the area of specialization, and the ability to use research methods in his or her major area of interest. It is also used to identify any deficiencies in the student's background and suggest remedial work, and to test his or her ability to prepare an acceptable dissertation. For this exam the student is required to write a high quality research paper, which is reviewed by two faculty members neither of whom is the student's advisor.

Dissertation Proposal Examination:

The purpose of this examination is to test the soundness and validity of the candidate's research topic, research plans, and methods that are described by the student in an oral presentation. Passing this examination provides an affirmation by the committee that the proposed work when completed will lead to a Ph.D. level dissertation.

Dissertation Defense Examination:

After the work on the dissertation and the disseration document are completed, the student is required to defend his or her work in a final examination.

It is expected that the dissertation will lead to at least one paper of publishable quality in a respected scientific journal.

Flexible Ph.D. Program

Highlights

This is a new program in IE. In recent years there has been a strong interest on the part of international universities to increase the percentage of their engineering faculty with doctoral degrees. Given the shortage of high-quality faculty and the high teaching workloads, it is difficult for universities to grant their faculty a protracted leave of absence to complete their education abroad. A solution to this problem is the flexible doctoral program at the University of Pittsburgh. With the recent advances in distance-education, geographically boundaries are no longer a limitation.

IE offers a high quality program that reduces the residence requirements while, simultaneously, maintaining the academic rigor of a traditional program. This program is primarily focused at faculty with superior academic ability and willing to make a significant commitment to the doctoral program.

Aimed at high quality candidates who already have a Master's degree.
Same academic requirements as Ph.D. program.
Transfer 24 credits from master's degree and complete 30 credits of coursework at Pitt.
Complete dissertation while working away from Pitt.

Requirements

It is assumed that the student will already have a master's degree and has taken many of the core courses
The candidate should be able to transfer a total of 24 out of the maximum allowable 30 credits
An additional 30 credits of coursework is to be completed (i.e.10 courses). If a student arrives in the Fall, he or she could take 4 courses in Fall and prepare for the qualifying exams in January. (Preparation could even begin before the student arrives at Pitt)
After passing the examination, the candidate would take four courses in the Spring term and another two in the summer term.
During this time, the candidate will build a relationship with a faculty member and start exploring areas of research for a suitable dissertation topic. This requires continuous and active communication with the faculty member and the topic of research would have to be one that allows itself to be conducted off-site.
During the next summer (or at another time that is suitable for the candidate), he or she would return to Pitt for a brief period to present the proposal and take the comprehensive examination
After this, the candidate would return home and continue to work on the dissertation while staying in constant touch with the academic advisor and other members of his/her committee. (This phase can be expected to last up to two years.)
Finally, the student would again come to Pitt full-time for a period of one term (four months) when he/she is ready to graduate. The term will be spent finishing all the details that go with the dissertation, the presentation and defense of the dissertation.
The entire length of such a program would be the same as a regular program.

For more information contact gradie@engr.pitt.edu

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