Admission Requirements:
Applicants are expected to have an accredited undergraduate degree in industrial engineering or related fields. For further information, see Admissions in this catalog.

Bridge Program: Students who do not have a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering may be admitted and required to complete the following bridge program. These courses do not count toward degree requirements:

Degree Requirements:
A minimum of 30 credits beyond a baccalaureate degree is required. A master's thesis or independent research is optional. Students select an area of specialization and individually design their programs in consultation with the graduate advisor. Faculty advisor approval must be obtained by students before they are permitted to register for IE 701 Master's Thesis.

Seminar: In addition to the minimum 30 degree credits required, all students who receive departmental or research-based awards must enroll each semester in IE 791 Graduate Seminar.

Core:
12 credits:

Courses are selected from an area of specialization with the approval of the graduate advisor as follows: 12 credits if completing a master's thesis, 15 credits if completing independent research, or 18 credits if not completing either a master's thesis or independent research.

Quality and Reliability Engineering:

The objectives of the Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering program are to provide the knowledge and develop the skills that students need to become leaders of research in academia, industry and government.

This program is intended for highly qualified students who wish to pursue advanced research in industrial engineering and related areas. The program emphasizes two areas: manufacturing systems and assurance sciences, and human factors and occupational safety.

Admission Requirements:
Applicants should have a master's degree in industrial engineering or a related field. In certain circumstances, a qualified student with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering or related field may be admitted into the program.

Degree Requirements:
For students entering with an appropriate master's degree, a minimum of 60 degree credits is required as follows: 36 credits of dissertation and 24 credits of course work beyond the master's degree in an area of specialization, 12 credits of which must be at the 700 level and none at the 500 level. Of the 24 credits of course work, 12 credits are core courses and the other 12 credits are technical electives.

Registration for IE 791 Graduate Seminar is required each semester for all students.

If the 36 credits of dissertation are completed before the dissertation is finished, students must register each semester for at least 3 credits of dissertation until the dissertation is accepted.

For students entering with bachelor's degrees, a minimum of 42 credits of course work and at least 36 credits of dissertation research is required.

Specific degree requirements and dissertation topics are approved by the department on an individual basis. Before being permitted to register for dissertation, students must complete course requirements, pass qualifying examinations, both written and oral, and demonstrate that there are facilities and a faculty member available to supervise the research.

Qualifying Examinations: All doctoral students are expected to pass both a written and oral qualifying examination. Passing the written qualifying examination is a prerequisite for the oral examination. Students are urged to take these examinations as soon as possible after being admitted into the program.

Students must take a two-part written examination within the first year following admission to the program, and pass within two years. The examination is offered every October. A student will be allowed only two attempts to pass the examination. Both parts must be taken at the same time. It consists of two sections:

Section I General competence in mathematics including calculus, probability and statistics, differential equations, and linear algebra.

Section II Proficiency in fundamentals of industrial engineering including: operations research (deterministic and probabilistic), quality control, reliability, engineering economy, production planning and control, and human factors.

The oral examination should be taken and passed in the semester after the written examination is passed. The dissertation committee assigns a topic for the oral examination from the student's area of specialization. The examination is offered by the dissertation committee. Thorough study and understanding of theoretical, technical and practical aspects of the assigned topic should be demonstrated in the oral examination.

Formation of a Dissertation Committee: With the approval of the graduate advisor, within two months after passing the written examination, students must form a dissertation committee. The committee should consist of at least four faculty members from the department including the student's advisor. In addition, one member of the committee must be chosen from outside the department.

Dissertation Proposal: Within three months of passing the oral examination, students must submit, for the approval of their dissertation committee, both in writing and orally, a doctoral proposal on the scope of their proposed research.

The dissertation must represent original research leading to meaningful advances in the industrial engineering profession. The work must be worthy of publication in refereed journals on industrial engineering or related fields. Doctoral students must complete the dissertation in the five years subsequent to passing their written and oral qualifying examinations.

Dissertation Defense: Each doctoral student must submit to their committee a written dissertation for their approval. After the dissertation committee approves the document, the student must successfully defend the dissertation in front of the committee and other interested faculty and students.

Areas of Specialization:

Manufacturing Systems and Assurance Sciences:
Core:
12 credits:

Courses selected from IE, ME, MnE, CS, and Math.

Human Factors and Occupational Safety:
Core:
12 credits: