The doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering (Ph.D.) is a research degree offered by the Department of Industrial Engineering through the Graduate School.

Admission

Candidates for admission into the Ph.D. degree program must satisfy both the requirements for admission into the Graduate School and the requirements of the department. These requirements are summarized as follows:

1. Baccalaureate degree with complete transcripts.
2. 3.00/4.00 GPA for unconditional admission.
3. A combined verbal and quantitative score for the GRE basic examination of at least 1200.
4. For international students, a TOEFL score of at least 535 for paper-based tests and 210 for computer-based tests.

Students with suitable GRE scores and who have baccalaureate or master’s degree in industrial engineering from an ABET accredited program may be admitted to degree status without condition. Frequently, applicants to the program will have completed a master’s degree; however, a qualified student may be admitted directly to the doctoral program after receiving the baccalaureate. In the latter case, unless there is a specific waiver, the student will be required to complete the MSIE degree before proceeding to the additional course work and research required for the Ph.D.

Prerequisite Requirements

Students with a baccalaureate in an area other than industrial engineering will be required to resolve industrial engineering undergraduate deficiencies by taking up to 23 semester hours of additional courses. The required courses will normally be chosen from the following list:

• IE 240 Fundamentals of Industrial Engineering
• IE 320 Manufacturing Processes
• IE 360 Probability and Statistics for Engineers
• IE 380 Work Design
• IE 415 Operations Research
• IE 421 Facility Location and Layout
• IE 425 Production and Inventory Control
• IE 480 Introduction to Ergonomics and Work Physiology

All candidates with a baccalaureate degree in an area other than industrial engineering, will be required to demonstrate mathematical preparation comparable to that provided by an ABET accredited engineering program. Typically, an acceptable undergraduate record in mathematics includes calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.

Degree Requirements

Five of the following eight courses are required for the Ph.D. in industrial engineering unless comparable courses have already been completed:

• IE 541 Simulation
• IE 563 Experimental Design
• IE 581 Ergonomic Techniques
• IE 590 Stochastic Programming
• IE 611 Discrete Optimization
• IE 630 Adv. Production Systems Design
• IE 643 Analysis for Decision Making
• IE 657 Models for Design & Analysis of Logistical Systems

A minimum of 78 hours of post baccalaureate credits are required. Up to 30 hours of credit may be granted for a master’s degree in industrial engineering from another institution. No more than 18 hours will be awarded for dissertation research.

The basic steps in completing the Ph.D. are given below. Also see the Ph.D. Student's Management Guide at: http://louisville.edu/speed/industrial/.

1. Submission of application (including scores for the GRE basic examination and the GRE subject examination in engineering, certified BS/MS transcripts, translated into English if necessary, at least three completed reference forms/letters, personal statement and curriculum vitae) by the student.
2. Admission to applicancy, following the completion of 12-15 hours of graduate-level course work and satisfactorily completing the industrial engineering undergraduate deficiency courses listed above. Admission to applicancy should be requested no later than the third semester of enrollment in the program. All remedial courses must be taken for letter grades.
3. Formation of a dissertation committee.
4. Submission of a written proposal for dissertation research to the dissertation committee.
5. Oral presentation of the dissertation proposal to the dissertation committee.
6. Completion of a written qualifying exam developed by dissertation committee.
7. Completion of an oral exam, based upon the student’s answers to the qualifying exam questions, if required by the dissertation committee.
8. Admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.
9. Submission and defense of the Ph.D. dissertation.

The Ph.D. candidate entering the program with a master’s degree may take 12 to 15 hours of graduate-level course work before being admitted to applicancy status. Without a master’s degree, a student may take anywhere from 21 to 27 hours. A candidate’s admittance to applicancy is by vote of the faculty.

The dissertation committee, referred to in (step 3), will consist of at least five members of the graduate faculty. At least three of the committee members will be from the Industrial Engineering department and at least one from departments other than Industrial Engineering. The chair of the committee will be the student’s dissertation advisor.

Following the presentation of the dissertation proposal (step five), the dissertation committee will review the student’s transcript to verify the adequacy of the student’s course work preparation to successfully pursue research in the chosen area. At this time, the committee may recommend additional course work.

The written qualifying exam referred to in step six will have the format of a seven-day, take-home exam. Each committee member will submit question(s)/problem(s) that should require approximately one working day of effort on the student’s part to answer. Normally the questions/problems will relate to the student’s proposed area of research. The main purpose of the qualifying exam is to allow the advisory committee to determine if the applicant is sufficiently prepared to pursue the proposed dissertation research.

After the student has submitted the written examination answers, and the respective committee members have reviewed them, the committee may require and administer an oral examination to the applicant (step seven). At the conclusion of the oral exam, the committee may, be simple majority vote, recommend that the applicant be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, that the recommendation for admission to candidacy be delayed pending specific remedial work, or recommend that the applicant not be admitted to candidacy.

The defense, referred to in step nine, will be held on a draft of the dissertation that has been approved by the candidate’s advisor. The Graduate School allows at most five years between the finished course work and the dissertation defense.

Advising

Entering Ph.D. candidates will be advised by the Graduate Admissions Committee Chair, Dr. Sunderesh Heragu, until such time as the candidate is admitted to applicancy. After admission to applicancy, the candidate will be advised by his or her dissertation advisor.

Financial Aid and Seminar Attendance

The IE department will hold seminars throughout each semester. The purpose of these seminars is to expose graduate students to research methods and topics and is intended to benefit graduate students in their research. Thus, all active graduate students are strongly encouraged to attend. If a student is absent for more than two seminars per semester, s/he risks losing financial aid for future semesters. Also, students whose status is deemed inactive by the GAC risk losing financial aid from the department or University.