PhD
Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering
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 550 for paper based tests, or 217 for computer based tests, or 80 on the internet-based test.
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
A candidate with a BSIE degree will have to give evidence of having taken the course listed below for non-BSIE degree holders. A candidate with a BS degree in an engineering discipline other than industrial engineering must take the following courses, unless his or her transcript contains an equivalent course:
EM 513 Operations Management
A candidate with a baccalaureate degree in an area other than engineering (e.g., mathematics, physics, psychology) must take the above prerequisite, unless his or her transcript indicates an equivalent course, plus any other courses his or her thesis advisor deems appropriate. 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
Six courses are required for the Ph.D. in industrial engineering unless comparable courses have already been completed:
- IE 515, Operations Research Methods (3) or IE 610, Foundations of Optimization
- IE 541, Simulation (3)
- EM 561, Engineering Statistics I (3) or IE 563, Experimental Design in Engineering
- IE 580, Principles of Occupational Ergonomics (3) or IE 581, Ergonomic Techniques in the Workplace (3)
- IE 630, Advanced Production Systems Design (3) or IE 600, Advanced Manufacturing Methods
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IE 657, Models for Design and Analysis of Logistical Systems (3) or IE 655, Supply Chain Engineering
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 securing admission to the Ph.D program and completing it are given below.
1. The applicant completes an online application at https://graduate.louisville.edu/apply and submits scores for the GRE basic examination and the GRE subject examination in engineering, certified BS/MS transcripts, translated into English if necessary, TOEFL, if necessary, at least three completed reference forms/letters, a personal statement and a curriculum vitae.
2. Each application is reviewed by the Graduate Admissions Committee (GAC) and a decision is made on whether or not to admit the student and provide financial aid.
3. The admitted student takes the doctoral qualifying exam (DQE) after satisfactorily completing 15 hours of graduate level course work and industrial engineering undergraduate deficiency course(s), if required. After taking DQE, the student’s dossier will be reviewed by GAC and a formal vote be taken to determine whether or not the student has passed the DQE.
4. In the second year, the student selects a faculty research advisor to work with and forms a dissertation committee in consultation with his or her research advisor.
5. The student submits a written proposal for dissertation research to the dissertation committee.
6. An oral presentation of the dissertation proposal is made to the dissertation committee by the student.
7. The dissertation committee votes on whether or not to admit the student to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree after an oral presentation of the dissertation proposal and completion of the six core course requirements of the PhD program.
8. The student submits and defends his or her Ph.D. dissertation.
Notes about the DQE:
a. The DQE will be offered as part of a 1-credit readings course IE-693, called Doctoral Qualifying Exam and students must register for this course. The DQE will be a four-hour long exam, and have one question in deterministic operations research (linear and integer programming), one in stochastic operations research (queuing theory and simulation) and one in probability and statistics. The reference courses for the DQE are IE 515,IE 541 and EM 561, respectively.
b.The DQE will be offered twice, once in July and again in December (based on need).
c. A student will have two attempts to pass the exam. If a student fails both attempts, funding will be discontinued. The student can be awarded a Masters degree provided all requirements for completion of that degree are satisfied.
d. The passing or failing of exam will be voted by GAC. GAC will receive and consider student’s DQE performance, GPA, faculty input and other relevant material that may be submitted by student or faculty.
The dissertation committee, referred to in step 4, 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 six), 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 committee, by simple majority vote, may 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 eight, will be held on a draft of the dissertation that has been approved by the candidate’s advisor. The Graduate School allows at most four years from the time a student completes the candidacy exam and defends his or her dissertation.
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.
Adopted by the IE faculty on November 20, 2009
