Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Industrial Engineering
All PhD programs must incorporate a standard set of Requirements for the Doctoral Degree.
Students in the Ph.D. with a major in Industrial Engineering program choose a single track from: General Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Engineering, Statistics, Economic Decision Analysis, and System Informatics & Control.
Each track has specific course requirements. Students are expected to complete the course programs described below prior to candidacy, and many of the courses are recommended to be completed prior to the comprehensive examination. Students seeking to waive a program course requirement must receive permission from the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies. It is not our intent to have students repeat coursework that they may have already mastered during prior graduate degree programs, so please ask for appropriate waivers.
General Industrial Engineering
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Methodology Core (4 courses) | ||
| Group 1 (at least 2 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6661 | Linear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6662 | Discrete Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6761 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| ISYE 6832 | Simulation Theory and Methods | 3 |
| ISYE 6412 | Theoretical Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6414 | Statistical Modeling and Regression Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6416 | Computational Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6740 | Computational Data Analysis: Learning, Mining, and Computation | 3 |
| Group 2 | ||
| ECON 7012 | Microeconomic Theory I | 3 |
| ECON 7013 | Microeconomic Theory II | 3 |
| CSE 6140 | Computational Science and Engineering Algorithms | 3 |
| CS 6550 | Design and Analysis of Algorithms | 3 |
| ISYE 6402 | Time Series Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6412 | Theoretical Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6413 | Design and Analysis of Experiments | 3 |
| ISYE 6420 | Introduction to Theory and Practice of Bayesian Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6663 | Nonlinear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6664 | Stochastic Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6679 | Computational Methods in Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6761 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| ISYE 7401 | Advanced Statistical Modeling | 3 |
| ISYE 7405 | Multivariate Data Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 7406 | Data Mining and Statistical Learning | 3 |
| ISYE 7661 | Theory of Linear Inequalities | 3 |
| ISYE 7682 | Convexity | 3 |
| ISYE 7683 | Advanced Nonlinear Programming | 3 |
| ISYE 7686 | Advanced Combinatorial Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 7687 | Advanced Integer Programming | 3 |
| ISYE 8813 | Special Topics in Operations Research (Constraint Programming) | 3 |
| ISYE 8813 | Special Topics in Operations Research (Game Theory) | 3 |
| Domain Core (at least 3 courses) | ||
| HS 6000 | Introduction to Healthcare Delivery | 3 |
| ISYE 6201 | Manufacturing Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6202 | Warehousing Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6203 | Transportation and Supply Chain Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6225 | Advanced Engineering Economy | 3 |
| ISYE 6227 | Introduction to Financial Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 6230 | Economic Decision Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6320 | Public Impact Applications of Operations Research and Management Science | 3 |
| ISYE 6421 | Biostatistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6673 | Financial Optimization Models | 3 |
| ISYE 6785 | The Practice of Quantitative and Computational Finance | 3 |
| ISYE 7201 | Production and Service Systems Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7203 | Logistics Systems Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7205 | Inventory Theory | 3 |
| ISYE 8813 | Special Topics in Operations Research (On Life Cycle Assessment) | 3 |
| Technical Elective (3 courses) 1,2 | ||
- 1
Decided in consultation with advisor.
- 2
Up to two technical electives may double-count toward satisfying the minor requirement
Comprehensive Exam
The General Industrial Engineering comprehensive exam has two parts:
- Written exam: Students have to select any two courses from Group 1 methodology core of General Industrial Engineering track. They are required to solve one question each from these 2 topics. Both questions are to be solved in one three hour exam.
- Research paper: The research paper must be submitted by the day of the exam. The paper must be:
- Written 100% by the student. (The student may mention the name of faculty/student collaborator.)
- No more than 10 pages (excluding references), font size 11, margin at least 1 inch.
- The first page should contain the title, the research collaborators, and a short abstract.
- The introduction should be a broadly accessible to a non-expert and contain exposition of the main goals, ideas and techniques, including motivation and a clear literature survey (The entire paper can be a literature survey paper).
Supply Chain Engineering
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Methodology Core (4 courses) | ||
| Group 1 (at least 2 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6661 | Linear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6662 | Discrete Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6761 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| ISYE 6832 | Simulation Theory and Methods | 3 |
| Group 2 | ||
| ISYE 6230 | Economic Decision Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6412 | Theoretical Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6414 | Statistical Modeling and Regression Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6663 | Nonlinear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6664 | Stochastic Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6740 | Computational Data Analysis: Learning, Mining, and Computation | 3 |
| ISYE 7682 | Convexity | 3 |
| ISYE 7683 | Advanced Nonlinear Programming | 3 |
| ISYE 7686 | Advanced Combinatorial Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 7687 | Advanced Integer Programming | 3 |
| ISYE 8813 | Special Topics in Operations Research (Constraint Programming) | 3 |
| Domain Core (3 courses) | ||
| Group 1 (at least 2 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6202 | Warehousing Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 7201 | Production and Service Systems Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7203 | Logistics Systems Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7205 | Inventory Theory | 3 |
| Group 2 | ||
| ISYE 6201 | Manufacturing Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6203 | Transportation and Supply Chain Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6320 | Public Impact Applications of Operations Research and Management Science | 3 |
| Computational Core (1 course) 1 | ||
| ISYE 6679 | Computational Methods in Optimization | 3 |
| CSE 6140 | Computational Science and Engineering Algorithms | 3 |
| CS 6550 | Design and Analysis of Algorithms | 3 |
| Technical Elective (2 courses) 2,3 | ||
- 1
Computational core may be chosen from the list above or can be other graduate-level courses related to the major area of study.
- 2
Decided in consultation with advisor.
- 3
Up to two technical electives may double-count toward satisfying the minor requirement
Comprehensive Exam
The Supply Chain Engineering comprehensive exam has two parts:
- Written exam: Students have to select any two courses from Group 1 methodology core of Supply Chain Engineering track. They are required to solve one question each from these 2 topics. Both questions are to be solved in one three hour exam.
- Research paper: The research paper must be submitted by the day of the exam. The paper must be:
- Written 100% by the student. (The student may mention the name of faculty/student collaborator.)
- No more than 10 pages (excluding references), font size 11, margin at least 1 inch.
- The first page should contain the title, the research collaborators, and a short abstract.
- The introduction should be a broadly accessible to a non-expert and contain exposition of the main goals, ideas and techniques, including motivation and a clear literature survey (The entire paper can be a literature survey paper).
Statistics
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Core (4 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6412 | Theoretical Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6413 | Design and Analysis of Experiments | 3 |
| ISYE 6416 | Computational Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 7401 | Advanced Statistical Modeling | 3 |
| Statistics Electives (4 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6402 | Time Series Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6404 | Nonparametric Data Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6420 | Introduction to Theory and Practice of Bayesian Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6421 | Biostatistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6740 | Computational Data Analysis: Learning, Mining, and Computation | 3 |
| ISYE 6781 | Reliability Theory | 3 |
| ISYE 6783 | Statistical Techniques of Financial Data Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6805 | Reliability Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7400 | Advanced Design of Experiments | 3 |
| ISYE 7405 | Multivariate Data Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 7406 | Data Mining and Statistical Learning | 3 |
| Technical Electives (2 courses) 1,2 | ||
| ISYE 6661 | Linear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6662 | Discrete Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6663 | Nonlinear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6664 | Stochastic Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6761 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| ISYE 6762 | Stochastic Processes II | 3 |
| ISYE 6832 | Simulation Theory and Methods | 3 |
| ISYE 6810 | Systems Monitoring and Prognostics | 3 |
| ISYE 7204 | Informatics in Production & Service Systems | 3 |
| MATH 6014 | Graph Theory and Combinatorial Structures | 3 |
| MATH 6241 | Probability I | 3 |
| MATH 6242 | Probability II | 3 |
| MATH 6643 | Numerical Linear Algebra | 3 |
| CS 6550 | Design and Analysis of Algorithms | 3 |
| CS 7520 | Approximation Algorithms | 3 |
| CS 7530 | Randomized Algorithms | 3 |
| CS 7545 | Theoretical Foundations of Machine Learning | 3 |
| ECE 6254 | Statistical Machine Learning | 3 |
All ten courses satisfying the above requirement in the Program of Study must be completed to obtain doctoral candidacy.
- 1
Other PhD-level Mathematics, Computer Science, or Machine Learning courses by permission of the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
- 2
Two of the Technical Electives courses may double-count to the Minor if they are part of a cogent Minor approved by the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Comprehensive Exam
The comprehensive exam for the Statistics track is based on all four domain courses.
Economic Decision Analysis
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Operations Research Core (3 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6661 | Linear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6662 | Discrete Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6663 | Nonlinear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6761 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| Economic Decision Analysis Core (3 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6225 | Advanced Engineering Economy | 3 |
| ISYE 6230 | Economic Decision Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 8813 | Special Topics in Operations Research (Game Theory) | 3 |
| ECON 7012 | Microeconomic Theory I | 3 |
| ECON 7013 | Microeconomic Theory II | 3 |
| Statistics Core (1 course) | ||
| ISYE 6402 | Time Series Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6421 | Biostatistics | 3 |
| Breadth Elective (at least 1 course) | ||
| ISYE 6227 | Introduction to Financial Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 6673 | Financial Optimization Models | 3 |
| ISYE 6785 | The Practice of Quantitative and Computational Finance | 3 |
| ISYE 7201 | Production and Service Systems Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7203 | Logistics Systems Engineering | 3 |
| HS 6000 | Introduction to Healthcare Delivery | 3 |
| CS 7525 | Algorithmic Game Theory and Economics | 3 |
| Technical Elective (2 courses) 1,2 | ||
- 1
Decided in consultation with advisor.
- 2
Up to two technical electives may double-count toward satisfying the minor requirement
Comprehensive Exam
The Economic Decision Analysis comprehensive exam has two parts:
- Written exam: Students have to select any two courses from Group 1 methodology core of Economic Decision Analysis track. They are required to solve one question each from these 2 topics. Both questions are to be solved in one three hour exam.
- Research paper: The research paper must be submitted by the day of the exam. The paper must be:
- Written 100% by the student. (The student may mention the name of faculty/student collaborator.)
- No more than 10 pages (excluding references), font size 11, margin at least 1 inch.
- The first page should contain the title, the research collaborators, and a short abstract.
- The introduction should be a broadly accessible to a non-expert and contain exposition of the main goals, ideas and techniques, including motivation and a clear literature survey (The entire paper can be a literature survey paper).
System Informatics and Control
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Core (3 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6810 | Systems Monitoring and Prognostics | 3 |
| ISYE 7201 | Production and Service Systems Engineering | 3 |
| ISYE 7204 | Informatics in Production & Service Systems | 3 |
| or ISYE 6405 | Statistical Methods for Manufacturing Design and Improvement | |
| Methods Core (3 courses) | ||
| ISYE 6661 | Linear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6761 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| ISYE 7406 | Data Mining and Statistical Learning | 3 |
| Methods Breadth (4 or more courses) | ||
| Select courses from two or more of the six focus areas: | ||
| Stochastics and Simulation | ||
| ISYE 6644 | Simulation | 3 |
| ISYE 6832 | Simulation Theory and Methods | 3 |
| ISYE 6656 | Queuing Theory | 3 |
| ISYE 6762 | Stochastic Processes II | 3 |
| Statistics | ||
| ISYE 6402 | Time Series Analysis | 3 |
| ISYE 6405 | Statistical Methods for Manufacturing Design and Improvement | 3 |
| ISYE 6412 | Theoretical Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 6413 | Design and Analysis of Experiments | 3 |
| ISYE 6420 | Introduction to Theory and Practice of Bayesian Statistics | 3 |
| ISYE 7401 | Advanced Statistical Modeling | 3 |
| ISYE 7405 | Multivariate Data Analysis | 3 |
| ECE 6555 | Optimal Estimation | 3 |
| Computing and Algorithms | ||
| ISYE 6679 | Computational Methods in Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6416 | Computational Statistics | 3 |
| CS 6550 | Design and Analysis of Algorithms | 3 |
| Dynamics and Control | ||
| ECE 6120 | Automata Theory | 3 |
| ECE 6550 | Linear Systems and Controls | 3 |
| ECE 6551 | Digital Control | 3 |
| ECE 6552 | Nonlinear Systems and Control | 3 |
| ECE 6553 | Optimal Control and Optimization | 3 |
| ECE 6554 | Adaptive Control | 3 |
| ECE 6556 | Intelligent Control | 3 |
| ECE 6559 | Advanced Linear Systems | 3 |
| ME 6401 | Linear Control Systems | 3 |
| ME 6402 | Nonlinear Control Systems | 3 |
| ME 6403 | Digital Control Systems | 3 |
| ME 6404 | Advanced Control System Design and Implementation | 3 |
| ME 6443 | Variational Methods in Engineering | 3 |
| Optimization | ||
| ISYE 6662 | Discrete Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6663 | Nonlinear Optimization | 3 |
| ISYE 6664 | Stochastic Optimization | 3 |
| Applications | ||
| ISYE 6201 | Manufacturing Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6202 | Warehousing Systems | 3 |
| ISYE 6203 | Transportation and Supply Chain Systems | 3 |
| ECE 6557 | Manufacturing Systems Design | 3 |
| ME 6222 | Manufacturing Processes and Systems | 3 |
| ME 6223 | Automated Manufacturing Process Planning | 3 |
| ME 6225 | Metrology and Measurement Systems | 3 |
| ME 6754 | Engineering Database Management Systems | 3 |
Comprehensive Exam
The comprehensive exam for System Informatics and Control is based on all three domain courses.
Dissertation Research Proposal (for all tracks)
The first step toward completing a final dissertation is to receive formal approval of a dissertation research topic. This is accomplished via the Dissertation Research Proposal. Students must present their dissertation research proposal to the Thesis Advisory Committee no later than the end of Spring semester of the student’s third full year in the program.
Each Ph.D. student must prepare a cogent, self-contained written research proposal that should describe the research to be addressed, demonstrate an understanding of existing work, describe intended research approaches, and present initial and anticipated results. The student must deliver this proposal, along with an oral presentation, to his/her committee. The content expected in the written research proposal should be discussed with the research advisor and committee members.
If judged to be satisfactory, the Thesis Advisory Committee members must sign the appropriate section of the Request for Admission to Ph.D. Candidacy form approving the thesis topic. Each member of the committee must also complete the Dissertation Proposal
Assessment Form, available on the ISyE website. The student should bring copies of all forms to the proposal presentation and is responsible for returning all forms to the Academic Programs Office. A student must present the thesis proposal at least one semester prior to the Final Doctoral Examination.
A student who fails to obtain approval of his/her thesis proposal must modify the existing proposal, and if required by the Thesis Advisory Committee, must defend the modified proposal in a subsequent oral presentation. If this second thesis proposal is not successful, the student will have not more than 6 months to identify a new research topic and if necessary a new research advisor, and to report this information to the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies. Failing to do so will prevent a student from continuing in the program.
Dissertation (for all tracks)
The primary requirement of a Ph.D. program is the completion of a dissertation, a written work documenting the research findings of a searching and authoritative investigation of a topic in the chosen primary field of study. The dissertation must either extend the boundaries of fundamental knowledge in a field or provide a new and better understanding or interpretation of facts already known. It should demonstrate that the candidate possesses powers of original thought, a talent for scholarship and research, and an ability to organize and present his/her findings.
Georgia Tech Graduate Studies maintains a website that discusses policies and requirements for Ph.D. dissertations at Georgia Tech.
Minor (for all tracks)
The minor will follow the standard Georgia Tech requirement: 6 hours outside the student’s home unit with a letter grade of 'C' or higher. The courses for the minor should form a cohesive program of study that is approved by the ACGS. Courses selected from the breadth requirements can be used to count toward the Minor.