PhD Program Requirements

General Requirements

The PhD in Industrial Engineering is designed for students and professionals who wish to pursue academic careers or achieve advanced standing in the field.

General Course Work Requirements:

  • Students must have a minimum of 72 credit hours of work beyond the Baccalaureate Degree, excluding any credits earned for a Master's Degree Thesis, or a minimum of 48 semester hours beyond the Master's Degree. (Typically, students take more than 60 semester hours course work beyond the Master's Degree to obtain an appropriate academic background for their doctoral research work.)
  • Each student must complete a Master's Thesis prior to administration of the Preliminary Exam.
  • Students in the PhD program are required to submit two papers for publication in a peer reviewed journal(s).
  • Usually, 24 of the 72 credit hours will have been satisfied by a student who has earned a Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering or a closely related field. Of the remaining required credits, 24 must be letter-graded course work combined with a minimum of 24 additional credits of dissertation research.
  • The 24-credit-hour course work beyond the Master's Degree consists of (a) breadth-requirement core courses, and (b) depth-requirement courses, as determined by the student's doctoral supervisory committee.
  • Residency and time-for-completion requirements are determined by the student's university of enrollment.
  • Florida State University requires that FSU students, after having finished 30 semester hours of graduate work or being awarded the Master's Degree, must be continuously enrolled on the Florida State University Tallahassee campus for a minimum of 24 graduate semester hours of credit in any period of 12 consecutive months.
  • Students must maintain a minimum 3.4 GPA at all times while enrolled in the program.
  • Students may not leave the PhD program to pursue a Master's Degree after one week into their second semester. Students seeking to change degree programs must apply for admission to the program in which they hope to get a degree.

Students should ensure that they read and meet the requirements as detailed by their respective university (FAMU or FSU), as well as meet the requirements of the College of Engineering and the Department.

Procedures

Early in the doctoral program, the Department Chair or his/her designee will appoint a temporary advisor and, in consultation with that advisor, a major professor and doctoral supervisory committee will be formed in accordance with the requirements of the student's university of enrollment.

The doctoral supervisory committee will consist of at least four members:

  • at least two faculty members from the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department,
  • one faculty member from outside the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, and
  • an additional member from industry or a governmental agency is required, unless an exemption is made by the graduate committee.

This committee will be in charge of the student's work until completion of all degree requirements, and will annually assess the progress of the student in writing. This assessment shall be made available to the student, the Department Chair, the Academic Dean, and others specified in their respective university's regulations.

A degree plan (as described under "Academic Procedures") must be completed and filed as soon as possible after admission and no later than the end of the second semester of study.

Core Courses for PhD Students

All PhD students are required to take the following courses as soon as possible after their admission to the program. These courses are required in order to provide students with a common, solid background in mathematics, statistics, and industrial engineering.

In the first calendar year of starting the PhD program, each student must select a single course from each of the Mathematical Course Group and Computational Course Group (listed below) and earn a grade of "B" or higher. A PhD student who does not satisfy this requirement may be dismissed from the program.

Mathematics Course Group

  • MAA 5306: Advanced Calculus I
  • MAP 5345: Elementary Partial Differential Equations I
  • STA 5323: Intro to Mathematical Statistics

Computational Course Group

  • MAD 5403: Foundations of Computational Methods I
  • EIN 5930: Finite Element Methods
  • STA 5106: Computational Statistics I

Additional Core Courses Required if NOT Previously Fulfilled in Master's Degree Studies

  • ESI 5247: Engineering Experiments (3) (Spring)
  • ESI 5408 / ESI 5412: Applied Optimization (3 hours)
  • ESI 5525: Modeling and Analysis of Manufacturing and Industrial Systems (3) (Fall)

*Core courses cannot be taken on a pass/fail (S/U) basis. Students must achieve a grade of "B" or better on each core course.

In order to graduate, students must pass their Preliminary Examination, complete all core courses with "B" or above, finish all other courses, and successfully complete their dissertation.

Preliminary Examination

Following successful completion of core courses, and upon certification of the doctoral supervisory committee that the student has (1) maintained a minimum 3.4/4.0 GPA and (2) progressed sufficiently to begin independent research in the area of the proposed dissertation, the student is ready to take the Preliminary Examination.

The purpose of the Preliminary Examination is to test the adequacy of a student's background related to his/her area of concentration, and to determine if the student is sufficiently prepared to formulate and undertake acceptable dissertation research. The procedures are as follows:

  1. The PhD student takes the Preliminary Examination by the end of the fourth full-semester of the PhD program. The student needs to register for the 0-credit hour Preliminary Exam course in the semester when the exam is taken.
  2. The student must make arrangements with the major professor to schedule a five-week time period for the examination. The student is required to bring an Application for Preliminary Examination form (available from the Department) to the oral examination. After completion of the examination, the supervisory committee chair should submit the signed form to the Director of Graduate Studies.
  3. The five-week time period will be spent as follows:
    • With the consultation of the major professor, the student will submit a research review report to the supervisory committee. This document should be approximately twenty (20) typed double-spaced pages. The research review report should consist of a description of the identified problem and its significance, an extensive review of literature, and a detailed description of the planned approach.
    • The committee will submit written questions to the major professor for collection by the student two (2) weeks after submission of the research review report. These questions will relate to the research review report and course work.
    • The student will have two (2) weeks to develop written responses to the questions in preparation of the oral exam. These responses will be submitted to the major professor, who will then distribute the responses to the committee members. The student should submit one complete, bound set of answers in addition to subsets of responses appropriate to each committee member.
    • The oral examination will be held within one week of submission of the written responses. This examination will be primarily related to the research area and the student's written responses. Appropriate related fundamental concepts may also be covered.
    • Pass/fail is based on the combined written and oral responses to committee questions. A majority of committee votes and a pass vote by the committee chair are required to pass.
    • A student who passes the examination will be recognized as a candidate for the PhD Degree.
    • Only one retake of the exam is allowed.

Research Proposal and Research Progress Report

After passing the Preliminary Exam, a doctoral candidate needs to prepare a proposal for dissertation research. This proposal consists of a written report and an oral presentation. The candidate can start research work after the research proposal is approved by the supervisory committee. The candidate needs to submit a research progress report to the Department by the end of each semester to update his/her research progress.

Dissertation

A doctoral dissertation then must be completed on a topic approved by the candidate's doctoral supervisory committee. To be acceptable, it must be an achievement in original research constituting a significant contribution to knowledge and represent a substantial scholarly effort on the part of the student. The doctoral supervisory committee, Department Chair, and such other members of the faculty as appointed by the Academic Dean or specified by their respective university's regulations will conduct the examination. Publication of the dissertation shall conform to the regulations of the university in which the student is registered.

Recommended Timeline

Before first semester registration:

  • Meet with the Director of Graduate Studies or your temporary graduate advisor to plan a course of study for your first semester; confirm any prerequisite needs.

During the first semester:

  • Take core courses.

Before the end of the second semester:

  • Begin the process of identifying faculty research interests compatible with your academic or career goals.
  • Establish a doctoral supervisory committee.
  • Submit a degree plan.
  • Submit paper to peer reviewed journal(s).

During the third semester:

  • Finish taking core courses.
  • Submit second paper to peer reviewed journal(s).

By the end of the fourth semester:

During the fifth semester:

During final semester:

  • Apply for the degree.
  • Pay the diploma fee.
  • Schedule the final oral defense through your committee chair.
  • Arrange for cap and gown at FAMU or FSU bookstore.

Summary Table

  Course
Work		 Committee,
Exams & Reports		 Research
Work		 Time
(Approx.)
Phase I Core Courses & Other Formation of Committee Limited 3 Semesters
Phase II Depth Courses & Other Preliminary Exam Research Proposal Submission 2 Semesters
Phase III More as Needed Submission of
Progress Report (Each Semester)		 Substantial, Significant,
Focused Research		 3 Semesters
Summary 60+ Hours
Typical		 Dissertation Dissertation & Journal Articles 8 Semesters