Ph.D. Program Requirements

Page Updated June 2009

The general requirements for completing a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE). A basic outline of the steps is provided below, followed by more details in the remaining sections.

Complete a set of common core courses during the first year.
Declare a primary and a secondary field of study within ISE and complete the Ph.D qualifying exam in these areas at the end of the first year (NOTE: students entering without a master’s degree can petition for a delay in this requirement).
Pass a formal review at the end of the first year.
Complete the additional course requirements associated with major and minor fields of study.
Form a dissertation committee, propose a dissertation topic, and successfully defend this proposal to the committee.
Successfully complete a general exam conducted by the dissertation committee.
Complete and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation.
Satisfy any additional Ph.D. degree requirements specified by the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science (refer to the Lehigh University Catalog).

I. Core Course Requirements

The core course requirements for all first-year students are as follows:

Fall Semester	Course Title
IE 406	Introduction to Mathematical Programming (3)
Math 301	Principles of Analysis I (3)
One additional course

Spring Semester	Course Title
IE 429	Stochastic Models and Applications (3)
Math 338	Linear Models in Statistics (3) OR
ECO 416	Econometric Theory (3)
One additional course

Any student who has already completed an equivalent course at another institution may place out of the requirement by successfully passing an examination by the instructor of the course in question.

II. Declaration of Fields and Course Requirements

At the end of the first year of study, each student must declare a methodological field of study, which will be one of either

Optimization, or
Applied Probability and Statistics

and an applied field of study, which may be one of either

Financial Engineering
Information Systems, or
Manufacturing, Production and Logistics.

Other custom-designed programs in applied fields are also permissible with approval. Core course requirements associated with each of these fields of study are discussed in Section V below.

A student may optionally declare a minor field of study outside the ISE department. The selection of minor field is subject to approval and may include, but is not limited to Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Economics, Finance, Marketing, Materials Science, Mathematics, and Mechanical Engineering.

III. Qualifying Exam

Immediately following final exams at the end of the first year, all Ph.D students must take the qualifying exam. The purpose of the exam is to

Test the student’s knowledge of material from the core courses taken during the first year.
Test the student’s knowledge in his/her chosen field of study.
Assess the student’s ability to conduct original research.
Assess the student’s ability to communicate, both orally and in writing.

Each student’s exam will be conducted by a panel consisting of three faculty members, two representing the student’s methodological field of study and one representing the student’s applied field of study. Each member of the student’s panel will pose a research question to be studied during the two-week examination period. After the two week period, the student will present a written report and oral presentation to the panelists, who will each assess the student’s performance using an evaluation form that will be made available to the student ahead of time. The results of the exam are either pass or fail, but these results are only used as input to the first-year review, described below.

NOTE: A student entering the Ph.D. program with only a B.S. degree may petition to delay their first qualifier exam until their third semester of study. This does not exempt them from a first year review.

IV. First-year Review

Following the qualifying exam at the end of the first year, every Ph.D. student undergoes a first-year review consisting of:

Evaluation of grades.
Evaluation of qualifier exam results.
Other input as deemed relevant by the faculty.

The results of the first-year review are determined by vote of the faculty and may be either pass, conditional pass, or fail. A pass indicates that the student may continue into the second year of the program and should start to form a dissertation committee. A conditional pass indicates that the student may continue, subject to certain stated conditions being fulfilled. These conditions may include re-taking the qualifying exam, taking additional coursework, or achieving a minimum GPA during subsequent semesters. A conditional pass may or may not require a second faculty review, depending on the conditions imposed. Failure will result in a student’s dismissal from the Ph.D program, after which the student may petition to transfer to an M.S. degree program in order to receive a degree before leaving the department.

V. Additional Course Requirements

The overall Ph.D. course requirements include:

Four core courses described in Section I.
Three additional 400-level courses in the methodological field of study.
Three 400-level courses in the applied field of study.
Two 400-level courses in the minor department (optional; may overlap with other course requirements)

At least two 400-level courses must be taken outside of the ISE department. The above minimal Ph.D. course requirements total 10 courses (30 credits). For students who enter Lehigh with an M.S. degree, completion of the degree requires an additional 18 credits (via courses or dissertation), totaling 48 credit hours. Those entering with a B.S. degree need to complete an additional 42 credits, totaling 72 credit hours. The acceptable courses for each methodological and application area are listed in the addendums.