Ph.D. Exams and Dissertation | NC State ISE
Ph.D. Exams and Dissertation
The Ph.D. program should be completed six semesters after receiving your MS degree. It can be completed in eight semesters with a direct path from BSIE to Ph.D. It includes the following requirements.
Qualifying Exam (New Format)
The written qualifying examination (QE) aims to determine if you have adequate skills, integrated knowledge, and the potential to complete the Ph.D. successfully. The ISE faculty has revised the exam to a more focused, area-based structure and has reduced the number of areas. For example, ISE’s Supply Chain and Logistics and Systems Analytics and Optimization areas have merged into SCL/SAO.
- You will take one exam from Advanced Manufacturing, Human Factors and Ergonomics or SCL/SAO. Select the area that most closely matches your research interests.
- Each area determines its own format.
The following is the revised format guide. There may be minor modifications in the specifics, such as the number of days for the take-home exams, etc.
Advanced Manufacturing Area Exam
Courses: Take at least one approved course in three out of four sub-areas.
- Additive Manufacturing: ISE 517: Fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing; MAE/ISE 789: Metal Additive Manufacturing
- Biomedical Manufacturing: ISE 589: Intro to Biomedical Design and Manufacturing
- Automation: ISE 716: Automated Systems Engineering
- Micro-Nano Manufacturing: ISE 718: Micro/Nano-Scale Fabrication and Manufacturing
Exam format: Five-day take-home exam and a 45-min oral exam including 12-min overview presentation followed questions.
You will provide answers to multiple questions related to the above sub-areas. There will be 4 research-oriented questions related to automation, additive, biomedical, and micro-nano manufacturing of which students will have to answer any 3.
The questions will test your ability to:
- Conduct a literature review on a state-of-the-art product/process/system/method.
- Develop a hypothesis and a testing plan.
- Analyze an advanced manufacturing problem and develop a systematic approach with the appropriate tools to solve it.
- Propose expected outcomes and describe implications.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Area Exam
Courses: The exam covers four topics/courses.
- ISE 540: Human Factors in Systems Design
- ISE 544: Occupational Biomechanics
- ISE 7XX: Advanced Topics in Human Systems (You choose)
- Pick one course (appropriate), Statistical Experimental Design (check with human-systems faculty)
Exam format: Five-day take-home exam and an oral exam.
- The faculty members of the Human Factors and Ergonomics (HSE) make one essay question each.
- The essay question is sent to you at the beginning of the exam week, and you have five days to respond.
- Each HSE faculty member assesses their respective essay question for quality.
- You do an oral presentation within a week after submitting your essay answers.
SCL/SAO Area Exam
Supporting Courses: There are five courses on which the exam content is based.
You are responsible for the content covered in both
- ISE 505 Linear Programming
- ISE 760 Applied Stochastic Models in Industrial Engineering
You must select to be examined on the content covered in one of the following.
- ISE 537 Statistical Models for Systems Analytics in Industrial Engineering
- ISE 723 Production Planning, Scheduling and Inventory Control
- ISE 754 Logistics Engineering
Exam format: The exam format in each content area is determined by the responsible faculty (typically the instructors of the most recent offering of each supporting course) and may be a four-hour classroom exam or a take-home exam, with each exam being offered on separate days.
The recommended time for taking the QE is within the first year of entering the Ph.D. program.
The faculty in each area exam is responsible for evaluating the exams and assigning the assessment score of either:
- High Pass
- Pass
- Fail
However, if your performance is marginal, a Conditional Pass may be assigned. If this occurs, the examination committee will decide your conditions. They will also choose the verification process to determine that the conditions have been satisfied. The DGP will bring the decisions to the faculty for notification.
You will have two opportunities to pass the QE. If you fail the exam on the first try, you may choose to try again the following year. If you choose to try again, you will need to repeat the entire exam on the second try. If you fail the exam on the second try, you will be terminated from the ISE Ph.D. program.
The recommended time for taking the QE is within the first year of entering the Ph.D. program. Each year the Director of Graduate Programs (DGP) will designate a “coordinator” for each subject exam. This normally would be the instructor who taught the exam’s background course during the previous year. The coordinator will be responsible for:
- Updating the Exam Review
- Compiling the exam
- Soliciting review of the exam by other faculty as needed
This assures that a faculty member is available to answer questions during the exam, and coordinating the exam grading.
Prior to the QE, you’ll receive a number to use instead of your name on subject exam answer pages. This assures that grading will be “blind”. For take-home exams, the DGP will transmit any computer files submitted by you for the exam to the coordinator. You must ensure that the title and contents of each file don’t identify you beyond your assigned number.
Coordinators will evaluate each exam question, with other faculty members as needed, and assign a grade for the exam.
The DGP will be responsible for the overall coordination of the QE. This includes scheduling, location, and informing you and the faculty of the results. The eight exam coordinators along with the DGP will constitute the “examination committee.” After coordinators assign grades for each subject exam, the committee will meet to review the grades in each subject area. They will decide the overall outcome of your QE exam. The overall outcome could be High Pass, Pass, or Fail.
However, in the event that your performance is marginal, a Conditional Pass may be assigned. If this occurs, the examination committee will decide the conditions you must meet. They will also choose the verification process to determine that the conditions have been satisfied. The DGP will bring the decisions to the faculty for notification.
You will have two opportunities to pass the QE. If you fail the exam on the first try, you may choose to try again in the following year. If you choose to try again, you will need to repeat the entire exam on the second try. If you fail the exam on the second try, you will be terminated from the ISE Ph.D. program.
Preliminary Exam
The primary purpose of this event is to examine you on your dissertation proposal. Also, to make a determination on whether your research objectives are reasonable and achievable. At its discretion, the committee can also question you on material from the QE or from the minor area. This is especially true in the case where written performance has been marginal. For this latter purpose a separate session, if deemed to be desirable, should be scheduled. Conduct of the Preliminary Oral Exam should permit the committee to answer such questions as the following:
- Is there a “hole in the technology” as demonstrated by the literature review?
- Do the proposed problem and research objectives adequately address this hole?
- Is the problem adequately structured for a solution?
- Will the proposed solution approach solve the problem?
- Can the student solve the problem with his background capabilities?
- Can the problem be solved in a reasonable time period or should the scope be narrowed?
- Is the research worthy enough to recommend the award of the doctoral degree?
You should take the Preliminary Oral Exam within twelve months of passing the QE. If you fail the Preliminary Oral Examination, you shall be granted one opportunity for re-examination no earlier than the next semester in residence.
Ph.D. Dissertation
The dissertation is an original paper that contributes to the literature in the field of industrial engineering. To complete the Ph.D. program, its publication is expected and encouraged. Prior to scheduling the preliminary oral exam, you are required to write a dissertation proposal for your committee to review. This proposal should contain a problem description, literature review, research objectives, solution approach, and research plan. The final oral defense is the examination of your methodology used and conclusions reached in your research. These should reflect those as reported in your dissertation.
Note: ISE 899 – Doctoral Dissertation Preparation does not count towards your degree and should only be taken after all requirements are met so that the requirement of continuous registration is satisfied.