CORE Building room 116

Department of Mathematics & Graduate Industrial and Systems Engineering

Industrial &Systems Engineering Graduate Degree Programs

1. MS Degree Requirements

Credits: : The MS degree requires a minimum of 30 credits. Depending on the MS option that a student chooses, either 18 or 21 credits must be taken from the ISE department at Rutgers – these courses begin with the number 540. MS students in the thesis option may not take independent student course Special Problems 540:550 for degree credit.

Seminar: Each student must register three semesters for the ISE seminar (540:691 or 692), a zero credit course. In the ISE seminar, speakers from industry and academia present their latest research. The seminar course is pass/fail.

Non -Thesis Option: To comply with a new policy from the Graduate School New Brunswick, MS students in the non-thesis option, starting with students entering in Fall 2007, must write a report and make a presentation at a public seminar on an ISE topic. Graduate students and at least three faculty members will attend the presentation.

Each student will identify a faculty member as his or her supervisor who will approve the topic. Possible topics include work that was done individually for a class project, an extension of class material, or review and synthesis of several journal articles.

The presentation will be 20 minutes long. Dates in October and November, February and March, will be set aside for presentations. Students will sign up in advance for a presentation date. The report must be approximately 20 pages, double-spaced, 12-font. The format will be typical of scientific papers: abstract, introduction, two or three sections of a body, conclusions, references, and appendices if necessary. The final report must be approved by at least three members of the Graduate Faculty. If the presentation and report is not accepted, the student will be required to make revisions.

Thesis: Students may elect to write an MS thesis in place of six credits of coursework. The thesis is a closely supervised project of original research. Most of our masters theses have been published in leading ISE journals. The administrative steps for students who write an MS thesis follow:

MS thesis proposal:

• By the end of the first year identify an advisor.
• Select a committee of at least three members of the ISE program.
• Set the date with the committee, reserve the conference room, and provide an abstract to the graduate secretary to distribute to faculty and graduate students. Submit proposal form electronically to the Graduate Director.
• Distribute the written proposal at least one week in advance to committee members.
• Give a formal 30-minute presentation on your proposal.

MS thesis defense:

• Prepare the Admission to Candidacy Form for the MS degree, which can be obtained from the ISE office.
• Fill in all your courses and submit it to the ISE office for verification.
• Set the date with the committee, reserve the conference room, and provide an abstract to the graduate secretary to distribute to faculty and graduate students. Submit defense form electronically to the Graduate Director.
• Distribute the written proposal at least ten days in advance to committee members.
• Give a formal one-hour presentation on your thesis.

MS Options: The ISE program offers four MS options:

• Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Manufacturing Systems Engineering
• Quality and Reliability Engineering
• Information Technology

The options vary in the proportion of required and elective courses. The advisor must approve all elective courses. Students who have taken a required course to fulfill undergraduate requirements may substitute an additional elective in place of the required course. For example, if a student has taken Computer Aided Design (a required course in the Manufacturing Systems option) as an undergraduate, the student obtains a waiver for the course, in writing, from the Graduate Director. The student does not retake it in graduate school but selects an additional elective such that the total number of graduate credits is 30.

The options are summarized in the following table and then described below.

1.1. Industrial and Systems Engineering Option
The Industrial and Systems Engineering option is the most flexible option allowing students the opportunity to select electives focusing on their areas of interest. The required courses provide a firm foundation in mathematical modeling, simulation, and production systems. The option requires 30 credits with at least 21 credits from the ISE program.

Required courses:
540:510 Deterministic Models in Industrial Engineering
540:515 Stochastic Models in Industrial Engineering
540:555 Simulation of Production Systems
540:560 Production Analysis
960:590 Design of Experiments (starting with students entering fall 2003)

1.2. Manufacturing Systems Engineering
The Manufacturing Systems Engineering option offers students a rich specialty in automation and manufacturing processes. A special feature of the Manufacturing Systems option is the required course Manufacturing Project, a 3-credit, hands-on course where each student performs independent laboratory research in manufacturing.

Required Courses:
540:552 Manufacturing Project
540:555 Simulation of Production Systems
540:560 Production Analysis
540:568 Automation and Computer Integrated Manufacturing I
540:572 or 486 Mfg Processes and Control or Automated Manufacturing Systems
540:573 Advanced Manufacturing Processes
650:388 or 506 Computer Aided Design
960:590 or 540 Design of Experiments or Statistical Quality Control (starting with
students entering fall 2003)

1.3. Quality and Reliability Engineering
The Quality and Reliability option, offered in cooperation with the Statistics department, prepares students with a specialty focusing on design of experiments, process control, reliability and quality management.

The Quality and Reliability Engineering option requires 30 credits with at least 18 from the ISE program. Following are the required courses:

Industrial and Systems Engineering:
540:560 Production Analysis
540:585 Systems Reliability Engineering I
540:685 Systems Reliability Engineering II
540:580 Quality Management

Statistics
960:540 Statistical Quality Control I
960:542 Life Data Analysis
960:590 Design of Experiments

Prerequisite Override – Statistics courses: To register for a 960:540 Statistical Quality Control I, 960:542 Life Data Analysis, or 960:590 Design of Experiments the ISE graduate director can give you a prerequisite override form which you must use to register in person.

1.4. Information Technology
The option in Information Technology educates students in the design, implementation, and improvement of information systems in the manufacturing and service industries. Students will be trained in system integration, that is, utilizing technologies in software engineering, system design and analysis for the purpose of building a robust enterprise where information systems are seamlessly integrated into the enterprise functions. The option requires courses across disciplines including industrial and systems engineering, computer science, information technology, information systems and telecommunications.

The typical student will have a BS in engineering and possibly industrial experience. The Information Technology option requires 30 credits with at least 18 from the ISE program. There are 27 required credits and 3 elective credits. The required courses follow.

Industrial & Systems Engineering
540:485 Manufacturing Information Systems
540:540 Computational Methods in IE
540:542 Enterprise Integration
540:555 Simulation of Production Systems
540:568 Computer Integrated Manufacturing I

Electrical & Computer Engineering
332:543 Communication Networks

Computer Science
332:573 Data Structures & Algorithms (198:503)
198:505 Computer Structures

Graduate School of Business
010:622 Internet Technology

2. Ph.D. Degree Requirements

The program offers a Ph.D. degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Students complete the following requirements to graduate: course requirements, the written qualifying examination, the thesis proposal, and the dissertation defense. Details of these steps are summarized in the following table and then discussed below.

A student with an MS degree in Industrial Engineering or a closely related field takes the qualifying examination after the first year of study. The total period of study is approximately 4 years. Students with backgrounds other than Industrial Engineering and students who have only a BS degree upon entering the program may take longer.

2.1. Course Requirements
A Ph.D. student entering with a BS degree takes 48 credits of course work and 24 credits of Ph.D. dissertation research. Of these 48 course credits, 30 must be in the ISE program.

A student entering the program with an MS from another university may transfer up to 18 credits (for appropriate courses with approval of the Graduate Director). The student takes at least another 30 credits of course work at Rutgers with at least 21 credits in the ISE program. The procedure for transferring credits is given in Section 6.

Students are required to take the following courses:
• At least four ISE courses at the 600 level
• Design of Experiments (960:590)

2.2. The Qualifying Examination
The comprehensive exam tests students on their knowledge of the five core courses in Industrial and Systems Engineering, i.e.,
540:510 Deterministic Models in Industrial Engineering
540:515 Stochastic Models in Industrial Engineering
540:560 Production Analysis
540:585 Systems Reliability Engineering I
642:593 Mathematics Fundamentals in Industrial Engineering

Doctoral students take all sections of the qualifying exam after completing one year of course work. Under special circumstances students may obtain permission to take four sections after the first year and complete the remaining section the following year.

The exam is given the September of the fall semester. Students are asked to sign up to take the exam approximately one month in advance. Each part is an open book exam that is 3 hours long. Students are required to respond to all questions.

All students are required to take the mathematics course 642:593. Students must take all the exams. In addition, the mathematics course is only offered in alternate even numbered years, i.e., 2006, 2008, etc.

The exams focus on the topics covered in the courses. The questions, however, test the depth of your knowledge. It is not necessary to worry about obscure details. However, it is necessary to know in depth the material from the courses.

A committee of professors is assigned to compose and proctor each exam. The graduate committee that is chaired by the Graduate Director determines the final results. Students are notified about the results within two weeks of the exam at the latest.

If a student fails one or more sections of the exam, the graduate committee may recommend that the student repeat those sections. If a student fails several sections and shows a serious lack of comprehension, the graduate committee may recommend that a student withdraw from the program. Students may only repeat a section one time.


2.3. The Thesis Proposal
This is an oral examination that focuses on the student's dissertation proposal. The student will be questioned on the proposed research and knowledge relating to the research area. Here is a checklist of items in preparation for the thesis proposal:

• Select a committee of at least four members. At least three must be members of the ISE program and at least one must be an outside member, i.e., a qualified person in industry or academia outside the ISE graduate program.
• Set the date with the committee, reserve the conference room, and provide an abstract to the graduate secretary to distribute to faculty and graduate students. Submit the proposal form electronically to the Graduate Director.
• Distribute the written proposal at least one week in advance to committee members.
  ? Prepare the Admission to Candidacy Form, which can be obtained from the ISE office.
• The presentation should be approximately one hour long. The committee approves the proposal by signing the Candidacy Form at the conclusion of the proposal presentation.
• Hand deliver the candidacy form signed by your committee to the Graduate School, 25 Bishop Place, New Brunswick.

After the proposal is approved the student becomes a Ph.D. Candidate.

2.4. Dissertation Defense
The Ph.D. dissertation is expected to be an original and significant contribution to the field of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Upon completion of the dissertation, the student defends it at an open oral examination. Successful performance at the oral examination is the last requirement of the Ph.D. degree.

Here are some items that must be taken care of by the student before the dissertation defense.

• Set the date with the committee, reserve the conference room, and provide an abstract to the graduate secretary to distribute to faculty and graduate students. Submit the defense form electronically to the Graduate Director.
• Distribute the written dissertation at least ten days in advance to committee members.
• Obtain your Admission to Candidacy Form from the Graduate School and complete the form. Your committee members sign this form to approve the dissertation.
• Defend your dissertation. The presentation should be approximately one hour long.
• Submit your thesis to the Graduate School carefully checking that you have followed the prescribed format.
  

Transfer of Credits

Up to nine credits of course work may be transferred from another school towards an MS degree with the approval of the Graduate Director. Up to 18 credits of course work may be transferred towards the Ph.D. degree. Students may arrange the transfer after they have accumulated 12 credits at Rutgers. The form for transfer of credit is available in the ISE Office.

Faculty Advisors

For MS or Ph.D. students involved in thesis research, your advisor is the faculty member guiding your research. For all other students, such as first year students and MS students not participating in thesis research, the Graduate Director serves as advisor.

Identifying a research advisor is one of the most critical responsibilities of a student who intends to get involved in research. The first step is to find out the research areas of the faculty. A brief description appears in this handbook. You are encouraged to make appointments with faculty members and ask them about their research. If a seminar, article, or course particularly interests you, speak to faculty in that area of research.

After a general area has been identified and a faculty member has agreed to advise you, please inform the Graduate Director. You should identify an advisor and a general research area before the end of the first year at Rutgers.