Ph.D. in Operations Research

Last Updated: 10/15/2024 | All information is accurate and still up-to-date

Outstanding students like you pursue a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, ideal for those interested in independent study and research. This program entails advanced coursework and research beyond the master’s degree. Additionally, you must pass a written and oral comprehensive preliminary examination. Moreover, writing a dissertation and successfully defending it in a final oral examination is required. Consequently, the program prepares you comprehensively for advanced research roles. To earn this degree, you must:

Complete a minimum of 72 credit hours, or 54 credit hours, if you have a master’s degree from another institution.
Complete your written qualifying exam. An OR faculty committee member, appointed by the OR program director, administers this exam once a year.
Complete your oral preliminary exam. Your Academic Advisory Committee will give you this exam separately.
Write and successfully defend your dissertation. Your Academic Advisory Committee conducts this defense for each student separately.

Ph.D. in Operations Research Course Requirements

You must satisfy the course requirements for the MSOR degree.
You need a minimum of 72 credit hours to receive a doctoral degree. At least 42 credit hours should be in letter-graded coursework.
If you received your MS from NC State, you can transfer up to 36 credit hours toward your Ph.D. If you received your MS degree from another university, you may transfer up to 18 credit hours toward your Ph.D.

OR Seminar

You are expected to attend the OR 801 Seminar in Operations Research each semester and register for it for two semesters. Your previous registration for OR 601 Seminar in Operations Research as a Master’s student counts as one of the two.

Written Qualifying Examination

Objective

The qualifying examination verifies your potential for high-quality, independent research early in your graduate studies.

Content

The OR Ph.D. qualifying exam has two written core exams in Linear Programming and Stochastic Modeling plus one area-specific requirement.

Core Exam I – Linear Programming (based on OR 505 course)

Core Exam II – Applied Stochastic Models in Industrial Engineering (based on OR 760)

Area-Specific Requirement – The student should satisfy one of the area-specific requirements given below

Advanced OR Area

Choose one of the following exams (Not all classes are offered every year)

Dynamic Programming (based on OR 709)
Nonlinear Programming (based on OR 706)
Network Flows (based on OR 766)
Stochastic Simulation (based on OR 762)

Mathematics Area

Choose and complete one of these sequences, then take the single exam for that sequence.

Numerical Analysis (MA 580 Numerical Analysis I and MA 780 Numerical Analysis II)
Applied Matrix Theory (MA 523 Linear Transformations and Matrix Theory and MA 723 Theory of Matrices with Applications)
Analysis (MA 515 Analysis I and MA 715 Analysis II)

Industrial and Systems Engineering Area

Choose one of the following ISE SAO/SCL exams:

Statistical Models for Systems Analytics in Industrial Engineering (based on ISE 537)
Production Planning, Scheduling and Inventory Control (based on ISE 723)
Logistics Engineering (based on ISE 754)

Operations and Supply Chain Management Area (Poole College of Management)

Take all BUS 740 and BUS 790 doctoral seminar courses offered by the operations and supply chain faculty in the academic year before the examination. The exam is a single take-home exam.

Preliminary Examination and Ph.D. Candidacy

After passing the qualifying exam, you will formally organize your Ph.D. Advisory Committee. Then, submit a committee-approved Plan of Graduate Work to the Graduate School. The Advisory Committee will recommend specific courses in your specialization areas and conduct a preliminary oral examination.

You achieve “Ph.D. Candidacy” after passing all recommended courses and the preliminary oral exam. This exam assesses your knowledge of your research subject. Failure to pass may lead to termination from the Ph.D. Program, at the discretion of your Advisory Committee.

Final Oral Defense and Dissertation

Final Defense

You will be awarded the Ph.D. degree when you:

Pass all required courses for graduation.
Write a satisfactory Ph.D. dissertation.
Successfully pass the “Defense” conducted by your Advisory Committee.
Fulfill all other conditions required by the Graduate School.

To earn your Doctor of Philosophy degree, a final oral examination conducted by your advisory committee is required. You must demonstrate that your work meets the scholarly and originality standards.

Unanimous approval by the advisory committee is required to pass the oral examination. Such approval may be conditioned on satisfactory completion of additional work. Failure of the examination terminates your graduate study unless your advisory committee unanimously recommends re-examination. Only one re-examination is permitted, and at least one semester must elapse before the re-examination is held.

Submission of Dissertation

Upon passing the Ph.D. final oral examination, you must have the dissertation approved by each member of your advisory committee. The dissertation must be submitted to the thesis editor of the Graduate School and must conform to the Graduate School’s Electronic Theses and Dissertation website guidelines.

OR Theses and Dissertations

Request for Ph.D. in Operations Research Diploma

If you expect to complete all degree requirements by the end of the semester or summer session, submit a Request for Diploma. Do this within the first three weeks of classes in the semester or first summer session. You can get the necessary forms from the Graduate School.