Academics / PhD ProgramCurriculum and Focus Areas
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- Core Curriculum
- Majors and Minors
- Candidacy Exam
- Dissertation
- Teaching Requirement
- Graduate Program Handbook
Core Curriculum
First-year PhD students must take a total of 12 courses, consisting of three core courses, two advanced core courses, two research-based courses, and five other courses chosen from the lists of advanced core, application, or elective courses. Elective courses are relevant; graduate-level courses offered throughout the university. Students must choose electives from the approved list. Their advisor (or the Director of Graduate Studies) should approve the selection prior to student registering for the course (see Appendices A and B).
The course work for the first year includes the following:
Three Core Courses:
- IEMS 401 Applied Mathematical Statistics
- IEMS 450-1 Mathematical Optimization I
- IEMS 460-1 Stochastic Processes I
Two Advanced Core Courses:
Two from the following four courses:
- IEMS 402 Statistical Learning
- IEMS 450-2 Mathematical Optimization II
- IEMS 460-2 Stochastic Processes II
- IEMS 435 Introduction to Stochastic Simulation
Two Research Courses:
Students must complete two research-based courses, IEMS 499 Independent Study, in their first year. Only one IEMS 499 course may be taken per quarter. Students must first receive approval from the faculty member with whom they wish to take the course to register for these courses. At the end of each quarter, students must submit their reports to their advisors to receive a grade. Students should also send a copy of the report to the IEMS Graduate Program Coordinator.
Five Other Courses:
The remaining five courses can be taken from the lists of advanced core courses, application courses, and approved elective courses PhD Major and Minor Areas Document.
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Majors and Minors
PhD students also complete one three-course major and one two-course minor. Majors and minors may be chosen from the following areas:
- Analytics (minor only)
- Stochastic Analysis & Simulation
- Optimization
- Financial Engineering
- Logistics & Operations
- Healthcare Engineering
- Applied Statistics & Statistical Learning
- Management Science
Permitted courses in these areas are listed in the PhD Major and Minor Areas Document. Students may also petition to substitute a major or minor area of their own design with approval from their adviser and the Graduate Committee.
Candidacy Exam
Candidacy exam consists of two components: (i) performance in core courses, and (ii) performance in the oral exam.
- Performance in Core Courses:
During their first year, students must maintain a Core GPA of 3.3 or higher in five courses: three core courses and two advanced core courses. If a student takes more than two advanced core courses during the first year, the two highest grades from those courses will be used to calculate the Core GPA. Failure to achieve a Core GPA of at least 3.3 will result in dismissal from the program. - Performance in the Oral Exam:
The oral exam is offered in June of each year. Students must take the exam during the first offering after completing the five core and advanced core courses. For students who begin in the fall quarter, the candidacy exam must be taken in June of their first year in the program.
The oral exam is a two-hour exam administered to individual students by committees of at least three IEMS faculty members. The exam is based on the student's review and presentation of one of a selection of papers provided by IEMS faculty. A student is also required to submit to their committee a short-written report on the paper prior to the oral examination. Guidelines for the oral presentation and written report are communicated in advance. In the above, the phrase "IEMS faculty member" means any graduate faculty member with at least a 20% appointment in IEMS.
Evaluation at the End of the First Year
After the oral exam, the IEMS faculty evaluates the overall performance of each student. This includes performance on the two components of the candidacy exam, as well as the student's research potential evaluated through the two IEMS 499 course reports, among others.
There are four possible outcomes of the evaluation after the candidacy exam:
- Invitation to continue in the PhD program: This is the normal outcome.
- Invitation to continue in the PhD program, with conditions: The student can continue temporarily in the PhD program but will be dismissed from the program unless specified conditions are met. The conditions are determined as warranted by the individual student’s unique record. Possible conditions include earning adequate grades in additional courses, performing satisfactorily on another candidacy exam, finding an advisor, and completing English requirements.
- Dismissal from the PhD program, eligible for MS degree: The student is dismissed from the PhD program effectively immediately. However, the performance on the candidacy exam was sufficient to grant an MS degree once the other requirements for the MS degree are satisfied.
- Dismissal from the PhD program, ineligible for MS degree: The student is dismissed from the PhD program effectively immediately and cannot receive the MS degree.
MS Degree Conferral
The requirements for the MS in IEMS are: 12 credits of graduate coursework taken for a letter grade (not P/ no P), including the 8 PhD Core courses, a GPA of at least 3.0, and a satisfactory performance on the candidacy oral exam. An IEMS PhD student who has satisfied these requirements and wants to be awarded the MS degree must log into the Graduate Student Tracking System and fill out the Master’s in Primary PhD form. Following approval of this form, applicants will subsequently submit the Application for Degree and Master’s Degree Completion forms via GSTS. All three forms must be submitted to be awarded the degree.
Dissertation
A student's dissertation committee is chaired or co-chaired by the student's adviser. Two or more additional committee members are chosen by the adviser in consultation with the student. At least two committee members, including the chair or a co-chair, must be full or joint industrial engineering and management sciences faculty members. The committee must include at least one member who has primary affiliation outside of the department.
To earn a PhD, students must also pass the prospectus examination and dissertation defense at which they present their research.
The degree is awarded following an oral final examination and submission of the completed dissertation. The entire PhD program is usually completed in four or five years.
Teaching Requirement
TGS requires that all PhD students serve in some instructional capacity for at least one academic quarter during their graduate education at Northwestern University. This requirement is usually fulfilled by IEMS PhD students through service as a teaching assistant in an IEMS course. For details on IEMS expectations of teaching assistants, please review the IEMS Department responsibilities and expectations for teaching assistants see the IEMS Teaching Requirements.
Graduate Program Handbook
Please consult our Graduate Program Handbook for further information on departmental policies and procedures.