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Program Details

Graduate Program: Systems and Industrial Engineering (PHD)

General Information

Request Information
Program/Degree
Systems and Industrial Engineering (PHD)  
Program Description

The Systems and Industrial Engineering Doctoral program is designed for those individuals wishing to pursue research at an advanced level.  Only those who have already demonstrated an ability to pursue independent and scholarly work should consider applying for this program.

To be considered for admission to the Doctoral program, the candidate must have attained a Bachelor's in Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.  Other factors that will be considered are as follows:

  • GPA in previous undergraduate work of at least 3.25 and graduate work of at least 3.50
  • A minimum of 3 Letters of recommendation
  • GRE scores of at least 153 verbal, 159 quantitative and 4.0 analytical are expected in order to be considered competitive 
  • International students should meet the minimum English Proficiency scores set by the Office of Graduate Admissions 
  • A match between faculty and student interests

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE 07/2021: The GRE Exam requirement will be optional for the Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 Systems and Industrial Engineering PhD admissions cycle in observance of the current public health environment. 

 

 
Department/Academic Unit(s)

Systems & Industrial Engineering

The Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering (SIE) at the University of Arizona was established in 1961 as the nation's first department of systems engineering.  Since then, the SIE Department has achieved international prestige for its contributions to the inter-disciplinary design of large-scale complex systems involving people, technology, and information.  With the introduction of a modern industrial engineering curriculum in 1972 and a reliability and quality engineering degree in 1987, the department offers a truly diverse and successful graduate program.  Career opportunities for graduates of the Systems and Industrial Engineering programs are outstanding.  Over the years, graduates from these programs have found employment in the nation's leading corporations, research institutes, and universities.

 
College

College of Engineering

 
Campus where offered

University of Arizona - Main - Tucson

 
Contacts
Admissions Contact
Cindy T Nguyen
520-626-4644
Graduate Program Coordinator
Cindy T Nguyen
520-626-4644
Director of Graduate Studies
Vignesh Subbian
520-621-6559
Graduate College Degree Counselor
Megan Jia Mcnulty-Luoma
520-626-9962
 
Tuition and Fees
Please refer to the UA Bursar's Office Tuition and Fees Calculator for up-to-date information about tuition and fees. 
Please refer to the UA Registrar's's Office Special Course Fees for up-to-date information about special course fees. 

Admissions Information

Admissions Requirements

IMPORTANT UPDATE 07/2021: The GRE Exam requirement will be optional for the Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 Systems and Industrial Engineering PhD admissions cycle in observance of the current public health environment. 

To be considered for admission to the Doctoral program, the candidate must have attained a Bachelor's in Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.  Other factors that will be considered are as follows:

  • GPA in previous undergraduate work of at least 3.25 and graduate work of at least 3.50
  • A minimum of 3 Letters of recommendation
  • GRE scores of at least 153 verbal, 159 quantitative and 4.0 analytical are expected in order to be considered competitive 
  • International students should meet the minimum English Proficiency scores set by the Office of Graduate Admissions 
  • A match between faculty and student interests
 
Standardized Tests

GRE:

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE 07/2022: The GRE Exam requirement will be optional for the Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 Systems and Industrial Engineering PhD admissions cycle in observance of the current public health environment. 

Required GRE Subject tests: Verbal,  Quantitative, Analytical 

  • Minimum GRE Verbal: 153 (500)
  • Minimum GRE Quantitative: 159 (750)
  • Minumum GRE Written: 4.0

International Applicants:

Proof of English Proficiency is required per the Graduate College’s Guidelines whose first language is not English. 

Acceptable English Proficiency Credentials: 

  • Test of English as a Foreign Language(link is external) (TOEFL) - minimum score of 79 iBT (or 60 on the revised PBT with no section score lower than 15).  Individual MyBest scores must also be dated within 2 years of the enrollment term to be considered valid.
    • The TOEFL Essentials Test is not an accepted test of English Profiency for doctoral programs.
  • International English Language Testing System(link is external) (IELTS) - minimum composite score of 7, with no subject area below a 6
  • Pearson PTE Academic(link is external) - minimum score of 60
  • Graduate English Language Endorsement(link is external) from the Center for English as a Second Language (CESL)
  • CEPT Full Academic test (link is external)- offered by our Center for English as a Second Language (CESL), minimum Total score of 110.

The Graduate College does not accept Duolingo scores for demonstration of English Proficiency.

 
Funding Opportunities

It is recommended that both international and domestic applicants apply by January 5th if they wish to be considered for departmental funding. 

The Systems and Industrial Engineering Department offers Graduate Assistantships (Teaching & Research) students demonstrating outstanding performance in their undergraduate and graduate careers.  Unfortunately, we cannot offer Graduate Assistantships to all new incoming students. 

 
Admissions Deadlines


Domestic and International Applicants:

  • Fall: January 5
  • Spring: We do not offer spring admission 

 

 
International Conditional Admission

International applicants will not be considered for conditional admission by this program.

Other Information
The GRE Institution Code for The University of Arizona is 4832

NRC Taxon(a) for this program: Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

Completion Requirements

Minimum Credit Units

68 

Core Coursework Requirements

The Doctor of Philosophy in Systems and Industrial Engineering requires a minimum of 68 credit hours (including the docoral minor). This includes:

  • A minimum of 48 units of course work
  • Of the 48 units, at least 36 must be SIE-type courses approved by the faculty advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. In addition at least 21 units of the course work must be taken from the SIE Department
  • A minimum of 2.00 units of SIE 695A Doctoral Seminar (Colloqium). No more than 3.00 units can be taken. 
  • A minimum of 18.00 units of SIE 920 Dissertation. 

Systems and Industrial Engineering PhD Core Coursework: 

The Doctoral Qualifying Examination (DQE) is given at the start of students' second year in the program.  In consultation with their faculty advisor, students are required to complete three of the following areas for the Doctoral Qualifying Exam:  

  • Three core courses, one from each core area:
    • Probability & Statistics
      • SIE 520 Stochastic Modeling I or SIE 530 Engineering Statistics
    • Optimization
      • SIE 540 Survey of Optimization Methods or SIE 545 Fundamentals of Optimization
    • Systems Engineering
      • SIE 554A: The Systems Engineering Process or SIE 550 Theory of Linear Systems

To register for this exam, students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher in courses selected for the DQE.         

 
Elective Coursework

The remaining SIE graduate elective credits will be selected with the approval of their Faculty Advisor. Students are welcome to take non-SIE graduate electives but must seek approval with their Faculty Advisor.

A list of approved SIE graduate electives can be found below and on the SIE website.

  • SIE 506: Quality Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 508: Reliability Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 511: Human-Machine Interaction (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 512: Human Factors Engineering Research Methods (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 514: Law for Engineers and Scientists (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 515: Technical Sales and Marketing (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 520: Stochastic Modeling I (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 522: Engineering Decision Making under Uncertainty (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 525: Queuing Theory (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 530: Engineering Statistics (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 531: Simulation Modeling and Analysis (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 532: Sports Analytics (3.00 credits) 
  • SIE 533: Fundamentals of Data Science for Engineers (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 536: Experiment Design and Regression (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 540: Survey of Optimization Methods (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 544: Linear Programming (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 545: Fundamentals of Optimazation (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 546: Algorithms, Graphs, and Networks (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 552: Space Systems Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 555: Sensor Systems Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 556: Fundamental of Guidance for Aerospace Systems (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 557: Project Management (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 558: Model-Based Systems Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 561: Traffic Modeling and Simulation (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 562: Advanced Production Control (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 563: Integrated Logistics and Distribution Systems (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 564: Cost Estimation (3.00 credits) 
  • SIE 565: Supply Chain Management (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 566: Life Cycle Analysis (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 567: Financial Modeling for Innovation (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 570: Intelligent Control Systems & Applications (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 571: Systems Cyber Security (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 572: Information Security and Research (INSuRE) (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 573: Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 577: Introduction to Biomedical Informatics (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 578: Artificial Intelligence for Health and Medicine (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 581: Design for Additive Manufacturing (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 583: Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems (CIM) (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 596: Special Topics in SIE (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 606: Advanced Quality Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 608: Advanced Reliability Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 631: Distributed Multi-Paradigm Simulation Systems (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 640: Integer and Combinatorial Optimization (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 645: Nonlinear Optimization (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 649: Stochastic Optimization (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 654: Advanced Concepts in Systems Engineering (3.00 credits)
  • SIE 678: Transportation Systems (3.00 credits)
 
Additional Requirements

On the way to a PhD degree, students must pass three exams: 

  1. The Systems and Industrial Engineering Doctoral Qualifying Exam
  2. The Doctoral Comprehensive Exam (both a written and an oral component)
  3. The Final Oral Defense Exam 

Subject to the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee, a maximum of 30 units of coursework applied toward a Master's degree may be applied toward the PhD as well. Research or thesis credit that was applied toward a Master's degree cannot be applied toward the PhD degree.

At most 3.00 units of SIE 699 Independent Study may also be included for the major, provided the study covers a topic not available through normal courses. A tangible course project is submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee, and prior approval is obtained from the Graduate Studies Committee.  SIE 900 Research units may not be counted toward a PhD Degree.  

 
Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Program

All PhD students must choose at least one minor subject area.  The purpose of choosing a minor is to add breadth to their training. Per the recommendation from the SIE faculty minor advisor, students may select any of the eligibe courses that will benefit their dissertation research. 

Active Systems and Industrial Engineering Ph.D (major) students cannot minor in Systems and Industrial Engineering.

A split minor between two departments is also possible.  All selections are subject to the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee.  The minor requires 12 units. Even if the doctoral minor the student selects only requires 9 units, students within this program will still be required to complete 12 minor units. Split minors require 6 units from each area (with approval from each academic department).

 

 
Student Handbook

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.

 

Program StatisticsInformation about these numbers

Program-level Information
Application Acceptance Rate 52.63%
Avg. Time-to-degree (years) 4.72
 
Department-level Information
Enrollment Percent Male 75.51%
Enrollment Percent Female 24.49%
Enrollment Percent International 39.8%
Enrollment Percent URM 20.41%

Back to statistics
  • All application, admit, and enrollment data are from Fall 2022.
  • Average Time to Degree calculates how long graduates in the last 5 years (2018-2022) took to complete their degrees, counting back to the first semester entering their program.
  • Underrepresented Minorities (URM) includes domestic students of ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education: African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders.

Persistent link: https://grad.arizona.edu/catalog/programinfo/SIEPHD
Last revised 26 Feb 2023
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