Lehigh Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) is excited to announce that we have recently revamped our Ph.D. Program for the modern doctoral student. The plan, unanimously approved by the faculty, includes streamlined sets of requirements and milestones so that students are acquiring foundational skills and conducting cutting-edge research as efficiently as possible.
In the newly revised program, all first-semester students take the program’s three core courses:
- Research Methods
- Fundamentals of Optimization
- Probability and Stochastic Processes
The remaining course requirements are 6 additional elective courses, which can be completed within the first three semesters of the program and represent a meaningful reduction compared to the previous version of the program. The department regularly offers a vibrant portfolio of courses covering all its research thrusts on mathematical optimization, stochastic models, data science and machine learning, applied operations research, quantum computing optimization, and uncertainty quantification and complex systems. These include:
- Operations Research Models and Applications
- Numerical Methods and Scientific Computing
- Optimization Under Uncertainty
- Continuous Optimization
- Discrete Optimization
- Optimization Methods for Machine Learning
- Conic Optimization
- Uncertainty Quantification
- Quantum Computing Optimization
Students are matched with a dissertation advisor within their first semester in the program. Beyond taking courses, students in the program reach significant milestones on an annual basis. After the first year, three program faculty members administer a tailored and research-focused qualifying exam that tests their ability to conduct cutting-edge research.
Around the end of their second year, each student prepares and defends a dissertation proposal to a dissertation committee, which sets the stage for the research that they will conduct for the remainder of their time in the program. Keeping in close contact with their committee through that time, within the next couple of years each student becomes an expert in their chosen field and defends their dissertation on their way to a highly successful academic or industry career!
Another exciting recent addition is our Future Academic Career Experiential Training (FACET) program to mentor and train our students to become academic leaders. Through FACET students meet regularly with ISE faculty members, former postdocs and former students to learn about preparing for a future career as a university faculty member. Students can acquire hands-on training through course instruction and mentorship of undergraduate and master’s program students on research projects.
