Doctor of Philosophy in Operations Research (Ph.D.) | NC State OR

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Ph.D. in Operations Research

Last Updated: 12/15/2022 and all information on this page is accurate and up-to-date

The Doctor of Philosophy in Operations Research (Ph.D.) is for you, a student with outstanding abilities and strong research interests, and prepares you for a career as a research scientist in government, industry or academia. To obtain this degree, you must:

  • Complete a minimum of 72 credit hours (54 credit hours if you already have a master’s degree from another institution),
  • Successfully complete your written qualifying exam. The written qualifying examination is given once a year by an OR faculty committee member appointed by the OR program director.
  • Successfully complete your oral preliminary exam. This exam is given to each student separately by your Academic Advisory Committee.
  • Write and successfully defend your dissertation. This defense is conducted for each student separately by your Academic Advisory Committee.

Course Requirements

  • You must satisfy the course requirements for the MSOR degree.
  • A minimum of 72 credit hours is required to receive a doctoral degree. A minimum of 42 credit hours should be in letter-graded coursework.
  • If you received your MS degree from NC State, you can transfer up to 36 credit hours toward your Ph.D. I you received your MS degree from a university other than NC State, 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 during each semester and to register for the seminar 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 is intended as a “screening” mechanism to verify your potential to pursue high-quality, independent research early in your graduate studies.

Content

The OR Ph.D. qualifying examination consists of two written core exams in Linear Programming and Stochastic Modeling and 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

  • Dynamic Programming (based on OR 709)
  • Nonlinear Programming (based on OR 706) 
  • Network Flows (based on OR 766)

Mathematics Area

Choose one of the following sequences, taking both courses in the sequence and then the single exam for the 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 790 doctoral seminar courses that are offered by the operations & supply chain area faculty in the academic year before the examination (the area typically offers one seminar each semester). The exam is offered as a single take-home exam.

Preliminary Examination and Ph.D. Candidacy

After successfully passing the qualifying examination, you will formally organize your Ph.D. Advisory Committee. A Plan of Graduate Work, approved by the Advisory Committee, is to be submitted to the Graduate School. The Advisory Committee will ask that you take certain courses in your areas of specialization and conduct a preliminary oral examination. You are awarded “Ph.D. Candidacy” when you pass all the courses recommended by the committee and the preliminary oral examination.

The purpose of the preliminary oral examination is to determine your knowledge of the subject in which you intend to conduct research.

Failure in the preliminary oral examination may be cause for termination of enrollment in the Ph.D. Program. This decision is at the discretion of your Advisory Committee.

Request for Diploma

Each student who expects to complete all requirements for the degree by the end of the semester or summer session should submit a Request for Diploma within the first three weeks of classes in the corresponding semester or first summer session. Forms for this purpose are available from the Graduate School.

Final Oral Defense and Dissertation

Final Defense

  • You will be awarded the Ph.D. degree when you:
  • Pass all courses required for graduation
  • Write a satisfactory Ph.D. dissertation
  • Successfully pass the “Defense” conducted by your Advisory Committee
  • Fulfill all other conditions required of the Graduate School

You must pass a final oral examination conducted by your advisory committee. You must show that your work meets the scholarly and originality standards required by the University for awarding a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Unanimous approval by the advisory committee is required for passing an 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 Diploma

If you expect to complete all requirements for the degree by the end of the semester or summer session, you should submit a Request for Diploma within the first three weeks of classes in the corresponding semester or first summer session. Forms for this purpose are available from the Graduate School.