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The Industrial Engineering (IE) Option is designed to provide flexibility for students to tailor their master's program to fit their individual educational objectives. This is the newest option in the ISE Department and the inaugural class matriculates in Fall 2007. A short list of required courses is supplemented by wide latitude in the selection of elective courses to complete the IE Option M.S. degree requirements. This allows the student to pursue a broad path, or to pursue a very narrow path in a particular area of study or with a particular faculty member. Although the thesis track is available the majority of students in this option will choose the non-thesis track (courses only). This option is available only at the Blacksburg campus.
Option coordination: The IE Option is directed by the IE Option committee that is composed of ISE faculty members and is chaired by the IE Option committee coordinator. IE Option students are advised by an ISE faculty member. The choice of advisor and advisory committee is determined by the student and the IE Option committee during the student’s first semester. The IE Option committee reviews all applications and approves all plans of study and does a yearly review of progress for each IE Option M.S. students.
Degree programs and curricula requirements: There are two degree program tracks in the general option: the M.S. non-thesis (MSNT) and M.S. thesis (MST).
The curricula in each case include required courses in ISE and technical elective courses. The elective courses are of two types: 1) ISE electives and 2) general technical electives. Both the set of ISE electives and the set of general electives will be specifically determined by the student in direct consultation with his or her advisor and committee and approved by the IE Option coordinator. A graduate advisory committee may require a student to take more course credits than the minimum specified here. The student should consult the graduate catalog to determine pre-requisites for any courses specified. Students without a sufficient mathematics and engineering background will be required to take preparatory coursework in these areas that will not count for graduate credit.
Plan of study: The ISE departmental requirements for submitting the plan of study for approval are described in the ISE graduate manual—students should review these requirements carefully. The plan of study is developed in conjunction with the student’s advisor and is approved by the student's committee, the option coordinator, and the ISE graduate program director.
The master’s degree programs consist of at least 30 credit hours and includes core, required courses, ISE electives, and general technical electives. In addition, some students, particularly those holding a non-engineering B.S. or non-technical B.A. degrees, should be prepared to take preparatory courses, if necessary, that are not counted for graduate credit.
Minimum hours for the two IE Option degree tracks are distributed as follows:
| MSNT | MST | |
|---|---|---|
| IE Option core courses | 9 | 9 |
| ISE elective courses | 15 | 9 |
| General technical elective courses | 6 | 6 |
| Research (MST/ISE 5994) | - | 6 |
| Total | 30 | 30 |
The MST is designed to provide an opportunity for in-depth study and independent research with an ISE faculty member. The MST is a 4 semester program for students entering with adequate academic preparation. All students pursuing the MST should begin, early in their program, to identify a major advisor who will direct the research effort. The research undertaken will be aligned with the research interest of the major advisor.
The curriculum is design to provide maximum flexibility in selecting general technical electives, within the specified guidelines, to define a program of study to support the planned research and graduate study. ISE electives are any graduate-level ISE class, with exceptions as noted. General technical electives are selected by the student’s advisory committee, in consultation with the student in order to fit the interests and goals of the students, and may be from other engineering disciplines, or disciplines outside of engineering. A student’s graduate advisory committee may require the student to take courses in particular areas to fulfill remedial needs.
Both the MSNT and MST programs require the same set of three IE Option core courses and are presented in the table below.
M.S. Core Courses and Schedule |
|
|---|---|
| Fall I | Spring I |
| ISE 5405 (optimization I) | ISE 5984 (Factory Physics) |
| ISE 5984 (mathmatical probability & statistics) | Elective(s) |
| Electve(s) | |
| Fall II | 3 Core courses |
| Elective(s) or thesis | Non-thesis: 30 credit hours (of which 9 are IE Option core courses, 15 are ISE electives, and 6 are general technical electives) |
| Thesis: 30 credit hours (of which 9 are IE Option core courses, 9 are ISE electives, 6 are general technical electives, and 6 are thesis research credit hours). | |
ISE and General Technical Elective Courses (5 courses for the MSNT or 3 courses for the MST)
Select graduate-level courses, with exceptions listed below
| Course Number | Course Description |
|---|---|
| ISE 5104 | Operations Research |
| ISE 5114 | Case Studies in Industrial Engineering |
| ISE 5134 | Management Informations Systems |
| ISE 5154 | Applied Human Factors Engineering |
| ISE 5164 | Technology Transfer |
| ISE 5174 | Engineering Program and Project Management |
