The MIS group proposes the following course of action for the PhD degree with an MIS  major:

I. General Managerial Skill Requirement

To satisfy the requirements in the general managerial skills (Core) area, a student must take (or receive a waiver based on equivalent master's-level courses) the following four core courses:

II. Research-Methods Requirement

The research-methods requirement is described below. These are minimum requirements and may be increased by the MIS faculty.

The MIS area proposes at least two of the following Research-Method Topic requirements listed below:

Research-Methods Topics Requirements Overview

1. Applied Statistics

To complete this research-methods topic, a student is required to take 3 courses, one from each of the following three categories, in the order listed:

2. Economics

Take the following two courses:

And choose from one of the following:

3. Stochastic Processes

To complete this research-methods topic, a student is required to take both of the following IE courses or both of the following MATH courses. Note that the IE courses have IE 536 (Stochastic Models in Operations Research I) or equivalent as a prerequisite.

4. Algorithm Analysis and Optimization

To complete this research-methods topic, a student is required to take the following CS course and at least two of the following IE courses. Note that a student, who has not been exposed to the concepts of data structures before, may find it beneficial to take CS 251 (Data Structures) before taking CS 580. Also, note that IE 535 (Linear Programming) is a prerequisite for all the 600-level IE courses listed below.

III. Concentration (Major) Area Requirement

A student in MIS area is required to take MIS seminars for a two year period starting with the first day of school at Purdue. Some of these seminars are two two credit seminars in a semester whereas some of them are three credit semester seminars.

A student in MIS area is required to finish a paper of publishable quality, approved by two MIS faculty by second year summer. This is a requirement to continue in the program.

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IV. Related (Minor) Area Requirement

Minor areas chosen by the students are Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, EE, or Operations Management. Other areas can be chosen by discussion of the MIS faculty members.

V. Plan of Study Requirement

Students are required to submit a formal plan of study (POS) to the Purdue Graduate School by the end of the Spring Semester of their second year in the doctoral program, and prior to taking the preliminary examination. If a student enters the program without equivalent course work at the MBA level and must take Core courses, this requirement may be delayed until the start of the student's third year of enrollment. Otherwise it should be submitted according to the guidelines of the school.

VI. Preliminary Exam Requirement

A preliminary examination session generally will be held each May. MIS area asks questions from the MIS seminars that the student has taken. There is also a paper review related with the student's major emphasis area which is the thesis area. A student may be given an oral examination at the discretion of the preliminary examining committee. If a student fails the preliminary examination, the student must retake it the next examination session. If the student fails the exam a second time, the student will be dropped from the program.

VII. Doctoral Dissertation Proposal/Dissertation Committee Requirement

This should be done according to the school guidelines.

VIII. Defense of the Dissertation Requirement

The defense should be conducted according to the school guidelines.

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