The mission of the program in industrial and systems engineering is
to provide high-quality education to graduate students and to conduct
research, often in collaboration with industry and other disciplines,
to advance the state of knowledge and practice in the field of
industrial engineering.
The program aims to ensure that each
student is educated in mathematical and scientific principles and at
the same time is able to implement these principles to solve relevant
engineering problems in industry and the public sector.
For
doctoral students, we provide specialized training to prepare students
to become independent researchers and leaders in both the academic and
industrial communities.
The program focuses its research in
areas of critical importance to national competitiveness and
productivity: systems engineering, manufacturing engineering, quality
and reliability engineering, and logistics and information technology.
Both the curriculum and laboratories are designed to support these
research focuses.
In systems engineering, projects are
underway in production, aviation and distributed computing systems,
among others. In the aviation research areas, faculty members
investigate and recommend policies on air traffic separation standards
and aircraft inspection, optimum scheduling of aircraft for entry in
the oceanic airspace, and collision risk models under different
separation standards. Using simulation analytic tools, projects are in
progress in the areas of performance modeling of client-server computer
networks, production systems performance, port operation, and modeling
of intelligent transportation systems.
In manufacturing
engineering, faculty members investigate problems in process
validation, computer-integrated manufacturing, automation, real-time
machine control, and manufacturing processes such as laser
micromachining, layered manufacturing, sheet folding technologies, and
the design of light-weight, high-strength folded material for different
applications.
In quality and reliability engineering, research
is conducted on real-time process control, quality improvement through
designed experiments, multivariate statistical models, stochastic
control, reliability optimization, component and systems reliability,
accelerated life testing, design of test plans, software reliability,
data acquisition and analysis, maintenance models, and warranty
estimation.
In logistics and information technology area,
faculty focus on supply chain logistics, inventory control issues,
forecasting and material-flow control issues. Research is also underway
in performance evaluation of middleware systems for transaction
processing.
Industrial and systems engineering offers programs
leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. The Ph.D. degree requires 48
credits of course work beyond the BS degree and 24 credits in research,
a written qualifying examination, an oral examination, and the
dissertation defense.
The M.S. degree requires 30 credits of
course work beyond the B.S. degree. A thesis option in place of six
credits is available. There are four options for the M.S. degree. The
industrial and systems engineering option requires core courses in
production, stochastic and deterministic models, simulation, and
statistical analysis, and the opportunity to choose electives in
related fields such as statistics, mechanical and electrical
engineering, computer science, and operations research. The quality and
reliability engineering option, offered in cooperation with the
statistics department, includes courses in process control, design of
experiments, quality management, and reliability. The manufacturing
systems engineering option includes courses in automation, computer
integrated manufacturing and design, manufacturing processes,
automation, and control. The information technology option trains
students in system integration and includes courses across disciplines
in computer science, information technology, information systems and
telecommunications.
Extensive research facilities are
available for student use in manufacturing automation, manufacturing
processing, micro- computer/multimedia, facilities design, quality and
reliability engineering, and microprocessors. Specialized equipment
includes robotics, CNC machines, CAD facilities, microcomputers, and
quality and reliability engineering metrology and life-testing
equipment, temperature chambers, vibration unit, scanning electron
microscope, metal processing equipment, sheetfolding machines,
universal-testing machines, high-impact testing machines, and materials
handling.
To be admitted to the program, students must have
completed a degree in engineering or related field and basic industrial
and systems engineering courses including four terms of calculus; a
high-level computer language; deterministic methods; probability; and
engineering economics. Students who are missing prerequisite courses
may be admitted to the graduate program, provided they take the
prerequisites for no credit.
Applicants are invited to contact the graduate director and peruse the web site http://coewww.rutgers.edu/ie.
