PhD Major Requirements and Course Descriptions

Information Systems

PhD students in IS are required to complete at least 14 courses, as outlined below. Students generally complete their major coursework within their first two years in the program. After completing all relevant coursework, students take a comprehensive exam at the beginning of the third year. Following successful completion of the comprehensive exam, students commence work on their dissertation research. The dissertation is an independent research project conducted by the student under supervision of a dissertation committee, assembled by the student. Research interests of the current faculty include technical, behavioral, organizational, and social issues related to information systems. Students may, in their dissertations, choose to pursue any of these avenues.

Required Coursework:

Specific course numbers can change between semesters. The most recent designation for each course is shown below.
 

Recommended Schedule and Milestones For the Information Systems Ph.D.

Course Schedule for IS Ph.D. Seminars:

Recommended Program :
The following is a recommended schedule and milestones for successfully completing a Ph.D. in Information Systems.

Management Science/operations management (OM/MS)

The requirements outlined below are effective for students starting the program in Fall 2006.  Students who started the program before Fall 2006 should follow the previous requirements.  In particularly comprehensive exam requirements for students admitted prior to Fall 2006 are outlined in the Doctoral Handbook. 

Research Methodology Courses:

Specific course numbers can change between semesters. The most recent designation for each course is shown below:
 

§         Statistics (courses outside of major area)

§         Management science (courses outside of major area)

§         Logistics/Supply Chain Management

§         Management and organization

§         Marketing

§         Finance

§         Information Systems

§         Applied Mathematics

§         Computer Science

§         Engineering Sciences

Qualifying Exam

This exam is taken during the summer of the first year, and comprises four 2-hour parts.  Parts 1, 2 and 3 will cover BMGT 830 (linear programming), BMGT 834 (stochastic processes), and BMGT 898 (operations management), respectively.  The part 4 subject area can be chosen by the student to cover the content of one other course taken by the student.  The course could be chosen from among the remaining required courses (economics or statistics) or could be a course taken by the student as part of their major concentration courses.  The precise format of each exam part will be determined by the faculty member designated to prepare that part, e.g. each part could be open or closed book.  However, questions are not expected to be a mere “repeat” of the final exam in the respective course, but rather can be more unstructured and attempt to test research potential.  If the student does not pass the first trial, the student shall be given an opportunity to repeat the exam in the Winter (six months later).  Only two trials are allowed.  A student who fails the qualifying exam twice will not be allowed to proceed further in the PhD program.

Comprehensive Exam:

This exam is taken during the summer of the second year.  Prior to taking the exam, each student must designate a three-person examination committee comprised of D&IT faculty.  The committee must be approved by the D&IT PhD Coordinator.  The student has two choices:

1. The student is given three papers.  The set of three papers assigned to a student will be taken from that student’s major concentration area.  The student will be given two weeks to read the papers, and submit two deliverables: a written document of at least 10 pages (12 pt font, single spaced), explaining how the papers relate to each other, and offering suggestions for future research.  The student must also prepare and deliver a one-hour presentation on his/her conclusions to that’s student’s examination committee.   During and after the presentation, the examination committee may question the student on the assigned papers and on topics in his/her major concentration area as they relate to the papers. The presentation will be open to all members of the University Community.

2. The student can submit a research paper co-authored by the student and other faculty members (but not with another student).  The research paper is expected to be of such scope that it can be submitted to a refereed journal, i.e., it has to present an original contribution and it has to be complete, with introduction, literature review, analysis (model and / or data analysis) and conclusions.  Any faculty member(s) who are co-author(s) of the student are required to supply a statement to the PhD coordinator indicating that the student did a significant portion of the intellectual work and writing of the paper.  As in option 1 above, the student also needs to prepare and deliver a one-hour presentation of the paper to that student’s examination committee and, again, the presentation will be open to the University Community.   During and after the presentation, the examination committee may question the student on the research paper and on topics in his/her major concentration area as they relate to the research paper.

Admission to Candidacy:

Each student’s examination committee will provide informal feedback to the student immediately following the oral presentation part of the Comprehensive Exam.  However, a final grade and decision on admission to candidacy will be given later after a meeting of the MS/OM PhD Comprehensive Examination Committee.  The MS/OM PhD Comprehensive Examination Committee will consist of the combination of the individual student examination committees together with the PhD coordinator.  That committee will assign grades to the comprehensive exam. Admission to candidacy is contingent upon the student successfully passing the qualifying exam, passing the comprehensive exam, and having completed required course work. It is anticipated that the merits of each student can be openly debated and that the meeting will also serve the purpose of providing guidance to those admitted students on how they should proceed in the program, e.g. they might be given guidance on research areas, possible thesis supervisors, etc.  Students will be allowed to take Part II only once and the decision on Admission to Candidacy will be final.  However, students will be allowed to petition to retake the comprehensive exam if they fail the exam.  Flexible MS degree options will be given to students who are not advanced after the qualifying or comprehensive exam.

BMGT808I Information Systems Research (Top of Page)

Offered every Fall semester.

This is an introductory seminar in information systems research for doctoral students. Its objective is to introduce participants to some major streams of research in information systems and to help seminar participants understand the role of research in an academic community and the methods of social science research.

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT808I Research Methods in Information Technology (Top of Page)

Offered every Spring semester.

The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to the broad range of research methods used by Information Technology researchers. The course makes frequent use of guest lecturers to lead discussions on areas of their research expertise. An emphasis is placed on applying research methods in the development of each student's own individual research interests. For doctoral students with an Information Systems major the culminating project in this course serves as the basis for their first year summer project.

Sample syllabus (DOC)

BMGT808L Technology Artifact in Information Systems Research (Top of Page)

Offered in the Fall of odd-numbered years (e.g., 2003, 2005, 2007).

The purpose of this seminar is two-fold: first, to explore how research is carried out on the artifact of technology within the Information Systems (IS) discipline. Particular attention will be paid to contemporary and emerging technologies. Second, the seminar will provide basic grounding in Information Technology (IT) including history and current 'hot' topics. A secondary purpose of the seminar is to explore the teaching of and teaching with technology. Issues in relation to teaching and using technologies and their impact on learning, incentives and evaluation will be discussed.

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT808D Strategic Management of Information Technology (Top of Page)

Offered in the Spring of even-numbered years (e.g., 2004, 2006, 2008).

The goal of this seminar is to provide an understanding of the issues related to the adoption and use of information technologies in organizations, the leverage of value from information technologies, and the management of information technologies in organizations. Students will read and discuss various theories, conceptual issues, and empirical papers pertaining to research on these topics of inquiry.

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT808D Information Systems Economics (Top of Page)

Offered in the Fall of even-numbered years (e.g., 2004, 2006, 2008).

This is a research-oriented doctoral seminar on IS Economics. Its primary objective is to familiarize seminar participants with the applications of microeconomic theories and modeling techniques to IS research problems. The seminar is also intended to motivate participants to explore the use of mathematical models to analyze a research question in their domain of interest. Seminar participants are expected to have adequate familiarity with calculus and simple optimization techniques.

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT808A E-Commerce and Supply Chain Management (Top of Page)

Offered in the Spring of odd-numbered years (e.g., 2003, 2005, 2007).

Information technology is rapidly transforming the nature of work and reshaping organizations. Organizational processes and inter-organizational linkages are being transformed by the emergence of IT solutions in general and Internet based applications in particular. These technologies are facilitating market exchanges, access to consumers, and collaboration. They also affect transaction economics and enabling new business relationships within the supply chain. This course is a doctoral seminar that examines the assumptions, theories, and methodologies used in the study of the impact of information technology on organizations and organizing. The course involves extensive reading and discussion of the research literature. The goal of the course is to provide doctoral students with exposure to diverse theoretical approaches, methods, levels of analysis, and viewpoints that underlie research on IT’s impact on organizations and on markets.

Sample syllabus

BMGT808X Applied Regression (Top of Page)

Offered every Fall semester.

The main course objectives are 1. To learn about a wide variety of regression techniques; to understand when to use what technique; to understand the limitations of a particular technique; 2. To generate a basic understanding of the methodological principles underlying these regression techniques in order to become a critical user; 3. To learn the powerful statistical software R; and to implement these regression techniques using this software;

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT882 Applied Multivariate Analysis I (Top of Page)

Offered every Fall semester.

Multivariate statistical methods and their use in empirical research. Topics include summarization and visualization of multivariate data, multivariate paired comparisons and repeated-measures designs, multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis, and canonical correlation. An important component of the course is analysis of data using contemporary software. Each student will complete a project that applies at least two of the methods covered in the course to a data set of his/her choice.

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT883 Applied Multivariate Analysis II (Top of Page)

Offered every Spring semester.

A continuation of BMGT 882. Topics include generalized least squares, seemingly unrelated regressions, simultaneous-equations models, principal components, factor analysis, structural-equations models with latent variables (covariance structure analysis), and specification testing.

Sample syllabus (PDF)

BMGT 830 Operations Research: Linear Programming (3) (Top of Page)
Prerequisites: MATH 240 or equivalent; or permission of department.
Concepts and applications of linear programming models, theoretical development of the simplex algorithm, and primal-dual problems and theory.

BMGT 831 Operations Research: Extension of Linear Programming and Network Analysis (3) (Top of Page)
Prerequisite: BMGT 830 or equivalent; or permission of department.
Concepts and applications of network and graph theory in linear and combinatorial models with emphasis on computational algorithms.

BMGT 832 Operations Research: Optimization and Nonlinear Programming (3) (Top of Page)
Prerequisites: {BMGT 830; and MATH 241; or equivalent}; or permission of department.
Theory and applications of algorithmic approaches to solving unconstrained and constrained non-linear optimization problems. The Kuhn Tucker conditions, Lagrangian and Duality Theory, types of convexity, and convergence criteria. Feasible direction procedures, penalty and barrier techniques, and cutting plane procedures.

BMGT 833 Operations Research: Integer Programming (3) (Top of Page)
Prerequisites: {BMGT 830; and MATH 241 or equivalent}; or permission of department.
Theory, applications, and computational methods of integer optimization. Zero-one implicit enumeration, branch and bound methods, and cutting plane methods.

BMGT 834 Operations Research: Probabilistic Models (3) (Top of Page)
Prerequisites: {MATH 241; and STAT 400 or equivalent} or permission of department. Theoretical foundations for the construction, optimization, and applications of probabilistic models. Queuing theory, inventory theory, Markov processes, renewal theory, and stochastic linear programming.

BMGT 835 Simulation of Discrete-Event Systems (3) (Top of Page)
Prerequisites: Knowledge of Fortran, Basic, C, or Pascal; and BMGT 630 or equivalent. Simulation modeling and analysis of stochastic discrete-event systems such as manufacturing systems, inventory control systems, and computer/ communications networks.

BMGT 898 Seminar in Operations Management (3) (Top of Page)
This seminar reviews recent research in operations management. Examples of topics include supply chain management, revenue management, operations strategy, production planning, new product development.