H.

Milton Stewart
School of Industrial
and Systems Engineering

1,600

UNDERGRADUATE
students

No. 1

400 No. 4
GRADUATE
students

53

tenure-track
FACULTY

INDUSTRIAL &
MANUFACTURING
Grad Program

OPERATIONS
RESEARCH and
STATISTICS
Program Worldwide

VISION
Be the world leader is creating, assimilating,
integrating, and disseminating knowledge in
industrial and systems engineering

 Introduce you to your Ph.D. program

Begin your integration into the research and

teaching mission of ISyE

As a Ph.D. student you are dierent: you are now

a junior colleague helping our faculty, post-

doctoral assistants, senior Ph.D. students, and
sta with the two core activities that make our
School among the top few in the world

Alan Erera
Coca-Cola Professor
Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
alan.erera@isye.gatech.edu

Ms. Amanda Ford

Graduate Programs Manager
amanda.ford@isye.gatech.edu

Dr. Dima Nazzal

Executive Director of Academic
Administration and Student Experience
dima.nazzal@isye.gatech.edu

Approximate Number: 30
12 Students in Ph.D. Operations Research, ACO
18 Students in Ph.D. Industrial Engineering, Bioinformatics
From United States:
Georgia Tech, MIT, UIUC, Princeton, Brown, UF, Auburn, Emory, SUNY

From the World:

U de Chile, Technion, Cambridge, China (Tsinghua, US&T, ), Turkey
(Bogazici), India (IIT-Bombay), Korea (Hanyang), Egypt (Cair0)

DR-OR

She, Zhaowei

Male

China

University of Illinois - UC

DR-OR

Jones, Joshua

Male

United States

Winthrop University

DR-OR

Lagos Gonzalez, Felipe

Male

Chile

Universidad de Chile

DR-OR

Siebert Sandoval, MaFas Male

Chile

Universidad de Chile

DR-OR

Lassiter, William

Male

United States

University of Florida

DR-OR

Bishop, Robert

Male

United States

MIT

DR-OR

Connelly, John

Male

United States

Brown University

DR-OR

He, Xi

Female

China

University of Richmond

DR-OR

Garvey, MaMhew

Male

United States

Princeton University

DR-OR

BasciOci, Beste

Female

Turkey

Bogazici University

DR-OR

Chu, Amanda

Female

United States

Auburn University

DR-IE

de Almeida Costa, Mariana

Female

Brazil

Federal University of Juiz de Fora

DR-IE

Zakaryazad, Ashkan

Male

Iran

Iran College of Science and Technology

DR-IE

Yildirim, Suleyman

Male

Turkey

Lehigh University

DR-IE

Zenginsoy, Fatma

Female

Turkey

Lehigh University

DR-IE

Chow, John

Male

United States

Georgia Tech

DR-IE

Shartrand, Christopher

Male

United States

SUNY Fredonia

DR-IE

LI, Zhuonan

Male

China

Tsinghua University

DR-IE

Bahrami-Bidoni, Zeynab

Female

Iran

Georgia State University

DR-IE

Yu, Chuanping

Female

China

China University of Science and Tech

DR-IE

Kong, Taewoon

Male

Korea, Republic of (South)

Hanyang University

DR-IE

HaraF, Pravara

Female

United States

Georgia Tech

DR-IE

He, Junying

Male

China

Emory University

DR-IE

Feng, Chen

Female

China

Xi'an Jiaotong University

DR-IE

Cohen, Yaarit

Female

Israel

Technion

DR-IE

Ramanan, Paritosh

Male

India

Georgia State University

DR-IE

Ibrahim, Michael

Male

Egypt

Cairo University

DR-ACO

Boob, Digvijay

Male

India

IIT - Bombay

DR-BINF

Lee, Kyumin

Male

United States

MIT

GRADUATE
HANDBOOK
All the
important
information
that we cover
today (and
some of the
unimportant
stu as well) is
covered in the
Graduate
Handbook.

Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering

Supply Chain Engineering (SCE)
Statistics (Stat)
Economic Decision Analysis (EDA)
System Informatics and Control (SIAC)

Ph.D. in Operations Research

Ph.D. in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization

Ph.D. in Computational Science Engineering
Ph.D. in Bioinformatics

1.

Coursework and preparation for

Comprehensive Examination
Coursework

GPA requirement: 3.0 +

First-year review (course performance, GPA,

research performance, GTA performance)
Get started on research with advisor (or initial
advisor)!

ISyE 8813 ALE (more later)

 From the Graduate Handbook

Ph.D. Operations Research
Ph.D. Industrial Engineering
SCE
SIAC
Statistics
EDA

 RCR training focuses on research ethics

All Ph.D. students must complete two

requirements:

PART I: CITI RCR Online Course (now!)

PART II: In Person Training via course PHIL 6000

Responsible Conduct of Research take during

Summer 2015 (or Fall 2015)

ISyE 8813: Mathematics of OR

Goldberg, help prepare you for mathematical tools

and techniques used commonly in our eld

Math 4317 Analysis I

Real analysis at senior undergraduate level

Useful for engineers moving into Ph.D. study

ISyE 8813: Special Topics

Often used to introduce new courses before they are

approved and get course numbers

Research Courses: 3 21 pass/fail credit hours

ISyE 9000: Doctoral Thesis
ISyE 8900: Special Problems in IE
ISyE 8901: Special Problems in OR

Avoid M.S. courses not in Programs of Study

Focus on Program of Study required for

Comprehensive Exam, and be mindful of
prerequisites

 3-credit Seminar meets once per week

Required of all new PhD Students in ISyE
Fridays, 10:00 am 12:00 pm in Main 228
Topics

Finding an Advisor
Getting Started on Ph.D. Research
Writing Papers and Proposals
Research Progress Presentations

 21-rule: total of all enrolled credit-hours

should be 21

8900 or 8901 enrollment = 21 (sum course hours)

Be mindful of key deadlines, e.g., drop-date,

etc. This is your responsibility.

Read your GT email to get announcements,

especially notices from Amanda Ford, your

Graduate Programs Manager

1.
2.

Coursework and preparation for

Comprehensive Examination
Comprehensive Examinations
Process
Timing

 After at least two semesters of study

Examination Committees in
OR
IE-SCE, IE-SIAC, IE-STAT, IE-EDA

Announcement and sign-ups via t-square

t-square.gatech.edu
Exams from prior years for practice

 Exam Content
Varies by committee
Specic coursework required as minimum

preparation, but independent study expected

Students who pass have demonstrated mastery of

their eld of study and are ready to complete

thesis research

Exam Process and Format

May include written and/or oral examination

components

Outcomes

Pass
Conditional Pass
Fail with Retake Option
Fail

Two-thirds of committee agrees on outcome

 Exam Dates
Operations Research: August 2016
Statistics: August 2016
SCE: January 2017
SIAC: August 2016
EDA: February 2017
Must pass Comprehensive Examination no

later than end of 6th non-Summer semester

1.
2.
3.

Coursework and preparation for

Comprehensive Examination
Comprehensive Examination
Dissertation Research

Second Year Paper

Thesis Proposal
Written Final Thesis
Oral Thesis Defense

 Right now, you should:

Work hard in course work to arm yourself for

research, but

Get started on research right away!

Find an advisor
Find a topic
Begin discovering and creating

Continuous Optimization, Non-linear Optimization

George Lan (Spr 16)
Alex Shapiro
Renato Monteiro
Arkadi Nemirovski

Discrete and Combinatorial Optimization

Shabbir Ahmed
George Nemhauser
Natashia Boland
Sebastian Pokutta
Santanu Dey
Martin Savelsbergh

Queuing and Probabilistic Systems

Hayriye Ayhan
Bob Foley
Dave Goldberg

Simulation
Christos Alexopoulos

Seong-hee Kim

Sigrun Andradottir

Enlu Zhou

Dave Goldsman

Stochastic Optimization
Turgay Ayer

Shabbir Ahmed
Alan Erera
Anton Kleywegt

Applied Operations Research

Above
Joel Sokol
Craig Tovey

Andy Sun
Alex Shapiro
Chip White
Enlu Zhou

Logistics Systems Engineering

Shabbir Ahmed

George Nemhauser

John Bartholdi

Sebastian Pokutta

Natashia Boland

Martin Savelsbergh

Alan Erera

Julie Swann

Pinar Keskinocak

Alejandro Toriello

Anton Kleywegt

John Vandevate

Benoit Montreuil

Chip White

Health Systems Engineering

Turgay Ayer

Eva Lee

Paul Grin

Nicoleta Serban

Pinar Keskinocak

Julie Swann

Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Nagi Gebraeel
Jan Shi
Marc Goetschalckx
Ben Wang
Leon McGinnis
Chuck Zhang
Kamran Paynabar
Chen Zhou
Spyros Reveliotis

Energy and Sustainable Systems Engineering

Andy Sun

Valerie Thomas

Shabbir Ahmed

Craig Tovey

Chip White

System Informatics and Control

Nagi Gebraeel

Roshan Vengazhiyil

Kamran Paynabar

Yao Xie

Spyros Reveliotis
Jan Shi

Engineering Statistics
Ben Haaland

Roshan Vengazhiyil

Xiaoming Huo

Brani Vidakovic

J.C. Lu

Je Wu

Yajun Mei

Yao Xie

Nicoleta Serban

 Second Year Paper

By end of Spring semester of second year, each

student must:

Have a research advisor

Write and submit a paper to the ACGS that:
Denes a research problem;
Provides a literature review and synthesis;
Describes progress toward solving the research problem;
Identies additional research questions and steps

 By end of Spring semester of 3rd year:

Write Thesis Proposal, and present orally to your

Thesis Advisory Committee

Requirement of Ph.D. candidacy
Outline proposed thesis topic and contributions of
the thesis
Include preliminary results (1 or more draft
chapters)

 Candidacy Requirements
1. Complete a Comprehensive Exam
2. Complete a Thesis Proposal
3. Complete RCR Training*

 Dissertation and Defense

Last step!
More on this another time

 3 letter-graded graduate courses for 9 credit-

hours, 3.0 GPA minimum

Area distinct from your major area of study
Approved by ACGS
Best if most (all) courses not ISyE-numbered
No minor course can be listed in your major

course requirements
Mathematics, CS, Business, Economics,

 Major Program of Study (pre-comp)

Comprehensive Examination
Second Year Paper
Thesis Proposal
Major Program of Study (nish-up)
Minor Program of Study
Dissertation Defense
Dissertation Filing

 Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA)

Most of you hired this way for Fall 2015

Getting started
Send email to Instructor, set up a meeting
Plan to attend class if no conicts with your

course schedule
Decide with Instructor on when you will hold
oce hours for students

 ISyE is number one undergraduate industrial

engineering program

Most IE programs are not nearly as popular

We prioritize providing BSIE students with a

rigorous and valuable program

Result: Very capable graduates who bring much value to

their future careers

Your help in providing a number one experience

is critical

What should you do?

Follow the class closely, do the readings and

homeworks yourself
Work on your ability to communicate and teach the
course concepts eectively to students when you
answer questions in person or by email
If necessary, work on your communication skills in
English
Talk to your friends here in English all the time, even if they
know your native language
Seek outside help if your progress is slower than you like

 Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA)

Funding provided by each individual faculty

member to their own Ph.D. research students

Same level of stipend support, but with no
teaching responsibilities

Our expectation
Students should only have to rely on GTA support

during the rst year, after which they transition to

GRA support

 Your new home away from home

Try not to sleep here too often

Oce and study space

Computing resources

 You will have an oce assignment by the

end of next week
Most likely in the ISyE Main building, oors
3 and 4
Mark Reese, ISyE Buildings Manager, will
communicate with you by GT email

You will have an oce mate(s)

Please be considerate

 ISyE Main 341

Group study sessions, project work

 Bring your own computer to your oce,

or convince your faculty advisor to buy
one for you
Computer Labs
50 PC computers each
Groseclose 118 and ISyE Main 126
Buzzcard access
Buzzcard printing and photocopying

 Shared-use computing infrastructure

UNIX (Linux) based, terminal connection
Gateway via SSH

castle.isye.gatech.edu
Obtain ISyE UNIX account (separate from GT IT
account) from ISyE website

Linux cluster

120 systems providing 800 x86-64 cores, 4TB

memory
All key software
CondorHT job management system

 GSAC

Meets with ACGS regularly on issues of

importance to Ph.D. students
Key communication channel for suggesting
(non-academic) program improvements

 Scale
50+ faculty
Endless opportunities
Multiple seminars weekly, events, industry
interaction,

Breadth and depth of Ph.D. coursework

You will not nd better training in OR and statistics
methods
Take full advantage, but do not delay research

 Quality research across breadth

Best faculty in the world in
Continuous and discrete optimization
Stochastics and stochastic optimization
Engineering statistics
System informatics and control
Supply chain engineering
Health systems engineering

 Community and collaboration

Co-advising
Two faculty thesis advisors
We like each other, and work together!

Focus on shared success

Reputation
Number 1 ranking for 25+ years, largely
based on peer assessment

#1

#16

Most fun city in the U.S.

Washington Post, 2012

Host for the 1996 Olympics

City of the Year

Most Innovative City Wall Street Journal, 2012

10 Fortune 500 Companies

headquartered in Atlanta (3rd most in the country)

Professional
Sports
Teams

37

museums

1 in 8 Atlantans
holds a graduate degree

on Bloomberg Business Weeks

Americas Best Cities -2012

#1
best city to
find a date
-The Daily Beast, 2012

12
colleges

 Great art museum!

High Museum of Art

Fantastic performance venues!

Fox Theater, ASO/Woodru, Cobb Energy,
Gwinnett, Tabernacle, Terminal West

An amazing central park

Piedmont Park (festival capital!)

Great neighborhoods, restaurants, hangouts

Away from town
North Georgia Mountains (1.5 hours)
Savannah and the coast (3.5 hours)

Oces

IT

Course
Sign Up

Most students
located in ISyE
Main

Your GT account
is your ocial
mail account

Dont forget ISyE

8803 ALE and a
special problems
course

Getting keys,
oce mates, etc.

Obtain ISyE
UNIX account

Talk to me and/or
your thesis
advisor for advice