PhD Program in the School of PhD Program in the School of Systems and EnterprisesSystems and Enterprises@ @ Stevens Institute of Stevens Institute of TechnologyTechnology

PhD Program in the School of PhD Program in the School of Systems and EnterprisesSystems and Enterprises@ @ Stevens Institute of Stevens Institute of TechnologyTechnologyDr. Arthur Pyster

Distinguished Research Professor,Director Software Engineering Program,Co-Director Applied Systems Thinking Institute

School of Systems and Enterprises

• Systems Engineering was launched at Stevens Institute of Technology in 2000 – in the form of the SDOE Program and the Systems Engineering and Engineering Management Department, within our Schaefer School of Engineering

• SE/EM program has grown to 400 MS students, 75 PhD students, and 800 professional development students

• 85% of PhD students are industry sponsored

• 30 full-time faculty (10 tenure/tenure track, 20 industry)

• School of Systems and Enterprises launched in March 2007 with SE, EM, and Financial Engineering

• Software engineering integrated into SSE in Sep 20082

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SDOE Modular Format Dominates

Pre-reading before class begins

A full semester of lectures delivered in one week

On-site at customer location

Followed by 10 weeks of homework and projects administered over the Internet

Allows delivery anywhere in the world

Source of most PhD students

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SandiaSandiaNational LabsNational Labs

Participants, Sponsors and Partners

BoeingBoeing

DefenseDefenseAcquisitionAcquisitionUniversityUniversity

Lockheed Martin MS2Lockheed Martin MS2ITTITT

ATKATK

NorthropNorthropGrummanGrumman

SUN MicrosystemsSUN Microsystems

U.S. NavyU.S. Navy

ScandinavianScandinavianSummer SchoolSummer School

IndianIndianWinter SchoolWinter School

NokiaNokiaVolvoVolvo

NSANSA

U.S. ArmyU.S. Army

MediterraneanMediterraneanSpring SchoolSpring School

Taiwanese Taiwanese Ministry Ministry

of National of National DefenseDefense

General DynamicsGeneral Dynamics

NASANASA

L-3 CommunicationsL-3 Communications

BuskerudBuskerudUniversity CollegeUniversity College

ANSERANSEROSDOSD

VäxjöVäxjöUniversityUniversity

FAAFAA

NanyangNanyangTechnologicalTechnological

UniversityUniversity

IBMIBM 5

Technology

Constantly evolving technology and related standards

Multitude of interfaces (hard and soft), distributed processing nodes and platforms, security implications

Information and knowledge intensive

Business

Constantly changing scope, business processes, requirements, and expectations

Global relevance, scope, and application

Evolving marketplace and related vendors and suppliers

Organizational

Numerous stakeholders, with conflicting preferences

Legacy organizational structures impose constraints

World of Complex Systems

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School of Systems and Enterprises:Positioning

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The SDOE ProgramThe SDOE ProgramCurriculum Structure and Focus AreasCurriculum Structure and Focus Areas

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PhD Requirements

Admission

• Master’s degree, 3.5 GPA at Master’s level, 550 TOEFL for international students, GRE, 2 page Letter of Intent stating (a) long term career goals and how a PhD supports these goals and (b) broad statement of research interests

PhD Requirements

• 90 credits graduate work beyond Bachelors

• Up to 30 credits in Master’s program included toward doctoral program

• Minimum 30 credits of dissertation work

• Statement of research interest

• Written and oral qualifying exam

• Dissertation + defense

• Typically, several publications prior to defense

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Our Thoughts on the PhD

Our PhD students range in age from 23 to 80, dispersed world-wide in industry and government

Most students – and certainly most of our best students – have strong industrial or government experience

Companies are sponsoring mid-career engineers to become leaders, such as chief engineers

Many are hand-picked by corporate leadership

Excluding full-time students, most are pursuing a PhD because (in order)

• Career enhancing

• Committed to life-long learning

• Interested in 2nd careers

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Geographically Dispersed Student Population

Most students are far from campus

Generally not supported as classic research assistants

Companies provide institutional support – travel funds to campus, participation in conferences

Research often based on proprietary information

Institutional ties between Stevens and company

Many must learn the difference between a “project” and a dissertation

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