Ph.D. Program

Program Overview

Doctoral Courses

Awards and Fellowships

Program Overview

The Ph.D. Program prepares students to conduct rigorous and relevant research on cutting edge problems in operations and management science. Typically, students graduating from the program assume faculty positions at leading U.S. and international universities. Some students pursue a career in industry.

The Ph.D. Program is structured to provide students with a strong methodological and theoretical foundation and an appreciation for the important research questions in operations and management science. Training students to conduct theory and problem driven empirical research is a distinctive competence of the Ph.D. program. Students graduating from the program have a broad understanding of the field of operations management and a deep understanding in their specific area of interest, such as operations strategy, quality management, service operations, supply chain management, and technology management.

Students in the Ph.D. program take a written prelim examination in the first year, a written and oral prelim examination in the second year. By the beginning of the third year, most students will have completed their coursework, served as a research apprentice with one or more faculty members, and completed a publishable-quality research paper. Students are expected to defend their dissertation proposal in the third year and their dissertation in the fourth year. All students admitted to the program receive financial assistantship and tuition waiver subject to satisfactory progress during the course of their study

Please visit the PhD Program of the Carlson School of Management web site for more information.

Awards and Fellowships

Kristy O. Cua Memorial Award

The Kristy O. Cua Memorial Award was established in memory of Dr. Kristy O. Cua, a graduate of the OMS doctoral program. This award recognizes the best paper submitted by a doctoral student in the Operations and Management Science Department during the preceding year.

Juran Fellowship

The Juran Center for Leadership in Quality offers competitive fellowships for dissertation and pre-dissertation stage students. The applicant’s dissertation or research proposal is expected to contribute to the field of quality. Fellowship amounts range from $5,000 to $10,000. Applications for this fellowship can be obtained by contacting either CSOM Ph.D. Program Office or the Juran Center. Deadline for the 2002 fellowships is 4:00 p.m. on January 21, 2002.

CSOM Dissertation Fellowship

The CSOM Ph.D. Office offers a competitive Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship intended to fund a CSOM student’s final year in the program. Application materials can be obtained from the Ph.D. Program Office or on-line at www.grad.umn.edu/forms/appddf.pdf. Please contact the Ph.D Program Office for eligibility requirements. The deadline for the 2002-2003 fellowships is noon, Friday, February 15, 2002.

Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Special Grants

For Spring 2002 the University of Minnesota’s Graduate School has a limited number of awards of up to $2,500 to support costs associated with dissertation research. In general, thesis costs include such things as travel to collect data, payment of subjects, computer costs related to research (rather than actual thesis production). Application materials for this award are available in the Ph.D. Office or at www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/appddsg.pdf. The completed application is due in the Graduate School Fellowship Office, 321 Johnston Hall, by noon on Friday, March 1, 2002