| ACADEMIC
INFORMATION
DOCTORAL
COMMITTEE
DISSERTATION
AND DEFENSE
|
ACADEMIC
INFORMATION
What
is the residency requirement?
The ESD doctoral program is residential.
It is based on the concept that the student
in large part learns by being a member of
the community of scholars and researchers.
Beyond the minimum MIT requirements of 4
academic semesters, the ESD faculty expect
that students will normally be at MIT during
the entire doctoral program. Students seeking
exceptions, for field work or other reasons,
need to prepare a petition the ESD faculty
will review.
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What
are the requirements for Doctoral Students
entering in 2006?
In preparation for their General Exams all
entering ESD doctoral students need to:
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Take
the ESD Doctoral Seminar (ESD
83) in Fall. (Note: this subject is
open only to students who have a Master’s
degree or a year of graduate study at
MIT. Students with only an undergraduate
background should take the subject in
the Fall of their second year.) |
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Take
the ESD Quantitative Methods Subject
(ESD 86: Models, Data, & Inference for Socio-Technical Systems) offered in the Spring. |
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Take
a subject in Social Science Research
Methods. Subjects that fulfill
this requirement will be discussed at
a mandatory introductory session during
Orientation at the start of the academic
year. |
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Take
at least 1 of the specified subjects
in 3 areas: “Systems Theory”,
“Systems Policy”, and “Systems
Evaluation” This is a
distributional requirement that ensures
that all ESD doctoral students have
a broad understanding of the range of
elements needed to design, direct and
evaluate Engineering Systems. It is
also a way of showing students how ESD
faculty make connections between specific
disciplinary knowledge and skills, and
the broader context in which systems
exist. To carry out the latter objective,
the subjects specified to meet this
requirement are all given by ESD faculty,
and thus convey both substantive skills
and an ESD approach. It follows that
these subjects cannot be substituted
by subjects taken elsewhere. In detail,
the available subjects are: |
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Systems
Theory – to design or refine a
system |
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Theory
of Systems Architecture (ESD 340 –
Weigel) |
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Enterprise Architecting (ESD 38 – Nightingale, Rhodes) |
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Advanced
System Architecture (ESD 342 –
Magee, Moses, Whitney |
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Quantitative
Foundations of Engineering Systems (ESD
772 – Mitter, Shah) |
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System
Dynamics for Business Policy (15 874
– Sterman, Repenning) |
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Systems
Policy – to influence or direct
a system |
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Science,
Technology and Public Policy (ESD 103
– Oye) |
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Engineering
Apollo (ESD 30 – Mindell) |
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Integrating
Information Systems (ESD 565 –
Madnick) |
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Integrating the Lean Enterprise (ESD 61 –
Nightingale) |
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System
Safety (ESD 863 – Leveson) |
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Systems
Evaluation – to evaluate / analyze
/ characterize a system |
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Engineering
Systems Analysis for Design (ESD 71
– de Neufville) |
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Engineering
Risk-Benefit Analysis (ESD 72 –
Apostolakis) |
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Engineering
Probability and Statistics (ESD 751
– Welsch, Barnett) |
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Multidisciplinary
System Design Optimization (ESD 77 –
de Weck) |
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Have
testable competence in Basic Subjects
relevant to ESD. Most students will
already have these skills but, if they
do not, they should acquire them:
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Analytic
Economics, at the level of 15 011 |
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Optimization
(LP, MIP, DP) |
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Computer
Skills (Excel, Matlab, Simulation) |
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Probability
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Each
student will take a program of in-depth
subjects suitable to their area of research,
in addition to the distributional requirements.
They will arrange their program with the
advice and consent of their research supervisor
or mentor.
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How
many subjects should I take beyond the distributional
requirements?
Students and their faculty advisors should
focus their preparation and research in
the areas that maintain and develop meaningful
tracks of in-depth study. The students,
with the approval from their committee and
the ESD Education Officer, plan the remainder
of their program of about 10 subjects that
develops in-depth expertise in both a substantive
area and suitable research methodology.
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Depth
of learning?
The ESD faculty expects each doctoral student
to follow in-depth doctoral curriculum beyond
basic and specified master's level subjects,
in order to obtain sufficient advanced substantive
knowledge in engineering systems and for
their doctoral research.
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How
do I develop my doctoral curriculum?
Doctoral students are expected to work with
their faculty mentors to develop their program
of in-depth course of study, and to assemble
their doctoral committee. By the end of
their first year in the doctoral program,
each student should have a solid draft of
their program and an initial committee.
The ESD faculty will review each program
at the end of the Spring Semester to make
sure that each student is indeed making
satisfactory progress.
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Once
I have passed the Doctoral Exams, what is
the next step?
The student needs to prepare and defend
a doctoral research proposal to his committee,
typically around 6 months after passing
the Doctoral Exams.
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How
often should I meet with my committee?
Each semester the ESD faculty will contact
each student’s committee and review
their programs. While there are no requirements
on the number of meetings, the committee
and the student need to keep in close touch.
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Am
I allowed to take courses outside of ESD?
Yes. See Master’s
Program.
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DOCTORAL
COMMITTEE
Who
can Chair my Doctoral Committee?
The Committee Chair must be a professor
in ESD.
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How
many faculty members should be on my Doctoral
Committee?
You should have 3 to 5 members depending
of the academic support you need. Most committees
are made up of 3 members including the chair.
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May
I have committee members who are not ESD
faculty or not at MIT?
Yes, you may have non-ESD/non-MIT committee
members; however, the committee’s
chair must be ESD faculty.
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DISSERTATION
AND DEFENSE
Where
do I find the Application for Advanced Degree?
To graduate you must fill out the degree
application found on line at WebSIS.
You have the flexibility to make changes
to your dissertation title, without a late
fee, until about 6 weeks before the grades
are due.
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When
should I defend?
You will want to give yourself 2 to 4 weeks
after you defend to make the recommended
changes to your dissertation. With that
in mind, please schedule defenses with time
to spare.
Defenses
should be scheduled as follows:
June
graduation – April to early May
September graduation – July to early
August
February graduation – early December
to mid-January
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Who
judges my Ph.D. dissertation defense?
You defend to the ESD Faculty. Normally
about 8 to 10 faculty members attend. The
Defense is chaired by the chair of the ESD
Education Policy Committee or by another
senior faculty member as a substitute.
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What
needs to be done to organize the defense?
You should coordinate a suitable date and
time with both the ESD Education Committee,
via the ESD Academic Administrator, and
your committee members. This should be done
as early as possible or about a month in
advance so that the ESD community can be
notified of this event.
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Who
else attends the defense?
The ESD Community is invited to your dissertation
defense. Normally you may expect around
15 other doctoral candidates and guests
will attend.
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Should
anyone, other than my committee, see my
dissertation in advance?
Yes. Deliver a copy of your dissertation
to the Academic Office, E40-249, at least
2 weeks prior to your defense so faculty
and others wishing to preview it may have
access.
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Should
my dissertation use a standard format?
Yes. Go to the MIT
Libraries web site for information.
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Should
I make extra copies of my dissertation?
Yes. In addition to the 2 archive copies
please prepare, on copy paper, one for the
ESD library and an electronic version on
CD. If you started in TPP, please create
a copy for their library as well.
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July
2006
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