PhD - Engineering Management

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Mike Albrecht, Jan 19, 2002.

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  1. Mike Albrecht

    Mike Albrecht New Member

    I am currently narrowing my search down, and I am looking at three schools U of Al-Huntsville (ISEEM), Col State (Industrial Eng), and Indiana State (Tech Management).

    I was wondering if anybody has any comments regarding negatives and positives of the three programs?

    I have been in communication with each already, and they all seem doable. I have even comapred their relative rankings as grad schools using US News and other sources, and have compared how the programs suit my goals.

    But has anybody had personnel experiences with any of them and the professors (N.B. for ISU this includes the other consortia).

    Thanks in advance.




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    M. C. (Mike) Albrecht, PE
     
  2. After a few emails I was given the phone number of the professor who administers the Colorado Program. This Master & Ph.D. program is basically an option carried by the IE segment in the Mechanical Engineering Department. I don't have the phone info anymore. The main problem with the program is the size of the IE group.... Virtually nonexistant. The Mechanical Engineering department uses other profs outside ME to support the proram and as a result, most of the courses get cancelled. The courses run on campus and are video taped so there is a limited window of opportunity to complete the courses. Maybe in the future, Colorado State will have a viable program without alll the cancellations. According to the professor, any one in the program not from Colorado gets to pay out of state resident fees. This really jacks up the cost of the degree.

    Best wishes in your search.

    Regards,

    Dick

     
  3. Paul

    Paul New Member

    Let me cut and paste my response to Karen B's inquiry in a different thread, which might give you some feelings about the Hunstvill's DL Ph.D. Program. The Ph.D. Preliminary Exam (and I assume the qualify Exam too)is pretty tough. You have to "know your thing" in order to pass it. -Paul-

     
  4. Dr Dave

    Dr Dave New Member

    Just an aside on engineering doctorates, where they are professional doctorates like the DBA, EdD, DMin, and PsyD: I would think it more appropriate for these degrees to be the DSc rather than the PhD. Any thoughts on that?

    Dave
     
  5. Paul

    Paul New Member

    Dr. Dave, I share with you the designation of DSc. Besides, there are also Dr. in Engineering as well. -Paul-


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  6. I agree that the profession should adopt something along the line of D.Eng instead of Ph.D. However there is little consensus among schools to do such a thing. We have made advances in the undergraduate and Master's level.

    Some schools offer BS and BE at the undergraduate level. Once upon a time Cleveland State University (aka Fenn College of Engineering) offered both degrees. There was a difference in requirements. For the Bachelor of Engineering, the student was required to take more Lab course work. My Alma Mater Youngstown State has only granted BE degrees. In the school's history book there is a statement that the school want to emphasize the Engineering aspect of the degree once the William Rayen School of Engineering was esatblished within the college. At one time you could earn a BA or BE in Metallurgy.

    I recall a great debate in the 70s over the D.Eng degree. The prevailing thought was the substitution of an engineering project for a dissertation was just plain bad. However, quit a few schools got on the bandwagon for the M.Eng program as a terminal alternative to the doctorate. Some schools like Lehigh University treat the progam as a mini Ph.D. The student must take coursework across the entire discipline and demonstrate depth and breadth of knowledge via the final project. The student has the opportunity to build a major and a minor within the discipline.

    I never witnessed any great demand for industry beating a path to schools to hire doctorates in Engineering. It's usually the doctoral candidate beating a path to the company's door. Exceptions being the usual government sponsored research labs and Hi Techs such as Lucent and Micron. Even these organizations have their "prefered" target schools list.

    As long as the Masters programs fill indusry needs, I suppose the big demand for engineering doctorates will be in teaching. I always seem to see a caveat in the ads for Ph.Ds that the prefered candidate will either bring research contract with them or have a proven track record in generating contracts. Teaching credentials always seem to be secondary. For those readers wanting verifiable back up to my statements, check out technical journals such as IIE Solutions, Manufacturing Engineering, The Bent, Graduate Engineer ...etc. As long as the demand will be centered in Academia, there will be no incentive to promote the D. Eng. title. We will get no push from ABET for uniformity of the title since they do not have any say in doctoral program accredidation.

    Regards,

    Dick


     

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