Degree Requirements

Master of Science in Business Analytics

The Master of Science in Business Analytics Option III program is a stand-alone 36 semester-credit-hour program for students pursuing specialization in business analytics. Coursework is designed to include technical and quantitative methods from multiple disciplines, such as information management, statistics, optimization, and computer science, to solve business problems using large data sets. The program ends with a capstone project. Graduate programs in the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management (IROM) are overseen by the IROM Graduate Studies Committee (GSC). The IROM GSC has delegated operational authority over the MSBA program to a Program Committee consisting of faculty who teach in the program from the IROM department as well as other departments. The Program Committee determines degree requirements and rules for registration which are communicated to students in a handbook.

Master of Science in Information, Risk, and Operations Management

The Master of Science in Information, Risk, and Operations Management is offered only to students who are enrolled in the doctoral program in information, risk, and operations management. This degree is offered in three options: with thesis, with report, and without thesis or report. The thesis option requires at least 30 semester hours of coursework; the report option, at least 33 hours; and the option without thesis or report, at least 36 hours. All coursework must be logically related, and the student’s entire program must be approved by the student’s primary adviser and the graduate adviser. The Graduate Studies Committee’s approval is not required.

Doctor of Philosophy

The doctoral program in information, risk, and operations management has four areas of concentration: decision analysis, information systems, statistics, and operations management. Degree requirements vary slightly among these. After the first year, each student must pass a qualifying examination that is based on the core courses in the appropriate area of concentration. Students concentrating in information systems must also complete a first-year research paper.

In the second and third years of the program, students complete core coursework and take other methodological and contextual courses in the areas of their research interest. Students are expected to begin working on research as soon as possible, and will spend increasing amounts of time on research as they progress through the program. At the end of the second year, students in all areas of concentration complete a research paper; students in the supply chain and operations management area of concentration also complete a comprehensive examination.

Following admission to candidacy, students undertake dissertation research, which concludes in a written dissertation and an oral defense before the student’s dissertation committee.