The Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering (IMSE) offers four degree options leading to a Master of Science degree: human factors engineering and ergonomics, manufacturing systems, manufacturing information systems, and quality systems. Other specialized study concentrations are available in areas of faculty interest, including engineering management, computer applications, artificial intelligence, systems simulation, stochastic systems, expert systems, process planning, and engineering statistics.
The focus of graduate educational and research activities is on structuring the decision process, system analysis, and the design of complex systems that integrate technical, human, and economic resources within a variety of constraints and environments.
The option emphasizing human factors engineering has been developed to meet the needs of graduates who intend to work in such areas as human factor engineering, ergonomics, human-computer interaction analysis, human-computer interface design, human performance research, human visibility research, human-machine systems analysis and design, work and living environment design, and industrial and transportation safety. The option is designed to build upon a mathematical-analytical background and requires a basic competency in some of the more traditional areas of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering.
The option emphasizing manufacturing systems has been developed to meet the needs of engineers and other technical graduates who plan to perform industrial and systems engineering and management functions in manufacturing organizations. The option is designed to build upon mathematical and analytical expertise gained from a technical education and professional experience. It is heavily directed toward using the computer to solve production problems and includes courses from other departments to provide valuable interdisciplinary experiences.
The option in manufacturing information systems educates students who intend to work as industrial and systems engineers in the areas of manufacturing systems and manufacturing management. Information being the key to successful control of these complex systems, students will learn both the fundamentals of database theory and manufacturing applications. The focus of this area is computer integrated manufacturing through information integration.
The quality systems option has been developed to provide students with the skills they need to understand and control the variation in product and manufacturing systems. This option builds upon statistical and engineering expertise through a set of core courses that provide the foundation for advanced work in quality systems.
The department also participates in the integrated engineering Ph.D. program, emphasizing intelligent systems engineering. For more information, see the Graduate Program Guide, available from the department.
Descriptions outlining suggested core courses and electives for the options are available upon request. You are expected to use the core courses as a guide, with the specific program designed jointly by you and your advisor. A plan of study must be submitted to the IMSE Graduate Committee for approval before the end of the second quarter of study.
Each of these options and other concentration areas may be taken with or without a thesis. The thesis option requires a minimum of 45 quarter hours including a maximum of 6 hours of thesis (ISE 695). The nonthesis option requires a minimum of 51 credit hours including a three-credit-hour scholarly project (ISE 694), a formal written report, a nonthesis committee, and formal defense. Certain undergraduate/graduate courses are required in the undergraduate industrial and systems engineering program. These courses do not count toward M.S. degree credit. All full-time graduate students are expected to register for three successive quarters of ISE 630 Seminar beginning with their first quarter in residence. Up to six hours of independent study may be taken for degree credit in addition to ISE 694 or 695.
A maximum of 12 credit hours of elective graduate level courses may be taken outside the department or the university, provided they are included in an approved plan of study. You also are required to complete at least one-third of your total required hours in graduate-only courses, while the other two-thirds may be in graduate courses that are cross-listed with undergraduate electives.
The department welcomes applications from engineering students and qualified students with a bachelor's degree in physical sciences, including mathematics and computer science. Each candidate is evaluated on previous academic record, work experience, and career goals. Graduate Record Examination scores are required except in extenuating circumstances. If you enter without an adequate background, you may be required to take additional courses, including calculus and differential equations, probability and statistics, computer programming, production control, digital simulation, plant design, work design, and system design, depending on your degree of preparation.
Graduate fellowships, graduate and research associateships, and fee waivers are available for students with a high grade-point average. International students desiring a graduate associate-ship must pass a test of clarity of speech (SPEAK test).
Equipment in the IMSE department includes computer-controlled devices to simulate automated industrial systems, robots, robot vision system, advanced microcomputer and computer systems, peripheral devices, software development lab, an instrumented research car with a TV driver-eye movement recording system, an ASL Model 1998 computer-controlled eye-view monitor system, photometric measurement systems, a coordinate measuring machine, work measurement and work design equipment, and Sun and Silicon Graphics computer workstations.
University Publications and Computer Services revised this file (https://www.ohio.edu/~gcat/97-99/areas/inma.htm) on June 18, 1998.
Please e-mail comments or suggestions to "gcat@www.ohiou.edu."