The Ph.D. curriculum consists of two major phases: the course phase (typically the first two years of the program – 4 semesters) and the dissertation phase (two-three years in addition to the course phase). It is required a full-time enrollment for at least the first two years (four semesters) of the program.
1. Course Phase
The following is a list of required and elective courses for OPIM doctoral students. All courses taken are on the graduate level: 6000-level courses are reserved for Ph.D. students; 5000-level courses can be taken by Master's as well as Ph.D. students. Undergraduate courses (3000 and 4000-level) cannot be taken for credit in the Ph.D. program, unless special permission from the Ph.D. coordinator is obtained. According to Graduate School rules, a student must complete a minimum of 37 credits in the areas below before the General Exam can be taken. However, the OPIM department recommends taking a minimum of fourteen 3-credit courses during the first two years in the Ph.D. program to build a solid theoretical foundation for future research.
More information about the courses below (including pre-requisites, course descriptions, etc.) can be found in the UConn Graduate Course Catalog.
REQUIRED COURSES
Note: Required courses can be substituted with permission of the Ph.D. advisor
Major Area of Concentration (12 credits)
| Subject area | Course Number | Course Title | Credits |
| OPIM | 6201 | Research Methods for Operations and Information Management | (3) |
| OPIM | 6202 | Seminar in Operations Management | (3) |
| OPIM | 6203 | Seminar in Management Information Systems | (3) |
| OPIM | 6204 | Seminar in Operations Research and Optimization | (3) |
Research Methods and Supporting Courses in Related Areas (21 credits)
| Subject area | Course Number | Course Title | Credits |
| ECON | 6201 | Microeconomic Theory I | (3) |
| ECON | 6211 | Microeconomic Theory II | (3) |
| ECON | 6310 | Econometrics I | (3) |
| ECON | 6461 | Industrial Organization | (3) |
| OPIM | 5272 | Business Process Modeling and Data Management | (3) |
| STAT | 5585 | Mathematical Statistics I | (3) |
| STAT | 5685 | Mathematical Statistics II | (3) |
Milestone Courses (8 credits)
| Subject area | Course Number | Course Title | Credits |
| OPIM | 5895 | Special Topics in Information Management (First-Year Research Apprenticeship, Fall and Spring semesters of first year) | (1) |
| OPIM | 6200 | Investigation of Special Topics (Qualifying Paper, Fall and Spring semesters of second year) | (3) |
ELECTIVE COURSES
The list below is a sample of courses that students have taken in the past and found useful. Doctoral students have great freedom in deciding upon elective courses and customizing their course list to their own interests and research areas. Elective courses need to be approved by the student’s Ph.D. advisor if they want to be counted towards the 37-credit minimum course requirement.
| Subject area | Course Number | Course Title | Credits |
| ARE | 5474 | Industrial Organization: Empirical Analysis | (3) |
| ARE | 6474 | Empirical Industrial Organization I | (3) |
| ARE | 6476 | Empirical Industrial Organization II | (3) |
| CSE | 5500 | Algorithms | (3) |
| CSE | 5506 | Computational Complexity | (3) |
| CSE | 5707 | Discrete Optimization | (3) |
| CSE | 5713 | Data Mining | (3) |
| CSE | 5717 | Big Data Analytics | (3) |
| CSE | 5800 | Bioinformatics | (3) |
| ECE | 6104 | Information, Control and Games | (3) |
| ECE | 6111 | Applied Probability and Statistics | (3) |
| ECE | 6437 | Computational Methods for Optimization | (3) |
| ECON | 5311 | Applied Econometrics I | (3) |
| ECON | 5312 | Applied Econometrics II | (3) |
| ECON | 5461 | Industrial Organization | (3) |
| ECON | 6301 | Advanced Mathematical Economics I | (3) |
| ECON | 6302 | Advanced Mathematical Economics II | (3) |
| ECON | 6311 | Econometrics II | (3) |
| ECON | 6312 | Econometrics III | (3) |
| ECON | 6462 | The Organization of Industry | (3) |
| ECON | 6463 | Economics of Organization | (3) |
| FNCE | 5151 | Introduction to Economic Markets | (3) |
| HCMI | 5243 | Health Care Economics | (3) |
| MATH | 5580 | Optimization | (3) |
| MATH | 5620 | Financial Mathematics I | (3) |
| MATH | 5660 | Advanced Financial Mathematics | (3) |
| MKTG | 6202 | Introduction to Consumer Behavior | (3) |
| MKTG | 6203 | Introduction to Quantitative Applications in Marketing | (3) |
| OPIM | 5501 | Visual Analytics | (3) |
| OPIM | 5502 | Big Data Analytics with Hadoop | (3) |
| OPIM | 5503 | Data Analytics Using R | (3) |
| OPIM | 5504 | Adaptive Business Intelligence | (3) |
| OPIM | 5604 | Predictive Modeling | (3) |
| OPIM | 5671 | Data Mining and Business Intelligence | (3) |
| OPIM | 5895 | Special Topics in Information Management | (3) |
| STAT | 5361 | Statistical Computing | (3) |
| STAT | 5515 | Design of Experiments | (3) |
| STAT | 5725 | Linear Statistical Models | (3) |
| STAT | 5815 | Longitudinal Data Analysis | (3) |
| STAT | 5825 | Applied Time Series | (3) |
Other Milestones and Requirements
- Orientation. Students are required to take BADM 6201 Introduction to Research & Teaching (1 credit) in their first semester.
- First-Year Research Apprenticeship. (OPIM 5895). As soon as the student enters the Ph.D. program, they get assigned to one or more OPIM faculty members to participate in an ongoing research project. The goal is to get the Ph.D. student immersed into research from the start and have the student learn (as a “research apprentice”) the different steps and methodologies of performing research and producing academic research articles.
- Qualifying Paper. (OPIM 6200). During the second year, a Ph.D. student takes the lead in carrying out an independent research project, culminating in the submission of an academic research paper at the end of the Spring semester. The student independently identifies a research topic, formulates the research questions which will expand the body of academic knowledge, and finishes a research paper that can be submitted to an academic journal. The student receives feedback about his/her progress at various stages from the Ph.D. Committee. The Ph.D. Committee evaluates the quality of the paper at the end of the academic year. The student needs to pass the Qualifying Paper by the end of the second year in order to progress to the Dissertation Phase in the Ph.D. program.
- Qualifying Exam. (“General Exam”). At the end of the second year, students are required to pass the Qualifying Exam in OPIM. The exam consists of four parts: (i) Operations Research; (ii) Statistics and Econometrics; (iii) Operations Management; and (iv) Information Systems. Upon passing the Qualifying Exam, the student has completed the Course Phase of the Ph.D. program and moves on to the Dissertation Phase.
2. Dissertation Phase
Normally in the beginning of the third year, the Ph.D. student moves to the Dissertation Phase. The student chooses one or more faculty members as advisors for his/her dissertation. The advisor(s) together with the student set up a plan for completion of the Dissertation.
A Ph.D. student will sign up for GRAD 6950 Dissertation Research (up to 9 credits per semester). All students must complete a minimum of 15 research credits.
Generally at the end of the third year (or during the course of the student’s fourth year), the student passes the Dissertation Proposal Defense and the Student now becomes a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. During the remainder of the Dissertation phase, the student—supervised by the student’s Dissertation Advisor(s) and the Advisory Committee—completes the Dissertation research consisting of significant original research contribution, and prepares for the Final Dissertation Defense in oral examinations. Upon passing the Dissertation Defense, the student is conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Effective June 2021