Introduction
The Program mission is to prepare students to be fully abreast of the latest developments in all areas of Engineering Management. This program is designed to suit students who are interested to be researchers in engineering management as well as those who hold or seek managerial and decision-making positions in public and private organizations characterized by innovation and technological leadership. Graduates of this program are expected to competently fill key positions in their fields of interest and to lead the ongoing process of modernization and development in the United Arab Emirates and abroad. The program seeks to equip students with the ability to define, evaluate, design, improve, and manage complex human technological systems for the purpose of optimizing certain objectives taking into account several interrelated factors such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, sustainability, and others. Student admitted to the PhD program implicitly agree to comply with all rules and regulations of the program as published on the program website.

Program Objectives
The main goals and objectives of the doctoral program in Engineering Management are:

• To prepare graduate engineers from various specializations for successful research careers that combine depth in engineering research methodologies with broad knowledge of the socio-economic implications associated with major engineering decisions and technology innovations.
• To prepare graduate engineers to assume leading roles in researching current and new approaches to effectively manage change and leverage technological innovations. 
• To enhance the creative abilities and confidence of its students in finding original solutions to pressing and complex problems; 
• To raise the level of awareness of its students with respect to long-term sustainability factors associated with the adoption of new engineering process or technology. 
• To prepare its students to be leaders in disseminating new knowledge and in imparting new concepts and ideas to members of the public. 

Student Learning Outcome
By the end of this program, student should be able to acquire:

• Knowledge and skills for conducting independent   research for making original contributions to existing knowledge.
• Advanced knowledge and skills to conceptualize, formulate, analyze, and solve complex engineering problems with multiple interrelated variables, both deterministic and probabilistic. Such problems may cross the boundaries of one engineering discipline and involve social, economic, and sustainability factors.
• Advanced knowledge and understanding of the concepts and application of good management practices to deal effectively with change and innovations and their socio-economic impact.
• Ability and know-how to disseminate research results in archival publications and through participation in scholarly and professional societies.
• Communication skills to effectively correspond with members of the community and the public.

Program Structure
The program requires a satisfactory completion of 45 credits of course and research components.  The course component includes 9 credits of compulsory courses, 9 elective credits, and a zero -credit seminar. The research component consists of a six–credit research proposal and twenty-one-credit thesis. The research of the thesis could be either industrial-oriented or theoretical, or a combination of both.

Course Coding System

Consistent with the University policies, the PhD in Engineering Management (PhDEM) courses are assigned numbers of the form (0475-ABC), where:
04: College of Engineering
75: PhDEM program
A: 7 for Ph.D. level courses
B: Areas (as follows)

0: General	5: Information Systems
1: Operations Research	6: Engineering Management
2: Statistics	7: Infrastructure and construction
3: Production Systems	8: Special Topics
4: Human factors	9: Seminars, projects and thesis

 

C: Sequence number within area

Academic Courses

The program compulsory courses are as follows:

Course Code	Course Title	Credit
0475-760	Leadership and Innovation Management	3
0475-723	Decision Making and Analysis	3
0475-762	Total Quality Management	3
0475-791	PhD Seminar	0
0475-709	Qualification Exam	0
0475-792	PhD Research Proposal	6
0475-799	PhD Thesis	21

 

Selection of the electives should be based on the following criteria:

At least one course should be taken from the following PhDEM elective Courses:
0475-711 Advanced Engineering Systems Optimization
0475-722 Engineering Design of Experiments
0475-763 Advanced Engineering Project Management
0475-765 Management of Technology
0475-781 Special Topics in Engineering Management

Subject to approval of the supervisor and program coordinator, no more than two courses maybe taken from the following courses:

• Graduate Courses offered by other departments in the College of Engineering
• Graduate Courses offered by the MEM program 
• Graduate Courses offered by the College of Business Administration

Special Admission Requirements

• The student must hold a bachelor's degree in any engineering fields and master's degree with a minimum grade of "Very Good" (3.0 out of 4.0) and a bachelor's degree with a minimum grade of 2.5 out of 4.0 or equivalent from a university, college, or an institute recognized by the Ministry of Education of the UAE.

• Students in programs taught in English must obtain 550 on the TOEFL (PBT) (should be taken inside the university), 79 on the TOEFL (IBT) (outside the university) or 6 on IELTS (Academic).
• Passing the personal interview.

• Attachment of 'no objection certificate' from the authorities responsible for national service for male Emirati students.

• Attachment of a letter of study approval from Kuwait Embassy Cultural Office for Kuwaiti students only.

• Attachment of People of Determination card (if applicable).

• In case the student works in a certain place, please attach a letter from the employer stating that the student is working for this agency.
  

Course Description

0475-723	Decision Making and Analysis	3:3
Topics include basic theory of decision making under uncertainty; rationales of decision makers; the concept of the value of information; the Bayesian approach to decision making; decision trees, elicitation methods for model building, multi-attribute utility models; multi-criteria decision making; use of decision making software. ​ ​

 

0475-760	Leadership and Innovation Management	3:3
This course focuses on the classical and modern aspects of organizations and the role of managers as leaders. The main focus of the course is to provide students with knowledge and skills on different approaches to leadership. The course deals with different forms of leaderships in a corporate setting, and their importance in achieving the organization's strategies. The course also focuses on main issues in innovation management. It equips students with tools and techniques for managing innovation. It includes basic terms related to innovation; development of innovation strategy; factors influencing innovation; sources of innovations, managing intellectual property, development of new product and services within a firm; strategic alliances and networks; contemporary issues in innovation management; case studies. ​ ​

 

0475-762	Total Quality Management	3:3
This course introduces definitions, history, dimensions, and principles of Total Quality Management (TQM); quality management philosophies and pioneers (Deming, Juran, Crosby, Ishikawa, Taguchi, Feigenbaum); customer satisfaction and customer relationship management; quality awards (Deming, EFQM, Malcolm Baldrige); SPC tools, benchmarking, QFD, and use of software. ​ ​

 

0475-711	Advanced Engineering Systems Optimization	3:3
This course presents advanced techniques presented in engineering optimization. In addition to advanced non-linear programming techniques, it presents topics related to dynamic programming, integer programming, stochastic programming, and metaheuristics. ​ ​

 

0475-722	Engineering Design of  Experiments	3:3
Review of regression analysis; principles of experimental design; randomized complete block designs; Latin square and Graeco-Latin square designs; general factorial designs; 2k Factorial designs; response surface methodology and robust design; planning, performing and analyzing industrial experiments; Taguchi's methods ​ ​

 

0475-763	Advanced Engineering Project Management	3:3
This course includes a review of project management concepts including planning and scheduling; strategic planning for project management; human resources management, managing multiple projects, contemporary issues in project management; case studies. ​ ​

 

0475-765	Management of Technology	3:3
This course examines a wide range of topics and issues involved in the management of technology including planning tools and techniques in strategic planning for different technologies, technology capability assessment, technology forecasting; the development environment and infrastructure, R&D management, product development process; technology transfer; licensing, joint venture and other forms of alliances; technology protection; case studies and project. ​ ​

 

0475-781	Special Topics in Engineering Management	3:3
This course examines advanced and emerging topics in engineering management. The course may be offered as an independent study to suit the academic need of the student based on the supervisor recommendation and the program coordinator approval. ​ ​

 

0475-791	Ph.D. Seminar	1:0
Students are required to attend seminars given by faculty members, visitors, and graduate students. Students must submit reports of the seminars they attended. They are also required to present one seminar on a timely research topic. ​ ​

 

0475-709	Qualification (comprehensive) examination	0:0
The examination aims to measure the student's ability to understand and demonstrate a general understanding of his/her discipline, show the ability of critical, analytical, and creative thinking and employ them in solving problems and proposing appropriate solutions. It is not another test in the courses studied by the students. This exam consists of both written and oral parts. Pre-requisites: Completion of all courses (18 credits) and approval of the program coordinator or upon approval of the PhD program committee and coordinator. ​ ​

 

0475-792	Ph.D. Research Proposal	0:6
Students must submit a research proposal topic under the supervision of a faculty member. The proposal should layout the literature survey of related work to the proposed research topic to be undertaken.  Methodology and expected results should be presented in the proposal. The proposal should be approved by the supervisor and defended before an examination committee. Recommendation of the committee should be considered in the implementation phase of the thesis.  Pre-requisites: 0475-709 Qualification (comprehensive) Examination. ​ ​

 

0475-799	Ph.D. Thesis	0:21
Students must undertake and complete and independent industrial-oriented and/or theoretical research under the supervision of a faculty member. Students are required to submit a thesis documenting their research and defend it in an oral examination before a committee. The thesis work must make a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of engineering management and innovation.  Students are required to produce at least one refereed publication of their work before defending the thesis. Pre-requisites: 0475-792 Ph.D. Research Proposal ​ ​