Graduate Area of Specialization: Industrial Technology

The Department of Technology Leadership & Innovation offers graduate work leading to the Master of Science (M.S.) degree in the field of Industrial Technology, and also participates in the College of Technology's Ph.D. program. We encourage our students to actively participate in conferences, prepare journal articles, engage in research and to mentor other students.

This page is divided into the following sections:

Master of Science

The Department of Technology Leadership & Innovation has several options for those interested in pursuing a Master of Science degree (M.S.) in the field of Industrial Technology. The options are: the traditional masters degree option (where students are full time), the Weekend Masters Program (where students visit campus for three weekends each semester, and two over the summer), and specific company sponsored programs held on site at the company's location.

Master of Science Degree - West Lafayette

The Department of Technology Leadership & Innovation offers graduate work leading to the Master of Science (M.S.) degree in the field of Industrial Technology as a non-thesis or a thesis option. A non-thesis option could be coursework only or a directed project. The directed project plan of study should concentrate on one or more specialized areas of manufacturing, supply chain, information technology, or technology education.  Industrial Technology faculty members teach many of the graduate-level courses, as well as chair master's degree committees and advise directed M.S. projects; and the department offers a number of graduate assistantships. Please contact us for more information

Advisor

The Advisor must be an appropriately certified member of the Industrial Technology faculty.

Plan of Study

The Department of Technology Leadership & Innovation has an area of specialization of 971.The Master of Science plan of study requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of course work plus 3 semester hours of directed project credit. There are two areas - the Primary Area and Related Area

Primary Area

The Primary Area of the plan of study will include between 15 and 24 semester hours (exclusive of the 3 semester hours in the directed project IT 598), with a minimum of 15 semester hours in courses with a IT and TECH prefix.  The primary area for Industrial Technology must include the following courses.

  • IT 507 Measurement and Evaluation in Industry and Technology
  • IT 508 Quality and Productivity in Industry and Technology
  • TECH 646 Analysis of Research in Industry and Technology
  • IT 571 Project Management in Industry and Technology
  • One additional course (IT prefix)

( NOTE :  A maximum of 6 semester hours of IT 590 credit may be included on a plan of study.)

Since the Primary Area may include up to 24 semester hours, additional courses with Industrial Technology-related content may be selected from other departments or schools at Purdue University (for example, Industrial Engineering or Management).  Courses in the Primary Area are selected to enhance the career goals of the student.  Only 300 and 400 level Undergraduate courses may be included in the Primary Area with special permission from the students graduate advisory committee.

Related Area

The Related Area of the plan of study must include a minimum of 6 semester ( but may include up to 15 semester hours, depending upon the number of hours in the Primary Area ) hours from a department other than Technology Leadership & Innovation.  In some cases, there may be two related areas if such a plan of study will enhance the student's professional goals.  Related Area courses may be drawn from the other departments in the College of Technology or from other departments, schools or colleges at Purdue University.  Students often include courses from the Colleges of Education, Engineering, and Management.  Each related area must have a graduate faculty representative on the student's advisory committee.

Thesis or Directed Project

There are two options for the M.S. Degree - either a Thesis or Directed Project.

A thesis is a document that describes the results of a research project, conducted after formal acceptance of a detailed research proposal by the student's committee. Students pursuing the MS Thesis option are required to register for six credits of IT 698. Thesis research distributed over at least two semesters.

Alternatively, the Directed Project (IT 598) is an applied research project on a topic of the student's choosing under the guidance of his/her advisory committee.  The project is more sophisticated than a graduate-level independent study and less formal than a master's degree thesis.  Enrollment during at least two consecutive terms for a total of 3 semester hours of credit is required, typically for one semester hour of credit in the next-to-last academic term for development and approval of the proposal, and for 2 semester hours of credit at the latest during the semester of candidacy, during which the study is conducted, the final report written, and the study defended in an oral examination. 

Previous topics

As the department has a diverse range of faculty and research interests, so are the range of topics.

Master of Science Degree - Weekend

The Weekend Masters Program has been developed such that students make a two-year commitment in registering with the program's specified course offerings, thus maintaining proper sequence of experiences. Admitted students move through the program as an intact class, therefore, providing an enriched environment for interaction and professional growth among participants.

The program requires students to come to the West Lafayette campus for three extended weekends each semester. These extended weekends begin on Friday afternoon and conclude on Sunday afternoon. Students take seven credit hours of course work for four academic sessions and five credit hours in one summer session. Students, on average, find they spend approximately 20-25 hours a week completing independent learning activities.

Instructional methodology differs from that of the traditional course structure because students interact with faculty through means other than just classroom contact.

While students are on campus for instruction with faculty, they will learn about the prescribed course content through lectures supplemented by computer laboratory, library, video, and/or group case study interaction. Varying the instruction through different teaching methodologies will allow students to better learn and retain course content during these weekends of instruction.

For any given course taught in this format, students will have approximately 24 hours of contact time with their instructor while on campus. Students will continue their studies in their home area and will be in contact with the West Lafayette faculty on a weekly basis using distance education technology. Distance education is facilitated through use of e-learning platforms. These may include completing web-based case studies and independent studies, submitting homework electronically to faculty, completing video self-studies or using Web conferencing and newsgroups. More information will be available here about the projects that faculty from the department.

Ph.D. Program

The Department of Technology Leadership & Innovation, through the College of Technology is committed to its graduate program and to offering the technology profession’s leading Ph.D. and Master’s programs. These graduate programs implement its scholarly responsibility to advance the disciplines of technology and to develop advanced level professionals who engage in technology, technological education, and related leadership. The faculty recognize a genuine responsibility to prepare future scholar-practitioners for the technological enterprise in both public (education and government) and private sector environments. The Ph.D. program represents the College’s most advanced manifestation of this commitment.

Ph.D. Program Purpose

Via the College of Technology’s Ph.D. degree program, the faculty seeks to provide degree candidates with the knowledge and skills necessary to advance the discipline and its practice. The primary purposes of this Ph.D. program are to prepare scholarly faculty for technology education programs throughout the nation and world, and advanced leader/researchers for public and private sector environments employing such levels of personnel. In doing so, the program also develops the concomitant skills involved in technology-relevant knowledge development, synthesis and assessment. Candidates, by judicious program design, may also prepare for leadership roles in fields such as technology transfer, technology human resource development/technology teaching, or supervision of technology in private and public sector agencies.

Graduates of the program are expected to demonstrate an appropriate level of mastery of the discipline of technology, both in general and with respect to the technological focus built into their program. Given this, the program is structured to enable the development of the technological focus as well as a broad understanding of the discipline. Successful Ph.D. candidates will demonstrate advanced ability to:

  • envision, plan and conduct research and development activities;
  • identify, comprehend, analyze, evaluate and synthesize research;
  • evaluate technologies and technology-related programs;
  • assess individual performance with, and understanding of, technology;
  • communicate effectively and employ constructive professional and interpersonal skills; and
  • function in one or more of the technology disciplines.

Ph.D. Program Overview

The College of Technology’s Ph.D. Program is based on practices at Purdue and other leading institutions. These include a requirement for 90 (minimum) credit hours, maintenance of a B or better grade point average, and satisfactory progress each semester. At least one third of the total credit hours used to satisfy the degree requirements must be earned in continuous residence at Purdue. Ph.D. students have five years from passing their preliminary examination in which to complete their degree requirements.

Ph.D. advisors, working interactively with the student, will consider all prior graduate coursework accepted for transfer into the program while developing the plan of study. In addition to a technology focus, each plan of study will necessarily include a solid discovery foundation sequence of research courses and a cognate designed to add depth and a second discipline’s perspective to the student’s research and/or professional goal-related field. A dissertation will serve as both a culminating synthesis experience and as a visible demonstration of performance.

The College of Technology’s Ph.D. program consists of four components:

• Technology (the major/field of specialization) 21 cr minimum

• Discovery Foundations 12 cr minimum (Research Methodology, Statistics and Experimental Design)

• Cognate 12 cr minimum (from any appropriate Purdue School other than Technology)

• Dissertation Research 15 cr minimum

For more information about our programs and the College of Technology, please complete this form.


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