Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Transportation

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The interdepartmental doctoral program in transportation provides a structured and direct follow-on doctoral program for students enrolled in the M.S.T. program or other transportation-related masters degree program at MIT or elsewhere. The interdepartmental structure of the program allows students greater flexibility in developing individual programs of study that cross both disciplinary and departmental lines. The program is administered by the transportation faculty through the director of the interdepartmental doctoral program, who is responsible for admissions, establishment and oversight of program requirements, and conduct of the general examination and dissertation defense.

Graduates of the interdepartmental doctoral program will receive Ph.D. degrees in “Transportation," although students may petition for other MIT graduate fields of study as their degree designation, subject to faculty approval.

Application Procedure

For students already at MIT in a graduate program (M.S.T. or other)

Interested students should apply to the doctoral program by submitting an internal application for admission. These are acted on by the transportation faculty. This application to the interdepartmental doctoral program must include:

The completed Application Form
A one-page statement of the student’s education, research and career objectives;
A proposed Program of Study consisting of subjects totaling at least 120 units (this may include courses taken to satisfy the master's degree requirements);
Two letters of recommendation from MIT faculty familiar with the student, with at least one recommendation coming from a faculty member who can evaluate the student’s research ability and potential.

Applications are reviewed at the end of the semester in which the application was received. Admission to the interdepartmental doctoral program constitutes approval of the student’s proposed Program of Study and allows the student to proceed with the General Examination.

The admissions decision is based on the academic and research performance of the student to date, his/her potential to succeed in the doctoral program, and the suitability of the Program of Study.

Prospective doctoral students currently registered in an MIT masters degree program are expected to submit an application for review before the end of their second semester of graduate study. The deadline is May 15.

For applicants not enrolled at MIT

Applications from students with or working toward research-based masters degrees (i.e., with a research thesis) from other schools are also considered. Such students must submit formal applications for graduate study at MIT through CEE, which administers the program, and are admitted as graduate students with the intention of entering the interdepartmental doctoral program. Please visit the CEE graduate student admissions page for an application and more information.

Students must also submit an internal application before the end of their second semester of graduate study in transportation at MIT, as described above.

Once admitted to the interdepartmental doctoral program, students are called doctoral students preparing for the General Examination.

The transportation faculty expects that all doctoral students will complete their research master’s degree, either at MIT or elsewhere.

Degree requirements

The interdepartmental doctoral program requires the completion of an approved Program of Study, the successful completion of a General Examination, which consists of both written and oral components, and the submission and defense of a doctoral dissertation. In addition, it is the expectation of the faculty that all doctoral students will serve as a teaching assistant for at least one semester.

Program of Study

This consists of at least 120 units of subjects, as follows:

The Doctoral Core Program — The doctoral core program consists of six subjects which are determined based on the areas the student selects. There are six areas defined by the subjects listed below.

Transportation Systems Analysis: 1.200 and 1.201
Demand: 1.202 and 14.381
Performance and Optimization: 1.203 and 15.093 or 15.058
Planning and Policy: 1.251 and 1.252
Computation/IT: 1.207 and 1.264
Mobility Models and Knowledge Discovery: 1.204 and ESD.753/15.077

Each student must select three of these six areas. These three selected areas must include Transportation Systems Analysis and at least one of the Demand or Performance and Optimization areas listed above.

The Remainder — The remainder of the program is a set of subjects in transportation and related fields.

MIT graduate level subjects taken to fulfill the requirements of the M.S.T. degree may be included in the doctoral program. The remainder of the program may include, subject to approval by the transportation faculty, up to 24 units of graduate level subjects taken elsewhere.

The proposed Program of Study is an important part of the student’s application to the doctoral program and, once approved, represents a commitment on the part of the student to complete this program. Any proposed change to an approved program is subject to review and approval by the faculty.

The General Examination

All doctoral students are expected to take the General Examination no later than the fourth semester of graduate study at MIT, and are encouraged to take it earlier if feasible.

The General Examination is conducted in January and May. The written exam is administered first, followed by the oral exam about two weeks later.

The written exam is a take home, open book examination. The three separate questins correspond to areas of the doctoral core program, with every student required to be examined on the Transporation Systems Analysis (1.200/1.201) area on day 1 of the written exam. The subsequent two exam questions correspond to two of the remaining five doctoral core program areas above, with each student selecting the additional two areas on which he/she will be examined. One of the areas must be Demand or Performance and Optimization. The three separate questions are administered over a three- or four-day period. Students will receive each day's question at 9 a.m., and are expected to return the answer for that day’s question by 6 p.m. Students may take the exam without necessarily having taken the corresponding subjects.

Students who pass the general examination will receive credit for the subjects corresponding to their selected fields, if they have not already taken these subjects.

The student must submit a research paper of up to seven pages at least two weeks prior to the oral exam date. In the oral part of the General Examination, the student presents that research to demonstrate the student’s potential to complete original work at the doctoral level. The research presented could be based on the student’s master thesis and does not need to be on the topic of the doctoral research. This presentation generally lasts about 45 minutes, followed by questions from the faculty members in attendance. Although questions usually focus on the student’s oral presentation, faculty members may also ask specific questions related to the student’s doctoral core program and the student’s response on the written exam.

Normally students complete both the written and oral portions of the General Examination before being informed of the outcome. There are four possible outcomes of the General Examination:

Pass both the written and oral portions, with approval to proceed with dissertation research.
Pass the written portion but fail the oral portion, with an opportunity to re-take the oral portion of the exam.
Failure of the General Examination, with an invitation to re-take the complete exam.
Failure of the General Examination, with a recommendation from the faculty that the student not repeat the exam.

Students who fail the general exam the first time they take it have the option to retake the exam once.

Decisions with respect to student performance in the General Examination will be made by the faculty in attendance at the oral presentation.

After passing the General Examination (written and oral) students are designated as doctoral candidates. At this point, funded students will have their stipends increased to doctoral levels.

Dissertation Research and Defense Process

Upon passing the General Examination, doctoral candidates proceed with their research and the writing of a doctoral dissertation. Each doctoral candidate must establish a faculty doctoral committee, which is responsible for overseeing the candidate’s research progress toward the completion of a dissertation that can be defended as making an original contribution to the field. The committee is composed of at least three MIT faculty members, with the chair of the committee coming from the student’s department of registration. Research staff and members from outside of MIT may serve as additional members of the committee.

During the dissertation research, the doctoral candidate must meet with his/her doctoral committee at least once every semester and demonstrate that significant research progress is being made.

Once the dissertation is written and judged by the candidate’s doctoral committee to be ready for defense, a Doctoral Dissertation Defense must be scheduled, at which the candidate presents the dissertation and summarizes the major contributions of the work. The Doctoral Defense must be attended by the candidate’s doctoral committee. A decision with respect to the success of the candidate’s defense and completion of the Doctoral Program is made by all faculty members in attendance at the Doctoral Defense.

A copy of the dissertation must be available for review by interested faculty at least one week before the Doctoral Dissertation Defense.

Interdepartmental Faculty and Researchers

Representative Research Projects