Industrial and systems engineers optimize complex processes and systems that improve quality, productivity, and safety. They make use of the workforce, technologies, materials, and financial resources to ensure processes perform as desired. As companies and corporations across the globe increase their need for effective and efficient operations, their demand for highly skilled industrial and systems engineering professionals grows. According to the Bureau of Labor Standards, there will be a 13 percent increase in the demand for industrial engineers throughout the next 10 years.

PhD in Advanced-Systems Engineering The purpose of this international PhD programme is to train a new generation of researchers able to carry out independent research in the areas of Advanced-Systems Engineering and give them the opportunity to transfer and exchange knowledge with national and international research centers and industries.

The multidisciplinary doctorate degree in microsystems engineering builds on the fundamentals of traditional engineering and science combined with curriculum and research activities addressing the numerous technical challenges of micro- and nano-systems.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) program prepares students for successful careers as teachers, researchers, and leaders in academia, industry, and the public sector. The program emphasizes the systems engineering, collaboration, and engagement skills critical to addressing the complex societal problems of tomorrow. ISE graduate students tackle these problems in a supportive environment working with nationally-recognized faculty.

The study in PhD in Systems Engineering and Informatics consists of the study part ending with the final state exam and the research part focuses on the dissertation thesis and its defence. The credit system is applied for the evaluation of the study. This system is in line with the European ECTS system, allowing for the exchange of mobilities of students between universities in Europe.

The Ph.D. program in Systems Science (SyS) equips students with advanced skills for tackling research on technological, natural, economic, and social systems using mathematical models. Throughout their doctoral studies, SyS students learn various skills that enable them to create, employ, and implement techniques for analyzing and predicting complex phenomena. These techniques involve analytical, numerical, and computational models that originate from first principles or data, incorporating a range of interdisciplinary fields such as mathematics, operations research, physics, statistics, computer science, and engineering. The program encompasses several subjects such as machine learning, network science, analysis and control of dynamical systems, time-series analysis, statistical physics, complex systems theory, numerical optimization, numerical integration of differential equations, statistics, stochastic processes, agent-based models, specification languages, programming, and software analysis.  Students compose tailored study plans by choosing subjects from a wide portfolio of basic and advanced courses, covering a minimum of 150 lecture hours. SyS students also have the opportunity to spend a study period abroad as visiting fellows.

Subject to the stipulations of General Academic Regulations G42, a master's degree is required for admission to studies for a PhD.

Doctoral study program Transport Systems educates graduates with a deep theoretical knowledge of technical and natural sciences, which are supplemented by specific practical skills received by solving real problems based on the current needs of rail, road and air transport systems.

Many of the key challenges for society involve systems that include fluid transport or thermal processes. The challenges include areas such as energy production or in the consumption of energy to the heat transfer or fluid processes in complex systems. This program provides the opportunity to investigate several topics that provide a fundamental background to address these challenges.

Much of our technological systems now require complex control functions to operate. The Dynamic Systems and Control program draws from many disciplines to develop new approaches and effective solutions to the analysis of systems and the design of control functions for them.

Offered on GW's main campus in Washington, D.C., the Ph.D. in Systems Engineering allows rising scholars to produce original research in the systems engineering field, such as applied enterprise systems engineering and analysis; business and program development; critical infrastructure systems; risk assessment and management; and beyond.

Systems Engineering is geared toward the rapid design and development of large and complex systems. Systems Engineering integrates all the specialty and sub-specialty groups of engineering disciplines into a team whose efforts result in a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to operation. Example systems include coastal ecosystems, water treatment facilities, computer networks, visualization platforms, deep-water drilling operations, highway safety systems, biofuels production facilities, robotic units, refineries, fiber optic networks, aircraft, vehicle control systems, biomass gasification units, management of utilities during disaster events, and power grids.

Infrastructure systems support the basic needs and functions of modern industrialized society including energy, water and sewage, transportation, communications, and public facilities. Resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, and systems to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions, recover from threats, and thrive in the future.

Materials Science and Engineering: Biomaterials and biomedical technologies, Coatings and surface treatments, Corrosion and wear, Experimental characterization and numerical modeling of the material behavior, High-strength glasses and ceramics, Powder metallurgy, Polymers and composite materials, Materials and technologies for cultural heritage, Materials chemistry, Materials for energy, Nanostructured materials, mechanical properties, smart materials, materials production technologies, production process, Manufacturing processes.