Funding Opportunities

The Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering supports a substantial number of graduate students through fellowships and assistantships. It is in a student’s best interest to be funded by means of a fellowship. Fellows can carry heavier course loads because there is no service requirement (as there is for graduate assistants), meaning fellows can complete their degrees in a timelier manner. Graduate students are encouraged to additionally apply for fellowships outside of Penn State.

If a student is offered a graduate assistantship but declines it in favor of a fellowship, that student could still be offered the graduate assistantship if the duration of the fellowship is not long enough to complete the degree program (contingent only upon the student having made satisfactory progress toward the degree).

Funding Commitments

A funding commitment to a student is a departmental promise to support that student (via assistantship or fellowship) for a specified time period. If a student receives an assistantship commitment, he/she is guaranteed employment for the period specified in the contract and letter. Students accepting these departmental assistantships are placed in a pool from which the department’s instructional and research needs will be met. Every effort will be made to match students with their choice of assignments but this cannot always be accomplished.

Note: If a student does not receive a funding commitment, he/she is still eligible for an assistantship (either teaching or research). As faculty members generally choose their own research assistants, it is in the interests of the students to get to know the faculty.


Fellowships

Many of the fellowships available for graduate students in industrial engineering are offered through agencies outside Penn State. These include:

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • CIRP: The International Academy for Production Engineering
  • Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowships for Minorities
  • IBM Graduate Fellowship Program
  • Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers
  • Institute of International Education Fellowships
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships
  • National Science Foundation Minority Graduate Fellowships
  • Office of Naval Research Graduate Fellowships
  • U.S. Department of Energy Fellowships
  • U.S. Department of Defense Fellowships
  • W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellowships

There are eligibility requirements for each of these fellowships. Some require U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Resident Status while others are open to international students. Students must apply for these fellowships directly through the funding agency, not through Penn State.

There are also fellowships available from the Graduate School, the College of Engineering, and the Marcus department. A student cannot directly apply for these fellowships, rather they must be nominated by the department.

Note: Fellowship recipients are expected to carry a load of at least 12-course credits per semester (four 3-credit courses), as they are not required to work during the semester in which they are offered the fellowship. They may also take additional credits consisting of colloquium or research. Half-time graduate assistants are expected to work 20 hours/week and to carry 12 credits per semester, consisting of three 3-credit courses (until the student completes his/her course work), two credits of thesis research, and one credit of IE Colloquium.


Assistantships

The department awards a limited number of assistantships. Both teaching and research assistantships are available. Students accepting teaching assistantships offered by the department are placed in a pool from which the department's instructional needs will be met. Every effort will be made to match students with their choice of assignments but this cannot always be guaranteed. Research assistants are hired by faculty members based on the candidate’s needs and qualifications. It should be noted that applications for graduate assistantships are not considered until admission has been granted by the Graduate School.

International applicants who wish to be considered for a teaching assistantship must take the American English Oral Communicative Proficiency Test offered by Penn State, after their arrival on campus and obtain a minimum score of 250 in the test.

A graduate assistant is responsible for carrying out laboratory teaching, grading, or research assignments. A half-time graduate assistant is required to spend 20 hours per week fulfilling these assignments starting one week before the first day of classes and ending after all final grades have been handed in by the instructor.

The length of time a student is allowed to hold an assistantship is as follows:

  • An M.S. student typically will be allowed three semesters.
  • A Ph.D. student with an M.S. degree typically will be allowed six semesters.
  • A Ph.D. student with a B.S. degree typically will be allowed eight semesters.

The awarding of the assistantship from one semester to the next depends on the student making satisfactory progress toward his/her degree.

Please indicate whether you want to be considered for an assistantship while filling out the Graduate School application.


Graduate Assistant Responsibilities

A graduate assistant (TA) is responsible for carrying out laboratory teaching, grading, or research assignments. A half-time TA is required to work 20 hours per week, fulfilling these assignments starting one week before the first day of classes and ending up to 48 hours after the last scheduled final examination. The 20 hours is an average load per week; for example, grading assistants may find that they work 10 hours one week and 30 hours some other week.

TAs are free to make their course assignment preferences know to the graduate program coordinator. These preferences will be considered and honored to whatever extent feasible when assignments are made. Every effort will be made to avoid conflicts between teaching assignments and the courses that are important to the program of the TA. However, in some instances, it may be necessary for TAs to forgo some of their course selections, because of conflict with the teaching assignment.

TAs will be evaluated every semester from two sources:

  • The supervising faculty member to whom the assistant is assigned
  • Students in the course to which the assistant is assigned.

In addition, teaching assistants assigned to courses with laboratories will be evaluated by the appropriate laboratory technicians. Poor evaluations will be called to the assistant’s attention by the graduate program coordinator and/or department head and corrective actions will be discussed. Repeated poor evaluations may lead to termination of the assistantship.

Research assistants are evaluated by the faculty members who hire them.


Funding Period

The letter with the funding commitment to the student will state the intended funding time period. These are generally (but not always) six semesters for post-M.S. doctoral students, conditional eight semesters support for doctoral students with B.S. degrees only, and three semesters for M.S. students. Satisfactory progress must be made in the respective degree programs for the continuation of funding.


Penn State Funding Sources

As all of the following programs are highly competitive, students will need top grades and test scores to obtain funding from one of these.


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About

Home of the first established industrial engineering program in the world, the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) at Penn State has made a name for itself in the engineering industry through its storied tradition of unparalleled excellence and innovation in research, education, and outreach.

We are Innovators. We are Makers. We are Excellence in Engineering. We are Penn State IME.

The Harold and Inge Marcus Department of
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

310 Leonhard Building

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802-4400

Phone: 814-865-7601

FAX: 814-863-4745