Doctor of Philosophy in Transportation

Program Requirements

MIT graduate-level subjects taken to fulfill the requirements of the Master of Science in Transportation degree may be counted toward the doctoral program requirements.

Core Subjects
1.200[J]	Transportation: Foundations and Methods	12
11.251	Frontier of Transportation Research ¹	6
Select one of the following:		12
1.144[J]	Applied Category Theory for Engineering Design
1.202	Demand Modeling
1.208	Resilient Networks
1.260[J]	Logistics Systems
11.478	Behavioral Science, AI, and Urban Mobility
Computation/Analytics
Select one of the following:		6-12
6.C51 & 1.C51	Modeling with Machine Learning: from Algorithms to Applications and Machine Learning for Sustainable Systems ²
6.3732[J]	Statistics, Computation and Applications
6.7900	Machine Learning
6.7910[J]	Statistical Learning Theory and Applications
15.071	The AI Edge
15.072	Advanced Analytics Edge
Core Research Area
Select two subjects from one of the five approved areas:		18-30
Performance and Optimization
1.208	Resilient Networks
6.7220[J]	Nonlinear Optimization
6.7260	Network Science and Models
6.7700[J]	Fundamentals of Probability
6.7720[J]	Discrete Probability and Stochastic Processes
15.081[J]	Introduction to Mathematical Programming
15.094[J]	Robust Modeling, Optimization, and Computation
Machine Learning and Statistics
1.127[J]	Reinforcement Learning: Foundations and Methods
6.C51 & 1.C51	Modeling with Machine Learning: from Algorithms to Applications and Machine Learning for Sustainable Systems ²
6.7250	Optimization for Machine Learning
6.7730	Modern Mathematical Statistics
6.7800	Inference and Information
6.7810	Algorithms for Inference
6.7900	Machine Learning
6.7910[J]	Statistical Learning Theory and Applications
6.7960	Deep Learning
6.8300	Advances in Computer Vision
9.521[J]	Mathematical Statistics: a Non-Asymptotic Approach
9.522	Statistical Reinforcement Learning
15.095	Machine Learning Under a Modern Optimization Lens
Planning and Policy ³
11.478	Behavioral Science, AI, and Urban Mobility
11.526[J]	Comparative Land Use and Transportation Planning
11.540	Urban Transportation Planning and Policy
Logistics ⁴
1.260[J]	Logistics Systems
15.764[J]	The Theory of Operations Management
15.762[J] & 15.763[J]	Supply Chain Analytics and Supply Chain: Capacity Analytics
Demand ⁵
1.202	Demand Modeling
1.205	Advanced Demand Modeling
14.380 & 14.381	Statistical Method in Economics and Estimation and Inference for Linear Causal and Structural Models ⁵
14.382	Econometrics ⁶
Unrestricted Electives
Select 54 units in consultation with your advisor.		54
Thesis
1.THG	Graduate Thesis ⁷	540
Total Units		648-666

Note: Students in this program can choose to receive the Doctor of Philosophy or the Doctor of Science in Transportation. Students receiving veterans benefits must select the degree they wish to receive prior to program certification with the Veterans Administration.

¹	Taken twice for a total of 6 units.
²	Students who take 6.C51 and 1.C51 to fulfill the Computation/Analytics Requirement may not also use those subjects to as part of the Machine Learning and Statistics area.
³	The Policy and Planning area also requires a written exam.
⁴	Students who do not take 1.260[J] to fulfill the Core Requirement must take either 15.764[J], or both 15.762[J] and 15.763[J]. Students who do take 1.260 to fulfill the Core Requirement must take 15.764, 15.762, and 15.763.
⁵	Students who do not take 1.202 to fulfill the Core Requirement must take 1.202, and either 1.205 or 14.382. Students who do take 1.202 to fulfill the Core Requirement must take either 1.205 and 14.382, or 1.205, 14.380, and 14.381.
⁶	Students can instead choose one of the following, more advanced subjects: 14.384 Time Series Analysis, 14.385 Nonlinear Econometric Analysis, or 14.386 New Econometric Methods.
⁷	Thesis units are based on the average duration of the doctoral program (five years) but will vary based on how long the student remains in the program.