Ph.D. in Business Technologies

Our Ph.D. in Business Technologies program gives students unparalleled expertise in economics of technologies. The program emphasizes quantitative research of the design, use and evaluation of emerging technologies, including but not limited to artificial intelligence/machine learning, blockchain/cryptocurrencies, digital platforms and future of work.

In the Business Technologies (BT) Ph.D. program, only a handful of exceptional students are admitted each year. The small size of the program provides opportunities for close interactions between Ph.D. students and faculty. Faculty and Ph.D. students frequently collaborate on research projects and scholarly papers.

The BT Ph.D. program distinguishes itself from others in that the students in the program master not only the core material in economics but also machine learning/artificial intelligence. Depending on the student’s research interests, the student is also guided to take other relevant technology courses from other schools on campus, especially the School of Computer Science.

The curriculum builds foundations for students that allow them to investigate highly relevant technology questions with strong economic theoretical underpinnings. The BT group at the Tepper School is tightly integrated with other areas at Tepper School such as Marketing and Economics, as well as other schools such as the School of Computer Science. Students have the opportunity to collaborate with world-class economists and computer scientists and are encouraged to take advantage of the many interdisciplinary resources available at Carnegie Mellon.

The program has a track record of producing exceptional Ph.D. graduates who have received placements as assistant professors in top schools in not only Business Technology/Information Systems but also Marketing departments.

Our graduates have placed as assistant professors at:

  • Harvard Business School
  • Stern School of Business at New York University
  • Ross School of Business at University of Michigan
  • Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University
  • Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Olin School of Business at Washington University
  • McCombs School of Business at University of Texas at Austin
  • Foster School of Business at University of Washington
  • Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California

Below are some of our recent placement records (first placement):

  • Nikhil Malik (2021) - Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
  • Shunyuan Zhang (2019) - Harvard Business School
  • Elina Hwang (2015) - Foster School of Business University of Washington
  • Yan Huang (2013) - Ross School of Business University of Michigan
  • Baojun Jiang (2011) - Olin School of Business Washington University
  • Liye Ma (2011) - Smith School of Business University of Maryland
  • Vineet Kumar (2010) - Harvard Business School
  • Ashish Agarwal (2009) - McCombs School of Business University of Texas Austin
  • Anindya Ghose (2004) - Stern School of Business New York University
  • Rahul Telang (2002) - Heinz College Carnegie Mellon University
  • M.S. Krishnan (1996) - Ross School of Management University of Michigan

Visit our Ph.D. Student Profiles page to view the profiles of our current doctoral candidates.

Requirements for a Ph.D. in Business Technologies

The requirements for the Ph.D. in Business Technologies include all of those for Tepper Ph.D. students, including the First Year Paper and the Second Year Paper, plus the following:

Core Courses*

  • Microeconomics I
  • Microeconomics II
  • Econometrics I
  • Econometrics II
  • Machine Learning
  • BT Seminar – Econo-mining
  • BT Seminar – Estimating Dynamic and Structural Models
  • BT Seminar III and IV – Topics will change every year

*The content covered in these courses will be part of the qualifiers, as a result, they should be completed by the end of the 3rd semester.

Recommended Courses

  • Microeconomics III
  • Topics in Applied Economics: Structural Models
  • Topics in Applied Economics: Advanced Econometrics
  • Topics in Applied Economics: IO
  • Topics in Applied Economics: Causality
  • Bayesian Statistics in Marketing
  • Analytical Models in Marketing
  • Deep Reinforcement Learning and Control
  • Convex Optimization
  • Probabilistic graphic models
  • Dynamic Programming

All students in BT take Economics as the reference discipline. 

Qualifiers

By the end of the third semester, students must pass the qualifying exams in Business Technologies (see below), and a subset of the Economics qualifying exams focusing on micro-economics and econometrics.   Students with appropriate preparation prior to their entry to the program may choose to take the qualifying exams prior to the third semester, however, they must take the entire set of qualifiers as outlined below. 

There will be two BT exams: Breadth and Depth

  • BT Breadth Exam: The breadth exam tests the student on the content covered in the seminars.
  • BT Depth Exam: The depth exam tests the student’s knowledge on a chosen topic.  

Economics: Students are required to take the following qualifiers:

  • Microeconomics I and II
  • Econometrics I and II