Carnegie Mellon University

Behavioral Marketing and Decision Research


This joint Ph.D. program in Behavioral Marketing and Decision Research is a unique opportunity to master two disciplines. The intersection of these two areas, Marketing and Behavioral Decision Research, is at the forefront of work in consumer behavior, psychology, economics and policy. Because this is a joint program, the requirements to complete it successfully include requirements from both the Tepper School of Business (Tepper) and the Department of Social and Decision Sciences (SDS). However, because of the overlap in these two disciplines, many of the requirements for each program apply to the other (e.g., one of the two summer research papers required by Tepper will also satisfy the SDS research paper requirement).

Because this is a joint program, oversight will be handled by the Joint Program Oversight Committee (JPOC). This committee is comprised of the Director of Graduate Studies at SDS, the head of the Tepper Ph.D. Committee, and one faculty liaison between these areas. Most decisions regarding Ph.D. students in this program will be handled by the JPOC. However, it is important to note that students are considered members of both the Tepper School and SDS. This means that decisions regarding Ph.D. education made by those schools separately also apply to students in this joint program. That is, the Graduate Education Committee (GEC) at SDS and the Ph.D. committee at Tepper may make changes to the general requirements for ALL graduate students in their respective areas. These changes also apply to joint program students.