Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
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In addition to the Faculty of Graduate Studies requirements and the Schulich School of Engineering requirements, the Department normally requires:
a) For students entering the PhD program with a MSc or equivalent, at least 6 units beyond the Master's degree are required at the graduate level (600-level or higher).
b) For students without a MSc or equivalent, at least 21 units at the graduate level (600-level or higher) are required. Of these courses, 6 units may be taken from outside the Department, no more than 3 units can be a senior undergraduate course (500-level), and three units must be selected from either course or course.
c) In addition to the courses listed in (a) or (b), students must present at the annual Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Conference before their candidacy exam to receive credit for course.
d) Following the candidacy exam, students must make one additional presentation at the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Conference in the Winter Term as partial fulfillment of the degree requirement.
e) Students wishing to complete the Pipeline Engineering Specialization must complete 9 units of pipeline engineering approved courses with a pipeline engineering project.
Note: The student's supervisor and the Associate Head (Graduate Studies) must approve all courses taken outside of the department.
Pipeline Engineering Approved Courses:
This list is provided as a reference. At the discretion of the Graduate Program Director and the Director of the Pipeline Engineering Centre (PEC), additional courses may be approved for the pipeline engineering specialization. Please be advised that not all of these courses may be offered in any one semester. For more information about approved courses, contact the Graduate Program Advisor at gradenme@ucalgary.ca.
Further information about this specialization is available on the Pipeline Engineering Centre’s website https://schulich.ucalgary.ca/pec.
Advanced Credit
The applicant must make Advanced Credit requests as part of the admission process, in consultation with the proposed supervisor and the Graduate Director. Credit will not be given for course work taken as part of another completed degree/diploma or for courses taken to bring the grade point average to a required level for admission. Students who receive advanced course credit when admitted to a master’s program may be able to accelerate the completion of their degree.
Flexible Grade Option (CG Grade)
Students admitted to the Schulich School of Engineering will not be allowed to request the Flexible Grade Option (CG Grade) for any course that is applicable to their degree; or apply any course awarded a grade of CG towards their graduation requirements.
Students may choose the CG grade for a course taken extra to load.
The use of the CG grade will affect students' eligibility for internal awards.
Credit for Undergraduate Courses
See Program/Course requirements for details.
Time Limit
Typical completion time is three to four years in a doctoral program. Maximum completion time is six years for a doctoral program.
See individual program pages on the Future Students website: https://ucalgary.ca/future-students/graduate/explore-programs.
Other Information
Students may hire an editor to copyedit their theses subject to the conditions outlined in the Faculty of Graduate Studies thesis guidelines.
Graduate students have the opportunity to participate in the Transformative Talent Internship option.
Supervisory Assignments
Supervisors and supervisory committees are assigned according to the Faculty of Graduate Studies regulations (see academic regulations) and are approved by the Department Head or the Graduate Program Director.
Required Examinations
The Schulich School of Engineering has established common minimum examination requirements for all its graduate programs.
Doctoral Candidacy Requirements
All Doctoral students must pass an oral Field of Study examination and an oral defence of the thesis proposal. The Field of Study examination is closed book and closed notes. No electronic devices can be accessed during the examination. For complete details of the examination format and other candidacy requirements, see the Candidacy Requirements document available on the Department website.
Doctoral Final Oral Examination
Scheduling of the Examination
All members of the Supervisory Committee must have reviewed the student’s research, including a relevant written sample of the materials related to the thesis before an examination can be scheduled.
Composition of the Committee
The examining committee consists of: the Supervisory Committee, an Internal Examiner who may be internal to the home program, and one member external to the University of Calgary. The examination is chaired by a neutral chair (non-voting), proposed by the Department Head or Graduate Director. The examining committee must be approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The student shall make a public twenty-minute presentation of their thesis research, normally immediately before the oral examination. Examining committee members should attend this presentation but should refrain from asking questions during the presentation. The maximum allowable two-hour examination period does not include the time spent on student presentation.
Thesis oral examinations are open.
Thesis-based candidates are typically admitted with financial support provided by an interested supervisor, the department, or an official organization. For information on awards, see the Awards and Financial Assistance section of this Calendar.