Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Sustainable Systems Engineering

In addition to Faculty of Graduate Studies requirements, the Schulich School of Engineering requires:

• A minimum of 6 units of graduate courses beyond a MSc degree. For students who transfer from an MSc program, 18 units of graduate courses beyond the BSc, or equivalent, degree. After consultation with the supervisor and the Graduate Director, courses outside the Faculty or the University may be approved towards the degree requirements.

• All doctoral students are required to complete course and course in the first year of their degree program in addition to the minimum program/course requirements.

Students are expected to complete an eight-month, full-time or twelve-month, part-time paid internship after candidacy. Students who have confirmed an internship placement will be registered in the appropriate graduate internship course (course and/or course) during each 4-month work term of their internship. Students with extensive professional or industry experience may request an exemption from the internship; the Graduate Program Director will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.

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.

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.

Time limits

Expected completion time is four years in a doctoral program. Maximum completion time is six years.

Supervisory Assignments

All students are required to have a supervisor before the second annual registration. For students in the Doctor of Philosophy degree program, a supervisor is normally appointed at the time of admission. Supervisors and supervisory committees are assigned according to the Faculty of Graduate Studies regulations (see graduate academic regulations) and approved by Associate Dean – Sustainability.

Required Examinations

Doctoral Candidacy Requirements

All doctoral students in Sustainable Systems Engineering must successfully complete the following components prior to candidacy:

1. all course requirements (except INTE 614 or 615),

2. a written literature review (LR) in the student’s field of research,

3. a written thesis proposal (TP),

4. a field of study (FoS) oral examination.

Thesis Examinations

In addition to the Faculty of Graduate Studies requirements for Thesis Examinations, the Schulich School of Engineering minimum requirements are as follows:

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 Program 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 program, or an official organization. For information on awards, see the Awards and Financial Assistance section of this Calendar.