Program Overview
As a PhD student in the field of Civil Engineering, you can play a vital role in future developments in such areas as design of foundations, water quality, sediment transportation, pipeline flow, construction and rehabilitation of structures, and many other areas. Civil Engineering has a wide range of applications that contribute to modern life and its infrastructure. Graduate students and their work are an important part of an ongoing research process that provides the community with ways of understanding natural, cultural, imaginative, social, and technological phenomena.
The PhD program is a research-based program that also includes a thesis. It provides candidates with advanced knowledge, preparing them for a career in research in university, government, or industry sectors.
The minimum Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Graduate Council requirements for the program beyond the master’s degree are 3 term-length graduate courses (or equivalent). Individual departments may require more than three courses. Only 1 course of the required 3 may be a combined undergraduate/graduate course (also known as a double numbered 400/800 course), research and thesis, and a comprehensive examination. The objective of the comprehensive exam is to establish to the satisfaction of the department that the student has a sound proposal for PhD research, an effective grasp of their main and related areas of study, and the ability to handle facts, new ideas, and concepts at the PhD level.
The exam must be completed within four to eighteen months of registering in the PhD program. Details of these comprehensive examinations are available upon request from the Graduate Assistant in the department.
All research students must successfully complete CIVL 801, a non-credit course in laboratory safety, at the first opportunity after their initial registration. This is a requirement to graduate.
