Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

The Ph.D. program in the Department of MIE is research-focused: the primary component is research that leads to an original contribution to knowledge, that is presented as a thesis. The research is carried out under the direction of a supervisor, in conjunction with a supervisory committee.

The Ph.D. program requires annual committee meetings to assess a student's progress. The first is the Qualifying Exam, which must be held within 12 months of registration for students who begin their program in September, and within 14 months for January or May registrants. In subsequent years, progress review meetings must be held at least annually from the initial date of registration. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the program within four years, which corresponds to the duration of guaranteed financial support.

The Department of MIE offers a flex-time Ph.D. option, for select students who wish to pursue a Ph.D. while continuing to work. The requirements of the flex-time Ph.D. are the same as those of the full-time program, described on this page. The only differences are in two timelines: flex-time Ph.D. students have 16 months to prepare for a qualifying exam, and the normal length of the flex-time Ph.D. program is six years rather than four. Flex-time Ph.D. students are not eligible for financial support. Information on the flex-time option is presented here.

Although a Ph.D. student will normally hold a Master's degree, it is possible for a Master's student to transfer registration to the Ph.D. program, without completing the Master's program, as described here.

Ph.D. Program Requirements

In addition to the coursework and thesis requirements detailed below, Ph.D. students in the Department of MIE must:

attend 70% of the MIE Seminar Series lectures during their first two years of registration;
attend the non-credit seminar course JDE1000H - Ethics in Research, preferably during their first year of registration.

Ph.D. students are subject to the SGS policy on Timely Completion of Graduate Program Requirements as specified in the SGS calendar. A Ph.D. student at the end of year three (i.e. the end of the 9th session), or for a direct-entry student year four (i.e. the end of the 12th session), is expected to have completed all program requirements exclusive of the thesis. The notation Candidacy Achieved will appear on the transcript of the student who has completed the above mentioned program requirements.

In the Department of MIE, a Ph.D. student achieves Candidacy at the end of year two when their coursework has been completed and a first progress review meeting has been held.

« Back to top

Coursework Requirement

Ph.D. students must complete five graduate-level half-courses, selected in consultation with the supervisor, and subject to the following:

three of the courses must be from MIE;
no more than one course can be at the 500-level;
one of the five courses may be a reading course, usually directed by the student's supervisor;
one of the five courses may be an APS course; additional APS courses will be marked as extra (EXT).

Transfer credit may be requested for up to two half-courses taken at another institution, that were not used for credit towards a degree. The grades earned for these courses must be at least an A-. The Graduate Studies Committee will decide whether the courses are at least equivalent to MIE graduate courses, and relevant to a degree in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering.

Two course failures will result in an automatic recommendation to SGS to terminate a student's program.

« Back to top

Thesis Requirement

The thesis is the primary component of the Ph.D. program and the end result of a Ph.D. student's research. The research must lead to an original and significant contribution to knowledge in a subject field, and be fully reported in the thesis document. It is also expected that the work will be published in the open literature, whether during or after the Ph.D. program. The research is carried out under the direction of a student's supervisor(s), and overseen by a supervisory committee.

The supervisory committee consists of the student's supervisor, who chairs the committee, and two other professors appointed as SGS Graduate Faculty, with expertise relevant to the thesis topic. The majority of committee members should be from the Department of MIE.

A student must meet with the supervisory committee at least annually to remain registered in the program. Each year, the committee evaluates recent progress, in order to assess whether the student remains in good academic standing, which requires that the student meet the requirements of the program described here, and is making satisfactory progress towards the completion of the degree.

Committee meetings are to be arranged by the supervisor, in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator. An Exam Request Form must be submitted by the supervisor to the MIE Graduate Studies Office at least ten business days before a meeting is to take place.

All MIE Ph.D. committee meetings are open to the public, unless otherwise requested by the student.

« Back to top

Qualifying Exam

The Ph.D. qualifying exam must be held within 12 months of registration for students who begin their program in September, within 14 months for January or May registrants, and within 16 months for students in the flex-time option. The qualifying exam evaluates both the student's background knowledge and the proposed research.

Prerequisites

Before a qualifying exam will be scheduled, a student must have successfully completed at least four courses, with at least a B+ average. A student who does not meet this requirement will not be allowed to sit the qualifying exam, and a recommendation to terminate the program will be submitted to SGS.

Research Proposal

Once a qualifying exam has been scheduled, the student must submit a research proposal to the committee members, at least ten working days prior to the scheduled exam. This document must be double-spaced and no longer than 10 pages (including figures, tables, and a short list of references). The research proposal should include the following elements: (i) a brief introduction to the research, including a brief literature review; (ii) a clear and concise statement of the objective(s) of the research; (iii) a clear description of the novel contribution of the work (i.e. how this work will extend current knowledge in the field); (iv) a statement on the relevance of the work (i.e. how the results will be used); (v) a list of the major tasks to be performed, and a proposed timetable for completion of each task, culminating in a thesis written within 48 months of initial registration; and (vi) a summary of progress to date. Given the 10 page limit, the committee will obviously expect that a student be able to expand on the information in the proposal during the exam. Click here for a pdf version of this advice.

The Exam

At the beginning of the exam, the committee briefly reviews the student's file in a closed-door session. The student is then asked to summarize the research proposal in a presentation of no more than 20 minutes. This is followed by questions from the committee members. The supervisor(s) may not respond or comment on behalf of the student during the presentation and questions.

Following the exam, the members of the committee vote on whether to pass or fail the student; the decision requires a simple majority. If the student has more than one supervisor, only one supervisor may vote.

If the student passes the qualifying exam, then the committee simply decides when next to meet with the student, for the first progress review meeting.

If the committee votes unanimously to fail the student, then the supervisor will write the student a letter explaining the vote, submit a copy of the letter to the Graduate Studies Office, and the Graduate Coordinator will immediately submit a recommendation to SGS to terminate the student's program.

If the committee votes 2 to 1 in favour of failing the student, then the exam is adjourned and a second exam is scheduled for within 12 weeks. The supervisor will write the student a letter explaining the reasons for adjournment, and submit a copy of the letter to the Graduate Studies Office. The format of the second (reconvened) exam is the same as the first, except that if the majority of the committee again votes to fail, then the Graduate Coordinator will immediately submit a recommendation to SGS to terminate the student's program.

« Back to top

Progress Review Meetings

Following the qualifying exam, and no later than 24 months from registration, all required course work and other requirements must have been completed, and the student must meet the supervisory committee for a progress review meeting. Subsequent review meetings must be held at least annually.

The progress review meetings allow the committee to assess the progress of the student, in order to decide whether the student remains in good academic standing.

Progress Report

Ahead of each progress review meeting, the student prepares a report of no more than 10 double-spaced pages, that (i) summarizes recent progress in the research, and (ii) lists the major tasks that remain, and a timetable for completion of the program. The student may include additional material as appendices to the report (and should refer to this material in the report); the committee, however, is not obliged to read this additional material. The report must be submitted to the committee members at least ten working days prior to the scheduled meeting.

The Meeting

At the progress review meeting, the committee briefly reviews the student's file. The student is then asked to summarize recent progress and to propose a plan for completion of the program, in a presentation of no more than 20 minutes. This is followed by questions from the committee members.

Following the meeting, the members of the committee vote on whether the student has made satisfactory progress. If the committee votes yes, then the committee must decide when next to meet with the student.

If the majority of the committee votes no, then the supervisor will write the student a letter explaining the vote, submit a copy of the letter to the Graduate Studies Office, and another meeting will be scheduled for within 12 weeks, for which the student will prepare another report. At the subsequent (reconvened) meeting, the committee will vote simply on whether the student is to be allowed to continue in the program. If a majority of the committee votes no, then the Graduate Coordinator will immediately submit a recommendation to SGS to terminate the student's program.

« Back to top

Departmental Oral Exam

When all other requirements have been met, and the Ph.D. student has prepared a polished draft of the thesis, the student submits the draft to the supervisory committee. Based on a review of the draft, the committee votes on whether to require that the student attend a Departmental Oral Exam, or whether the student may proceed directly to the SGS Final Oral Exam. The decision is based on a simple majority of the votes.

The rules of the Departmental Oral Exam are similar to those of the Qualifying Exam. The student summarizes the thesis in a presentation of no more than 20 minutes. This is followed by questions from the committee members.

Following the exam, the members of the committee vote on whether to pass or fail the student; the decision requires a simple majority. If the student passes the exam, and when the thesis has been corrected/revised as per instructions from the committee, then the supervisor may request the MIE Graduate Studies Office to schedule the SGS Final Oral exam.

If the committee votes 2 to 1 in favour of failing the student, then a second exam is scheduled for within 12 weeks. The supervisor will write the student a letter explaining the reasons for adjournment, and submit a copy of the letter to the Graduate Studies Office. The format of the second (reconvened) exam is the same as the first, except that the committee can only vote to pass or fail, as determined by a simple majority of the votes.

« Back to top

SGS Ph.D. Final Oral Exam (FOE)

Detailed information on the SGS Final Oral Exam (FOE) is available here. Students approaching the end of their program are strongly encouraged to review this information.

SGS mandates that a quorum of four voting members attend the FOE. If a student has two supervisors, only one may vote. As a result, the Department of MIE requires that the committee have at least five voting members: the FOE committee should include the thesis supervisory committee, one other examiner from the University of Toronto not closely involved in the supervision of the thesis, and an examiner external to the University of Toronto. Exceptions to this format must be approved by the MIE Graduate Coordinator and by SGS. The student's supervisor must submit an Examination Committee Nomination Form to the Graduate Studies Office at least eight weeks (not including holidays) before the proposed exam date.

SGS must approve the external examiner, based on criteria posted here. Once approved, the thesis may then be sent to the external examiner, who must return a written appraisal at least two weeks before the exam, to be distributed to the student and the exam committee.

After the SGS Final Oral Exam

Following a successful SGS Ph.D. FOE, and once the thesis has been finalized, the Ph.D. student must submit a final thesis.

Students are also required to submit a complete and signed Clearance Form to the Graduate Studies Office.

« Back to top