Sustainable Systems Engineering - PhD - Thesis

The PhD in Sustainable Systems Engineering at the University of Calgary is a thesis-based doctoral program, currently the only one of its kind in Alberta and in Canada, that prepares students to identify the factors driving negative environmental impacts and to design and evaluate options to mitigate them across systems such as cities, energy, materials, and food. Students complete a minimum of two graduate courses plus professional development seminars, an eight-month full-time (or twelve-month part-time) paid internship, a literature review, a thesis proposal, and a Field of Study oral examination, before completing original research defended at an open thesis examination. The program is normally completed in four years of full-time study, with a maximum completion window of six years. Admission requires an MSc degree, an MSc transfer, or, exceptionally, a BSc or BEng degree, along with a minimum GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale over the two most recent years of full-time study, a CV, a research proposal, and two reference letters. Applicants whose first language is not English must meet the Faculty of Science's English language proficiency requirements. The program admits students in September, January, and May.