Program Structure and Requirements
Overall Program Structure
The PhD in Earth Sciences consists of a minimum 72 credit hours, distributed as follows: 36 credit hours of coursework, 36 credit hours of PhD Dissertation, two zero credit PhD Seminar courses, as well as PhD Written Qualifying and PhD Research Proposal Examinations. The components of the program are summarized in the table below.
| Category |
Credit Hours |
| Core Courses |
21 |
| Technical Electives |
15 |
| SCIE 702 PhD Research Seminar I |
0 |
| SCIE 703 PhD Research Seminar II |
0 |
| SCIE 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam |
0 |
| SCIE 796 PhD Research Proposal Exam |
0 |
| PhD Research Dissertation |
36 |
| Total |
72 |
All the courses that the students will take are at PhD level. The students will only be able to attempt SCIE 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) after successfully completing a minimum of 27 credits of formal coursework.
Program Requirements
Students seeking the degree of PhD in Earth Sciences must successfully complete a minimum 72 credit hours as specified in the program requirements detailed below, with a minimum CGPA of 3.0. Course selection should be made in consultation with the student’s Main Advisor. All courses listed below have a credit rating of three credits each, except for PhD Research Seminar, Written Qualifying Exam, Research Proposal Exam, and the PhD Research Dissertation.
Program Core (21 credit hours)
Students must complete the core courses listed below.
Core Courses
Program Electives (15 credit hours)
Students must complete a total of five elective courses. Program electives are listed below.
Program Elective Courses
| ERTH 701 | Petroleum Systems | 3 |
| ERTH 711 | Carbonate Petrology and Stratigraphy | 3 |
| ERTH 713 | Rock Physics | 4 |
| ERTH 714 | Seismic Interpretation in Petroleum Exploration and Production | 3 |
| ERTH 715 | Seismic Modelling and Imaging | 4 |
| ERTH 718 | Biogeochemical Cycles | 3 |
| ERTH 719 | Deformation and Structures of Sedimentary Rocks | 3 |
| ERTH 720 | Organic Geochemistry | 3 |
| ERTH 721 | Sedimentary Basins Analysis | 4 |
| ERTH 723 | Isotope Geochemistry of Sedimentary Systems | 3 |
| ERTH 724 | Clastic Sedimentology and Depositional Systems | |
| ERTH 756 | Climate & Atmospheric Dynamics | 3 |
| ERTH 757 | Global Change, Nat Haz & Disas | 3 |
| ERTH 758 | Phys & Chem of Solar System | 3 |
| ERTH 759 | Astrobiology | 3 |
| ERTH 793 | Special Topics in Earth Science | 4 |
Subject to approval of the Main Advisor and the Program Coordinator, up to two electives (6 credits) may be taken from outside the student’s department and ONLY chosen from the list below, if these courses support the student’s dissertation topic.
Elective Courses from Other Departments
Chemistry
| CHEM 711 | Recent Developments in Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 712 | Recent Developments in Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 714 | Recent Developments in Analytical Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 716 | Recent Developments in Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
Mathematics
| MATH 706 | Modern Statistical Predictionand Data Mining | 3 |
| MATH 708 | Partial Differential Equations | 3 |
Physics
| PHYS 707 | Advanced Solid State Physics | 3 |
| PHYS 708 | Theoretical Astroparticle Physics | 3 |
| PHYS 709 | Experimental Techniques in Astroparticle Physics | 3 |
| PHYS 710 | Planetary Astrophysics | 3 |
| PHYS 712 | Atomic and Molecular Physics for Space Scientists | 3 |
Chemical Engineering
| CHEG 720 | Modelling and Engineering of Microbial Environmental Bioprocesses | 3 |
Civil Engineering
| CIVE 703 | Groundwater Hydrology | 3 |
| CIVE 707 | Environmental Remote Sensing and Satellite Image Processing | 3 |
| CIVE 719 | Climate Dynamics | 3 |
Mechanical Engineering
| MEEN 782 | Materials Characterization Techniques | 3 |
| MSEN 712 | Imaging of Materials: Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis | 3 |
Petroleum Engineering
| PEEG 730 | Fluid Flow and Transport Processes in Porous Media | 3 |
PhD Research Dissertation (36 credit hours)
Students must complete a Dissertation that involves creative, research-oriented work within the field of Earth Sciences, under direct supervision of a full-time faculty advisor from the Earth Sciences Department, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as a co-advisor. The outcome of research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others. The research findings must be documented in a formal dissertation and defended successfully in a viva voce examination.
Dissertation