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Infrastructure Protection and International Security


Mackenzie Building
Room 3452
Tel.: 613-520-2600 ext. 1228
Fax: 613-520-3951

The Program

Director: A. O. Abd El Halim
Associate Director: D. Rowlands

The program of studies leading to the Master of Infrastructure Protection and International Security Program combines resources from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University to create a unique multi-disciplinary program.   The goal of the program is to provide the skills and training required for infrastructure policy managers to enhance the security of national and international infrastructure in the current security context.  The master’s program is designed to provide graduate students with an interdisciplinary knowledge of engineering and security issues pertaining to critical national infrastructure. From the perspective of this program, critical national infrastructure encompasses the sectors involved in civil aviation, cyber-systems, energy, transport, telecommunications, and water supply. Particular attention will be paid to the threats, from terrorism and natural disasters, vulnerabilities, risks, and policy responses -- national and international -- relating to the security of critical national infrastructure.

The objective of the program is to provide graduate students from the disciplines of engineering and international affairs, or those with existing infrastructure protection or management experience, with a professionally oriented degree focused on critical infrastructure protection and policy.  To achieve this objective, Engineering students enhance their skills and knowledge about infrastructure security along with insights into threat assessments and policy options, while students from International Affairs acquire familiarity with threat and policy analysis coupled with a deepened awareness of related engineering issues and solutions.  Students with relevant undergraduate degrees and existing infrastructure protection or management experience will acquire an expanded analytic framework for application. The learning outcome will be engineers and policy managers who are better able to understand each others’ disciplines and better equipped to work together in key roles for the protection of critical national infrastructure.

Applications to the program are submitted on-line, either through the Department of Civil or Environmental Engineering, or the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.  The deadline for submission of applications for students who wish to be considered for financial assistance is January 31 of each year.  Students may be admitted after this deadline, but may not receive an offer of funding. Admission decisions are made by a Joint Admissions Committee made up of faculty members from both of these units.  A research supervisor or an academic advisor from one of the two participating units will be assigned at the time of admission.

Master’s Program

 

Admission Requirements

The minimum requirement for admission into the Master’s program is a B.A. (Honours) degree in a discipline related to International Affairs or a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.  Students will normally be expected to have high honours standing to be considered for admission into the program.

In conformity with the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, applicants whose first language or language of instruction for their first degree is not English must be tested for proficiency in English.  Applicants in this situation must submit a CAEL Assessment™ score of a minimum of 70 or a TOEFL score of 250 (computer-based).

Students admitted to the M.I.P.I.S program must have successfully completed at least 0.5 credit in microeconomics or engineering economics, and must demonstrate some capacity in basic mathematics.  Students who have not completed either senior secondary school mathematics or introductory microeconomics at the time of their application will have their admission into the program made conditional upon successful completion of MATH 0005 (Precalculus: Functions and Graphs) or ECOR 3800 (Engineering Economics) or their equivalent.

Program Requirements

Students in the M.I.P.I.S. program are required to successfully complete a total of 5.0 credits.  Additional requirements may be stipulated, depending on the background of the individual student.

Students have the choice of several program options:

  • 5.0 credits of course work only
  • 4.0 credits of course work and a 1.0 credit research project
  • 4.0 credits of course work and a 1.0 credit research essay.

 

All masters students are required to complete:

Four compulsory courses (2.0 credits):

  • IPIS 5101 [0.5 credit] Critical Infrastructure Protection: Issues and Strategies
  • IPIS 5102 [0.5 credit] Introduction to Infrastructure Management
  • IPIS 5103 [0.5 credit] Infrastructure Engineering Principles
  • IPIS 5104 [0.5 credit] Terrorism and International Security (INAF 5244)     

1.0 credit selected from:

  • IPIS 5301 [0.5 credit] Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation (INAF 5201)
  • IPIS 5302 [0.5 credit] International Security after the Cold War (INAF 5202)
  • IPIS 5303 [0.5 credit] Intelligence Statecraft and International Affairs (INAF 5204)
  • IPIS 5304 [0.5 credit] Intelligence and National Security: Policies and Operations (INAF 5224)
  • IPIS 5305 [0.5 credit] National Security Policy and Law (INAF 5234)

           
1.0 credit selected from:

  • IPIS 5501 [0.5 credit] Transportation and Aviation Security
  • IPIS 5502 [0.5 credit] Infrastructure Assets Management
  • IPIS 5503 [0.5 credit] People in Fires (CIVE 5611)
  • IPIS 5504 [0.5 credit] Fundamentals of Fire Safety Engineering (CIVE 5609)
  • IPIS 5505 [0.5 credit] Geohazards
  • IPIS 5506 [0.5 credit] Public Health Safety
  • IPIS 5507 [0.5 credit] Blast-load Effects on Structures

Remaining 1.0 credit may be selected as follows:

Coursework Program Option:

  • 1.0 credit from (a) graduate courses listed above, or courses offered by the Faculty of Engineering or the Faculty of Public Affairs that have been selected in consultation with, and approved by, the MIPIS Director and Associate Director.   

Research Project Option:

  • IPIS 5907 [1.0 credit] Infrastructure Engineering Project

Research Essay Option:

  • IPIS 5908 [1.0 credit] Research Essay

 

Graduate Courses

Not all of the following courses are offered in a given year.  For an up-to-date statement of course offerings and to determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca

IPIS 5101 [0.5 credit
Critical Infrastructure Protection:  Issues and Strategies
Examines critical infrastructure, its interdependencies, vulnerabilities, and security requirements; intentional and natural risks; policy responses to threat and vulnerability assessments; risk management approaches, prevention and protective security, emergency management and damage mitigation measures; continuity of critical operations and resilience planning.
IPIS 5102 [0.5 credit
Introduction to Infrastructure Management 
Infrastructure management and its relationship to facility and asset management; challenges facing infrastructure managers; tools for effective IM; concept of total quality management;  economic analysis of maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction; use of life cycle cost analysis in decision making, development and use of IM systems.
Precludes additional credit for CIVE5809 (2005-2007)
IPIS 5103 [0.5 credit
Infrastructure Engineering Principles
Introduction to infrastructure engineering: civil, municipal/environmental, energy, communications, and military infrastructure systems; engineering principles; design, analysis and construction techniques; lifecycle performance, maintenance and retrofit strategies; optimization, asset-management; decision-making and decision support tools.
IPIS 5104 [0.5 credit
Terrorism and International Security
Contemporary international terrorism in comparative perspective; religious and ideological parameters motivating terrorism; sociology of recruitment and participation; evolving structure and dynamics of terror networks; terrorism finance, operations and related activities; impact of counter-terrorism measures; examples are drawn from international and domestic terrorism.
IPIS 5301 [0.5 credit
Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation
Origins, theory and practice, with a focus on so-called weapons of mass destruction and current controversies. Emphasis on treaty negotiation and implementation, including monitoring, verification, facilitation and enforcement of compliance.
Precludes additional credit for INAF 5201
IPIS 5302 [0.5 credit
International Security after the Cold War
The evolving strategic and security environment since the end of the Cold War, encompassing both traditional and non-traditional concepts. Topics include hegemonism; the rise of new powers; terrorism; multilateralism; human security; and new security threats, including climate change.
Precludes additional credit for INAF 5202
IPIS 5303 [0.5 credit
Intelligence Statecraft and International Affairs
The role of intelligence in foreign and security policy after the Cold War. Evolution of intelligence as regards strategic and policy requirements, the capabilities of selected services, interactions within government and civil society. Emphasis on the structure and functions of Canada's intelligence community.
Precludes additional credit for INAF 5204
IPIS 5304 [0.5 credit
Intelligence and National Security: Policies and Operations
The roles and activities of intelligence services of selected countries. Their performance will be assessed in the light of historical experience, and in the context of the policy, legal and ethical constraints.
Precludes additional credit for INAF 5224
IPIS 5305 [0.5 credit
National Security Policy and Law
The international legal and policy implications of identifying and responding to national security threats. Topics include: intelligence gathering; verification regimes; military and counter-terrorism operations; criminal prosecution; and, balancing human rights and security concerns.
Precludes additional credit for INAF 5234
IPIS 5501 [0.5 credit
Transportation and Aviation Security
Canadian Public Security Strategy and Transportation System security environment; Civil Aviation security and operations: trends, impacts, and implications of evolving policies, operations, and technologies; security vulnerabilities in the transportation system; transportation of hazardous materials; secure movements on roads, highways and railways.
IPIS 5502 [0.5 credit
Infrastructure Assets Management
Municipal infrastructure systems: portable water systems, waste and storm water collection and treatment, roads, sidewalks, bridges and overpasses; decision-making in municipal environment; elements of asset management systems: inventory, diagnostic and condition assessment, performance and prediction, valuation, planning and lifecycle analysis; prioritization of interventions.
Precludes additional credit for CIVE5706 (2005-2007)
IPIS 5503 [0.5 credit
People in Fires
Review of the work presented by the founders in the field of human behaviour in fire. Introduction to the basic notions of perception, cognition, information processing, decision-making and problem solving. Behavioural concepts such as panic, commitment, affiliation, familiarity and role are discussed.
Precludes additional credit for CIVE 5708 (2001-2003), CIVE 5611
IPIS 5504 [0.5 credit
Fundamentals of Fire Safety
The fire safety system; social, economic and environmental issues; description of the fire safety regulatory system and the governing building codes and standards. This includes the global fire safety system in a facility and active fire protection systems; detection, suppression, smoke management.
Precludes additional credit for CIVE 5707 (2001-2003),CIVE 5609
IPIS 5505  [0.5 credit
Geohazards
Earthquakes and ground motion, Tsunamis, Landslides, Liquefaction; soil properties for ground response analysis: laboratory tests, in-situ tests; Dams and Embankments, Slope stability, seismic effects on slope stability, retaining structures
IPIS 5506 [0.5 credit
Public Health Safety
Public health protection: environmental, political, and societal issues; microbes in water, food, and air; toxic chemicals and heavy metals; detection, and fate of chemicals and pathogens in the environment; epidemiology; toxicology; risk assessment; water supply and treatment.
IPIS 5507 [0.5 credit
Blast-load Effects on Structures
Threats, risk analysis, vulnerability assessment; explosives: types and mechanisms; load determination; response of structural elements under blast loads, analysis and design for blast loads; blast mitigation, retrofit of structures; post-event assessment.
Precludes additional credit for CIVE5707 (2007-2008)
IPIS 5907 [1.0 credit
Infrastructure Engineering Project
Students enrolled in the project option will conduct a study, analysis, or design project that relates to the protection and security of infrastructure under the general supervision of a member of the department.
IPIS 5908 [1.0 credit
Research Essay
Under the general guidance of a research supervisor, students enrolled in the research essay option will conduct independent research on a relevant topic that integrates the infrastructure, engineering and security elements of their program of study.