Academic Regulations
- See the General Regulations section of this Calendar.
Admission Requirements
- An Honours B.Sc. in Physics or a closely related field at a standard acceptable to the two universities is normally required for admission to the M.Sc. program.
- The admissions committee may require students to take an orientation examination during the first weeks of residence. The results of this examination may indicate the need for a student to register in undergraduate courses to fill gaps in his/her knowledge.
- It is strongly recommended that all students have had at least one course in computing.
- Candidates admitted to the M.Sc. program with more than the minimum course requirements may be permitted to credit towards the degree a maximum of 1.0 credit at the senior undergraduate level. This maximum does not apply to qualifying-year students.
Program Requirements
M.Sc. with Thesis:
- 2.5 credits of course work
- A thesis (2.5 credits) defended at an oral examination
- Participation in the seminar series of the Institute
Students with academic preparation particularly well suited for their chosen field of study may have their course credit requirements reduced to 2.0 credits. In this case, a 3.0-credit thesis will be required.
The minimum number of courses is 1.5 credits. At least 1.0 credit must consist of lecture courses at the graduate level. The courses PHYS 5900 and PHYS 5901 are courses on Selected Topics, normally given as directed studies, and cannot fulfil this lecture course requirement. Most students will be expected to take PHYS 5002, or another equivalent computing physics course. Students in experimental or theoretical particle physics streams will normally include PHYS 5601, PHYS 5602, PHYS 5701 and PHYS 5702 among their courses.
Medical Physics Stream
The three areas of specialization are: imaging, therapy, and biophysics. All students are required to take PHYS 5203 and 0.5 credit appropriate physics course from an area of physics other than medical physics. In addition:
- For imaging, PHYS 5204 is required
- For therapy, PHYS 5206 is required
- For biophysics, 0.5 credit chosen from PHYS 5207, cell biology, physiology or anatomy is required
Students with a medical/health physics background may have the selection of required courses adjusted to reflect their preparation and may receive advanced standing for equivalent courses.
A selection from PHYS 5208, PHYS 5209, or, (with approval) other appropriate courses in physics, engineering, computer science, business or law can be used to complete the program.
In special cases, the requirements may also be met by taking 5.0 credits of course work. 1.0 credit must be the selected topics course PHYS 5900.
Physics in modern technology stream:
- 3.0 credits of course work
- PHYS 5905
- Students will normally include two of PHYS 5002, PHYJ 5003, PHYJ 5004, PHYJ 5005 among their courses.
Students enrolled in the physics in modern technology stream are required to complete a work term rather than a research thesis. Students in this stream who wish to pursue a research degree should consult with the graduate supervisor. Although every effort is made to find a work term position for every student enrolled in the physics in modern technology stream, no guarantee of employment can be made. To minimize the likelihood of a work term position not being found, enrolment will be limited to reflect the availability of work term placements. In the event that a work term placement cannot be found, students may fulfil the M.Sc. requirements with courses only as described above.
