Graduate Student Handbook

Western ONECard

The Western ONECard functions as an identification card for your identity at Western. It is also a library card, meal plan card, and can be used for door access and vending machine purchases.

You may obtain your Western ONECard in the Student Central Office. Please have your Western ID number and one piece of photo identification such as:

• Driver's license
• Citizenship card
• Passport
• Other government issued photo ID

For further details, including important conditions surround use and ownership, please visit Western ONECard.

Obtaining Keys for Physics and Astronomy

Access to the Physics & Astronomy Building and to office rooms as well as infrastructure rooms (mail room, copy machine room, etc.) will be organized by the Graduate Assistant. Your access will either be via a code to type in at the door or with your Western ONECard.

To receive a key to a laboratory you need request the key on-line. Before you do so contact your supervisor and find out for which room you will need a key. Typically different labs of an individual faculty member have the same cylinder. Therefore only one key might be necessary.

Go to Facilities Management’s KeyRequests website. http://www.uwo.ca/fm/client_services/keys.html Click on “Sign In”.

You will need to login using your Western username and password. Use the drop-down boxes to select the key you need.

Within a few days you will receive an e-mail saying your key is ready to be picked up at the Parking & Visitor Service Office in the Support Service Building – SSB 4150. When you go to pick up your key(s), make sure you have your Western ONECard with you.

Graduate students do not need to pay a deposit for the keys.

Western Email Account

The University provides an e-mail account to all faculty, staff and students, to be used in conjunction with their duties or activities at the University.

In order to activate your account you will need to go to the ITS Acceptable Use Policy page. You will need to know your Personal Computer Account Login name and password. If you do not know your login name and password, please contact the Computer Accounts Office and provide your Western ID number to identify yourself. Your account will normally be activated within 2 hours.

You must use your Western e-mail account. Staff and faculty may not reply to messages sent from non-Western accounts. Please use your Western email account at all times when communicating with campus staff and faculty.

Parking

Parking on the Western campus is limited and permits must be purchased by all academic staff, staff and students wishing to park vehicles on campus. Parking permits are transponders that activate electronic gates. This transponder can be obtained from Western Parking & Visitor Services. To obtain your permit, you will need to provide Parking Services with the make/type of vehicle and License plate number as well as your Western ID number. There is a cost to parking.

General Expectations of Gradaute Reports and/or Theses

The report/thesis must contain a scholarly approach to the subject concerned and the student must display a thorough knowledge of said subject. While portions of a report/thesis may be submitted for publication, the contents of the report/thesis must represent a unified research project rather than a collection of unrelated projects. Acceptance of portions of the report/thesis for publication prior to the report/thesis submission does not mean examiners are obliged to accept the content of the report/thesis.

Expectations of a Master’s student and report and/or thesis

A MSc student must complete research of good scientific quality under the guidance of the supervisor. In the report/thesis, the student shall provide the scientific background for the study, frame specific questions or hypotheses, present the results of appropriately designed experimental, observational or theoretical studies, and interpret the findings in relation to the current literature in the field. The results may lead to a publication in a scientific journal. In general, a M.Sc. student shall demonstrate scientific thinking, problem solving ability, and sound scientific communication.

Expectations of a Doctoral student and thesis

A Ph.D. student shall meet all of the expectations of a M.Sc. student with the following extensions of expectation. A Ph.D. student must demonstrate capability of original and independent work. The literature shall be reviewed in greater depth and with careful, critical analysis. The student shall have designed a sophisticated set of experiments or series of observations that will produce a substantial set of results. The interpretation of this set of results shall be critical and thorough, and the thesis should provide a vision for future work that would address unresolved questions raised in the thesis. The thesis research shall be of publishable quality. Ideally, in cases where it is possible, some or all of the thesis research will be published or submitted for publication prior to the defense of the thesis. The general expectations of a Ph.D. student include independence, creativity, originality, as well as demonstration of critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and scientific communication.

Assessment to evaluate whether a student has met the above expectations

Students are assessed formally and informally throughout their progress through the Physics and Astronomy graduate programs, with the major goal of providing feedback and guidance. The most important and obvious formal assessment is the oral defense of the thesis, which occurs at the end of the program. Other formal avenues of assessment include the ACM progress reports and for Ph.D. students the Comprehensive Examination (hereafter referred to as Comprehensive) with its two components. Advisory committee meetings are an important source of less formal assessment and feedback. Additional opportunity for assessment comes from participation in the graduate student seminars, organized separately for Physics and Astronomy. Collectively, these formal and informal assessments help to ensure that a student is prepared for the thesis defense.

Satisfying Progression Requirements

Successful completion of the Graduate Programs in Physics or Astronomy require satisfactory completion of all course requirements, as well as satisfactory progress in research with a demonstrated familiarity with the subject of the research.

Progression through the Graduate Programs in Physics or Astronomy is evaluated bi-annually via Advisory Committee Meetings.

Course Requirements 

MSc Astronomy: Students are required to complete 3.0 HCE (half-course equivalents), which must include the 1.0 HCE course Astronomy 9610: Fundamentals of Astrophysics. Of the remaining 2.0 HCE, at least 1.0 must be courses offered by the Department of Physics and Astronomy. 

PhD Astronomy: Students are required to complete 2.0 HCE; at least 1.0 HCE must come from courses offered by the Physics and Astronomy Department

MSc Physics: Students are required to complete 3.0 HCE ; at least 2.0 HCE must come from courses offered by the Physics and Astronomy Department.

Phd Physics: Students are required to complete 3.0 HCE; at least 2.0 HCE must come from courses offered by the Physics and Astronomy Department.

All course selections must be discussed with and approved by the student’s Advisory Committee. It is within the power of the Advisory Committee to require extra coursework beyond the minimal requirements below.

During the first term of study, the Graduate Affairs Assistant will register students in the chosen courses. In subsequent terms students can self-enrol in courses from their home program. Courses outside of Physics & Astronomy require a request form be completed and submitted to the Graduate Affairs Assistant.

The add-drop deadline for all graduate courses is at the end of the first month of term.

All MSc students and PhD students in their first two years of study must enroll in, and successfully complete, the fall and winter terms of the Physics & Astronomy Graduate Seminar.

Continuous Registration and Maximum Registration Period

Graduate students must maintain continuous registration in the School of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies, either full-time or part-time, in each successive term from initial registration until all requirements for the degree are completed.

Interruptions in continuous registration (e.g. Leave of Absence) or changes in status (e.g., full- time to part-time) must be requested through the Physics and Astronomy Graduate Affairs Assistant. Final approval must come from the School of Graduate & Post-Doctoral Studies.

Normally, degree programs are completed within a period not exceeding two calendar years (six terms) from initial registration in the case of the M.Sc. degree (if registered full-time), and four calendar years (12 terms) from initial registration in the case of a Ph.D. degree (if registered full- time). 

Expectations of supervisors

All supervisors are expected to:

• adhere to standards of ethical behaviour, academic integrity, and professionalism
• commit the time, energy, and focus reasonably necessary to enable students to achieve the progress expected in their program
• demonstrate effective management and leadership skills
• demonstrate effective interpersonal communication skills
• respect diversity and demonstrate intercultural competency
• endeavor to develop insights into their strengths and weaknesses as a supervisor and to pursue opportunities to build further strength, particularly in areas of weakness
• recognize the supervisor—student power differential and demonstrate respect for the student’s
  rights and goals
• respect and provide support for the student’s academic and career goals
• respect the student’s personal circumstances (e.g., the student’s need to fulfill personal obligations such as childcare)
• differentiate between their own and their students’ needs
• explicitly discuss with the student expectations regarding authorship on publications and ownership of intellectual property

All supervisors are required to:

• provide continuous supervision through the duration of the student’s studies. This includes ensuring that supervision continues through periods of supervisor absence from campus (e.g., maintaining full supervision during sabbatical; securing co- supervision if needed/appropriate)
• adhere to the academic requirements of the program and SGPS regulations
• contribute to the program’s evaluation of the student’s progress as required by the program and SGPS
• ensure regular meetings of the student with the full Thesis Supervisory Committee as per the program's and/or SGPS's regulations
• actively involve Thesis Supervisory Committee in the process of guiding the student.
• meet with their graduate student no later than one month after assignment of supervision, or initial registration as a student at Western, with the purpose of discussing and clarifying expectations for the role of the supervisor and the role of the student in the supervisory relationship.
• provide timely feedback on documents/reports/materials/scholarship applications – normally 2
  weeks is reasonable for a thesis chapter or equivalent
• provide timely response (whether acknowledgment or a substantial reply) when contacted by students, for example responding to emails within 72 hours
• in collaboration with the student, set and adhere to reasonable timelines for all aspects of the student’s academic work, consistent with the program’s milestones to completion
• respect interpersonal boundaries and demonstrate professional behaviour with the student
• respect appropriate times and means for communication with the student
• as far as allowed by the logistics of the research setting, allow and respect the student’s right to set their own daily schedule
• make good‐faith efforts to provide the resources needed for the student's work
• allow and not undermine the student's engagement in professional development
• adhere to all health and safety policies ( http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section3/mapp31.pdf )
• adhere to all policies related to research ethics ( http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section7/mapp712.pdf and http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section7/mapp714.pdf )
• adhere to Non‐Discrimination/Harassment policy ( http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section1/mapp135.pdf )
• adhere to the University policy on Academic Integrity in Research Activities ( http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section7/mapp70.pdf )
• adhere to the University policy on Accessibility ( https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section1/mapp147.pdf )
• adhere to SGPS Policy ( http://grad.uwo.ca/postdoctoral_scholars/current/policies_procedures.html )

Co-Supervisors

There are three types of co-supervision:

1. co-supervision in which the co-supervisor is also a collaborator on the student’s project (i.e. joint supervision)
2. co-supervision between a new faculty member who holds limited membership in the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS) and a more senior member of the department who holds full SGPS membership (i.e. mentoring co-supervision)
3. co-supervision between an adjunct faculty member and a faculty member of the department who holds full membership.

A Co-Supervisor has the same responsibilities as a regular supervisor with respect to all aspects of graduate student mentoring and progression. Co-supervisors must be aware of, and uphold, the rules and regulations of the Physics and Astronomy Graduate Programs, especially where they act in this capacity alongside adjunct colleagues who do not hold regular membership in the Department and are not involved in decision making with respect to the Graduate Program. Co-Supervisors are not substitute Supervisors. They do not represent one of two options for attendees at committee meetings, proposal assessments, comprehensive exams or thesis exams. The Co-Supervisors shall be present for all of these important milestones.

Change in Supervision

A student may request a change of Supervisor through the Graduate Chair. The decision by a student to request this change should be taken after exploring all alternatives, ideally through discussion with the Supervisor or, if necessary, through intervention by the university ombudsperson (see http://www.uwo.ca/ombuds/ ). Timelines to complete the degree are not extended by such a change.

The Advisory Committee (AC)

Function of the Advisory Committee

• advise students on matters pertaining to their program of study, help select graduate courses, and evaluate degree progression.
• ensure that the student is making satisfactory progress towards timely completion of their graduate program, including course-work and thesis research.
• provide critical evaluation of the package of material planned for inclusion in the student’s thesis or MSc report prior to write-up and submission.

Appointment and Composition of the Advisory Committee

• Each student’s Advisory Committee will consist of the Supervisor(s) plus two additional faculty members, hereafter called “Advisors”. At least one Advisor must be a regular or cross-appointed faculty member from the Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Advisors will be appointed by the Graduate Chair. Once the Advisors have agreed to serve, the student should be informed.
• The student or Supervisor may request the composition of the Advisory Committee be changed at any time. A demand to change the composition of the Advisory Committee should be made in writing to the Graduate Chair.

Advisory Committee Meetings (ACM)

Spring ACM period is April. Fall ACM period is October.

Additional meetings of the Advisory Committee may be convened at the request of either the student, the supervisor(s), the advisors or the Graduate Chair.

An introductory ACM will be held by the end of the first full week of classes for all incoming graduate students with their supervisors and at least one advisor. In this meeting students will get counseling on course selection, discuss expectations towards the degree, courses and research, and how the Advisory Committee Meeting (ACM) process works, etc.

For the first individual ACM the student should post a CV with a photo of themselves on their studentpage which needs to be updated with each following ACM if necessary (poster/talk on conference, paper submitted, paper published, awards, etc.)

In early April and late September/early October each year, the Academic Coordinator will send an e-mail message reminding students that the next advisory committee period is near.

The student is responsible for arranging all individual Advisory Committee Meetings, both time and location e.g. online poll. For room reservation, contact the graduate assistant.

If an AC member or the student cannot make these times (due to travel, observing, etc.), the AC is allowed to meet anytime up to 30 days after the end of the ACM period.

At least 3 days in advance of the ACM the student is supposed to upload a Progress Report stating course work and research status, outlining progress towards completion, and noting any problems encountered that require assistance from the advisory committee or may require substantial changes to  the thesis outline.

Each meeting results in a new Progress Report form uploaded by the student and a new ACM Report uploaded by the Supervisor.

If an Advisory Committee meeting has not occurred within the set time, including the extension due to the absence of the student or an AC member, an automatic rating of Unsatisfactory Progress will be applied.

In the case of Unsatisfactory Progress and subsequent removal from the program the student is allowed to stay until the end of the term and will still receive their entire funding package until the end of that term.

All incoming graduate students are required to complete the SGPS Academic Integrity module to progress beyond the first term of their degree. 

This module is designed to provide you with the necessary knowledge and resources to abide by academic principles during your graduate career and to help combat scholastic offenses.  After reviewing the material and finishing the readings, students are required to complete both a multiple-choice assessment and a series of short case studies to evaluate their knowledge of academic integrity.  Students have unlimited opportunities to pass the module.  Students who do not complete the module will not be able to progress beyond the first term of their degree. 

Eligible students can access the module in the Graduate Student Web Services Portal. Instructions regarding access and how to complete the module will be emailed to students the first week of their first term. 

The Faculty of Science and the Department of Physics and Astronomy provide financial support to graduate students, throughout the period of funding eligibility. This corresponds to 2 years (six terms) for M.Sc. candidates, 4 years (12 terms) for Ph.D. candidates.  

This financial support is paid at various times throughout the year into two accounts: the student’s UWO Tuition Account and the student’s personal bank account. Each student receives an Annual Financial Support Package in the first month of each term indicating the composition of their stipend.

This funding package may include external scholarship support (such as NSERC, OGS, etc.), internal scholarship support (such as program- based endowments, etc.), and employment other than a Graduate Teaching Assistantship. 

There are three primary sources of funding for graduate students:

1. The Western Graduate Research Scholarship (WGRS), which is provided by the university to all graduate students to conduct research. The WGRS amount of the salary is paid directly to the student’s Tuition Account.
2. Graduate Fellowship (GF), funding from your supervisors research grant for research work conducted with them. The GF is paid directly to the student’s Tuition Account. Any overage is then paid to the student's personal bank account.
3. Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA), funding for work as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses and/or labs. Teaching Assistantships are typically held during the fall and winter terms, although a few summer TA positions are available each year. This is the only funding source subject to income tax, and is paid directly to the student's personal bank account.

These three entities allow the student to pay tuition and ancillary fees, as well as to have a regular monthly income over the entire academic year. While the stipend is intended to cover tuition and living expenses, the timing of payments, payday at Western is the second-to-last business day each month, can create some cash-flow difficulties if one fails to save and plan. 

WGRS is applied directly to the student’s Tuition Account on the first day of term. However, WGRS does not cover the entire tuition and the ancillary fees in fall and winter. The student needs to pay the difference prior to the second installment deadline, in the middle of the second month of term. The necessary funding to cover the outstanding tuition balance is provided in the form of a GF payment at the end of the first month of term. In summer WGRS will cover tuition. 

Year-X Students

Students who are beyond their funding period of 6 terms for Master, 12 for PhD students, respectively, are called year-x (or beyond funding) students. They are no longer eligible for WGRS.

All year-x students can get, however cannot be guaranteed, additional terms of a full or half TA (GTA Collective Agreement) if no funded students can be found to fill the position. Students may also continue to receive Gradaute Fellowship funding from their suipervisor(s) while Year-X.

Despite these possibilities any funding beyond the regular funding period of 6, 12 terms, respectively, is not guaranteed.

Each fundable graduate student is eligible for a full (140 hours) or half (70 hours) TA position during the fall and winter terms. The TA position remuneration is an important part of the student income.

TA assignments are managed by the TA Coordination Committee in consultation with the course supervisor(s) and the students. The TA Coordination Committee is composed of the Undergraduate Chair, the Graduate Chair, and the Graduate Affairs Assistant. The TA positions are assigned with respect to the abilities of a particular student to understand and teach the course material. This ensures course quality.

The TA position is a unionized employment situation. The students should familiarize with the TA-Collective agreement: ( http://www.uwo.ca/hr/form_doc/employee_agreements/gta.pdf )

The Role of the Teaching Assistant

The role of the Teaching Assistant is to assist the instructor in delivering a high quality course and to enhance the learning experience of the students in the course. Being a Teaching Assistant is a valuable part of the graduate experience that can help students develop many complementary professional skills that will enhance the academic and research skills they develop in the program. The TA experience should be about teaching, which means the TA must have mastery of the academic material at a level significantly above the abilities of the students in the class. TAs are encouraged to ask for guidance and feedback from Instructors, fellow TAs and students (e.g., sitting in on tutorials, checking marking, giving interim evaluations) to improve their teaching skills.

The Role of the Instructor

The role of the Instructor is to deliver a high quality course to the students. The Instructor is ultimately responsible for the content and delivery of the curriculum, the construction of exams and assignments, and the fairness and consistency of marks. The Instructor also has a supervisory role to the TA, and should provide explicit teaching guidance as appropriate. For example, TAs may request feedback on tutorial delivery, marking practices, etc.

Priorities in TA Assignment

In order to allocate available TA hours effectively and assign TAs for courses in the Department of Physics & Astronomy according to their abilities and experience, a priority list for TA allocation is given below.

• First priority: Large courses (enrolment >100) with a laboratory/project component
• Second priority:
  • (i) Large courses without a laboratory component
  • (ii) Moderate and small courses with a lab component
• Third Priority: Moderate sized courses (25 < enrolment < 100)
• Fourth priority: Small courses (enrolment < 25)

Allotment of TA hours

The number of available TA hours needs to be distributed among the priority categories in order to enhance student learning impact, and not necessarily to save time for Instructors.

1. For the large classes, each tutorial section needs 70 hours of TA including tutorial preparation, marking and proctoring.
2. For the First Year Lab, each lab sub-section (each lab room) needs two TAs, one as a 'marker' and the other as a 'helper'. The total TA hours needed for the lab depends on the total enrolment in all first year physics courses.
3. Upper year courses with a small enrolment (enrolment < 20) will typically be assigned 70 TA hours, although the Instructor should inform the Grad Chair if a ¼ TA (35 hours) is more appropriate.

Assignment of TAs

The TA assignments are carried out by the TA Assignment Committee. The Committee takes the following items into consideration when assigning TAs.

1. Consulting the course Instructor to decide the required number of TAs and their hours.
2. Taking into account the current and past enrolment figures in the course in addition to past TA allocation for the course.
3. Special requests from course Instructors for a particular TA for the course.
4. Special requests from TAs to work with a particular Instructor/course.
5. Abilities of the TAs in the subject matter of the course, language skills, teaching skills, and social skills.
6. Special accommodations for the TA (e.g., medical, absences for a long period, travelling required for completion of the thesis, etc.).

Typically, upper-year undergraduate courses are given to more experienced PhD-level students who have already passed the Comprehensive Examination. 

Monitoring of hours by the TA and Instructor

The TA must monitor their hours and give regular feedback to the course Instructor or corrodinator on how many hours have been used. If the TA uses up all assigned TA hours before the end of the term, the Department may not be able to provide more TA hours for the course. In this case, the responsibilities of the TA defer to the course Instructor.

In some cases, the number of hours assigned to the TA are insufficient for the duties assigned to the TA by the Instructor. The following procedure will be used for resolving this situation.

1. If and when it becomes apparent to the TA or the Instructor that the required hours to perform the expected duties of the TA are greater than the allocated hours, the first step is for the TA and the Instructor to have an in-person conversation about modifying the expected duties and/or the practice of the TA (in the cases where the TA is spending too much time on a given activity).
2. If following this meeting the situation is not resolved to the satisfaction of either the TA or the Instructor, one of them must contact the Graduate Chair or the Department Chair to resolve the dispute as soon as possible.

Donor Awards

The Department of Physics and Astronomy has three awards/scholarships available for physics and astronomy students. These awards funds will be awarded to students through their Tuition account. They may not be in conjunction with their Gradaute Fellowship income.

The Lillian Margaret & Walter David Jackson Scholarship in Physics

The Scholarship was established by Dr. John David Jackson in memory of his parents Lillian Margaret and Walter David Jackson to reward the academic excellence of students in the graduate program in Physics. This donor award has a value of $4500.

The Amelia and William Wehlau Award in Astronomy

Awarded annually to a student in the Master's or Doctoral program in Astronomy, based on academic achievement and research merit. This donor award has a current value of $2400. 

The Dr. Kaylie Green Women in Astronomy Graduate Scholarship

Awarded annually to PhD students in Astronomy based academic achievement. Preference will be given to candidates who are self-identified women. This donor award has a value of $10,000. 

The Paul and Kathryn Lycett Graduate Scholarship 

Awarded annually to a full-time graduate student, based on academic achievement. Preference will be given to students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy who are conducting research in astronomy or planetary science. This scholarship was established by Paul Lycett and Kathryn Lycett (BA ’74, DipEd ‘75).
Thsi donor award has a value of $1,000.

The Awards Committee solicits nominations from faculty of the department for these scholarships/awards via e-mail and asks for a brief reasoning for the nomination, and sets a nomination deadline. After the nomination deadline the Committee decides on the awardee according to the information given by the supervisor(s) on the nominated students. 

External Scholarships

In addition, there are a variety of external awards and scholarships available for domestic and international students: NSERC, OGS, Trillium, Vanier, etc.

Domestic students are highly encouraged to apply for NSERC, which in turn automatically submits your application for OGS. Trillium and Vanier are awards for international students. The nomination needs to be done by the supervisor along with the Graduate Chair and the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Science.

Teaching Assistantship (TA) and Scholarship

Students with a prize, award or direct scholarship who are awarded an amount of $5000 or more per term for more than one term get an assignment of half a TA-ship (70 hours/term) for the duration of the award/scholarship. 

Students based in the Department of Physics and Astronomy can combine their degree with one of the following collaborative programs:

• Planetary Science
• Scientific Computing
• Machine Learning in Health and Biomedical Sciences
• Environment & Sustainability

Collaborative programs usually require additional coursework and regular attendance at the program's seminar series.

Students enrolled in Collaborative Programs are still required to attend the seminar course of their home program.

When a student is enrolled in a collaborative program the student must fulfill all requirements of the physics or astronomy “home” program, as well as the requirements of the collaborative specialization to successfully complete their degree.

The PhD Comprehensive Examination, (in short Comprehensive) is a requirement which must be fulfilled by all graduate students in both the Physics and Astronomy Ph.D. programs. Successful completion of this requirement appears on the transcript as a pass for the PhD Comprehensive Examination milestone

The Comprehensive consists of two components: (1) the written tests and final exam of the graduate course Astronomy 9610 “Fundamentals of Astrophysics” or Physics 9610 “Foundations of Physics” to test background knowledge and adequate problem-solving ability, and (2), a review paper written by the student and focused on their PhD research topic. The material of the student’s review paper forms the basis of the oral examination. 

Purpose: The Comprehensive exam allows Ph.D. candidates to demonstrate early in their tenure that they have mastered an adequate level of general knowledge in fundamental physics or astrophysics. This mastery must be at a level to suggest that they are adequately prepared to pursue their Ph.D. research work in their chosen subfield and will be able to successfully complete and defend their thesis in an acceptable period of time.

Timing : Entering PhD students must take the tests and exams of either Physics or Astronomy 9610 at the first available offering. The written review paper is to be completed during the term immediately following the completion of the respective 9610 course. Deviations from these guidelines may be considered by the PhD by the graduate chair and the student’s Advisory Committee in special cases.

Comprehensive Component 1 : The Tests and Final Exam of Astronomy/Physics 9610

Format: The student must complete all tests and the final exam of the course Astronomy 9610 “Fundamentals of Astrophysics”. This may be done within the context of taking the course for graduate credit; however, a student may choose to write the tests and final without enrolling in the course. Either way the course does not count towards their PhD program’s course requirements. For the purpose of the Comprehensive, there is no requirement to complete the course problem sets.

Content: The textbook for Astronomy 9610 is “An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, 2nd Edition” by Carroll & Ostlie (2007). All course materials and content are drawn from this text, as set by the course instructor. 

The module subject areas of Physics 9610 “Foundations of Physics” are Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Electrodynamics, Mathematical Methods, and Condensed Matter Physics. Students consult with their advisory committee to select four of these modules to complete to best prepare for their thesis research. 

Marking and Outcome: To pass Component (1), the student must obtain a mark of 80% or higher on the weighted-average over all of the tests and final exam of  their 9610 course. Missed tests must be made up and cannot be accommodated by re-weighing a partially completed set of tests and exam. Students who meet this standard are deemed to have passed Component (1) and can move on to Component (2), the written report, in their next term of study.

Students who receive a grade of between 70 and 79% are deemed to have failed Component (1). Such students may be invited by their Advisory Committee to take a make-up exam during the April final examination period. The reference material for this make-up exam will be identical to the course offering. Such students will also proceed to Component (2) in the term immediately after their successful attempt of Component (1). A student who is not invited by their Advisory Committee to take the April make-up is deemed to have failed the Astronomy Comprehensive Examination and must withdraw from the program. Finally, students who receive 69% or less will not be offered a make-up exam and are deemed to have failed the Comprehensive Examination and must withdraw from the program.

Pre-Qualification by MSc Students: MSc students who complete Physics or Astronomy 9610 with a grade of 80% or higher on the weighted-average over all of the tests and final exam are deemed “pre-qualified” for Component (1) of the PhD Comprehensive Exam. If they continue on to PhD studies at Western, they receive an automatic pass on Component (1) and can move straight to Component (2).

PhD Comprehensive Component 2: The Review Paper and Oral Exam

A student who passes Component 1 of the Comprehensive must then submit a written Review Paper, which will be defended orally.

Committee: Each student will be assigned a Reading Committee who will oversee the student’s review paper and oral exam. The Reading Committee will consist of the student’s supervisor and two additional faculty members. Often this will be the student’s advisory committee. The student’s supervisor will be the Chair of the Reading Committee. This Chair organizes the oral exam and communicates all results about the Research Proposal or the Literature Review Paper and the oral exam to the Graduate Chair. It is the responsibility of the Reading Committee to read the review paper, judge its quality, provide feedback (if necessary), and conduct the oral examination.

Content: The development of the research proposal will include three steps: 

1. Written Research Proposal or Written Literature Review Paper
2. Oral Presentation
3. Oral Examination

Written Research Proposal

A document of 10 pages maximum (double spacing, 12 point font) with no more than 1 additional page of references, which summarizes the specific research direction the candidate will pursue during their Ph.D. research. Figures and tables can be inline or included at the end of the document and must be of adequate size that all text can be easily read. In addition, a title and abstract (200 words maximum) must be provided on a separate page and will be the same as that used for the oral presentation. The document should include the motivations for doing research in the relevant research field and the impact of the research on society, background research (including a review of the relevant literature), a presentation of theoretical and/or experimental techniques that will be used, a description of the methodology that will be utilized to obtain the data and analyze them, a detailed timeline with intermediate milestones, a list of potential outcomes and final objectives of the proposed research, with special emphasis on their significance and originality. If applicable, the proposal should also mention preliminary results that have already been obtained by the student or by others in the student's research group. The proposal should also refer to similar studies that have been conducted by other researchers, with a focus on synergy with other studies. The amount of research being proposed must be commensurate to the duration of the Ph.D. studies. The language must be accessible to a faculty member working in a different research area.

Written Literature Review Paper 

The subject of the Literature Review Paper will be material that is closely related to the field pertaining to the student’s PhD research. It is acceptable (and even encouraged) that the student writes the Literature Review Paper in such a way that it eventually serves as the basis for the introduction of the student’s PhD thesis. Although length is not the sole criterion for judging the adequacy of the paper, it is expected that it should contain a minimum of 25 pages of material, excluding references, singly-spaced with a 12 pt font. Typical reports are ~40 pages in length.

Oral Presentation

If the written Research Proposal or Literature Review Paper is judged acceptable by the Reading Committee the student will prepare an oral presentation based on the written material (30 to 40 minutes maximum). The oral presentation will summarize and expand on the material contained in the written Research Proposal or Literature Review Paper. In the case of the Research Proposal the focus should be on motivations, background, methodologies, milestones, results and objectives. The language and level used in the oral presentation must be accessible to a Ph.D. student working in a different research area. 

Oral Examination

The oral examination must immediately follow the oral presentation and will be a closed door examination, normally comprising two rounds of questions of 30 to 45 minutes in total, in which each member of the Reading Committee will question the student for 10 to 15 minutes. Questions from the Reading Committee may be specific, related to the written proposal and the oral presentation, and the generic scientific principles applicable to the research. Normally, the total exam length (including the oral presentation and oral examination) should not exceed 2 hours.

Supervisor’s Role: It is expected that the supervisor will aid the student in selecting the topic and scope of the review paper, and the supervisor may also approve an outline of the paper. The supervisor may review drafts of the review paper in order to provide comments for the student to improve the document. However, it is not the role of the supervisor to correct every mistake or misconception present in the paper. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure overall completeness and accuracy.

Timing : For students on the normal timeline (taking the 9610 course in the fall term), the review paper is due by 5:00 pm on the first Friday in April, unless an alternate deadline has been arranged by the student’s Reading Committee. Late papers will be marked as failures and then reviewed in the standard way (see below). For other students, the timeline for the completion and evaluation of the written report will be set by the student’s Advisory Committee.

Evaluation: The student’s Reading Committee will review the report within two weeks and judge it to be either acceptable or not acceptable. If the paper is judged acceptable, the oral presentation and exam will be scheduled for some time before the last business day in April (if possible). At the end of the oral examination, the student will be asked to leave the room and the committee will confer and agree on a decision. The result will be a pass or fail decided by majority vote of the committee members. The student is then asked back into the examination room, and the committee will inform the student of the outcome of the exam.

If the written report is judged unacceptable, the paper is marked as a failure and returned to the student for revision. The Reading Committee will provide written comments on how to improve the paper and then schedule a resubmission date for the revised paper, which must be before the last business day in June. 

Each  student is allowed one failure during the oral presentation and exam process (independent of any failure in Component 1). This means that a student whose review paper was initially accepted by the Reading Committee can have two attempts to pass the oral defense. However, a student whose initial review paper was rejected has only one attempt to pass the oral defense. The accumulation of two failures in this part of the comprehensive exam will result in the removal of the student from the PhD Program.

Final Outcome for the Comprehensive Exam

The Department’s Associate Chair for Graduate Studies will officially communicate in writing the final outcome of the comprehensive exam process to the student. The result will be pass/fail on the exam as a whole. The decision is final. The student's acadmeic record will be updated to indicate this milestone has been completed. 

The MSc research project requirements can be met by either submitting a monograph describing the project, or by a set of one or more refereed articles led or co-authored by the student.

Monograph-style MSc project reports are expected to be approximately 50 pages in length: double-spaced, with lines numbered, and  including  figures,  tables,  and  references.

Refereed article-style MSc project reports should include the relevant articles authored or co-authored by the student, along with the following additional sections written by the student: an Introduction to the topic of the research project (4-6 pages double-spaced) with appropriate references, a Research Methods section that describes the many details missing from the refereed articles, including additional figures and tables as necessary, and a Co- authorship Statement.

The Co-authorship Statement needs to explicitly describe the student’s role and contribution to the monograph or to the set of articles included in the MSc project report. All co-authors on any included articles need to either sign the Co-authorship Statement, or to indicate their agreement to it by email.

MSC Research Report Procedure:

Note that at least 5 working days are required for the Project Paper to be evaluated.

1. The student submits their Project Paper to their Advisory Committee and to their Supervisors(s). The student should send the Project Paper electronically as a PDF file, and should consult their AC to determine if anyone would also require a paper copy, in which case the student should provide that.
2. The student notifies the Graduate Chair of the submission.
3. The Supervisor should, shortly thereafter, email the AC members a suggested grade,
   along with general comments and a justification of the grade.
4. The Advisory Committee will typically have 5 business days to read the paper. The AC members should notify the Supervisor(s) when they have finished reading the paper and give a grade to the Supervisor.
   
5. When the Supervisor(s) has/have received grades from the AC a final mark acceptable to all parties should be decided.
6. The Supervisor will inform the student and the Academic Program Coordinator of the mark, and whether all requirements for the M.Sc. have been completed. The Academic Program Coordinator will then submit this information to the Registrar.

In the event members of the AC are not available, a minimum of the Supervisors(s) plus at least one other AC member is required to evaluate a Project Paper. If this requirement is not met the Graduate Chair should be informed and  an  examiner  will  be  provided.

Guidelines for project marks are as follows. To consider the Project Paper a pass a student is expected to receive a grade of 70% or higher. To be considered for admission to the Ph.D. program a mark of 85% or higher is expected.

Students considering submitting their Project Paper to their Advisory Committee less than 5 working days before a term deadline do so knowing they may have to register for an additional term. Hence, we suggest students submit their Project Paper at least 10 working days before the end of a term to ensure they will not have to register for an additional term.

Requirements for the preparation and defense of M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses, including information on the electronic submission process and formatting, as well as the timelines required by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS), are outlined on the SGPS website at:

SPGS Thesis Regulations

SGPS Thesis Guide