ISSUE 1

Civil Grad Newsletter

FALL 2012

Message from the Program Director

Inside This Issue
1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4
Message from the Program Director Graduate Program Quality Research Seminar Course Grad Students Can Make a Difference! Building Student Professional Skills Graduate Student Achievements Student Highlights Funding Opportunities Contact US

I am delighted to present the first issue of our Civil Engineering graduate program newsletter, which will be published once a year. The newsletter aims to highlight program developments and news and to recognize achievements of our very talented graduate students. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the graduate students who completed their degree programs so far in 2012 and to welcome the new students who are starting in Fall 2012. I would like also to congratulate those students who received research-related awards at scientific conferences and meetings. This year our program admitted a total of 49 new graduate students (12 PhD and 37 Masters), which represents about 22% of the total number of applications received. This shows that our program remains highly selective while maintaining extraordinary growth since it started in 2001. The Chart below shows the number of graduate students over the past twelve years (November 1 head counts). As noted, the number of PhD students continues to grow and has reached a total of 40 students in 2012, up from 8 students when the PhD program started in 2004. I am glad to report that our Transportation Engineering field has been reinstated. Until 2008, the Civil Engineering graduate program included Transportation Engineering as an official field. Unfortunately, this status was lost as a result of not having sufficient number of faculty members in the field. The Department of Civil Engineering has recently rectified this situation by adding a new faculty member in the area of Transportation Engineering, Dr. Joseph Chow, who has also been nominated by Ryerson University for a Tier2 Canada Research Chair. New applicants will now be able to select that field when applying for graduate admission in our program. I am also glad to report that our fourth year PhD. students will receive program funding on top of the graduate stipend, graduate (teaching) assistantship, and departmental contribution. This funding will be administered by the Yeates School of Graduate Studies (YSGS). Finally, our orientation day this year was a smashing success. New students were introduced to important issues related to policies, space, safety, and computer access. Students were then invited for a light lunch where they had the opportunity to get to know each other. I would like to thank our program administrator, Rachel Trozzolo, for organizing this event and Dan Peneff (Senior Technical Officer, Civil Engineering), Des Rogan (Network Administrator, Civil Engineering), and John Paul Foxe (Educational Developer, Learning and Teaching Office) for their contributions to the event. Ahmed El-Rabbany Program Director

Civil Engineering graduate program growth

3 2 1

PAGE 2

CIVIL GRAD NEWSLETTER

Graduate Program Quality

Ontario universities are no longer required to conduct periodic external appraisals through the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies (OCGS). Instead, a periodic program review process is being introduced, which ensures that programs achieve and maintain the highest possible standards of academic quality and continue to satisfy societal needs. The review process is endorsed by the Council of Ontario Universities and monitored by the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance. The review process serves to satisfy public accountability expectations through transparency. Ryerson University introduced Policy Number 110 on the institutional quality assurance process (and its subsidiary Policy Number 126), which establish procedures for the periodic review of existing programs. YSGS is in the process of developing guidelines for the newly-adopted program reviews.

Engineering. All newly admitted MASc and PhD students are required to take the course as part of their program requirements. The first year of our research seminar course was very successful. A total of 16 research seminars related to all areas of Civil Engineering (Environmental, Geomatics, Transportation, and Structural) were presented. The seminars were given by faculty members, graduate students, and industrial and government experts. The remaining seminars covered topics that help our graduate students succeed in their research, including library resources, research ethics, intellectual property, and thesis writing regulations. Those seminars were given by guests from Ryerson University and the Civil Engineering Program Director.

sought for various events, for example, Ontario Universities' Fair. Ryerson University established the Dennis Mock Student Leadership Awards to recognize students who have made outstanding voluntary extracurricular contributions to their departments or to the university as a whole.

Building Student Professional Skills

YSGS, in partnership with various departments on and off campus, has introduced the graduate professional skills development program, which helps students in their chosen career path. Workshops offered by the program fall into three categories: Communication & Personal Effectiveness, Teaching & Presentation Skills, and Information Management. More information can be found at www.ryerson.ca/graduate/profdev. Mitacs, a national not-for-profit research organization, also offers a number of excellent workshops at no cost to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through its Step program. The program offers excellent training opportunities on interpersonal, project management and entrepreneurial skills, all of which are essential for a successful future career. Examples of Mitacs workshop subjects are Time Management, Communicating Science, Presentation Skills, Technical & Scientific Writing, Discovering the Entrepreneur Within, and Managing Projects. Mitacs helps in travel and accommodation if the workshop is held outside of the university area. More information can be found at www.mitacs.ca/step. Graduate students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of these programs.

Newly-adopted graduate program review process serves to satisfy public accountability expectations through transparency.

Grad Students Can Make a Difference!

Graduate students are strongly encouraged to participate in various university affairs. Examples include membership in the Departmental Council, Ryerson University Senate, Ryerson University Board of Governors, and Graduate Students' Associations and Union. In fact, the University is governed by the Senate and the Board of Governors. You can also make a leadership contribution to the university by seeking membership to search committees for the appointment of senior university officials. Volunteers are frequently

Research Seminar Course

Our Civil Engineering program established a new Research Seminar course, which started in the academic year 2011-2012. The course, which runs through the Fall and Winter semesters, consists of weekly seminars emphasizing current research in specialized areas of Civil

3 2 1

CIVIL GRAD NEWSLETTER

PAGE 3

Graduate Student Achievements

Former PhD student Wai Yeung Yan received a number of prizes and awards in the 2011/2012 academic year, including the prestigious Governor General Gold Medal Award (see student highlights for details). Former PhD student Mohamed Elsobeiey, who successfully defended his PhD dissertation in April 2012, received the prestigious MITACS Elevate Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Dr. Elsobeiey started his postdoctoral fellowship at the beginning of September 2012 under the supervision of Dr. Ahmed El-Rabbany. For the second consecutive year, our Geomatics PhD students won all top prizes in the annual research poster competition organized by the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors. The competition was held at the annual AOLS conference, Ottawa, Ontario, in February 2012. Since its inception several years ago, our graduate students in Geomatics Engineering have consistently occupied the top places in this competition. This year's winners are: Annie Chow and Neda Poursaeid (co-authored poster, first place) Mahmoud Abd El-Rahman (second place) Akram Afifi (third place, tie with Wai Yeung Yan) Wai Yeung Yan (third place, tie with Akram Afifi) Neda is supervised by Dr. Songian Li, Mahmoud and Akram are supervised by Dr. Ahmed ElRabbany, and Wai is supervised by Dr. Ahmed Shaker. PhD students Nagwa El-Ashmawy and Wai Yeung Yan were among 10 students who received a $300 poster award at the 2012 Geoide NCE conference, which was held in Quebec City during the period 14-17 May, 2012. Former MASc student Ima Avval won the third prize in the Graduate Student Paper Competition at the 3rd International Structural Specialty Conference. The conference was held in Edmonton, Alberta, during the period 6-9 June, 2012. Ima is commencing PhD studies this Fall under the supervision of Dr. Reza Kianoush. PhD student Mahmoud Abd ElRahman was the first student in the Civil Engineering program to receive the Ontario Trillium Scholarship for international students. The scholarship is awarded to a limited number of outstanding international students to pursue doctoral studies at an Ontario university.

Wai Yeung Yan receiving Dennis Mock student leadership award

Recipient of the prestigious Governor General Gold Medal Award, Ryerson University (2012) Dennis Mock Student Leadership Award, Ryerson University (2012) First place (2009); first and fourth places (2010); second place (2011); third place (2012) in the poster competition at the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors Annual General Meeting Winner poster (2012) and second place (2011) in the GEOIDE NCE annual Student Poster Competition Second place in the student poster competition at the 33rd Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (2012) Second place at the 3rd Annual Joint ITE Section Student Presentation Competition (2011) Best paper award (doctoral research paper category), Canadian Association of Geographers - Ontario Division (CAGONT) Annual Meeting (2011) Best poster in the Ontario Association for Impact Assessment (OAIA) Annual Conference and Meeting (2011) The Civil Engineering graduate program congratulates Wai Yeung for his excellent achievements and wishes him a very successful career.

Student Highlights
Wai Yeung Yan, who successfully defended his PhD thesis on September 10, 2012, has been conducting research in Geomatics Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Ahmed Shaker. Before coming to Ryerson University, he received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a Master of Science degree from Middlesex, UK. During his PhD study, Wai published 31 papers in peerreviewed journals, conference proceedings, and professional magazines, and won 13 national/regional awards in best student paper, poster, and oral competitions. Wai Yeung received the prestigious Governor General Gold Medal Award and the Dennis Mock student leadership award from Ryerson University and the following external awards:

3 2 1

PAGE 4

CIVIL GRAD NEWSLETTER

Funding Opportunities
Various internal and external funding opportunities are available to graduate students in the Civil Engineering graduate program. In addition to graduate program funding distributed through the YSGS (RGA, RGS, and ATOP to doctoral students), MASc and PhD students may receive graduate stipends through their supervisors and can apply for graduate (teaching) assistantships in the department. MEng students can also apply for graduate (teaching) assistantships; however, priority will be given to MASc and PhD students. The Department of Civil Engineering also provides some additional funds to PhD students within the first four years of their program. Other internal and external funding opportunities are also available. For details and eligibility conditions, students can consult the graduate program administrator or the YSGS website http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/fun ding/index.html. Some information about sources of some external funding is given below. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) offers a number of financial opportunities to support high-calibre eligible MASc and PhD students through various programs, including Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS) and Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS). For MASc students, the value of PGS and CGS is $17,500 per year and is awarded for one year. For PhD students, the values of PGS and CGS are $21,000 and $35,000, respectively, per year and the awards are for two or three years. Only one application is required for both programs; however, the highest-ranked applicants will automatically be considered for

CGS. PGS and CGS are open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. For more details about the NSERC PGS/CGS scholarships, students can consult the NSERC website http://www.nserccrsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/PGCS/index_eng.asp. Another external scholarship, which is open to Canadian and international students who have achieved exceptional success in their studies, is the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. The Vanier CGS supports PhD students and is valued at $50,000 per year for up to three years. The scholarships are administered by Canadas three federal granting agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), NSERC, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). For eligibility and more details, students can consult www.vanier.gc.ca. The Province of Ontario, in partnership with Ontario universities, awards Ontario graduate scholarships (OGSs) to high-calibre MASc and PhD students annually. The value of the OGS scholarship is $15,000 per year. Graduate students should be aware that the administration of the OGS program is currently under review by the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and are advised to monitor the YSGS website for announcements regarding deadlines and the application process. The Ontario Trillium Scholarships (OTS) program aims to attract outstanding international students to pursue doctoral studies at an Ontario university. The scholarship is valued at $40,000 per year for up to four years. All international students who meet the eligibility criteria will automatically be considered for the

scholarship, so applications are not required. For more details, consult the YSGS website. Mitacs offers a number of funding opportunities to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through various programs. For the Mitacs accelerate program, graduate students can apply for a paid 4month internship (expandable to 6 months) at an industrial partner where they can acquire real world exposure. The program accepts applications at any time and is open to international students. PhD students who are about to complete their degrees can take advantage of the highly attractive and prestigious Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship program. For more information, visit www.mitacs.ca. Per the Civil Engineering program funding policy, PhD students within the first three years of their program of study who receive the OGS or NSERC PGS/CGS scholarship will also receive an additional ATOP through program funding, as well as a departmental contribution. These students will also be entitled to receive graduate stipends through their supervisors and can apply for graduate (teaching) assistantships through the department.

Contact US
For further information about the Civil Engineering graduate program, please contact: Program Administrator, Civil Engineering Graduate Program Yeates School of Graduate Studies Ryerson University 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3 Email: civgrad@ryerson.ca Tel: 416-979-5000 ext. http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/pro grams/civil_engineering