Programs

Graduate Programs in Biomedical Physics (MSc, PhD)

Supplementary Policies (MSc)

Students and faculty must adhere to policies of the Ryerson University School of Graduate Studies (http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/policies/).  The following guidelines and policies are designed to address matters specific to the M.Sc. Biomedical Physics program and be supplementary to the policies of the School of Graduate Studies.

Student funding

The minimum guaranteed funding will consist of awards, scholarships, stipends and Graduate Assistant (GA) employment, which will be communicated to the faculty and students at the beginning of each year.  The level of funding for students who obtain an internal Ryerson scholarship (such as an RGS) will be increased by $2,000 for the year of the award.  The level of funding for students who receive a major external scholarship (such as an OGS or NSERC PGS) will increase by $4,000 for the year of the award.  Students who receive scholarships will have the opportunity to reduce their GA load.

Each year a new International Student Award of $5,000/year for two years will be available (resulting in a total of two concurrent awards) to assist international students with their higher tuition burden.  The award will supplement the funding levels described above.  International students will be offered admission to the program only if they are successful in obtaining an International Student Award, or their supervisor is able to supplement their stipend by the amount of the award.

Supervisory committees

The primary purpose of a supervisory committee is to guide students in conducting their thesis research.  The committee will also provide timely feedback to students and their supervisors on the progress of the thesis research and the student’s mastery of their field and the scientific method.  A student’s supervisory committee must be composed of at least three members, including the supervisor(s), a departmental faculty member and one more person in a desirable field of expertise.   At a minimum, the supervisory committee must meet with the student according to the following schedule.  Additional committee meetings should be held as needed.  Students are encouraged to call them when they feel they are required.

S – Supervisory committees meeting reports are due at the end of the indicated month.  The committee meeting and the supervisory committee meeting report (available on the Department web site) may be completed during the month is it due or any prior month.  The report for the S3 committee meeting should include a target date for the thesis defense.  It is the responsibility of the student to bring to a supervisory committee meeting a copy of the previous meetings report and a new report form.

P – Progress reports are due in the first week of the indicated month, as required by the School of Graduate Studies.  The progress reports also serve as a grade submission for the Master’s Thesis course. 

Thesis examination committees

The examination committee will consist of a non-voting Chair, the supervisor(s) (who have one combined vote for the case of co-supervision) and at least two additional voting members who are member of the School of Graduate Studies.  At least one of the voting members should not be from the student’s supervisory committee.

Thesis formatting

The thesis format should adhere to the thesis regulations of the School of Graduate Studies.  The regulations state, “The thesis or dissertation embodies the results of the student's research program and exposes the work to scholarly criticism. It must represent a single body of work, with integrated material, and should not be solely a collection of published articles.”  In comparison to a journal manuscript, a thesis should contain a more in-depth background and introduction, a more detailed description of methodology and results and a more thorough discussion of the results.

In order to facilitate the easier publication of thesis-related research findings our program accepts, as an option, a final written thesis containing a verbatim copy of a previously published or submitted peer reviewed journal manuscripts, as the central chapters, with formatting changes to adhere to the Graduate Studies policies on thesis formatting.  The manuscript chapter should list all authors, but the student would normally be the principle author, have the main role in obtaining the results for the publication, and have a major role for the preparation of the publication. If the student is not the first author, then a note should be added at the start of the chapter explaining the author's role in the work reported in the manuscript. If this option is chosen, then the thesis should contain an expanded introductory chapter, written for a more general audience in biomedical physics, before the publication chapter, and an expanded discussion chapter that follows the publication chapter.  Both these chapters should have their own bibliographies.  Additional chapters (such as for additional results) and appendices (with their own bibliographies) can be included at the discretion of the student and supervisor.

Thesis examination

A student will give a 20-minute public presentation of their thesis to the examination committee and the rest of the Department and the Ryerson community. The oral examination by the examination committee will commence after the presentation, after a short break and relocation to a more suitable venue.

Supplementary Policies (PhD)

For PhD supplementary policies, please click here.

*For course descriptions and degree requirements, go to the Graduate Calendar.