Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Course work, comprehensive exams, seminar course (MECH 997), and a research thesis

4 years

Funding available

Program Overview

As a PhD student, you can play a vital role in future developments in the field of mechanical and materials engineering. You will have many opportunities for multi-disciplinary, collaborative research with faculty in other departments, other facilities, universities, and projects throughout the community.

The PhD program is a research-based program that also includes a thesis. It provides candidates with advanced knowledge, preparing them for a career in research in university, government, or industry sectors. The minimum requirements beyond a master’s degree are four graduate-level courses, passing comprehensive exams, and a satisfactorily defended thesis. The candidate must make an original contribution to the existing knowledge of the subject and is expected to publish the findings in refereed journals. Generally, the PhD program takes four years to complete.

Degree Requirements

Successful completion of 3 graduate-level courses
Successful completion of MECH 997 (regular attendance and presenting of your research)
Successful completion of Part A Comprehensive Exam (3 oral exams – 4 months after the start of the program)
Successful completion of Part B Comprehensive Exam (written report and oral presentation of your research – typically 16 months after the start of the program).
Successful completion of Final Thesis Exam (oral presentation of your body of written research)

For all three graduate-level programs, once a student is admitted, they must maintain their registration for each term and pay tuition until completion of the degree. This is applicable whether the student is enrolled in a course during the term or not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Admission and Application

Master’s degree in Applied Science (MASc) or Engineering (MEng)

English Proficiency Requirements

If required, a TOEFL score of 550 (paper-based) or TOEFL iBT minimum scores of: writing (24/30); speaking (22/30); reading (22/30); listening (20/30), for a total of 88/120. OR IELTS minimum score of 7.0

To begin your application or learn more about the process, please review the School of Graduate Studies Application Guide.

The School of Graduate Studies is responsible for the initial application process.

Full details, including Awards/Scholarships, testing requirements, preparing for graduate studies, and other documentation, are outlined on the School of Graduate Studies website.

Applicants are responsible for monitoring their application process via the School of Graduate Studies portal. The department does not send updates on application status. Only successful applicants will be contacted.

The Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) does not use Graduate Record Examination (GRE) to assess applications. We ask that you do not submit GREs with your application. Applicants are asked to submit two references/referees. This is to be done after the application fee is paid. At this point, an email will be sent to your references, asking them to respond.

Students can upload their transcript electronically to the Graduate School's website. If the MME department determines we are willing to admit you, you will be asked to mail or courier an official, original transcript to the Queen's School of Graduate Studies at:

School of Graduate Studies
Gordon Hall, Room 425
74 Union Street
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6

Application Deadline: There is no hard deadline; however, we encourage you to apply before March 1 to improve your odds of qualifying for internal awards.

Notification of Acceptance: End of March to July for September admissions.

Finding a Supervisor

We encourage you to identify an area of research interest and contact potential supervisor(s) before applying. Visit research groups and faculty profiles. When you find a faculty member with similar research interests to yours, contact them to let them know about your interest in graduate work, area of research and related experience.

Funding

Graduate students admitted to a PhD program are provided financial support in the form of a teaching and research assistantship and/or Queen's Graduate Award. Scholarships and fellowships are also available to eligible students through NSERC, Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) and the School of Graduate Studies.

PhD funding: minimum $25,000 per year.

We encourage you to apply for additional funding through external scholarships (NSERC, OGS, etc.). Entering PhD students who win federal government tri-council awards are automatically provided with a $7,500 award by Queen’s.

Frequently Asked Questions

Research

Our department has concentrated its research and advanced technical courses in four fields which the Engineering Profession recognizes as components of Mechanical Engineering. Areas of study include:

Biomechanical Engineering: Biomechanical device development and testing, computer-assisted surgery, motion analysis, occupational biomechanics/ergonomics, spine biomechanics, and tissue engineering.
Energy and Fluid Systems: Alternative energy, fuel cells, combustion, computational and experimental fluid dynamics, explosion physics and prevention, gas turbine, heat transfer, low-speed fluid flow, solar calorimetry, thermal hazards, thermographics, and turbulence.
Design and Manufacturing: Automatic controls, design optimization, manufacturing analysis, MEMS, metal processing, nanosize mechanical devices, noise and vibration control, rapid laminated tooling, robotics, structural and multidisciplinary systems design, system dynamics, and machine condition monitoring.
Materials Engineering: Ceramics and polymers, electrochemistry and biomaterials, materials characterization, materials processing, and nuclear materials.