Chair’s Discovery Award

Chair’s Discovery Award

The Chair’s Discovery Award (CDA) was established in 2013 to encourage publications by graduate students, to set clear expectations in graduate programs and to help reduce time to completion.

Value

  • MASc Students – $1,500
  •  PhD Students – $3,000

Eligibility

  • Successful  thesis defense at the MASc Departmental Oral Exam within two years of entry into the program.
  • Successful  thesis defense at the PhD Departmental Oral or Final Oral Examination within five years of entry into the program.
  • The student should have made substantial contributions to their research field. Specifically, the student should have authored/co-­‐authored at least one qualified paper per year in the program at the time of departmental oral. The qualified papers normally include first-­‐authored ones that have been published, accepted or submitted for publication in refereed journals at the time of departmental oral.  Non-­‐first-­‐authored papers are considered and counted as 0.5 of first-­‐authored papers.
  • Students with fewer papers but having high impact contributions (publications and patents et al.) are also eligible and encouraged to apply.
  • Eligible papers for a specific program (MASc or PhD) must be prepared from the work done during the years in the same program. For example, papers from one’s MASc thesis but published during one’s PhD program are not eligible for a PhD-­‐CDA.

Application

To apply, the candidate must submit a list of publications and a one‐page impact statement to the examination committee at the time of departmental oral. PhD students bypassing the departmental oral exam must submit these documents to their reading committee members prior to the PhD Final Oral Exam.

Evaluation and Recommendation

The application is evaluated by the oral examination committee. A recommendation form will be submitted to the graduate office following the exam by the exam Chair.

Approval

The final approval is made by the Chair of the department.