PhD in Earth Sciences - Khalifa University

The PhD in Earth Sciences builds on Khalifa University’s internationally leading research activity in science, engineering, and medicine. It supports the University’s alignment with the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 plan through the provision of internationally excellent education and student experience in Earth Sciences, producing highly skilled science professionals capable of transferring state-of-the-art technologies to priority sectors of industry, business and government. The aim of the PhD in Earth Sciences program is to produce graduates who are able to conduct independent research in Earth Sciences at the highest levels of originality and quality. The degree will be awarded to students who demonstrate a range of advanced knowledge and skills at the forefront of Earth Sciences and who complete an independent investigation of a novel specialist topic in order to present a dissertation addressing a problem in cutting edge research. Candidates for the degree will be supervised by teams of experienced researchers.

The objectives of the PhD in Earth Sciences program are to produce graduates who have the ability to:

Synthesize and critically evaluate complex current knowledge in the Earth Sciences in order to plan and implement new and creative approaches so as to generate new knowledge and solve research challenges with effective dissemination of the results to a variety of audiences;
Work to the highest professional and ethical standards in an area of Earth Sciences and develop their individual academic, professional and career skills; and
Keep abreast of the latest developments in Earth Sciences that contribute to the advancement of knowledge for the benefit of society.

Upon successful completion of the PhD in Earth Sciences, a graduate will be able to:

Demonstrate and critically analyse comprehensive, deep and overarching knowledge that is at the frontier of recent developments in Earth Sciences.
Conduct and defend original independent research that creates significant new knowledge in Earth Sciences of publishable quality that leads to scholarly articles or other intellectual outputs.
Analyse and critically evaluate the uses and limitations of diverse methodologies and techniques for solving problems in Earth Sciences research, leading to informed and valid judgements.
Select and deploy advanced experimental and related skills to investigate and solve complex problems in Earth Sciences research.
Communicate effectively and professionally, in written and oral forms as appropriate, the major tenets of areas of Earth Sciences and their individual specializations to a variety of audiences.
Demonstrate a commitment to safe, responsible and ethical behaviour in all research and professional activities.
Reflect upon their role(s) in their research specialization and in the wider research community to ensure that they take responsibility for their own development and that of peer groups and networks.

Overall Program Structure

The PhD in Earth Sciences consists of a minimum 60 credit hours, distributed as follows: 24 credit hours of coursework, 36 credit hours of PhD Dissertation and two zero credit PhD Seminar courses. The components of the program are summarized in the table below:

Program Component	Credit Hours
SCIE 701 Research Methods Science	3
SCIE 702 Research Seminar I	0
SCIE 703 Research Seminar II	0
Program Electives	21
SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation	36
Total	60

Program Requirements

Students seeking the degree of PhD in Earth Sciences must successfully complete a minimum 60 credit hours as specified in the program requirements detailed below, with a minimum CGPA of 3.0. Course selection should be made in consultation with the student’s Main Advisor.

Program Core (3 credit hours)

Students must complete the following core courses:

SCIE 701 Research Methods Science
SCIE 702 Research Seminar I (0 credits)
SCIE 703 Research Seminar II (0 credits)

Program Electives (21 credit hours)

Students must complete a total of seven elective courses (21 credits). Program electives are listed below:

ERTH 701 Petroleum Systems
ERTH 702 Lab Methods in Sedimentology and Geochemistry
ERTH 703 Lab and Field Techniques in Geophysics
ERTH 711 Carbonate Petrology and Stratigraphy
ERTH 712 Field Geology
ERTH 713 Rock Physics
ERTH 714 Seismic Interpretation in Petroleum Exploration and Production
ERTH 715 Seismic Modelling and Imaging
ERTH 718 Biogeochemical Cycles
ERTH 719 Deformation and Structures of Sedimentary Rocks
ERTH 720 Organic Geochemistry
ERTH 721 Sedimentary Basins Analysis
ERTH 722 Shared Earth Models
ERTH 723 Isotope Geochemistry

Subject to approval of the Main Advisor and the Program Coordinator, up to two electives (6 credits) may be taken from outside the student’s department and chosen from the list below, if these courses support the student’s dissertation topic.

Course	Department	Area of Interest
CHEM 711 Recent developments in Inorganic chemistry	Chemistry	Inorganic chemical aspects of Earth sciences.
CHEM 712 Recent developments in Organic chemistry	Chemistry	Biogeochemical aspects of Earth sciences.
CHEM 714 Recent developments in Analytical chemistry	Chemistry	Advanced analytical chemistry aspects of Earth sciences.
CHEM 716 Recent developments in Environmental chemistry	Chemistry	Environmental chemistry aspects of Earth sciences.
PHYS 707 Advanced Solid State Physics	Physics	Geophysics.
PHYS 708 Theoretical Astroparticle Physics	Physics	Planetary sciences.
PHYS 709 Experimental Techniques in Astroparticle Physics	Physics	Planetary sciences.
PHYS 710 Planetary Astrophysics	Physics	Planetary sciences.
PHYS 712 Atomic and Molecular Physics for Space Scientists	Physics	Planetary sciences.
MATH 706 Modern Statistical Prediction and Data Mining	Mathematics	Various areas of Earth sciences.
MATH 708 Partial Differential Equations	Mathematics	Geophysics.
CHEG 720 Modelling and Engineering of Microbial Environmental Bioprocesses	Chemical Engineering	Environmental Earth sciences.
CIVE 703 Groundwater Hydrology	Civil Engineering	Environmental Earth sciences.
CIVE 707 Environmental Remote Sensing and Satellite Image Processing	Civil Engineering	Environmental and planetary Earth sciences.
CIVE 719 Climate Dynamics	Civil Engineering	Earth systems science.
MSEN 712 Imaging of Materials: Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis	Mechanical Engineering	All fields of Earth Sciences involving advanced characterization of materials.
MEEN 782 Materials Characterization Techniques	Mechanical Engineering	Earth Science topics involving advanced characterization of materials.
PEEG 730 Fluid Flow and Transport Through Porous Media	Petroleum Engineering	Various aspects of Earth sciences involving fluid flow in porous media (hydrology, diagenesis, petroleum).

SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation (36 credit hours)

Students must complete a Dissertation that involves creative, research-oriented work within the field of Earth Sciences, under direct supervision of a full-time faculty advisor from the Earth Sciences Department, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as a co-advisor. The outcome of research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others. The research findings must be documented in a formal dissertation and defended successfully in a viva voce examination.

Study Plan

A typical study plan for students enrolled in the PhD in Earth Sciences is shown below.

Typical Study Plan for Full-Time Students
	Semester 1	Semester 2
Year 1	SCIE 701 Research Methods Science Elective Course 1 Elective Course 2 Elective Course 3	Elective Course 4 Elective Course 5 Elective Course 6 SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation
Year 2	Elective Course 7 SCIE 795 PhD Written Qualifying Examination SCIE 799 Research Dissertation in Science	SCIE 702 Research Seminar I SCIE 796 PhD Research Proposal Examination SCIE 799 Research Dissertation in Science
Year 3	SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation	SCIE 703 Research Seminar II SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation
Year 4	SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation	SCIE 799 PhD Research Dissertation PhD Research Dissertation Examination