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EARTH SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PROGRAM - ACADEMICS:

In the Earth Science and Engineering (ErSE) program at KAUST, faculty and their students engage in interdisciplinary research to understand and model geophysical and geological processes in the complex and changing nature of our planet. The ErSE curriculum provides graduate-level education in earth sciences and their applications in four distinct specializations represented by four tracks:

Geophysical Fluids and Climate System Science

Geophysics

Geology

Machine Learning in Geosciences

The program is rich with opportunities, for both M.Sc. and Ph.D. students, with a focus on modern computational and advanced data-analysis as well as laboratory and field methods to study geoscience problems. Depending on the chosen track, students in this program receive broad training in numerical methods, mathematical modelling, geophysics and/or geology. M.Sc. students have an option to participate in scientific research activities that include computational and mathematical modelling or field- and/or lab study projects (M.Sc. with thesis). Ph.D. candidates in the program conduct original research publishable in international high-ranking peer-reviewed journals.

SUMMARY OF M.S. AND PH.D. REQUIREMENTS:

Erse

View Online Program Guide

Course List & Syllabi

M.S. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

Core courses (12 credits) designed to provide students with the background needed to establish a solid foundation in the program area
Elective courses (12 credits) designed to allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives, with the permission of the academic advisor
M.Sc. thesis research or research/capstone experience (12 credits) designed to provide students with the research experience
Graduate seminar 398 (non-credit) – all students are required to register and receive a satisfactory grade for every semester of the program they attend

Completion of one Winter Enrichment Program (WEP)

Geophysical Fluids and Climate System Science Track Requirements

Core Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 - at least 2 from ErSE and at least one from AMCS:

ErSE 201	Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I	3
ErSE 211	Global Geophysics	3
ErSE 213	Inverse Problems	3
ErSE 253	Data Analysis in Geosciences	3
AMCS 206	Applied Numerical Methods	3
AMCS 231	Applied Partial Differential Equations I	3
AMCS 251	Numerical Linear Algebra	3
AMCS 252	Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations	3

Elective Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 courses:

ErSE 202	Computational Groundwater Hydrology	3
ErSE 294	Contemporary Topics in Earth Sciences	3
ErSE 301	Geophysical Fluid Dynamics II	3
ErSE 303	Numerical Methods of Geophysics	3
ErSE 304	Geophysical Continuum Mechanics	3
ErSE 305	Multiphase Flows in Porous Media	3
ErSE 307	Atmospheric Chemistry and Transport	3
ErSE 309	Thermodynamics of Subsurface Reservoirs	3
ErSE 330	Pore-Scale Modeling of Subsurface Flow	3
ErSE 353	Data Assimilation	3
ErSE 394	Contemporary Topics in Earth Science	3

AMCS 312	High Performance Computing	3
AMCS 350	Spectral Methods for Uncertainty Quantification	3
CE 202	Advanced Transport Phenomena	3
CS 207	Programming Methodology and Abstractions	3
CS 229	Machine Learning	3
ME 200A	Fluid Mechanics	3
MSE 200	Engineering Mathematics	3

Geophysics Track Requirements

Core Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 - at least 2 from ErSE and at least one from AMCS:

ErSE 210	Seismology	3
ErSE 211	Global Geophysics	3
ErSE 213	Inverse Problems	3
ErSE 253	Data Analysis in Geosciences	3
AMCS 206	Applied Numerical Methods	3
AMCS 231	Applied Partial Differential Equations I	3
AMCS 251	Numerical Linear Algebra	3
AMCS 252	Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations	3

Elective Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 courses:

ErSE 201	Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I	3
ErSE 212	Geophysical Geodesy and Geodynamics	3
ErSE 214	Seismic Exploration	3
ErSE 215	Geomechanics I	3
ErSE 217	Structural Geology	3
ErSE 218	Geophysical Field Methods	3
ErSE 221	Magmatic Systems	3
ErSE 222	Machine Learning in Geoscience	3
ErSE 260	Seismic Imaging	3
ErSE 294	Contemporary Topics in Earth Science	3
ErSE 304	Geophysical Continuum Mechanics	3
ErSE 315	Geomechanics ll	3
ErSE 323	Igneous Geochemistry	3
ErSE 327	Multiscale Modeling of Geological Reservoirs	3
ErSE 328	Advanced Seismic Inversion	3
ErSE 331	Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in Earth Sciences	3
ErSE 360	Mathematical Methods for Seismic Imaging	3
ErSE 394	Contemporary Topics in Earth Science	3

AMCS 312	High Performance Computing	3
AMCS 350	Spectral Methods for Uncertainty Quantification	3
CE 202	Advanced Transport Phenomena	3
CS 207	Programming Methodology and Abstractions	3
CS 229	Machine Learning	3
ERPE 310	Stratigraphy	3
ERPE 311	Carbonate Diagenesis	3
ERPE 315	Energy Geoscience	3
ERPE 370	Experimental Methods in Research - DSP	3
ME 305	Advanced MEMS Devices and Technologies	3
MSE 200	Engineering Mathematics	3

Geology Track Requirements

Core Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 courses:

ErSE 211	Global Geophysics	3
ErSE 217	Structural Geology	3
ErSE 221	Magmatic Processes	3
ErSE 223	Geological Systems of Arabia	3
ErSE 253	Data Analysis in Geosciences	3
ERPE 210	Fundamentals of Carbonate Geology	3
ERPE 211	Data integration for Geomodelling	3
ERPE 221	Geoscience Fundamentals (only for non-geologists)	3

Elective Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 courses.

ErSE 210	Seismology	3
ErSE 212	Geophysical Geodesy and Geodynamics	3
ErSE 214	Seismic Exploration	3
ErSE 218	Geophysical Field Methods	3
ErSE 219	Field geology	3
ErSE 226	Marine Geology – The Oceanic Crust	3
ErSE 294	Contemporary Topics in Earth Sciences	3
ErSE 323	Igneous Geochemistry	3
ErSE 331	Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in Earth Sciences	3
ErSE 394	Contemporary Topics in Earth Science	3

ERPE 200	Energy and the Environment	3
ERPE 220	Sediments: Properties and Processes	3
ERPE 230	Rock Mechanics for Energy Geo-Engineering	3
ERPE 310	Stratigraphy	3
ERPE 311	Carbonate diagenesis	3
ERPE 315	Energy Geoscience	3
ERPE 370	Experimental Methods in Research – DSP	3
MarS 326	Coral Reef Ecology	3
MarS 335	Oceanography	3

Machine Learning in Geosciences Track Requirements

Core Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 courses.

ErSE 213	Inverse Problems	3
ErSE 222	Machine Learning in Geosciences	3
ErSE 253	Data Analysis in Geosciences	3
AMCS 251	Numerical Linear Algebra	3
CS 229	Fundamentals of Machine Learning	3
STAT 220	Fundamentals of Statistic	3

Elective Courses (12 credits). Choose at least 4 courses.

ErSE 201	Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I	3
ErSE 211	Global Geophysics	3
ErSE 301	Geophysical Fluid Dynamics II	3
ErSE 303	Numerical Methods of Geophysics	3
ErSE 305	Multiphase Flows in Porous Media	3
ErSE 353	Data Assimilation	3
ErSE 210	Seismology	3
ErSE 214	Seismic Exploration	3
ErSE 260	Seismic Imaging	3
ErSE 294	Contemporary Topics in Earth Science	3
ErSE 328	Advanced Seismic Inversion	3
ErSE 331	Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar	3
ErSE 360	Mathematical Methods for Seismic Imaging	3
ErSE 394	Contemporary Topics in Earth Science	3

AMCS 241	Stochastic Processes	3
AMCS 211	Numerical Optimization	3
AMCS 308	Stochastic Num.: Simulation & Data Sci.	3
AMCS 312	High Performance Computing	3
AMCS 350	Uncertainty Quantification	3
CS 204	Data Structure and Algorithms	3
CS 201	Introduction to Programming with Python	3
CS 207	Programming Methodology and Abstractions	3
CS 220	Data Analytics	3
CS 323	Deep learning for Visual Computing	3
CS 331	Stochastic Descent	3
CS 340	Computational Methods in Data Mining	3
CS 341	Advanced Topics in Data Management	3
ERPE 221	Geoscience Fundamentals	3
ME 200A	Fluid Mechanics	3
MSE 200	Engineering Mathematics	3

Research/Capstone Experience (12 credits)

The details of this portion of the degree are uniquely determined by students with the permission of the academic advisor and will involve a combination of research and other capstone experiences. Students are expected to work weekly a minimum of 3 hours/week per each research credit they are registered for. MLG track students are strongly encouraged to include a summer internship at a high-tech company that requires machine learning applications.

ErSE 295	Master's Internship	3-12
ErSE 297	Master's Thesis Research	3-12
ErSE 299	Master's Directed Research	3-12

Masters Non-Thesis

Students wishing to pursue the non-thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, with a minimum of 6 credits of directed research (299).

Students must complete the remaining credits through one or a combination of the options listed below:

Broadening experience courses: courses that broaden a student’s M.Sc. experience
Internship: research-based summer internship (295) – students are only allowed to take one internship
Ph.D. courses: courses numbered at the 300 level
Graduate seminar 398 (non-credit) – all students are required to register and receive a satisfactory grade for every semester of the program they attend

Completion of one Winter Enrichment Program (WEP)

Masters with Thesis

Students wishing to pursue the thesis option must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA [MLM1] . A minimum of 12 credits of thesis research (297) is required. Students are permitted to register for more than 12 credits of M.Sc. thesis research with the permission of the academic advisor. The selected academic advisor must be a fulltime program-affiliated assistant, associate or full professor at KAUST. The faculty not affiliated with ErSE can become project-affiliated for the only specific thesis project upon program-level approval. Project-affiliation approval must be completed prior to commencing research.

A written thesis and an oral defense of the M.Sc. thesis are required. The students have to submit a final copy of the thesis to the thesis committee members at least two weeks prior to the defense date.[MLM2]

The thesis defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, consists of three KAUST faculty. If additional expertise is needed the committee could be extended, subject to dean’s approval. At least two committee members must be affiliated with the program. The chair may be any KAUST faculty familiar with the program rules. This membership can be summarized as:

Member	Role	Program Status
1	Chair	Within or outside program
2	Faculty	Within program
3	Faculty	Within or outside program
4	Additional faculty or research scientist	Within or outside program

Notes:

Members 1, 2, and one of 3 or 4 are required
Co-chairs may serve as member 2 or 3
Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2 or 3 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs
Visiting professors may serve as member 3

View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.

Program Courses and Descriptions

Master's Assessment Test

Students are admitted to KAUST from a wide variety of programs and backgrounds. In order to facilitate the design of an appropriate study plan, all admitted students without a master’s degree are required to take a written assessment exam when they arrive on campus. The purpose of the assessment is to determine whether students have the prerequisites for undertaking graduate-level courses taught in the program. The academic advisor works with admitted students to develop a study plan. Students are encouraged to prepare for the assessment by refreshing the general knowledge gained from their undergraduate education before arriving to KAUST. The study plan requirements must be satisfactorily completed, in addition to the University degree requirements.

PH.D. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree is designed to prepare students for research careers in academia and industry.

There is a minimum residency requirement at KAUST of three and a half years for students entering with a bachelor’s degree and two and a half years for students entering with a master’s degree. A minimum GPA of 3.0 must be achieved to graduate. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- for course credit.

The Ph.D. degree includes the following steps:

Securing an academic advisor
Successful completion of program coursework
Passing the qualifying examination
Passing the dissertation proposal defense to obtain candidacy status
Preparing, submitting and successfully defending a doctoral dissertation

PH.D. DEGREE TIMELINE:

MSE PHD Timeline 2019

Submission of Dissertation and final approval form

All graduation candidates will submit the final thesis/dissertation directly to the KAUST Repository .Formatting review will be done in the repository workflow. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Registrar HelpDesk registrarhelpdesk@kaust.edu.sa and your GPC. Please use the step-by-step user guide HERE.

Q&A

Q: How do I know if I am ready to archive?

A: You will have the final PDF file of your thesis complete (along with all supplementary files)

Q: How do I get my advisor’s final approval for archiving?

A: After you send the Turnitin report to your advisor, you can initiate their final approval for you to archive HERE.

Q: What’s the first thing I do to start the archiving process?

A: go to the KAUST Repository and “submit an item”: https://repository.kaust.edu.sa/

Q: Do I have to have an ORCID before archiving?

A: Yes, you do. http://orcid.kaust.edu.sa

Q: I want to hold making my thesis public for up to a year (embargo). How do I do this?

A: This is part of the repository submission process (see user guide for screenshots).

Oral Defense and Result Submission

The Ph.D. requires the passing of the defense and acceptance of the dissertation. The final defense is a public presentation that consists of an oral defense followed by questions and may last a maximum of three hours.

Students must determine the defense date with agreement of all the members of the dissertation committee, meet deadlines for submitting graduation forms and inform the committee of their progress. It is the students’ responsibility to submit the required documents to the graduate program coordinator (GPC) at the beginning of the semester they intend to defend. The required documents include (i) the list of proposed committee members, including the external examiner (and a CV of the external examiner, (ii) a current CV of the student, (iii) a current transcript, (iv) a list of publications, and (v) a final draft of the Ph.D. dissertation.

Students must submit the written dissertation to the committee one month prior to the defense date in order to receive feedback.

There are four possible outcomes from the dissertation final defense:

Pass
Pass with conditions
Retake
Fail without retake
A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote. In the instance of a pass with conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions, and if they cannot, the dean decides. The deadline to meet conditions is three months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it. If the conditions will take three months or more, or more than one member casts a negative vote, one retake of the defense is permitted. The deadline to complete the retake is as decided by the defense committee with a maximum of six months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it. Students who fail without retake or who fail the retake will be dismissed from the University.

Evaluation of the Ph.D. dissertation defense is recorded by submitting the result of the Ph.D. dissertation defense examination form within three days after the defense to the Office of the Registrar.

Petition for Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Examination

Petition for Dissertation Defense Examination

Ph.D. student is expected to declare his/her intention to defend the Ph.D. Dissertation by forming the dissertation committee and submitting the Ph.D. Petition for Dissertation Defense Examination form to the GPC. The student must submit the form to the GPC by the end of the second week of the semester the student intends to defend.

It is advisable that the student submits her/his dissertation to committee members six weeks prior the defense date.

Dissertation Committee

The PhD Dissertation Defense committee for the final defense must consist of at least four members, and typically includes no more than six members. At least three of the required members must be KAUST faculty and one must be an examiner who is external to KAUST. The Chair plus one additional faculty member must be affiliated with the student’s program.

The External Examiner must hold a Full or Associate Professor position at a university other than KAUST. The External Examiner will review the dissertation and send a report within three weeks sharing his/her recommendations and questions prior to the final defense. Beyond the External Examiner, up to two additional members can be added. All committee members must attend the final defense, by videoconference if necessary.

Member Role & Program Status:

Member	Role	Program Status
1	Chair	Within Program
2	Faculty	Within Program
3	Faculty	Outside Program
4	External Examiner	Outside KAUST
5	Approved Research Scientist	Inside KAUST
6	Additional Faculty	Inside or outside KAUST

Notes:

Members 1 – 4 are required. Members 5 and 6 are optional.
Co-chairs may serve as either Member 2, 3 or 6.
Adjunct Professors and Professor Emeriti may retain their roles on current committees but may not serve as chair on any new committees.
Professors of Practice and Research Professors may serve as Members 2, 3 or 6 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program. They may also serve as co-chairs.
Visiting Professors may serve as Member 6, but not as the external examiner.

Designation of Dissertation Advisor

The selected academic advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated professor at KAUST. Students may also select an academic advisor from another program at KAUST. The academic advisor can only become project affiliated for the specific dissertation project with program level approval. Project affiliation approval must be completed prior to commencing research.

View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.

Ph.D. Course Requirements

The required coursework varies for students entering the Ph.D. degree with a bachelor’s degree or a relevant master’s degree. Students holding a bachelor’s degree must complete all program core/mandatory courses and elective courses outlined in the master’s degree section and are also required to complete the Ph.D. courses below. Students entering with a bachelor’s degree will qualify to earn a master’s degree by satisfying the master’s degree requirements.

Students entering the Ph.D. degree with a relevant M.Sc. degree must complete the requirements below, though additional courses may be required by the academic advisor. Upon approval of the advisor, Ph.D. students are allowed to choose the relevant courses from the entire ErSE curriculum, as well as from the curriculums of other KAUST programs.

Ph.D. Courses

At least three courses that comprise at least two 300-level courses, at least two courses should be from the ErSE curriculum for students coming with a master’s from another university or a different KAUST program and at least one 300-level course from ErSE curriculum for students with M.Sc. from KAUST ErSE
Graduate seminar 398 (non-credit) – all students are required to register and receive a satisfactory grade for every semester of the program they attend

Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) – students who completed WEP while earning the M.Sc. are not required to enroll in a full WEP for a second time during the Ph.D.

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

UNDER MAINTENANCE

Dissertation Committee Formation

To graduate, Ph.D. candidates have to finalize the Ph.D. dissertation, form a Ph.D. dissertation defense committee, and successfully defend a Ph.D. dissertation.

The Ph.D. dissertation defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, consists of four mandatory members. If additional expertise is required the committee could be extended, subject to the dean’s approval. Three of the mandatory members must be KAUST faculty and one must be an external examiner who is external to KAUST. The chair can be any KAUST faculty familiar with the program rules. At least two committee members must be KAUST faculty affiliated with the program, and one must be a KAUST faculty outside the program. The external examiner must write a report on the dissertation and attend the dissertation defense either in person or remotely.

Member	Role	Program Status
1	Chair	Within or outside program
2	Faculty	Within program
3	Faculty	Within or outside program
4	External Examiner	Outside KAUST

Notes:

The chair cannot be the academic advisor
Co-chairs may serve as either members 2 or 3
Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2 or 3 upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as cochairs
Visiting professors may serve as member 2 or 3 depending upon their affiliation
The only requirement with commonality with the proposal committee is the academic advisor, although it is expected that other members will carry forward to this committee.
If students have a co-supervisor, this person can be considered one of the four mandatory members required, provided they come under the categories listed (i.e. meets the requirements of the position).
View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense

The dissertation proposal defense is the second part of the qualification milestones that must be completed within one year after passing the qualifying exam to become a Ph.D. candidate. Students have to submit to the Ph.D. dissertation proposal committee a written research proposal and pass an oral research proposal defense.

The Ph.D. dissertation proposal defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, consists of three members. If additional expertise is required the committee could be extended, subject to dean’s approval. The chair can be any KAUST faculty member familiar with the program rules. Two committee members must be KAUST faculty affiliated with the program and one must be a KAUST faculty outside the program.

Member	Role	Program Status
1	Chair	Within or outside program
2	Faculty	Within or outside program
3	Faculty	Outside program

Notes:

Co-chairs may serve as members 2 or 3
Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2 or 3 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs
Once constituted, the composition of the proposal committee can only be changed with the approval of both the academic advisor and the dean.
This committee should also make itself available for subsequent periodic review meetings with students. The composition of the committee could change over time.
View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.