Canadian Rock Engineering Graduate Advancement Scholarship
(CARMA’s MSc Scholarship)

Scholarship description

The Canadian Rock Engineering Graduate Advancement Scholarship program aims to support financially a deserving student who recently registered to or started a Master of Applied Sciences (MSc) in rock mechanics and rock engineering at a Canadian institution.

The award aims to encourage and promote higher education in the fields of rock mechanics and rock engineering. Therefore, the award targets students who have recently been accepted to a relevant program under the supervision of a professor or have completed less than 70 % of the required program credits at the time of nomination.

The scholarship comes with a financial award of $ 4 000.

This award is non-renewable and cannot be compounded with other CARMA scholarship programs. The student will also receive a complimentary registration at one of the relevant Canadian conferences where the award will be presented. These conferences may include the CIM national conference, the CGS national conference, and the CARMA symposium.

Eligibility criteria

The following criteria define eligibility for the Canadian Rock Engineering Graduate Advancement Scholarship:

• The student must be enrolled in a thesis-based Masters (M.Sc.) program at a Canadian university in an engineering or relevant program.
• The student’s research project should address the fields of rock engineering and/or rock mechanics.
• Students should not have completed more than 70% of the program credits.
• Be a member of the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) or Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM).

Students are eligible for only one CARMA scholarship per yearly cycle. Students can apply for more than one scholarship per cycle but may only be awarded one.

Nomination Process

The nomination package should be submitted to contactus@carma-rock.ca. Self-nominations are accepted. The nomination should contain:

• A 2-page CV.
• A presentation letter outlining the candidate’s profile, motivations, research topic, and level of completion in the enrolled graduate program (number of credits completed and number of credits needed to graduate). Clearly specify the candidate’s GPa at the undergraduate level, graduate level, and for the 3 most recent semesters.
• (Optional) the nomination package may include a reference letter from the current academic supervisor or past supervisor.
• Proof of enrollment at a Canadian university in a MSc program.
• Transcript covering at least the previous 3 semesters of the candidate.

Evaluation committee and criteria

The evaluation committee will be formed by a non-voting committee chair selected by the CARMA Executive Committee. The evaluation committee shall be composed of at least 3 members with relevant academic and professional experience and no conflict of interest in the nomination packages received.

The evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

• Motivation statement of the candidate on their interest in contributing to Canadian Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. (35%)
• Research project description (well-defined contributions align well with state-of-the-art research and recent developments, clear problem statements, potential to contribute to the advancement of rock mechanics and rock engineering). (45%)
• Academic excellence (20%)

Members of the committee will present their rankings of the nominations received to the committee chair. The chair will then compile the rankings and derive an overall ranking. This ranking will be presented to CARMA executive committee.

Schedule of award nominations and presentation

The timeline for the scholarship nomination process will be as follows:

• Nomination package due January 31st
• Evaluation committee formed by February 15th
• The nominee’s ranking is presented to CARMA’s executive committee by March 15th.
• Recipient(s) informed by March 31st.
• Presentation of the award at one of the conferences: CIM in May, CGS, in September or October, CARMA symposium.

The recipient may elect to postpone by up to a year the presentation of the award to attend a specific conference.