EECS Outstanding Thesis Awards

Overview

The EECS Outstanding Thesis Awards recognize exceptional graduate research completed within the academic programs administered by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

One award shall be granted annually in each of the following programs:

• M.Sc. in Computer Science
• M.A.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

These awards celebrate scholarly excellence, originality, technical depth, and overall impact of the thesis work. The awards are program-level recognitions and are adjudicated in coordination with the respective Graduate Program Directors.
Recognition associated with these awards may vary by program and may include a certificate, plaque, or other form of acknowledgment. Any financial component, where applicable, will be determined and communicated by the individual program.

Eligibility

• A thesis becomes eligible after a successful defense, in accordance with Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) regulations.
• To be considered, the thesis must have been examined by a duly constituted examining committee under FGS policies.
• Only dissertations formally nominated for the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) Thesis Award by the examining committee (via the defense documentation) are eligible for consideration for the EECS Outstanding Thesis Award.
• Eligibility is restricted to theses defended within the given academic year, unless otherwise recommended by the Graduate Program Directors.

Nomination Process

• During the thesis defense process, the examining committee may indicate that a thesis is to be considered for the FGS Thesis Award, as provided in the official defense documentation.
• Theses so identified are automatically considered as nominees for the program’s EECS Outstanding Thesis Award.
• Only dissertations formally nominated for the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) Thesis Award by the examining committee (via the defense documentation) are eligible for consideration for the EECS Outstanding Thesis Award.
• The supporting nomination materials prepared for the FGS Thesis Award shall also be used for adjudication of the EECS Outstanding Thesis Award. No additional documentation is normally required.

Adjudication Procedure

• The EECS Awards Committee shall rank all eligible theses nominated for the FGS Thesis Award within its program.
• In addition to the EECS Outstanding Thesis Award, the committee may, at its discretion, designate a Runner-Up to recognize an additional thesis of exceptional quality.
• The highest-ranked thesis in each program (as etermined by the EECS Awards Committee) shall be submitted as the program’s nominee for the FGS Thesis Award at the university level.
• The EECS Outstanding Thesis Award recipient for each program shall be the highest-ranked thesis (from the program’s ranked list) that does not receive the pan-university FGS Thesis Award. If the program’s highest-ranked thesis receives the pan-university FGS Thesis Award, then the program’s second-ranked thesis shall be designated as the EECS Outstanding Thesis Award recipient (provided it is otherwise eligible and did not receive the FGS Thesis Award).
• In exceptional circumstances, the EECS Awards Committee may recommend that no award be granted in a given year if no nomination is deemed to meet the standard of excellence.
• Members of the EECS Awards Committee must declare any conflict of interest, including supervisory or co-authorship relationships with nominees. Members with a conflict of interest must recuse themselves from deliberations and ranking related to the affected thesis

Administration and Record

• Recognition associated with these awards may vary by program and may include a certificate, plaque, or other form of acknowledgment. Any financial component, where applicable, will be determined and communicated by the individual program.
• In re-establishing or restarting the award, programs may retroactively recognize past nominees for the FGS Thesis Award in order to acknowledge deserving graduates from prior years.
• The award is typically announced and presented at a departmental or program-level event (e.g., graduate celebration, departmental meeting, or convocation-related ceremony).
• The awards do not carry a financial component unless otherwise specified by the program. Recipients may receive a certificate, plaque recognition, or similar token of acknowledgment.