Sources of Funding for Graduate Students
The minimum support provided to students in the Material Science M.Sc. Program will be $16,000 p.a. for a minimum of twenty months. This support will come from a variety of sources, and will be offered in the form of Graduate Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships, and from both institutional and research funds.

All students applying to the program will be eligible for various forms of funding. Canadian students are strongly encouraged to apply to provincial and federal granting agencies for graduate scholarships and foreign students will be encouraged to apply to granting agencies in their own country.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)
Each student will be eligible for Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA). Priority for Teaching Assistantships will be given to students in the first 24 months (6 semesters) of the program. The granting of a Teaching Assistantship to a student after this time will be treated on a case-by-case basis, and will be subject to the availability of funds and the merit of the candidate. Students will be automatically considered for a Teaching Assistantship upon submission of their application to the program.

The value of a full TA is subject to collective bargaining; currently it is $8,400 per year at UOIT and $8,445 at Trent. GTAs will primarily be offered for the fall/winter semesters. Duties will typically include laboratory demonstration and/or tutorial leadership as well as grading responsibilities as appropriate in compliance with union regulations where applicable.

Research Assistantships (RA)
The Research Assistantship (RA), which is provided from the research grants of the student’s supervisor, will provide the balance of the student’s funding to meet or exceed the minimum program funding of $16,000 per year. Each faculty member in the graduate program has or will have research funds available from NSERC Discovery Grants, other grants from government funding agencies, university start-up grants, or other sources coming from industrial partners and from academic organizations such as SHARCNET.

Graduate Research Awards
Awards may be provided based on merit to students in the form of a Research Fellowship or a Graduate Award. These awards will vary in value up to $5,000 per year and will be made available to students by each institution as funds are available.