Carleton University’s Graduate Diploma in Infrastructure Protection and International Security (types 2 and 3) is an interdisciplinary program offered jointly by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. The diploma is associated with Carleton’s existing 5.0-credit Master program in Infrastructure Protection and International Security (IPIS), which is among the first in the world to bring the security, policy, and engineering components together in one coherent academic framework. The dual objective of the program is to familiarize engineers with the larger policy picture of infrastructure security in which their technical work is embedded, while giving those on the security policy side an awareness of the basic engineering principles that shape the technical boundaries of infrastructure protection policy. By having several courses in which engineers and policy experts work together on common problems and subject matter, students will learn to work collaboratively across disciplines.
The diploma (3.0 credits) will require students to take 1.5 credits of core courses and an additional 1.5 credits of elective courses. The list of approved electives is determined on the basis of the student’s background (engineering or policy). The diploma will be administered by the current IPIS Master program Committee on Infrastructure Protection and International Security (CIPIS). The membership of CIPIS is comprised of a Director, an Associate-Director, two faculty members (one from Civil Engineering and one from International Affairs) and a program administrator.

The Type 2 diploma (concurrent) will provide students in other graduate degree programs with an opportunity to supplement their core academic discipline with a new set of skills and subject knowledge related to the field of infrastructure protection.

The Type 3 diploma (direct entry) will offer practitioners an opportunity to enrich their current experience with a rigorous academic program that will enhance their ability to understand how their work fits into the wider context of infrastructure protection.