Schulich School of Engineering
Encyclopedia
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It currently has 3,700 enrolled students at both undergraduate and graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
levels, and over 150 faculty members. The school offers nine engineering degree programs.
History
The Schulich School of Engineering was originally conceived on September 28, 1964 at the first meeting of the Engineering Council, as the Faculty of Engineering. The new school was officially accredited and given faculty status on April 1, 1965 and officially opened its doors for the fall semester of the same year, with a total first year enrollment of 59 students, taught by 2 faculty members.Over the 40 years that the faculty has been operating, it has expanded drastically to its current size, as well as several new wings to the engineering building, now more accurately a complex, and an entirely new building to house the software, computer, and electrical engineering department. Before the 2005-2006 fall and winter semesters, Mr. Seymour Schulich
Seymour Schulich
Seymour Schulich, CM is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. -Biography:Schulich graduated from McGill University with a B.Sc. in 1961 and an MBA in 1965. He earned a Chartered Financial Analyst designation through the University of Virginia in 1969.He is married to Tanna and they live in...
made a $25 million donation to the faculty, which was matched by another $25 million from the Alberta provincial government. At this point, the name of the faculty was changed to the Schulich School of Engineering in honour of his donation. Dr. Wirasinghe stepped down as dean of the school on June 30, 2006. Dr. M. Elizabeth Cannon
M. Elizabeth Cannon
M. Elizabeth Cannon, FRSC, is a Canadian Geomatics Engineer and current President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calgary.-Biography:Cannon graduated from Acadia University with a B.Sc...
, the former head of the geomatics engineering department assumed the position of dean on July 1, 2006. Dr. Cannon was appointed to be the president of the University of Calgary on the 1st of July 2010 and her previous position as dean is now held by Dr. Guy Gendron.
In 1993, the School started an Internship program with Dr. Michael Ward, former civil department head and the vice-president research of the University, as the founding director. Schulich School of Engineering now has one of the largest engineering internship programs in the country. Approximately 70% of Schulich engineering students will go through the optional internship program.
Buildings and Services
The Schulich School of Engineering is located in the northern section of the University of CalgaryUniversity of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
in a complex that consists of three main buildings.
Main Complex
The first main engineering building (labeled EN in the map to right) houses all of the departments with the exception of the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and the Department of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering (which are housed in separate buildings). The majority of engineering specific courses are also held in the variety of lecture halls found in this building. Other notable facilities in the main building include the Machine Shop, the M.A. Ward Civil Engineering Labs, the Engineering Students Society office, "The Engg Lounge", and Allegro Cafe. As many of the first year engineering courses (which are identical for all departments) take place here, a principle hallway in this building is often referred to as "The First Year Hole".Machine Shop
The machine shop in the Schulich School of Engineering came into existence with the school in 1966, and provides a variety of mechanical construction services to the students and faculty members. The shop provides a variety of services, including CNC machining, manual machiningMachining
Conventional machining is a form of subtractive manufacturing, in which a collection of material-working processes utilizing power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses, are used with a sharp cutting tool to physical remove material to achieve a desired...
, fabrication
Fabrication (metal)
Fabrication as an industrial term refers to building metal structures by cutting, bending, and assembling. The cutting part of fabrication is via sawing, shearing, or chiseling ; torching with handheld torches ; and via CNC cutters...
, and carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
.
M.A. Ward Civil Engineering Labs
The civil engineering laboratory is located in a cavernous space in the south-westernmost block of the main complex. It is the main experimental space for the civil engineering faculty (along with the bay in CCIT) and can supports many separate endeavours at one time. While it is generally closed off to the main student body, there are always viewing windows on the second floor.Engineering Students Society Office
The Engineering Students Society (ESS) is a non-profit organization that is run by students within the faculty to provide student activities, academic help and student-professional interaction. It is a member of the Canadian Federation of Engineering StudentsCanadian Federation of Engineering Students
The Canadian Federation of Engineering Students is the national association of undergraduate engineering student societies in Canada and exists to organize activities, provide services and interact with professional and other bodies at the national and international level for the benefit of...
and sends representatives to various conferences and meets throughout the country.
Official Mascot of the Schulich School of Engineering
Supercow is a prominent figure in school spirit activities that boost team building and trust among engineering students moving toward a professional career in engineering. Supercow travels to numerous national engineering conferences and competitions, hosted by the Western Engineering Students' Societies Team and the Canadian Federation of Engineering StudentsSupercow appears in many publications created by the Engineering Students' Society. Supercow has appeared on the cover of the 2003 through 2009 Cogwheels, a daily planner created by engineering students for engineering students, including forty pages of common engineering formulas. The 2007 - 2009 Engineering Students' Society sponsorship packages, sent to professional engineering firms in the city of Calgary, also contain a picture of Supercow. Supercow is featured on various pictures in the Engineering Photo archive
The Engg Lounge
The Engineering Student Lounge is the central social gathering area at the Schulich School of Engineering. During the fall and winter semesters, especially at 12:00 PM, the lounge is normally a hive of activity, as a vast majority of students come by to socialize and eat. The lounge is also notable for P.O.E.T.S, or Piss On Everything, Tomorrow's Saturday, a weekly Friday gathering of engineers (Beginning at 3:00pm, and ending at 6:00pm), originally created by Dean Rhodes and put on by the Engineering Students Society. P.O.E.T.S is a place for engineering students (and even sometimes professors!) to unwind at the end of the school week and enjoy "cheaper" cold beer and occasionally live music, as well as a weekly event such as Minnow Races, Jeopardy, Engg Olympics, etc. In recent years, interest in POETS has decreased thus it has now been moved to Thursdays in hopes of garnering more interest. The acronym has been changed accordingly now standing for Piss On Everything, Thursden's Soon in reference to the campus bar "The Den" and the Thursday student appreciation night commonly known as Thursden.Allegro's Cafe
Allegro's is the small café located in the engineering lounge. It is commonly thought of as the closest place to engineering that serves edible meals. It serves a variety of food including sandwiches, pop, nachos, hot dogs and a daily special. Popular choices among students include the Famous "Breakfast Special" for $3.45, as well as the fast-going daily lunch specials: chicken burgers, soup and subs, lasagna, chili, and burritos. It is owned by Tom, a former graduate of the Haskayne School of BusinessHaskayne School of Business
The Haskayne School of Business is the University of Calgary's business school, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is named after Richard F. Haskayne, who gave one of the largest endowments to a business school in Canada. The school offers undergraduate, masters, and PhD degrees, as well as...
, who is personally present some of the time and is always interested in talking to engineering students. The cafe is "manned" by two fairly mean ladies and only takes paper currency.
Information Communications Technology (ICT) Building
The ICT building (labeled ICT in the map at right) is shared by the Schulich School of Engineering with the Department of Computer ScienceComputer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from the Faculty of Science. The building houses the majority of the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering in the form of several lecture halls, computer labs and electronics labs. ICT also houses the design labs for Minds In Motion and the first year design courses.
The ground level of ICT is arranged as a food court themed meeting area, frequented by many faculties. Commercial services such as Family Mart, Good Earth Cafe and Apex Credit Union occupy the bottom floor.
Electronics Labs
The ICT building features ultramodern electronics labs for electrical and computer engineering students. These include labs for second year students as well as third year students, and the Telus Microwave Research Laboratory for microwave antenna design and research.Design Labs
The design labs take up half of the second floor of the ICT building and are used to teach a two-semester design course to first year engineers. This course is taught in collaboration with the English and Arts Faculties at the university, in order to provide students with a full comprehension of design. Among the projects done in the course are a product completion, from concept to creation in the first semester and both a LegoLego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
robotics project and a project in collaboration with an industry partner.
Mechanical Engineering Building
The Mechanical Engineering Building (marked as MEB on the map to right) houses the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing at the Schulich School of Engineering. Unlike the rest of the engineering faculty, it is not physically connected but in fact resides in a separate building across 32nd Ave. NW. It contains many labs and offices for faculty and grad students, as well as some classes for undergraduates and a Mechanical Engineering Shop. It also functions as the headquarters for the University of Calgary's Formula SAE and Baja SAE racecar teams.Mechanical Engineering Shop
The MES is located at the easternmost end of the ME building and contains a variety of tools and equipment for building and testing research projects in the mechanical engineering department. As of 2010, the mechanical engineering shop has been severely downsized with a reduction in staff and equipment.Programs Offered
- Engineering Internship Program
- Chemical EngineeringChemical engineeringChemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
- Civil EngineeringCivil engineeringCivil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
- Computer EngineeringComputer engineeringComputer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...
(offered only as a minor in the software engineering program as of 2011) - Electrical EngineeringElectrical engineeringElectrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
- Geomatics EngineeringGeomatics engineeringGeomatics Engineering, Geomatic Engineering, or Geospatial Engineering is a rapidly developing discipline that focuses on spatial information . The location is the primary factor used to integrate a very wide range of data for viewing and analysis...
- Manufacturing EngineeringManufacturing engineeringManufacturing engineering is a field dealing with different manufacturing practices and the research and development of processes, machines and equipment.-Overview:...
(offered only as a minor in the mechanical engineering program as of 2009) - Mechanical EngineeringMechanical engineeringMechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
- Oil & Gas EngineeringPetroleum engineeringPetroleum engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Subsurface activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of...
- Software EngineeringSoftware engineeringSoftware Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
- Biomedical EngineeringBiomedical engineeringBiomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...
Specialization - Energy and EnvironmentEnergy and EnvironmentEnergy & Environment is a peer-reviewed academic journal aimed at natural scientists, technologists, and the international social science and policy communities covering the direct and indirect environmental impacts of energy acquisition, transport, production and use. Its editor-in-chief since...
Specialization - Mechatronics Engineering Minor
- Petroleum EngineeringPetroleum engineeringPetroleum engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Subsurface activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of...
Minor - Transportation Engineering Minor
- Structural EngineeringStructural engineeringStructural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right....
Minor - Environmental Engineering Minor
- Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development Minor
- Management and Society Minor