Schulich School of Engineering

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Schulich School of Engineering Logo
Schulich School of Engineering Logo

The Schulich School of Engineering is an accredited engineering school located in Calgary, Canada. It currently has 3,200 enrolled students at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and 182 faculty members[1]. The school offers nine engineering degree programs.

Contents

[edit] 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 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, the former department head of the Geomatics Engineering department assumed the position of Dean on July 1, 2006.

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 University of Calgary Engineering students will go through the optional internship program.

[edit] Buildings and Services

Engineering Complex Highlighted
Engineering Complex Highlighted

The Schulich School of Engineering is located in the northern section of the University of Calgary campus in a complex that consists of three main buildings.

[edit] 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".

[edit] 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 machining, fabrication, and carpentry.

[edit] 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 viewing windows on the second floor.

[edit] 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 Students and sends representatives to various conferences and meets throughout the country.

[edit] 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[2] and the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students[3]

Supercow appears in many publications created by the Engineering Students' Society. Supercow has appeared on the cover of the 2003 through 2007 Cogwheels, a daily planner created by engineering students for engineering students, including forty pages of common engineering formulas. The 2007 Engineering Students' Society sponsorship package, sent to professional engineering firms in the city of Calgary, also contains a picture of Supercow[4]. Supercow is featured on various pictures in the Engineering Photo archive[5]

[edit] The Engg Lounge

The Engg lounge is the central social gathering area at the Schulich School of Engineering and by appearances has remained relatively unchanged since the 1960s. As of the 2006 fall semester, it has 3 electrical outlets, about 12 tables, about 5 couches and a variety of chairs. 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. It has been undergoing renovations since May 2007. In February of 2008, The Engg Lounge was officially opened, appropriately playing host to P.O.E.T.S.

[edit] Allegro 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 weekly special. Popular choices among students include the Famous "Breakfast Special" for $2.95, as well as the fast-going daily lunch specials: chicken burgers, soup and subs, lasagna, chili, and burritos. It is owned by Tom, who is personally present some of the time and is always interested in talking to engineering students.

[edit] 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 computer science program from the Faculty of Science, Department of Computer 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 Lego robotics project and a project in collaboration with an industry partner.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Programs Offered

[edit] References

[edit] External links