Schulich School of Engineering

Schulich School of Engineering
Established 1965
Type Faculty
Academic affiliation University of Calgary
Location Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Academic staff 150
Students 3,700
Website www.schulich.ucalgary.ca
Schulich.png

The Schulich School of Engineering is an accredited engineering school located in Calgary, Canada. It currently has 3,700 enrolled students at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and over 150 faculty members.[1] 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 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 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 1 July 2010 and her previous position as dean is now held by Dr. Bill Rosehart.

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 Calgary campus 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 machining, fabrication, and carpentry.

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

Supercow, Official Mascot of the University of Calgary Engineering Students' Society

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 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.[4] Supercow is featured on various pictures in the Engineering Photo archive.[5]

Supercow Vacations

Being as popular as she is it is quite common for Supercow to make leaves of absence to visit other engineering schools from time to time.

CEC 2008: Supercow was traded for a ransom list. The items included coffee percolators from 10 rooms, 10 pillows, 40 towels and one of our delegates in a dress. All delivered on the dance floor at the final banquet of the Canadian Engineering Competition.

CFES Congress 2009: An unidentified individual was ambushed by the University of Calgary and the University of Saskatchewan with bolt cutters, securing her once again.

WEC 2010: 20 U of C Delegates cleverly obtained access to the room in which Supercow was held captive. She made it back safely to Calgary unscathed.

CFES PM 2011: Carleton University had stolen her from the VP External and returned her to U of C ESS president at an EWB conference covered in used condoms. The VP External dressed in hazmat gear for cleanup, armed with spatulas, rubber gloves and bleach.

WESST Retreat 2011: Three University of Calgary delegates slipped into a University of Saskatchewan cabin where one of their delegates had passed out chained to Supercow. Using their own boltcutters they snipped the chain and hid her in the woods until they could regroup and bring her home.

WEC 2012: Supercow was stolen by the University of Victoria Engineering Students' Society for several months.

WESST EM 2012: University of Calgary Executive Meeting team outfitted in sundresses and sunhats dressed in drag to appease Supercow's kidnappers to garner her safe return.

WESST Retreat 2012: She was again stolen by a collaborative group of WESSTies. In true WESST fashion Supercow was shared and all of the schools that worked together to procure her.

CFES Congress 2013: The then VP External craftily armed with swag and ice gained entry to their hotel room and beguiled them into letting him chain Supercow to himself. Having come without keys to undo the situation there was nothing for BCIT to do and Supercow was once again home.

WEC 2013: Supercow was stolen from a University of Calgary delegate using bolt cutters to cut through the lock. Although it is believed Supercow went to UBC that has neither been confirmed nor denied.

WESST Retreat 2013: Supercow was intercepted during olympics and returned to U of R for solid points. It is now her turn to experience Regina before returning to Schulich.

Supercow Protocol

As the pride of the University of Calgary and as a symbol of camaraderie between the University of Calgary and other member schools of WESST and CFES, the University of Calgary endorses the following protocol (terms at the discretion of University of Calgary):

  1. Supercow may be only be acquired by any member school of WESST or CFES. Possession by any other individual or group does not constitute a "Supercow Vacation" but instead an outright theft. Vacation only applies so long as Supercow is visible during regular hours at all CFES and WESST events attending by the society in possession of Supercow.
  2. Supercow may be reacquired by any WESST or CFES member school by any safe and legal means.
  3. Upon receiving Supercow the VP External (or President if there is no VP External) of the possessing society is required to inform the VP External of University of Calgary by email within 10 days of receiving her.
  4. The University of Calgary ESS is not authorized to use money to ransom Supercow.
  5. The University of Calgary ESS is not authorized to use alcohol to ransom Supercow.
  6. The University of Calgary ESS is not authorized to contravene any law to ransom Supercow.
  7. Any WESST or CFES member(s) in possession of Supercow are responsible for ensuring against damage to her structure or her finish (including her paint or stickers) with the exception that they may add stickers representing their school or society.

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.

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 (no longer available because of some fire hazard reasoning or something), as well as the fast-going daily lunch specials: chicken burgers, soup and subs, lasagna, chili, burritos and a student favourite, sausage and perogies. It is owned by Tom, a former graduate of the Haskayne School of Business, who is personally present some of the time and is always interested in talking to engineering students. The cafe is run by two nice ladies and takes paper currency and student cards.

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 Science 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 Lego robotics project and a project in collaboration with an industry partner.

Mechanical Engineering Building (Petro Canada 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. It was donated to the faculty of engineering by Petro-Canada. Unlike the rest of the engineering faculty, it is not physically connected but in fact resides in a separate building across 32nd Ave. NW. in the universities research park. It contains many labs and offices for faculty and grad students, as well as the Mechanical Engineering Shop. It also functions as the headquarters for the University of Calgary's Formula SAE and Baja SAE racecar teams. The mechanical engineering department at the U of C is one of the largest in Canada with around 150 graduate students and 350 undergraduates. The buildings contains three computer labs with over 40 computers in total, a study room which seats approximately 8 students, and a newly renovated recreation room, complete with a broken Foosball table, that seats approximately 12 students.

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. Various labs for the mechanical department are held here such as doing tests on an old four cylinder Toyota engine that barely runs but is used because it was donated to the school. Measuring wet bulb temperature in the shop is done by reading a thermometer with a shoe lace tied around it dipped in water.

Programs

References

  1. ↑ School History
  2. ↑ Western Engineering Students' Societies Team Website Archived 14 February 2011 at WebCite
  3. ↑ Canadian Federation of Engineering Students Website Archived 14 February 2011 at WebCite
  4. ↑ Schulich School of Engineering Students' Society sponsorship package
  5. ↑ Schulich School of Engineering Students' Society photo gallery Archived 14 February 2011 at WebCite

External links