The

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

Faculty of Engineering is one of the largest

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

schools in Canada in terms of size, international impact, and reputation. The faculty is home to 1 Canada Excellence Research Chair, 16

Canada Research Chairs Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

, 13

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

chairs, and 5 Foundation Supported Chairs.

History

Engineering classes have been taught at the

since it opened in 1908.

Programs

Undergraduate

The undergraduate

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

program for engineering is based on a 4-5 year program. The traditional program involves taking two terms (fall and winter) for four years to complete a degree. The co-op program involves intermittent work placement terms, within a 5-year period. Co-op programs are usually in higher demand by students than the 4 year "Traditional" programs, and thus the entrance GPA tends to be higher. New students to engineering must first take two terms of general engineering courses before specializing into various departments. These courses include introductory chemistry,

wave In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...

s and

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

, statics, dynamics,

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...

linear algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as: :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as: :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matrices ...

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...

and English. This is structured to give students a feel of their areas of interest and strength, before fully entering into a specialized program. It also allows for ranking each student on a level playing field to decide program admission in second year. A sixth course in each term (General Engineering 100 and 160) must also be taken as an introduction to both the engineering profession, and as a means for each department to recruit students.

Departments

The departments in engineering at the University of Alberta are as follows: *

Chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

and Materials Engineering (including Computer Process Control and

Oil Sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

Options)- The Chemical Engineering program is the top program in Canada by a wide margin and is in the top 5% in North America. This ranking is against 177 programs in both the U.S. and Canada. This ranking is based on total refereed publications over a 5-year period as listed in the Science Citation Index of ISI.^{ource?/sup>
*Civil

Civil may refer to:

*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
and Environmental Engineering

Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and ...
(including School of Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
and Petroleum Engineering)
*Electrical

Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
and Computer Engineering (including nano-electrical and Software

Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.

...
options and Engineering Physics
Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...
)
*Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

*Biomedical Engineering, the department hosts graduate and PhD students.

Graduate

All five Faculty of Engineering departments offer MSc, MEng, and PhD programs.

Key Research Facilities

* The nanoFAB - An open access micro and nano fabrication research facility.
* The National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) – A joint venture with the National Research Council Canada (NRC) that hosts facilities and research programs involving more than 300 researchers.
* The Alberta Centre for Surface Engineering and Science (ACSES) – A $20M multi-disciplinary integrated surface characterization and modification facility.
* The Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility – A facility designed to support substantial fundamental tailings research at a pilot scale (600 and 2000 kg solids per hour) and accommodate multiple, concurrent interdisciplinary research projects.
* The Peter S. Allen Magnetic Resonance Research Centre - A facility located inside the University Hospital that houses 1.5 T, 3 T and 4.7 T full-body MRI systems.

Campus

Faculty of Engineering facilities are located mainly in the north-west corner of the University of Alberta campus and have experienced much growth since 2001. The joint Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) and Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Facility (ECERF) was completed in February 2002. ETLC contains the main Faculty of Engineering offices, several lecture

A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...
halls, and many electrical and computer engineering laboratories

A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physici ...
. ECERF houses department and faculty offices as well as for lab space for graduate and postdoctoral

A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...
work. The Allan P. Markin/Canadian Natural Resources Limited Natural Resources Engineering Facility (NREF) was added on October 1, 2004, and houses most civil and environmental engineering programs. Most recently, the National Institute for Nanotechnology was opened in June 2006. As a joint venture between the federal and provincial governments of Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and Alberta

Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
and the University of Alberta, the institute houses some of the world's best nanotechnology facilities. It is Canada's quietest research space, filtering out all electromagnetic

In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions o ...
, acoustical

Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
and vibration

Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, su ...
al noise. Other facilities include the Mechanical Engineering and Chemical/Materials Engineering buildings, both of which are connected to ETLC by pedway.

A new structure, the Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering (D-ICE) was erected between the Chemical and Materials Engineering Building and the Windsor Car Park. The new building will provide approximately 28,400 square metres of space to support expanded educational and research activities in the Faculty of Engineering. The building houses faculty members, staff, and students from every engineering discipline.

References

External links

University of Alberta: Engineering Faculty

National Institute of Nanotechnology

The Engineering Physics Club

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Engineering

Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...}