An interesting article on the Waterloo area and start-up company activity in recent years, including the impact of Waterloo Engineering and co-op education.
Startup city: The high-tech fever reshaping Kitchener-Waterloo – The Globe and Mail.
Engineering Education
Canada versus U.S.
Usually, when Canadians speak of “Canada vs. U.S.” here it is with reference to a hockey series. However, in celebration of Canada Day (July 1) and Independence Day (July 4) holidays, here I’m going to point out a few differences in terminology and other things that you might run across when looking at engineering programs at Canadian and U.S. post-secondary institutions. (these are based on my observations, and there will be exceptions of course, because this is a huge and complex topic) Continue reading
Innovation Track Record
There was a recent article in the New York Times about the panic and anxiety surrounding applicants trying to get into the “elite” U.S. schools like Stanford and Harvard. It contains this interesting little comment:
I also spoke with Sam Altman, the president of Y Combinator, one of the best-known providers of first-step seed money for tech start-ups. I asked him if any one school stood out in terms of students and graduates whose ideas took off. “Yes,” he responded, and I was sure of the name I’d hear next: Stanford. It’s his alma mater, though he left before he graduated, and it’s famous as a feeder of Silicon Valley success.
But this is what he said: “The University of Waterloo.” It’s a public school in the Canadian province of Ontario, and as of last summer, it was the source of eight proud ventures that Y Combinator had helped along. “To my chagrin,” Altman told me, “Stanford has not had a really great track record.”
Here is the link to the full article.
Capstone Design Projects
March is the season for “Capstone Design Project” presentations at Waterloo Engineering. These are events where groups of graduating students present and explain the design projects they have been working on for the past 8 to 12 months. Working on a significant, open-ended design project is a feature in all engineering programs in Waterloo and across Canada, to my knowledge. These “Design Symposia” are open to the public.
Where do the topics for these design projects come from? There are 3 typical sources: 1) some professors provide an idea, likely related to their ongoing research projects; 2) companies approach us with ideas that they would like someone to work on; 3) the student groups come up with their own ideas.
For companies, this is an opportunity to have some ideas explored in more detail and for free (other than some time spent). Many companies have some new ideas or side-projects that would be nice to do, but they don’t have the time or resources to follow-up on them right away. Having a student group work on it can help them scope-out the idea and see if it is worthwhile to pursue more aggressively in the future. For the students, they get more experience working on a real-world problem, possibly in an industry sector they want to learn more about. This can be a nice addition to the experience they already gained during their co-op work terms.
Student groups that come up with their own idea are often the source of new innovations and start-up companies that they build after graduation. At Waterloo, any novel idea that a student creates is owned by them. The university supports innovation and entrepreneurship, but doesn’t attempt to take it over in any way.
For high school students who are thinking about pursuing engineering, these projects are a good way to get a feeling for what you can do in the different disciplines. So check out these links for project titles or descriptions:
Management Engineering
Nanotechnology Engineering
Software Engineering
Civil, Environmental, Geological Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Mechatronics Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Systems Design Engineering
A couple of programs are missing their project lists, but will probably be updated in the coming days. See this link.
Picking the Perfect Program
The 2015 admission season is getting going, with various deadlines coming up. First is the Ontario applicant deadline (January 14), followed by the out-of-province deadline (around March 1). (Just a note, the January 14 deadline is not really a deadline, more like a recommendation as far as we are concerned; if you miss it there is no particular effect.)
When it comes to applying to Waterloo Engineering, this is the first hard part, i.e. picking the program you want to apply to (since we don’t have a general first year). I’ve posted stuff about this in past years (see here, and here), so this post just contains a few additional ideas. This is quite important however. You don’t want to end up in a program you don’t really like. While it is technically possible to switch programs, in recent years it has often become more difficult because of capacity limits in many programs, and there have been people looking to switch who couldn’t.
Let me summarize my ideas and observations in two categories: good and bad reasons to pick a certain engineering program (the specific program doesn’t matter, so I’ll leave it blank). Continue reading
University approves $88-million Engineering 7 building
Here is some interesting and exciting news. I wasn’t aware it was up for approval, so it caught me by surprise! It will have quite a few interesting features for education in engineering and entrepreneurship for all programs. But it also will help with our space constraints in Biomedical and Mechatronics Engineering. See the link for more details. In the picture (architect’s rendering) you can just see the side of our current Engineering 5 building in the background to the right.
University approves $88-million Engineering 7 building | Engineering.
The Most In-Demand (And Aging) Engineering Jobs
The Most In-Demand (And Aging) Engineering Jobs.
Our Dean of Engineering, Prof. Pearl Sullivan, pointed out this interesting article from Forbes magazine. Much of the information I’ve seen before in various places, but it’s a nice compilation and summary. Also, it’s based on U.S. statistics, so it’s hard to tell how the Canadian situation may compare but the general ideas are likely similar. There are a few things to point out:
“Industrial Engineering” seems to be in big demand. At Waterloo, this would roughly correspond to our “Management Engineering” program.
I’m disappointed that my discipline, Chemical Engineering, was lumped into the “All Other Engineers” category! I guess this also includes Biomedical, Software, etc.
One of the problems with these surveys is that various groups use different classification schemes for the various disciplines, and they don’t always correspond to the name of the university or college program. For example, “Aerospace Engineers” in this article probably refers to the job title, which could be filled by people with mechanical, mechatronics, or other degrees. Likewise a “Petroleum Engineer” may be a chemical or mechanical engineering graduate. Just something to keep in mind.
Preparing for the OUF
The Ontario Universities’ Fair (OUF) is coming up next weekend (Sept 19-21), and the admissions staff have been busy preparing. There are travel and hotel arrangements, training of volunteers, and all sorts of other things to do. The OUF is held in the Toronto Convention Centre, and all Ontario universities have people there to meet with prospective students, parents, etc. There is a website with more information. Continue reading
Design Projects 2014
Been kind of busy lately, with several active research projects, teaching courses, and admissions stuff of course. But here is a quick note about our fourth year (capstone) design projects for this year.
All engineering programs have a final year group design project, and this is the time of year when students showcase their results. For potential applicants to an engineering program, this is very useful to look at, since it can give you a sense of the type of things you might do in a program. Many of these fourth year projects are also the start of a commercialization effort by the students, so perhaps you’ll see some of these in the news in coming years.
This year, the Faculty of Engineering has made it easy to find out more about these projects, since they have created a one-stop webpage for all the programs. Have a look through some of the links for programs at that page. Not all of the programs have detailed project descriptions, but I think we’re working on it for future years. I think that the Management Engineering program has some of the best descriptions (and very interesting projects too).
Let’s start an informal contest here. Look through some of the project descriptions, and identify in the comments below which one you think is the “coolest” (if that’s a word people still use).
Work Ethic
Here is a nice and interesting story about Waterloo Engineering from the American Society for Engineering Education. I like the picture from our student machine shop.
A Professor in Waterloo Engineering 