Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science showing impressive growth
At the February 17 meeting of Concordia’s Board of Governors, Engineering and Computer Science (ENCS) Dean, Robin Drew, presented an overview of the Faculty’s growth.
In terms of enrolment, there has been an almost 10% increase in undergraduate full-time equivalent students (FTEs) over the last five years. Master’s and PhD weighted FTEs have risen substantially from 5,821 in 2008–09 to 6,970 in 2010–11.
Meanwhile, external research grant funding has increase 28% in the last five years. In 2010, ENCS had a 68% success rate in its Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants, one of the highest success rates among comprehensive universities, and well above the national average of 58%. ENCS also obtained the largest number (six) of NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements of any engineering Faculty in Canada. The Faculty’s strategic plan targets a 50% increase in research funding by 2013. To further this development, ENCS is allotting over $4 million in funds to its research centres and networks, graduate student research, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) facilities, and other research support.
ENCS is also initiating three new PhD programs in Industrial Engineering, Software Engineering, and Information Systems Engineering, and a new co-op program for the master’s coursework option, aimed at giving international students hands-on experience while upgrading their theoretical skills. An innovative nanotech/ nanoscience master’s program is also under development in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Science. The field is highly interdisciplinary, covering quantum physics and electrical engineering with applications in medicine, security, chemistry, biology, astronomy, food quality control and polymer processing.
ENCS is hoping to get funding from NSERC for two new industrial research chairs. One is in composites manufacturing, incorporating a CFI lab to create the “factory of the future” with major support from an aerospace consortium. The other chair is in the development of new telecommunications software for the next generation of cellphones, with Ericsson as the industrial partner.
The Faculty is gearing up for its next accreditation process (every six years) in the fall of 2011. One of the major challenges is regularly updating lab and computer equipment. To this end, it has invested $1 million in 2010 to renew aging laboratories and another $500,000 for new undergraduate lab computers.
ENCS continues to garner strong support from its industrial partners. Mechtronix helped support the transformation of the space used to develop final year capstone projects by Concordia’s chapter of the Society for Automotive Engineers into a gleaming centre for automotive innovation. Donations by Cisco and Bell Canada helped, respectively, to fund a comprehensive network security system and research on cyber forensics. GFI Advanced Technology Group provided a major software donation to the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, and Montreal-based company Mecanica Solutions donated its 360 Enterprise software in support of undergraduate capstone projects.
“We have a clear vision of where ENCS wants to be in the next five years,” concluded Drew. “We want to be recognized globally for excellence in innovative, applied and socially relevant research and provide our undergraduate and graduate students with superior professional skills and career opportunities.”
Related link:
• Concordia Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science