The first group of graduates ever from the challenging Electro-Mechanical Engineering option will receive two degrees each during the Spring Congregation ceremonies this May.
Eight students will receive both Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees following completion of the five-year program that combines electrical and mechanical engineering courses with extensive work experience.
During the final year of the program, students undertake graduate level research and design projects in industry. The projects last 12 months and consist of an advanced machine design component and an advanced instrumentation component. While the project is underway the students operate largely as employees of the host company, which pays them for a minimum of eight months, but are not required to take on work beyond the scope of their specific projects. They are supervised by a company engineer as well as Prof. Yusuf Altintas, program director and professor of Mechanical Engineering.
"It's certainly been a lot more work than a bachelor program," says Barbara Irwin, who, with fellow fifth-year student Johnny Patterson, is completing a year-long work term with CAE Machinery Ltd. "We've been working on larger projects that are important to the company and are key parts of machinery they will be selling next year."
In fact, Altintas says three of the four companies employing the fifth-year students will seek patents for designs developed by them.
The projects currently being completed by the students in their final year of the program include design of an automatic dynamic braking and magnetic orientation mechanism for TRIUMF's cyclotron, a computer-controlled wood strander to produce wood strips for composite wood products for CAE Machinery, design of a device for ultra precision machining of lenses and other components for the National Research Council, and a displacement sensor and hydraulic test facility for outboard motors for TELEFLEX Ltd.
Students are selected for admission into the program during their second year in Mechanical Engineering.
"The students we select for the program must have not only good academic skills, but also strong communications skills and practical skills such as design or even music," says Altintas. "We consider a number of factors including an aptitude for teamwork, which is an important aspect of the program and of most professional engineers' work long after they leave university.
"The fifth-year projects are undertaken by teams of two, so the ability to work well with others is vital."
At the end of second year, students work in industry during a summer co-op term. In third year, students take both mechanical and electrical engineering core courses including machine dynamics, automatic control, digital logic design, system software engineering and a two-term engineering product design course. At the end of third year students begin their second co-op work term. Fourth year involves further mechanical and electrical engineering courses. In their fifth and final year students take four graduate courses and complete the two 12-month projects.