Looking to the future, we are embracing a no-limit philosophy: we believe that anything is possible and we want to expand engineering beyond just academics. To accomplish this, we are building our capacity in research and innovation, empowering a positive culture, increasing our capacity to train students in top facilities and technologies, and ensuring we operate in an effective and responsible manner. As we embark on this journey together, let us remain steadfast in our commitment to excellence, guided by a sense of purpose and a shared vision for a better tomorrow. Let us harness our collective talents, expertise and passion to surmount every challenge and seize every opportunity that lies before us.
Simaan AbouRizk PhD, PEng, FRSC, Dean, Faculty of Engineering
Vision + Mission
Driven. Trailblazing. Curious. Supportive. Grounded. Considerate.
Our Vision
Be the most daring engineering community on the planet.
Our Mission
Be united in our unwavering dedication to solving the world’s greatest challenges and building a better future for our society.
Our Core Values
Building our future through people: We support world-class research in a collaborative, cross-functional environment, aiming to diversify the engineering field and apply ingenuity, providing opportunities for students, faculty and staff.
Developing minds and hands with heart: We offer a holistic approach to student experiences, shaping graduates with both technical skills and emotional intelligence.
Demonstrating the ever-expanding value of our contributions: We highlight the value we bring to society through community engagement, research impact and setting examples with our contributions.
Solving the world’s greatest challenges: We empower engineers to uplift humanity toward a better future by focusing on impactful research programs.
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The Faculty of Engineering ranks No.1 nationally in total energy research publications (2,569)
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5th place among engineering programs in Canada
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12,000 square metres of research space dedicated to energy, from oil and gas to carbon capture and hydrogen
Research Impact
The Faculty of Engineering leads large-scale collaborative research, fostering interdisciplinary teams to tackle grand challenges. Collaborating with industry partners and areas across the university, engineering works to solve problems ranging from supporting efficient and sustainable oilsands production to the academic and industrial applications in micro- and nanoscale fabrication and characterization.
Research by the Numbers
The Faculty of Engineering received the highest dollar value of NSERC Alliance Grants among all Canadian universities for the most recent reporting period (2019-2022).
$58.8M
total value, about $6.5 million higher than the second-place institution.
$70M
per year in research revenue
22
NSERC Industrial Research Chairs (current and past holders)
12
Endowed chairs and professorships
2
Foundation-supported chairs
18
Canada Research Chairs
21
University of Alberta Engineering Research Chairs
New Uses for Oilsands Leftovers
Researchers Cagri Ayranci, Kevin Hodder and Zhi Li explore ways to turn a component of bitumen into carbon fibre for commercial use. Carbon fibre, known for its strength, lightness and corrosion resistance, is ideal for various products but expensive to produce. The researchers aim to reduce costs and environmental impact by using asphaltenes instead of traditional feedstocks from agriculture and forestry.
Research News
Subterranean Power Play
A geotechnical team led by Rick Chalaturnyk has teamed up with Alberta’s first conventional geothermal power project to explore using carbon dioxide instead of water to pump heat from below the Earth’s surface. The partnership with Alberta No. 1 Geothermal Energy aims to optimize the plant’s contribution to the province’s energy solutions.
Keep Hard-to-sort Items Out of Landfills
Students Solve Problems
“We ask ‘why is this important and what problem are we solving?’ If we can’t answer, we don’t want to be the ones doing it. There are a lot of companies out there making money, but they’re not necessarily solving a problem. So why bother?” –Jacob Damant Level 7 Plastics co-founder
Engineering a Cancer Treatment
Innovative approach uses RNA technology to target gene defects in blood cells. “Tell me the genetic defect and I’ll tell you the mRNA. I can devise a method to destroy that mRNA, neutralizing harmful effects causing cancer,” says Hasan Uludag of the Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering.
Tiny Robots, Big Goals
Made of carbon, these devices could be used in cancer treatment, water purification and infrastructure maintenance. “If I don’t do it, there are very smart people out there who will,” he says. Hamidi’s work is the fusion of imagination and innovation, where the tiniest creations harbour the potential for monumental change.
AlbertaSat
AlbertaSAT is a group of students and faculty at the University of Alberta that designs, builds, tests and operates satellites. Their goal is to support Albertan and Canadian access to space through high-impact small-satellite missions.
- 557 number of square metres available in the Elko Engineering Garage, a makerspace for students located in ETLC
Spot Potential Wildfire Risk with Drones
“Hopefully we can put numbers to the value that drones are providing to 911 response,” Boisvert says, “and use that work to encourage governments and emergency services to use modern drone programs.”
Tier 1 Sustainability
In the field of sustainability research, three leading scholars from the Faculty of Engineering have been awarded Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs. These esteemed positions account for a quarter of the University of Alberta's Tier 1 Chair recipients in this specialization. Each scholar will receive $200,000 annually for seven years to carry out problem-solving research aimed at advancing sustainability across their fields: energy, construction and water.
Amit Kumar
The Future of Energy: Amit Kumar’s research assesses the cost, environmental impact and resource availability of energy systems to inform efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. His team has contributed to Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap and advised industry and governments on integrating renewables and improving efficiency.
Vicente Gonzalez
The Future of Construction: Vicente Gonzalez is focused on promoting the global adoption of digital lean construction concepts within the architecture, engineering and construction sectors through research at the Intersection of lean construction and digital twins. His work on digital lean construction seeks to help industry seamlessly integrate lean production-based practices, people and culture, as well as smart digital technologies and automation-all within a human-centred design framework.
Mohamed Gamal El-Din
The Future of Water: Mohamed Gamal El-Din’s program focuses on developing effective, low-energy treatment strategies to enable sustainable “circular water systems” that clean and reuse industrial and municipal wastewater. His interdisciplinary team takes a holistic approach combining engineering, environment, science and social aspects.
Co-op Works for Students and Employers
Since 1981, the Faculty of Engineering’s Co-op Program has been a national leader in cultivating young talent and preparing students for an ever-changing global economy.
Our students learn from industry leaders and make meaningful contributions to their communities. Co-op students have access to a team of employment professionals and employers seamlessly integrate future engineers into their teams.
I worked for 12 months with the electronics team at Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the high performance engineering arm of Oracle Red Bull Racing. I was responsible for an entire part of an electrical system on the RB17 Hypercar Project and I was also tasked with building some calculators and simulation tools. My work has contributed to shaving several kilograms off the weight of the vehicle, saving us a few tenths of a second per lap!
Sarthak Sheth Fifth year, Electrical Engineering Co-op
534
students participated in winter term 2024551
students participated in fall term 20231043
students participated in summer term 202395%
placement rate for Engineering co-op studentsCommunity Impact
We value open doors over ivory towers. We strive for an environment that fosters collaboration, transparency, diversity and accessibility by design. We strive to make our community better, with a service-minded approach to the work we do. We are accountable to the land, water and communities where we live and practise. And we practise all over the world.
Métis Student’s Breakthrough Tech Protects Communities from Toxic Algae
Second-year engineering student Jordan Eleniak is well acquainted with blooms, having grown up dodging them in Lac La Biche, Alta. Last summer, in a U of A Indigenous internship program called I-STEAM Pathways, Eleniak, who is Métis, developed a microbial fuel cell that quickly recognizes voltage fluctuations caused by the toxins, sending data to biologists over the internet. The technology is cheap and easy to produce, with materials fabricated by a 3D printer.
Innovative Union of Engineering, Sociology and Indigenous Insights
Quecke hopes her consultative approach in environmental engineering will serve as a model for future research projects, fostering better understanding and collaboration between engineers and Indigenous communities.
Where Our Alumni Live
- 17,699 Edmonton
- 6,877 Calgary
- 1,595 rest of Alberta
- 4,471 Canada
- 1,173 USA
- 419 Asia
- 74 International
- 36,846* total alumni
Your Generosity Makes All the Difference
Engineers are problem-solvers, tackling some of our world’s most difficult social, economic and environmental challenges, and your generosity creates a collaborative and innovative culture where students and researchers flourish and meet these challenges head-on. You empower our students, faculty, staff and researchers to flourish. With your support, the faculty is advancing student and research programs, bolstering our scholarships and bursaries, and continuing to offer our students every learning opportunity possible to help them on their path to innovations.
$13.5 million
Total value of gifts received this fiscal year.
Fred Otto DiscoverE Program
Founded in 1993 to promote diversity in engineering, DiscoverE now focuses on engineering to address its absence in school curricula. The program reaches about 27,000 youth annually, including 2,500 Indigenous students, through camps and workshops across Western Canada. More than 500,000 kids have been to a DiscoverE camp. It prioritizes diverse staff representation, hiring U of A undergraduates to inspire young campers.
Three Among Many
To the Broks brothers, giving back has always been a top priority. In addition to their support of co-op students, many of whom have become full-time employees, Al-Terra Engineering also supports the Broks Family Bursary in Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Most people want variety in their work life and civil engineering gives you that opportunity,” says Martin.
Student Success
Student Clubs and Project Groups
More than 20 engineering student clubs and project groups provide hands-on opportunities to develop real-world skills. For example, AlbertaSat is building Alberta’s second-ever satellite, which will monitor wildfires. EcoCar designs and manufactures hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, competing annually in the Shell Eco-marathon. In clubs, students apply classroom concepts, make mistakes and learn, preparing them for industry careers.
It’s not something that you expect a group of students to take on because of the technical complexity. Tech and technology development, debugging, working through problems, designing or planning the various phases of a mission gives you skills that are really useful once you graduate.
Thomas Ganley, AlbertaSat project
Top 3
place finishes at competitions
20
projects
600
students in the projects
~$100,000
of sponsorship funding from industry for the projects (23/24 - monetary only not including in-kind sponsorships)
A lot of what we do in class is theoretical. So with EcoCar, a huge focus is hands-on experience. If you want to design something, design it. And after you manufacture it, you’re probably going to find it didn’t meet your expectations. But you’re going to make mistakes, learn and get better
Leading Our Centres and Institutes
The centres and institutes within the Faculty of Engineering foster focused expertise and impactful research by allowing faculty, students and staff to specialize in specific engineering areas. They encourage interdisciplinary collaboration with the College of Natural and Applied Sciences and industry partners, offering students exposure to real-world challenges. These centres also engage in outreach and drive innovation aligned with the University of Alberta’s research goals. The leadership of these centres plays a key role in advancing these initiatives.
This report highlights achievements from the Faculty of Engineering over the course of January 1, 2022 - June 30, 2024.