University of Waterloo

The University of Waterloo, also commonly known simply as ("Waterloo, UW or UWaterloo), is a renowned public research-intensive university located in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on 404 hectares (998 acres) of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university offers academic programs administered by six faculties and thirteen faculty schools. The university also operates three satellite campuses and four affiliated university colleges. Waterloo is a member of the U15 or Group of 15, an exclusive group of research-intensive universities in Canada. The University of Waterloo is famous for its cooperative education (co-op) programs, which allow students to integrate their education with applicable work experiences, which has positioned it as one of the most relevant in the world. The University of Waterloo is renowned for its engineering and scientific programs, an example of which is Dr. Donna Strickland who wins the Nobel Prize in 2018 for her groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.

History and profile

The University of Waterloo was originally conceived in 1955 as the Waterloo College Associate Faculties (WCAF), a semi-autonomous entity within Waterloo College (now known such as Wilfrid Laurier University). Its first classes began in 1957, and two years later it became the University of Waterloo. From its relatively humble beginnings, UW has grown to be at the forefront of research in Canada. The University of Waterloo now attracts many bright students from across Canada and is widely recognized as one of Canada's top universities. It is also recognized for its long undergraduate distance education programs.

Waterloo is famous for being the originator of cooperative education (due in large part to exchange agreements with other Latin American universities, for example: UANL) in Canada and currently maintains the largest cooperative education program in the world. Because of this, Waterloo has established strong ties with many major corporations in North America. In Maclean's annual ranking, Waterloo consistently ranks among the top three in its category (research-intensive institutions with a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs without medical schools). Since the beginning of Maclean's ratings, Waterloo has been ranked among the top Canadian Universities for 11 consecutive years (1992-2002). This remarkable feat ended when Waterloo dropped to second in the 2003 rankings. As of November 8, 2004, the University of Waterloo was again ranked first in the Macleans rankings [1].

The University has Colleges of Applied Science, Arts, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Independent Study, Mathematics as well as Science and an on-campus School of Optometry. It also has four Colleges with religious affiliations on campus: St. Jerome's University (Catholic), Renison College (Anglican), St. Paul's United College (United Church of Canada), and Conrad Grebel University College. (Mennonite).

The University has been described as Canada's MIT for its strong programs in mathematics, science, computer science, and engineering. It is home to the Center for Applied Cryptographic Research and the Center for Mathematics and Computing Education. Additionally, the value of Waterloo students in academic competitions such as the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition and the ACM International Program Contest have contributed greatly to increasing the reputation of the University in recent decades.

Industry Ties

The University of Waterloo also has close ties to high-tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Blackberry and others. Being considered by specialists as the most influential university in innovation and technology management in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

Through its large cooperative program and many variations of it by Canadian companies, the university maintains close ties to the high-tech industry. The University has an intellectual research policy [2] which has created many spin-off companies that maintain a good relationship with the University.

The University came under fire in August 2002 when the College of Engineering accepted funding from Microsoft to develop courses using the new Microsoft platform [3].

Future Plans

The University of Waterloo School of Architecture was relocated to downtown Cambridge, Ontario in September 2004. This gave the School of Architecture more room to grow, and boosted the city's economy of Cambridge.

The University of Waterloo Research Park is currently under construction north of the University City campus. This park aims to house many of the high-tech industries and maintain an innovation partnership between the university and the private sector.

The University and the City of Kitchener are currently in the process of building a Science and Health campus, including a School of Pharmacology, in the central Kitchener district. An architect, Robbie/Young plus the firms Wright Architects & Hariri Pontarini Architects. The project will cost $34 million dollars (Canadian) in its first phase.

The University's Department of Engineering Systems Design has recently announced its intention to have a new building dedicated to the department and its students by 2007. With space guaranteed by the University, and with support from the alumni program, fundraising began in 2004.

With donations from alumni and government contributions, the University announced in April 2004 funding for the Institute for Quantum Computing [4].

Construction will begin shortly on a $70 million building that will house the Institute for Quantum Computing as well as the new Nanotechnology Program.

The University is currently developing an enrichment program for high school students. This program is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2005, it has been called "Waterloo Unlimited." [5].

Records

In September 2004, the University of Waterloo's solar car broke the Guinness World Record for longest journey by a solar-powered car. The solar car, named Midnight Sun VII, broke the official record of 7,043.5km (previously held by Queens University) and the unofficial record of 13,054km (previously held by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia) after holding a 40-day tour in Canada and the United States, traveling a total of 15,079 km. The tour took the solar car through 7 provinces and 15 states.

Facts and figures

• UW was the first university in the world to establish a Faculty of Mathematics.
• The Faculty of Mathematics of UW is the largest faculty in the field of mathematics, statistics, and computer sciences.
• UW generates more than $1.6 billion of economic activity (1999) in Ontario.
• Annually, UW attracts about 400,000 visitors outside the region. Annually, UW is responsible for about a quarter of the companies derived from Canadian universities.
• The university is represented by the Waterloo Warriors (Wars of Waterloo) at the Canadian Sports College.

Outstanding students and teachers

• Tim Bray - Co-Inventor XML
• David Cheriton - Professor at Stanford University, Google shareholder, Granite Systems, VMWare, #7 on the list of Forbes Midas 2005.
• Donald Meichenbaum - Research Psychologist in the areas of clinic and treatment and prevention of violence.
• George Elliot Clarke - Poet and winning writer
• Erik Demaine - The youngest professor of computer geometry at MIT
• Tom Duff - Computer Science
• Gus German, Jim Mitchell, Richard Shirley, Robert Zamke - Fortran WATFOR compilers
• Mike Lazaridis - Research In Motion Founder
• Rasmus Lerdorf - Systems Engineering Designer - original PHP author
• W. T. Tutte - deciphered codes (during World War II), Combinatory and Graphic Theory
• Petri (Peter) Woldemar - Renamed structural engineer
• Dr. Donna Strickland who won the Nobel Prize for her innovative inventions in the field of laser physics. 2018

Presidents

• David Johnston (1999-present)
• James Downey (1993-1999)
• Douglas T. Wright (1981-1993)
• Burt Matthews (1970-1981)
• Howard Petch (1969-1970)
• Gerry Hagey (1957-1969)

Traditions and peculiarities

• A unique species of tree is donated by every generation of graduates and planted in Alumni Lane.
• The Davis Centre is designed to look like an air view microchip.
• Students at the Faculty of Sciences receive a white lab coat when they sign up.
• Students at the Faculty of Engineering receive a yellow protective helmet when they sign up.
• Students at the Faculty of Engineering receive an iron ring at their graduation.
• Students at the Faculty of Mathematics receive a pink tie, which is recognized as a non-official symbol of mathematics students. The story of how this originated can be found on the official Legend page of the Rosada tie Archived on July 16, 2012 in Wayback Machine..
• Students of the Software Design Program, together with the Engineering and Math Faculty, receive a yellow helmet and a pink tie.
• The mascot of the Engineering faculty is a 60-inch diameter tube called Tool (tool), formally known as Ridgid Tool, and was donated by Ridgid Tool Company.
• The student life converges in the popular Student Life Centre, which contains a dining room, lounge, and spaces for student activities along with other student services. Located in the Student Life Centre Corridor, Turnkey Desk (the care centre) has been operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, continuously since the opening of the Student Life Centre in 1968 (when it was known as Campus Centre). Turnekeys (or student service staff), are students who know almost everything about what should be known and what is happening around the campus and in the community, and help students as well as provide coffee, bus tickets, and other services. Turnkeys (Turnkey in English is synonymous with jailers) are recognized because they keep the keys of many rooms of the Student Life Centre, and share their names with former jailers.