Looking back at 2023, one moment clearly stands out.
On November 2, 2023, the Stephen J.R. Smith Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Queen’s University began a new era, founded on a vision of engineering education that prepares students to solve the world’s most challenging problems through an innovative combination of problem-based and experiential learning, competency-based assessments, and a multidisciplinary approach.
The Faculty has changed its name in recognition of a transformative gift of $100 million in support of this vision, from Queen’s University alumnus Stephen Smith, Sc’72, LLD‘17.
This, the largest gift ever made to a Canadian engineering faculty, will enable Smith Engineering to re-imagine engineering education, preparing the faculty to educate ever-evolving engineers to meet the needs of an ever-changing world.
The announcement of this gift was the capstone of 2023, but there are many more accomplishments worth noting at Smith Engineering throughout the year:
At the time of writing, we are seeing an unprecedented surge in applications to the Faculty: up almost 40% versus the same time last year. We are gaining in our Common Core program, as well as the direct entry programs Mechatronics & Robotics Engineering and Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering – Innovation. This points to the strength of our brand – and as we continue on our trajectory to be the number one choice in Canada for an engineering education, is a very positive sign.
We are at a five-year high in terms of women selecting Smith Engineering as their first choice of school. This speaks to the work of our Women in Engineering group, led by Women in Engineering Chair Heidi Ploeg. They continue to advance the cause of women in engineering both inside and outside the faculty, supported by groups such as Queen’s Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE). While these are heartening numbers, there is still more to be done in this area, particularly given our dedication to the Engineers Canada commitment to have 30% of licensed engineers be women by the year 2030.
International recruitment is also moving forward, with an innovative welcome program bringing even more accepted students to campus this past fall. Supported by a strategic enrollment lead and developing region-specific strategies, we are making significant progress in this area.
Graduate recruitment also continues to grow in strength, with Smith Engineering part of the national Canadian Graduate Engineering Consortium live cross-country recruiting events and piloting some novel strategies including an in-Faculty program to connect undergrad students to research, and department-specific tactics as well.
Finally, our college-to-Queen’s bridging program has welcomed students to this innovative initiative. We are integrating students into our Civil Engineering program following college diplomas in engineering, building from a pathway piloted with St. Lawrence College some time ago. Students can begin preparatory courses prior to graduating from college, then ‘bridge’ over a summer of classes to enter Smith Engineering as upper-year students:
Indigenous Futures in Engineering continues its exemplary work both in community STEM outreach and in supporting Indigenous students at Smith Engineering. Its affiliate program, the cross-campus STEMInA support unit, welcomed staff this year including Kayla Bourdeau and Hillary Lanigan.
The STEMInA Research Experience program has paired 15 Indigenous undergraduate students with faculty from the Engineering, Arts & Science, and Health Sciences faculties. During the first six weeks, faculty worked with their students to determine their projects for their research terms, dedicating approximately three hours a week. Students will dive in after the holiday break to continue their projects and begin preparing for their research presentations in April 2024.
The closely affiliated Q-AISES Rocket Team made headlines as they won the NASA-sponsored First Nations Launch Competition, placing first in North America and visiting the Kennedy Space Center as VIP guests in August.
Connections worked with over 10,000 youth – 6500 youth in rural or, at-risk communities; 3600 youth in the Kingston community; 800 participants in all-girls programs.
The team has welcomed Andrew Bowles and Johanna Whitehead to the unit; among their projects is working with the Canadian Space Agency on new space-themed programming focusing on coding and robotics.
Other new programs include a partnership focusing on innovative vehicle technology including alternative power and autonomous vehicles, in collaboration with Actua and OVIN (Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network).
Black Youth in STEM continues to grow to meet local demand, with lead Cressana Willams-Massey now joined by both full-time staff and part-time support as the group’s remit extends from youth STEM education to supporting Black students in the Faculty. It continued to offer its highly successful summer camps, with sessions in July and August welcoming students from as far away as Toronto.
We have begun our evolution in engineering education with our Engineering Career Accelerator program as it moves from its pilot phase into full implementation.
It has been greeted with acclaim internally, among our second-year students acting as early adopters, and is of great interest to prospective students as they evaluate their options.
The number of students taking part in our 12- and 16-month paid internship program also continues to grow. This year almost 400 students from our 3rd year class are out on internship.
Smith Engineering continues to deliver value to not only students, but employers. Four-fifths of our interns report discussing opportunities for full-time work with the company they were placed with, and the number and breadth of internships that we offer continues to grow. Our alumni continue to be our most valuable resource for the internship program, and their partnership is deeply valued.
The generosity of our alumni continues to astound us, with almost $4.5M donated this fiscal year to support our faculty and students. This figure does not include the visionary and transformative $100M contribution from Stephen Smith, which will redefine the landscape of engineering education.
As every year, we were gratified by our alumni’s continued support for the Faculty at our events. Across Canada and the globe, our alumni welcomed the Dean; this included a series of events in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary with Dean Deluzio and Stephen Smith discussing the impact of the Smith donation on the future of engineering education. These events provided alumni with the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the vision that prompted this extraordinary contribution and how it will directly benefit future students.
Homecoming 2023 was a resounding success. We welcomed 713 alumni back to campus this year, and aside from the football game, our Dean’s Pancake Breakfast had the highest attendance of any Homecoming event.
A warm thank you to our outstanding alumni community, who also show their support through volunteerism, guidance, and participation in programming like our internships or online mentoring of students through the Smith Engineering Network. We appreciate all that you do and your continued willingness to help.
Smith Engineering continues to change the world through globally leading research projects.
Our faculty has set a new record in funding, with $30M in research income ($252K per faculty member) across Engineering. Faculty members were also awarded $25M in new grants, $330K per early career faculty (first 5 years) and $187K per established researcher. Queen’s is grateful for a $30M gift from Sc’68, DSc’20 alumnus Bruce Mitchell to benefit the entire university research community, including Engineering.
Our faculty continue to grow in renown and recognition. Claire Davies (Mechanical & Materials) and Praveen Jain (Electrical & Computer) received the very prestigious Killam Fellowship and Killam Prize, respectively; and Amir Fam (Civil Engineering) and Marianna Kontopoulos (Chemical Engineering) both received the OPEA Medal for Research and Development.
Our faculty have garnered acclaim in many other areas as well, including:In accordance with our Strategic Plan, the Faculty provided support for three new research clusters: Sustainable Engineering for Global Development; Biomaterials; and Sex and Gender Considerations for Biomedical Devices. The three clusters are now busy applying for funding together and developing partnerships.
New mobility programs for faculty and graduate students support the growth of research internationally, supporting visits to Cambridge, Cornell and the University of Washington as well as the UK, Italy and Japan. Increased mobility is expected to result in new collaborations and broader awareness of the excellent research conducted at Smith Engineering.
All of the above may account for Engineering’s rise in Maclean’s annual rankings, with the Faculty moving from the 7th to 6th position among engineering schools – and our research ranking moving from rank 8 to rank 6.
We were also pleased to showcase our research facilities and work with the new Queen’s University Provost, Matthew Evans, in November.
It’s no exaggeration to say that this has been a pivotal year in the Faculty’s history – when future generations write the history of Smith Engineering, this will be one of the key moments. We have only gotten here through the combined efforts and support of our exemplary student, staff, faculty and alumni communities.
Thank you all for one of the best years in our history – and looking forward to the next one.
This article is relevant to the following Strategic Actions as defined in the Strategic Plan:
