Chair's Welcome Message

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been undergoing a tremendous transformation over the past decade or so. We have progressed from diploma-level education to the delivery of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. We have grown into one of the largest academic units at Ryerson with some 1,100 undergraduate and graduate students, 40 full-time faculty members, and 12 support staff.

Today we offer two undergraduate programs leading to a Bachelor of Engineering degree: Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Engineering: Computer Engineering; which are fully accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB). Within the B.Eng. programs the students can also opt for a specialization in management sciences. Starting Fall 2008, the B.Eng. program in Electrical Engineering will have four modern options in the areas of Energy Systems; Microsystems; Multimedia Systems; and Robotics and Control Systems. A new undergraduate program in biomedical engineering will also start in Fall 2008. The proposed biomedical engineering program is the first of its kind in Canada and will take advantage of the strategic location of Ryerson in the Toronto Medical District. Demand has outstripped our enrolment targets for our master's and doctoral programs in Electrical and Computer Engineering, launched in 2001 and 2004, respectively. We have been recruiting diligently to increase our ranks of highly qualified faculty members to further strengthen our programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

“A new undergraduate program in biomedical engineering will also start in Fall 2008. The proposed biomedical engineering program is the first of its kind in Canada and will take advantage of the strategic location of Ryerson in the Toronto Medical District. ”

Our students, faculty, and staff continue to excel in many spheres. Recent faculty honors include a Premier's Research Excellence Award, an NSERC/Conference Board of Canada Synergy Award for Innovation, CCPE Medal for Distinction in Engineering Education, and an Ontario Professional Engineers Citizenship Award for initiatives supporting the wider participation of women in engineering. Ryerson's first Canada Research Chair, Ryerson's first NSERC Industrial Research Chair, and the first 3M Teaching Fellow are members of our Department. Our faculty have gained international recognition in the fields of power electronics, wireless and optical communications, microsystems and VLSI, signal and multimedia processing, biomedical engineering, and computer systems engineering. Our students have proven their mettle as award-winning contestants in Ontario Engineering, IEEE Canada, and robotics competitions.

Helping our students achieve their fullest potential is the fundamental objective of our motivated faculty and staff. To ensure that our students continue to receive an education of the very highest quality that supports both their personal and professional growth, the Department has developed a five-year strategic plan that focuses on such key issues as program quality control, program accreditation, increased access to internship program and industrial collaborations, and strategies to enhance students' learning experience.

“There is immense potential for advances in other transforming technologies including the Internet, imaging, health technologies, laser and fibre optics, high performance materials, and nanotechnologies. ”

The National Academy of Engineering in the United States has identified the 20 greatest engineering achievements of the past hundred years that have shaped and will continue to shape the way we live. While some of these innovations have achieved a high degree of technological maturity (e.g., electrification, the automobile, water supply and distribution, electronics, radio and television, agricultural mechanization, the telephone, air conditioning and refrigeration, highways, household appliances), there is immense potential for advances in other transforming technologies including the Internet, imaging, health technologies, laser and fibre optics, high performance materials, and nanotechnologies. Our Department's agenda in research and in the training of highly qualified personnel is centered around these themes, and we have three main research groups to carry it out: Computer Systems Engineering, Power Engineering, and Signal Processing and Communications. Our faculty researchers have proven the importance of their research from concept to creation through their success in obtaining grants from key federal, provincial, and industrial funding agencies.

The start of 2007-2008 academic year finds our Department poised as never before to make ground-breaking contributions in education, training, and research of the highest societal relevance. I encourage you to read our faculty profiles and to monitor our website at www.ee.ryerson.ca for breaking news and updates on our progress.


Sri Krishnan, PhD, P.Eng.
Chair,
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.