On a cold, rainy Thursday afternoon in November, a large crowd filed into the Sedra Student Design Centre in E5 for the groundbreaking ceremony for Waterloo Engineering’s next step in expanding: Engineering 7. E7 will be the second half of the already built E5, and officially broke ground on November 12. Students will be able to use the new facilities when it opens in Fall 2018. E7 is one part of Waterloo’s larger “Educating the Engineer of the Future” initiative, which also includes enhancing the student experience, establishing chairs in emerging technologies, and supporting additional graduate scholarships.
Waterloo Engineering is one the premiere engineering programs in Canada, and to maintain this status the department needs to constantly evolve. Dean Sullivan described the faculty as “Hard to get in to, harder to get out of,” but as students, we already knew that. The department has allotted over $11 million to enhance the student experience, which will go towards adding incubation spaces across multiple departments, creating a new student machine shop, and a central atrium space for students to study and socialize. Another new facility in E7 is the RoboHub, an experimental robotics laboratory which will work closely with industry partners to further robotics research.
E7 is still fighting for funding. The department has raised over $50 million towards its $70 million goal for the whole project. A daunting task for any organization, the department has had many helping hands to reach their goal. GM of Canada, Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Canada, Magna International, and the Famille Jacques Lamarre Family all donated more than $1 million, and two anonymous donors gave $10 and $25 million respectively. The contractor EllisDon has been awarded the contract to build E7, and will likely start very soon.
During his speech at the ceremony, the president of the University of Waterloo, Dr. Hamdullahpur recounted how Dean Sullivan convinced him within the span of a few minutes that E7 needed to be built. She described the building as a place where hearts and minds can meet, and innovation can prosper. Former Dean of Engineering Douglas Wright also spoke. He reminisced about fall 1968, his first term on campus, as if it was just the day before yesterday. There were even members of the first graduating class of Waterloo Engineering in attendance.
The groundbreaking ceremony itself was a unique event. Instead of congregating outside, the onlookers watched as Dean Sullivan and President Hamdullahpur walked outside to the site. They were followed by a multi-camera system developed by a Waterloo start up company. They rode to the site on an autonomous self driving golf cart built by a Waterloo start up company. Their shovels were even delivered to them by a robot built by a Waterloo start up company. A little over the top, but fitting for a building that will help develop the best and brightest of the future.
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