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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Looking back on a decade of impressive engineering research achievements by DR. GREG F. NATERER Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science 2012-2022
At the end of my second term as dean, after 10 years since I
and internationally. A useful metric to characterize the impact
began in 2012, I have reflected on all that the Faculty of
of research is the number of citations by others to work
Engineering and Applied Science (FEAS) has accomplished
published by researchers in the Faculty. By this measure, our
over the past decade, including research and entrepreneurship.
Faculty’s research has become much more impactful on the
In the past ten years, FEAS has grown significantly, especially in terms of enrolments (doubling of graduate student enrolment from mid-300’s to over 700), faculty complement (from 61 to
technical community over the past decade. The average number of citations to research articles, per professor, has more than doubled since 2012 to over 200 citations per year on average.
84; nearly a 40% increase), space (80,000 sq. ft. added, plus
Another indicator of research excellence is through clusters of
30,000 more in progress), and research capacity, among others.
world-leading researchers who are named into prestigious
The Faculty’s research profile and prominence, nationally and internationally, have increased to become highly respected in Canada. In the 2021 World University Ranking (Times
chair appointments. Ten new research chairs have been appointed in the past decade. These include industry-sponsored chairs in areas such as
Higher Education), the rankings of our engineering programs
environmental systems, offshore safety, subsea
rose to 1st in industry partnerships and 4th overall among
communications, entrepreneurship, reservoir characterization
comprehensive universities in Canada.
and seafloor mechanics. Research chairs have been supported
Training of researchers such as graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are among the most impactful contributions and outcomes of the Faculty’s research activities. The graduate student-to-faculty ratio has increased
by a range of federal and industry funding sources such as Husky Energy, Wood Group, and Equinor, as well as NSERC IRC and Canada Research Chairs. The Faculty has also led a number of national and international
significantly in FEAS to become among the highest of research
research networks in the past decade. These too have raised the
intensive engineering schools in the country. The ratio of
visibility and profile of the Faculty’s research excellence.
graduate students has grown from about one–quarter to one–third of the total student enrolment in the Faculty.
Dr. Wei Qiu launched a new Canadian Network for Innovative Shipbuilding, Marine Research and Training (CISMaRT) in
The Faculty’s research has made many wonderful and beneficial
partnership with other universities, government agencies, and
impacts on our community and province, as well as nationally
marine industry partners across Canada. Dr. Bing Chen is the founding director of a pan-Canadian and global Network of
