Fonds UAA Fonds 0055 - Department of Electrical Engineering fonds

Instruction in electrical engineering was the responsibility of a division of the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Arts and Science beginning in 1914. Hector J. MacLeod was its first professor. Third-year courses in the subject were introduced in 1922, followed by fourth-year courses in 1923. The first class of electrical engineers graduated in 1924. In 1925, the Department of Electrical Engineering became its own department in the Faculty of Applied Science.

During WWII, the department offered courses in short wave and ultra-short wave radio. Electronic communications continued to grow as a subject, but plasma and laser physics emerged as a research emphasis in the 1970s along with funding for the subject. The Alberta Laser Institute, the Alberta Microelectronics Centre, and the Alberta Telecommunications Research Centre were opened in the 1980s. The department also collaborates with the Nanotechnology Research Centre.

The department attempts to provide the fundamentals of electrical engineering at the same time that it allows specialization in a variety of sub-disciplines, particularly for those students pursuing graduate work leading to an MEng, MSc or PhD degree. The department offers programs in Electrical Engineering, Electrical Nanoengineering, Computer Engineering, Nanoscale Systems Design, and Engineering Physics. Some areas of research being conducted include biomedical engineering, lasers, and communications technology (PACCR, 1985).

Heads: 1924-1936 Hector John MacLeod; 1937-1946 Ernest Geoffrey Cullwick; 1942-1943 Wilfred Ernest Cornish (Acting); [1944- 1947] John Wardlaw Porteous (Acting); 1947-1964 James Alfred Harle 1964-1969 George Brown Walker.

Chairs: 1969-1974 George Brown Walker; 1974-1987 Christopher R. James; 1987-1992 P.R. Smy; 1992-2001 Clarence Capjack; 2001-2004 Witold Pedrycz; 2004-2014 Horacio Marquez, 2014-2015 John Salmon; 2015- Ivan Fair.