École Polytechnique de Montréal

L'École Polytechnique de Montréal is an engineering school in Montreal, Quebec. It is commonly referred to as Polytechnique or Poly. Founded in 1873, it is affiliated with the Université de Montréal. The school offers graduate and postgraduate training, and is very active in research. Following the tradition, new bachelors of engineering (B. Eng.) graduating at École Polytechnique de Montréal get the Iron Ring, following the Canadian Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer.

Campus

The school is on the campus of the Université de Montréal located on the northern face of Mount Royal. Its main building is the highest on campus. The J.-Armand-Bombardier building sits beside the main building and mainly serves for research activities and as an emergence centre for spin-off companies, designed to support the pre-startup of technology-based businesses. This building is named after Joseph-Armand Bombardier, the inventor of the snowmobile.

The Pierre-Lassonde et Claudette-Mackay-Lassonde building, home to the Electrical Engineering Department and Computer Engineering Department, was inaugurated in September 2005. This new building won a "Award of Merit" from Canadian Architect magazine in 2003, got a Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and scored 46 at the LEED points scale which was, at inauguration, the highest score ever obtained in Canada. The energy performance of the Lassonde buildings is 60% better than the standard set by the Model National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings.

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Organization

It is one of the three biggest engineering schools in Canada, and the largest in Quebec. Since its foundation in 1873, this French language educational establishment trains highly skilled engineers and specialists and contributes to the scientific and economic expansion of the region. Its graduates were part of most of Quebec’s major engineering works of the 20th century such as the construction of hydroelectric dams. École Polytechnique is now at the avant-garde of engineering in such fields as aeronautics, computer engineering, telecommunications, biotechnology, nanotechnology, environmental science, and many other high-end domains.

There are 11 undergraduate programs offered by 7 departements. Some programs are coop. They are:

Chemical Engineering Department
- Chemical Engineering
Civil, geological, mining Engineering Department
- Civil Engineering
- Geological Engineering
- Mining Engineering
Electrical Engineering Department
- Electrical Engineering
Computer Engineering Department
- Computer Engineering
- Software Engineering
Mathematics and Industrial Engineering Department
- Industrial Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Department
- Mechanical Engineering
Physical Engineering Department
- Physical Engineering
- Material Engineering
Biomedical Engineering Institute

The École Polytechnique is known for its dynamic research, representing 35% of its budget for the year 1998-1999 (26.9 million CAD $). Forty research units receive more than 20% of the funding and contracts for research in the area of applied science given to Quebec’s universities.

Students and Faculty

There were 5713 students enrolled for the winter 2003 semester. Of them, 1198 were women and 4515 were men. There were 3997 undegraduates and 1716 graduate students.

220 teachers and 150 researchers are part of the school’s community. Well-known for the quality of the teaching, approximately 600 diplomas, 200 masters, and 50 doctorates are awarded each year.

''Source: "École Polytechnique de Montréal - Statistiques - Trimestre d'hiver"

Student life

It is well known for its vivid student life, including its theater group Poly-Théâtre and photo club Poly-Photo. Its student newspaper, Le Polyscope was Founded in 1967. It publishes weekly during the Quebec school year. It is known around the campus of the Université de Montréal for its irreverent humour, crosswords puzzles, Arts & Entertainment section and "you submit it, we'll publish it" policy.

Polytechnique is also well known in Montreal for its beach party, that takes place once every two years in winter (generally in january). Students build a complete "artificial beach" in the cafeteria, by putting loads of sand on the floor and assembling an interior water park with a large swimming pool.

Also, each year, the Poly-Monde student missions visits another country to learn and compare foreign engineering practices. This extracurricular activity helps participating students learn different cultural visions and helps them appreciate the different factors of global competitiveness in the engineering field.

A comprehensive list of student committees, technical societies and social activities is available on Polytechnique's "Student life" website.

History

L'École Polytechnique de Montréal (a reference to the famous École polytechnique in Paris) was founded in 1873 in order to teach technical drawing and other useful arts. At first, it was set in a converted residence. It later moved to a larger building on Saint-Denis Street. In 1954, it moved to its current location on the University of Montreal campus. The original building was enlarged in 1975 and then in 1989. In 2002, the Computer and Electrical Engineering Department (they were later separated) began to occupy the 5th and 6th floor of the old École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal building. In 2003, the construction of three new buildings started.

Until the 1960s, the main purpose of the school was to train engineers. However, from 1959 on, the focus went to research. Nowadays, it is a leading research institution in applied sciences in Canada.

On December 6, 1989, it was the site of the École Polytechnique Massacre where 14 women students were killed by Marc Lépine, the worst massacre in Canadian history.

External links

1873 establishments | University of Montreal

Escuela Politécnica de Montréal | École polytechnique de Montréal