College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (University of Guelph)


The College of Engineering and Physical Science , is one of seven faculties – referred to as “colleges” – at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. CEPS operates on the University of Guelph main campus, one of four across Ontario, and has one of the largest faculty, staff, and student populations of the seven colleges at U of G.
CEPS offers four undergraduate degrees spanning 20 majors and master’s and PhD graduate programs spanning disciplines in: Bioinformatics, Biophysics, Chemistry, Computational Sciences, Computer Science, Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence, Engineering, Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics. The current dean is interim dean Gerarda Darlington.

History of College

The University of Guelph traces its origins back to May 1, 1874, when the Province of Ontario purchased 200 hectares of farmland and opened the Ontario School of Agriculture, which later became Ontario Agricultural College. The Macdonald Institute and Ontario Veterinary College were created in 1903 and 1922, respectively, and in 1964, the three bodies merged to form a single institution: the University of Guelph.
While CEPS did not exist in its current form at the time, its subject areas were taught across the University. For example, Engineering had been taught within OAC in various formats since its establishment in 1874. In 1957, the Department of Agricultural Engineering changed its name to the Department of Engineering Science. In 1965, the Senate of the University of Guelph established The School of Agricultural Engineering further adding the B.Sc. degree. In 1969, Wellington College was divided into the College of Arts, the College of Physical Science, and the College of Social Science.
In 1989, OAC’s School of Engineering merged with the College of Physical Sciences to form the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences. In 2008, the University of Guelph launched Canada's first full-fledged Nanoscience major within CEPS. In 2017, the College’s name was changed to the “College of Engineering and Physical Sciences."
In late 2018, the University of Guelph established the Centre for Advancing Ethical and Responsible Artificial Intelligence. One of just a few groups of its kind, the research and teaching centre aims to improve life through artificial intelligence and address ethics in AI.

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Today

Today, the College is home to three departments and two schools. Its key priorities are grounded in research and education. Its strategic plan lists the College’s mission as “to become a national leader in student experience and impactful research by inspiring innovation in teaching and excellence in multidisciplinary partnerships.”
The plan lists six guiding principles:
  1. Leading in Learning.
  2. Enhancing Research and Discovery.
  3. Boosting our Profile.
  4. Creating a Strong Community.
  5. Fostering Diversity.
  6. Making Connections.

    Departments & Programs

Department of Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry houses 20 faculty members active in the fields of analytical, physical, theoretical, organic and inorganic chemistry. Paul Rowntree is the chair of the department and faculty members are located in both the McNaughton Building and the Science Complex.
Undergraduate programs contain a co-op option, giving students the opportunity to apply their education outside of the classroom. For graduate studies, the University of Guelph has a partnership with the University of Waterloo, which is highly recognized across Canada as one of the best chemistry graduate programs in the country.

Undergraduate Programs offered

Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry B.Sc.
Chemistry B.Sc.
Chemical Physics B.Sc. Offered jointly with the Department of Physics
Nanoscience B.Sc. Offered jointly with the Department of Physics
Biomedical Toxicology B.Sc.
The School is located in the Reynolds building, where 19 faculty reside. The director of the School of Computer Science is Dr. Stefan C. Kremer. The School is committed to first rate research and innovation within the field of computer science. They offer a wide variety of co-op programs to give students a head start on their careers.

Undergraduate Programs offered

Computer Science B.Comp.
Software Engineering B.Comp.
The department is located in the McNaughton building with over 20 faculty members and O.B. Allen is the chair of department. Chris Bauch is a member of the department who was featured at the TEDxGuelphU conference where he gave a talk on infectious diseases, vaccines and statistics. Co-op programs are offered for some majors.

Undergraduate Programs offered:Undergraduate Program. (2010). Department of Mathematics & Statistics | University of Guelph. Retrieved June 29, 2010, from http://www.mathstat.uoguelph.ca/pages/contact

Mathematics B.A., B.Sc.,
Statistics B.A., B.Sc., Diploma—Applied Statistics
Applied Mathematics and Statistics B.Sc.
The department of physics consists of 18 faculty members located in the MacNaughton building. In addition, the department has its own observatory located on top of the building. The telescope has four eyepieces and has a focal length of 3910 mm. Faculty members collaborate with many different institutions such as the Perimeter Institute and TRIUMF. The department also features numerous seminars and events on topics such as fusion energy, particle colliders and many more. Faculty member Ralf Gellert is a lead scientist for the Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer that is on board the Mars Exploration Rovers.

Undergraduate Programs offered:Information for Undergraduate Students. (2009). Department of Physics. Retrieved June 29, 2010, from http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/undergrad-students.php

Physics B.Sc.
Nanoscience B.Sc. Offered jointly with the Department of Chemistry
Theoretical Physics B.Sc.
Chemical Physics B.Sc.
Biophysics B.Sc.
Guelph's engineering programs focus on applying theory into practice by emphasizing engineering design projects. The department is located in the Thornbrough building, which holds over 43 faculty members. School of Engineering. School of Engineering Faculty. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://www.uoguelph.ca/engineering/faculty. There are seven different majors with a co-op option for each of them. An additional option, Undeclared Entrance, is also available since students take the same introductory courses in their first year. The University of Guelph offers a wide variety of support to engineering students via counseling, cluster living in residence, and peer helpers. Guelph's engineering programs focus on applying theory in practice, and thus, by the end of their undergraduate degree students will have completed at least six engineering design projects. Guelph emphasizes that enrollment in any of the seven engineering programs allows students to become very familiar with their peers and teachers due to the amount of interaction between them.
The School of Engineering is also the home of the Guelph Engineering Society, the largest student organization operated under the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences. A variety of other student groups are also available to undergraduate engineering students, including but not limited to: the BioEngineering Club, Engineers Without Borders, Gryphon Racing, the Guelph Robotics Team, and Women in Science and Engineering. As well as student clubs, students can associate with Research Groups such as: the BioNano Laboratory, Advance Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab, the Ontario Rural Wastewater Centre, or the Urban Systems Environmental Design Centre.

Undergraduate Programs offered

Biological B.Eng.
Biomedical B.Eng.
Computer B.Eng.
Engineering Systems and Computing B.Eng.
Environmental B.Eng.
Mechanical B.Eng.
Water Resources B.Eng.
Undeclared Entrance.
The Mathematics & Statistics Department within the CPES assists students by providing a centre in which tutoring is available for various 1000 & 2000 level Math & Stats courses. Tutors are available in the fall and winter semester to work with drop-in students. The center is located in the McLaughlin Library, on the third floor and the hours vary depending on the time of year.
Senior undergraduate & graduate students are welcome to work at the Learning Centre for wages. They can apply at the Mathematics and Statistics office in the MacNaughton Building.
The Learning Centre also posts Self-Study Modules on its website which include problems such as Exponents & Logs, Trigonometry, Quadratics, Graphs, Equations and Lines. Students or anyone interested have the ability to attempt these modules at their leisure.
The website also hosts access to a repository of modules covering various topics to assist all University students with improving their numeracy and quantitative reasoning abilities. The Numeracy and Quantitative Reasoning Initiative, which began in 2005, was responsible for the creation of the Repository. The University of Guelph Library & Learning Commons, the Data Resource Centre, the Teaching Support Services and the Computing and Communications Services work alongside the Department of Mathematics and Statistics to maintain the success of the Repository. Subjects include Percentages & Percentiles, Nominal, z-scores, Measures of Central Tendency, and t-tests, with the option to search the Repository for various topics.
Students are encouraged to reach out to the Learning Centre and to seek assistance through the Numeracy and Quantitative Reasoning Repository. Further help for Math & Stats students can be found through seminars held periodically in sections such as Colloquium Series, Thesis/Project Presentation, Applied Analysis, Biomathematics & Biostatistics, Operations Research, Quantum Information & Geometric Statistics, and Computational Statistics.
A program also exists through the Supported Learning Groups which helps Math & Stats students with MATH 1080 and STAT 2040 by providing sessions led by Peer Helpers. Students are given the opportunity to work on course concepts, program vocabulary and are thereafter able to test themselves.

Student life

Extracurricular

The college encourages students to get involved in their respective fields of study by offering things such as social networking in the Computer Science department and job opportunities to undergraduate & graduate students. These are just some examples of ways students can get involved. Many of the people on the Gryphon Racing team, a student run club that builds an open-wheeled racecar each year, are Engineer majors. Nanoscience students involved in the Nanoclub participated in NanoDay at the Museum at The Waterloo Regional Children's Museum.
The college also hosts various events involving high-school students such as the School of Engineering's WindEng design competition and Roboticon, which is held by the School of Computer Science. CPES was instrumental in creating the Guelph Science Olympics in 2009 with involvement from the College of Biological Science and the Ontario Agricultural College.

CPES Student Council

The CPES Student Council is a student run organization within the CPES that brings the college students together for social activities and also allows their voice to be heard by the college, the Alumni Association and the university community. The hub of CPES is in the Science Complex, where weekly meetings occur and offices of council members reside. These elected positions include a President, VP Internal, VP Social, VP Finances, VP Operations and Chairperson.
CPESSC also has the duty to support registered academic interest groups within the college. Each club has the right to vote on CPESSC issues during their weekly meetings. The clubs currently registered with the CPESSC are: