Ontario Tech University

University of Ontario Institute of Technology
	UOIT Logo
Motto	Cogitando et Agendo Ducemus (By thinking and doing, we shall lead)
Type	Public
Established	2003
Chancellor	Lyn McLeod
President	Ronald Bordessa
Undergraduates	4,300
Location	Oshawa, ON, Canada
Campus	Urban/Suburban
Mascot	Ridgeback
Website	www.uoit.ca

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) is located in Oshawa, Ontario and shares its campus with Durham College. The university was founded in 2002 and accepted its first students in 2003 making it one of Canada's newest universities. UOIT is oriented towards science and technology and all undergraduate programs require students to lease a laptop PC from the university as a condition of enrolment. Faculty also encourage students to use their laptops to complete assignments, perform laboratory research and interact with faculty during lectures. UOIT offers a range of undergraduate programs, and are starting to offer graduate programs. The UOIT campus is approximately 400 acres (1.6 km²) in northern part of Oshawa, Ontario. Trent University also offers a small full-time program on the same campus and offers a number of elective courses to undergraduate students at UOIT.

History

UOIT was created in 2002 by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Act, 2002 as a public, career-focused, research-intensive university emphasizing science and technology, and as part of the Ontario government’s initiative to create more spaces in postsecondary institutions for the double cohort. UOIT's new slogan, "Challenge, Innovate, Connect" was unveiled in June 2006.

UOIT accepted over 900 students in 2003 and total enrolment was over 3000 in the 2005-2006 school year, making it the fastest growing university in Ontario. The student population is expected to grow to 6,500 by 2010.

Construction on the university's first buildings began in 2002. Facilities currently include a library shared with Durham College, the Science Building, and the Business and IT Building. The Ontario Power Generation Engineering Building opened in September 2006. The residences for UOIT are Simcoe Village and South Village. The Automotive Centre for Excellence will be built adjacent the Ontario Power Generation Engineering Building and is scheduled to open in September 2008. In addition, the students are funding an expansion to the athletic facilities which is currently under construction.

Awards

SHARCNET nets Award of Excellence

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) is a member of a consortium of 16 Ontario academic institutions that recently received a Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA) silver Award of Excellence for the innovative Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET). The award was given at the recent CIPA gala in Toronto, Ontario.

About AUCC

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada is the voice of Canada's universities. It represents 91 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities and university-degree level colleges. Its mandate is to facilitate the development of public policy on higher education and to encourage cooperation among universities and governments, industry, communities, and institutions in other countries.

List of graduate programs

Graduate programs in the advanced planning stages include

MASc and MEng in Automotive Engineering
MASc and MEng in Electrical Engineering
MA in Criminology
MSc in Materials Science (To be offered jointly with Trent University)

Facts and Figures

UOIT uses one of the world's largest geothermal well fields to help heat and cool its buildings. Comprised of 384 holes drilled 213 metres (700 feet) into the ground, the sophisticated system takes advantage of the earth's relatively constant temperature to provide a stable, low-maintenance and efficient energy source.

The buildings at UOIT have green roofs whose plants absorb about half the rain that falls on them. The remainder is collected in an underground cistern and used later for flushing or irrigation on campus.

UOIT is a member of SHARCNET, one of the world's most powerful high-performance computing consortia.

As of 2006, UOIT is the only Canadian university to offer a BEng in nuclear engineering.

Faculty

Dr. Douglas Holdway of the UOIT Faculty of Science is a leading expert in ecological toxicology and holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Toxicology. His research focuses on the impact of pulse exposure to toxic compounds on aquatic life.

Dr. Rupinder Brar was a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the general election in January 2006 for the riding of Mississauga-Erindale. He is currently a physics lecturer with the UOIT's Faculty of Science and is working on research related to astronomical physics. He has been named as one of the ten finalists in TVOntario's search for Ontario's Best Lecturer 2007.

External links

Faculties