Education and Training

TISED educates future engineers, urban planners, and architects by offering training opportunities, new courses, integrating sustainability into programs, and enhancing education ‘outside the classroom’. Teaching focuses on effective, practical, cutting-edge theories and strategies relevant to the development of sustainable engineers, architects, and planners’ career paths. TISED offers a growing catalogue of interdisciplinary sustainability-focused courses, and a master’s program in Sustainability in Engineering and Design is in final review stages.

A proposed Master’s Program in Sustainability in Engineering and Design

Despite another challenging year, we have continued the formal steps towards creating a new master’s program in sustainability. The program dossier was submitted to the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI) in May 2020 and presented to their Academic Affairs Committee in June 2020.

TISED received a preliminary set of review questions in January 2021, and in July 2021, the BCI review committee conducted a site visit; due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this visit was virtual. The committee met with various stakeholders, including McGill senior administrators, faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students; a virtual tour of the physical space designated for the future program was included in the visit. In early 2022, TISED received positive feedback from the BCI regarding the site visit and an additional request for clarifications regarding the program was included with the feedback; TISED is in the process of responding to that request.

New Faculty Search – Industrial Ecology and Life Cycle Assessment

In anticipation of the program launch, TISED had received a hiring license from the university and in October 2021 launched an academic recruitment process for a professor in the area of industrial ecology and life cycle assessment, a joint appointment at TISED and one of the six departments or two schools at the Faculty of Engineering.

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the position, the Selection Committee consisted of faculty TISED members from various units across the Faculty of Engineering, including Schools of Architecture and Urban Planning, Mechanical Engineering, Mining and Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Civil Engineering. The Selection Committee reviewed applications from 43 applicants and conducted preliminary (screening) virtual interviews with 6 shortlisted candidates. On-campus interviews were scheduled and conducted with two potential candidates in the last week of April and first week of May 2022.

Following the visits, the Selection Committee will reconvene to discuss the candidates and make its final recommendation to the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs. The target start date of for the new appointment is Fall 2022.

TISED Course Offerings

In preparation of the debut of the master’s program, TISED continues to integrate core courses of the proposed program into the McGill Engineering curriculum. Since the fall of 2016, four of the proposed eight core courses and one elective SEAD course have been offered to the McGill engineering and design student community.

Over the past year, enrolment in SEAD courses increased from previous year’s numbers as students returned from online learning to in-person instruction. A total of 108 students completed the four SEAD courses during the 2021-2022 academic year, for an average enrolment of about 27 students per course (compared to 20 students per course during the 2020-2021 academic year).

Since Sead Courses Creation In 2016

Proposed Master’s Program Space – Trottier Building Renovations

In 2017, the space in the Trottier Building was identified as a location to physically house the proposed TISED Master’s Program and in spring of 2019, the Office of the Provost approved the funds for the project; the design of the space and the execution of the renovations.

WSP was awarded the project and initial design plans for the layout of the renovated space were presented by WSP to the Faculty and TISED in March 2021 meeting. Following a series of revisions, draft design layout of the physical space was finalized in June 2021. The renovations will commence once the space, currently occupied by student affairs staff from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, vacates the space; this is expected to take place prior to the start of the Fall 2022 semester.

A revised timeline for the completion of the space renovation is shown blow.