École Polytechnique de Montréal

L'École Polytechnique de Montréal is an engineering school located in Montreal, Quebec. It is commonly referred to as Polytechnique or Poly. Founded in 1873, it is affiliated to the University of Montreal.

École Polytechnique de Montréal

© L'École Polytechnique de Montréal
Motto: Ut tensio sic vis (The power depends on the tension)
Rector	Robert L. Papineau
Founded	1873
Location	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Enrollment	3997 grad., 1716 post-grad.
Faculty	220

Contents

1 Campus 2 Organization 3 Students and Faculty 4 Student Life 5 History 6 External Links

Campus

The school is on the campus of the University of Montreal located on the northern face of Mount Royal. Its main building is the highest on campus. As of 2003, three new buildings are in construction.

Organization

The president of L'École Polytechnique is Bernard Lamarre. Its director is Robert L. Papineau.

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.

(source: http://www.polymtl.ca/sg/docs_officiels/141h03t1a.htm)

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.

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 University of Montreal for its irreverent humour, crosswords puzzles, Arts & Entertainment section and "you submit it, we'll publish it" policy.

History

L'École Polytechnique de Montréal (a reference to the famous Ecole 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 starded.

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.

External Links

• L'École Polytechnique de Montréal main page
• The undergraduate newspaper "Le Polyscope" home page