The Department of Systems Design Engineering is a unique interdisciplinary department in the Faculty of Engineering that offers an accredited engineering program that gives students a full complement of courses in the engineering sciences as well as an unmatched set of courses to learn about and practice engineering design. We offer an educational program for engineering students wanting to learn how to address and solve problems that transcend traditional boundaries in engineering. Modern engineering projects are comprised of elements from all the traditional engineering disciplines and these elements must be integrated into a functioning whole to meet the overall design objectives. Systems Design Engineering teaches the student how to acquire and integrate knowledge across multiple disciplines. The framework we use to do this is systems theory through which we view the world as comprising systems that interact. Examples of the systems we may consider include human physiological and psychological systems, ecological systems, transportation systems, communication systems, energy systems and mechatronic systems. It is through systems thinking, modeling and analysis that we learn to know the world.
Solving engineering problems often requires the modification or creation of systems. The process we use to do that is design practice – the skills of creative problem solving, and interdisciplinary teamwork for innovation and synthesis. Systems design engineering is characterized by its philosophy, methods, and approaches to solving problems that are intrinsically multi-disciplinary. By considering the objective and subjective performance requirements a design solution is created that meets the needs of the customer, the user and society. The very feasibility of today's most demanding engineering projects may depend on the balanced insight that is needed to assemble the best combination of human and technical resources to fulfill the required objectives. This is the kind of knowledge provided by the department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Finally, systems design engineering prepares the student for leadership in a complex technological society that requires interdisciplinary thinking capability to meet future needs for complex, balanced decision-making.
In 1964, stemming from an initiative of Professor George Soulis, a professor in the Department of Design, the University of Waterloo became one of the first North American universities to teach engineering design to undergraduate students. At that time engineering design instruction was primarily a graduate level area of study and, indeed, the Department of Design offered only graduate degrees, the MASc (from 1965) and the PhD (from 1967). The undergraduate engineering design course, GE 11, was taught for the first time in 1964 to all first-year engineering students at the University of Waterloo. The Department of Design initially focused of two major areas of study: architecture and industrial design, both from an engineering perspective.
While the Department of Design originally offered only graduate degrees it added an undergraduate program in Architecture in 1967. A year later the Architecture program was moved to the, then, newly created Faculty of Environmental Studies. A result of this move was the creation of (by Engineering Faculty Council on November 27, 1968) the Department of Systems Design Engineering. The three founding UW Engineering faculty members were Professors George Soulis, Peter Roe, and H.K. Kesavan. Interestingly, the financial foundation for the creation of the new department came from money earned by a team of UW engineering faculty members for design work done for the organizational committee for the famous Expo ’67. The remarkable team of designers included Professors Soulis, and Roe, as well as Professors Kish Hahn, and Barry Wills; all of whom became long-time faculty members of the Department of Systems Design Engineering. The newly created department admitted its first undergraduate students in September of 1969. The Department of Design ceased to exist but the Department of Systems Design Engineering is still going strong, more than 39 years after its creation.
Over the years, the undergraduate core curriculum for Systems Design Engineering has been reduced from 8 courses to 5 courses per term. This was done, in part, to allow students the time to engage in extra-curricular activities that would expand their scope of experience to facilitate their intellectual and personal growth. Many Systems Design Engineering students graduate with dual degrees; on in engineering and the other, most often, in arts.
The common characteristics of the first graduating Systems Design Engineering class which remain true today are that the students are open-minded and creative risk-takers. It is these characteristics that inspire the graduates to indulge in their passions – whether it is developing new gaming software, managing an automotive engineering project, designing their own consulting companies, or studying marine biological engineering!
See also: "The Origins of SYDE...Abridged"
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By Alex Pak, Class 2001
University of Waterloo
Systems Design Engineering
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
519 888 4567