Engineering Student Stories Environment & Infrastructure

Quick Overview

Four University of Waterloo engineering students—Rodaina (Architectural), Lakmi (Civil), Raella (Geological), and Cody (Environmental)—shared detailed experiences regarding their specialized programs, emphasizing the focus areas, co-op opportunities, field work, and common misconceptions associated with engineering disciplines centered around environment and infrastructure.

Key Points: Architectural Engineering is described as a focus on buildings, combining aspects of architecture and civil engineering, with specializations available in building systems or building structures, requiring a studio course every semester. Civil Engineering is broad, covering public infrastructure from skyscrapers to sewers, allowing specialization in structural, transit, geotechnical, water, or construction management, with Lakmi pursuing a diploma in sustainability alongside. Geological Engineering blends civil engineering and earth sciences, featuring heavy lab-based courses like mineralogy and structural geology, and boasts frequent field trips, including an overnight trip to Bancroft and a future field course in Vietnam. Environmental Engineering focuses on large-scale applications combining math, chemistry, physics, and biology, with Cody highlighting courses on water, air quality, and contaminant transport, noting that the program now leans more towards energy and sustainable cities. A common misconception is that Architectural Engineering students must be good drawers; Rodaina clarified that while creativity is high, drawing skill is not a prerequisite, and no portfolio is needed for that specific engineering program. All students stressed the value of co-op experiences, with Raella highlighting a memorable fly-in/fly-out field technician job at a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories that allowed two weeks off for every two weeks worked. Cody advised prospective students to look at upper-year courses to gauge interest, noting that fundamental high school math, like y=mx+b, forms the core of complex modeling in Environmental Engineering.