Adel Sedra
Dean of Engineering
2003 - 2012
In his tenure as dean, Adel Sedra advanced several significant areas of the Faculty through the strategic plans he launched. Building on Waterloo Engineering’s strengths in undergraduate education, Sedra’s visionary spirit, passion for excellence and strong administrative skills were instrumental in building the Faculty’s research intensity and impact, and enhancing its profile as a multi-faceted engineering school.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Born in Egypt, Sedra received his BSc from Cairo University in 1964 and his MASc and PhD from the University of Toronto, in 1968 and 1969, respectively. All three of his degrees are in electrical engineering.
A specialist in microelectronics, Sedra's research focused on applications in communication and instrumentation systems, including the theory and design of circuits.
Sedra joined the Faculty of the University of Toronto in 1969 and became an associate professor in 1972 and a professor in 1978. He served as chair of the electrical engineering department from 1986 to 1993, and was vice president, provost, and chief academic officer from July 1, 1993 to 2002. In his nine years as provost, Sedra led the university through two long-range planning cycles in 1994 and 1998.
WATERLOO ENGINEERING ACADEMIC CAREER
On July 1, 2003, Sedra came to the University of Waterloo as the seventh dean of engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering. In 2004, he launched Waterloo Engineering’s comprehensive planning exercise Vision 2010 followed by Vision 2015 in 2012. Both plans helped take what was already a very good school of engineering, renowned for excellence in many areas, and move it forward.
Stepping down as dean in 2012, Sedra continued to teach an undergraduate course in electrical engineering until 2020.
LEGACY AND INFLUENCE
Vision 2010 and Vision 2015
One of the many strengths Sedra brought to the University of Waterloo was his considerable experience in academic planning. He used those skills and knowledge to create two strategic plans for Waterloo Engineering: Vision 2010 and 2015.
As a result of the planning process, the number of professors increased from about 170 to around 300, external research funding doubled as did the number of graduate students and the number of domestic graduate students increased substantially.
Under Sedra’s watch, the Faculty introduced senior positions such as the associate dean of teaching and launched world-renowned programs in mechatronics engineering, management engineering and nanotechnology engineering.
During that time, several multidisciplinary centres opened their doors including the Waterloo Institute of Sustainable Energy, the Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology and the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research.
Market-leading textbook
Discovering there were no textbooks that suited his style of teaching, Sedra used his own engineering lecture notes to co-author Microelectronics Circuits with Ken Smith, his University of Toronto graduate studies supervisor. Initially rolling off the presses in 1982, the textbook was available in 10 languages and had sold one million copies within the first 10 years. Amazon calls it “the gold standard in providing the most comprehensive, flexible, accurate, and design-oriented treatment of electronic circuits available today.”
Engineering 5 and 6
As a result of the space shortage identified through the planning process, about a million square feet of new space was added for the Faculty to support excellence in education and research while Sedra was dean and later when Pearl Sullivan held the leadership role.
Completed in 2010, the six-storey Engineering 5 provides much-needed classrooms and facilities for students, professors and researchers in the departments of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, systems design engineering, and electrical and computer engineering.
The focal point of Engineering 5 is the Sedra Student Design Centre. The 20,000-square-foot facility houses more than 20 interdisciplinary student teams that work on design projects and compete internationally.
In 2011, Engineering 6 opened its doors as the home of the chemical engineering department. Designed for innovation and discovery, the building features high-tech and modern seminar rooms, the department’s administrative hub and advanced research labs.