Praising Toronto

Sandford Fleming Building, University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (photo: Alexander Farley)

The University of Toronto has been mentioned several times on this blog. It is ranked 25^th in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions.

The university was founded in 1827, originally as a religious institution. Staff there have collected a number of Nobel prizes, and the university was also the site of Stephen Cook’s pioneering work on NP-completeness. Their solar car team (Blue Sky Solar Racing team) came 12^th in the 2015 World Solar Challenge.

Toronto’s solar car Horizon comes 12^th in the 2015 World Solar Challenge (my photo)

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Praising UNSW

UNSW lower campus (photo: Jinbo Bu)

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) – located in the suburb of Kensington in Sydney – was founded in 1949. Its original focus was on engineering and technology, and it still excels in those fields, being ranked 68^th in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions. UNSW is home to the Sunswift solar car team, who came fourth in the 2015 World Solar Challenge Cruiser class in a beautiful solar sports car called eVe:

UNSW’s solar car Sunswift eVe crosses the 2015 WSC finish line (my photo)

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Praising Leuven

KU Leuven library

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) was founded in 1425, 1834, or 1968, depending on your point of view. The original university was closed by the French in 1797, but a new State University was established under Dutch rule during 1816–1835. After Belgium became independent, the Catholic University of Leuven took over. Campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s demanding equals rights for Flemish Belgians led to a 1968 split of the university into the French-language Université catholique de Louvain and the Dutch-language KU Leuven.

KU Leuven states that “From its Christian view of the world and the human, KU Leuven endeavours to be a place for open discussion of social, philosophical and ethical issues and a critical centre of reflection in and for the Catholic community. KU Leuven offers its students an academic education based on high-level research, with the aim of preparing them to assume their social responsibilities. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied research. It is strongly inter- and multidisciplinary in focus and strives for international excellence. To this end, KU Leuven works together actively with its research partners at home and abroad.”

The university certainly achieves its high-tech goals, being ranked 28^th in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions. It is home to the Punch Powertrain Solar Team (www.solarteam.be):

KU Leuven comes 5^th in the 2015 World Solar Challenge (my photo)

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Praising Eindhoven

Eindhoven University of Technology campus (photo: Arno van den Tillaart)

The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is one of the world’s premier technical institutions. It is ranked 62^nd in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions. I have been privileged to meet students from TU/e on a number of occasions, and they are among the best in the world.

TU/e was founded in 1956. The city of Eindhoven is home to Philips, DAF Trucks, and the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Among other things, the university acts as a feeder school to those companies, and this requires both a practical focus and a solid basis in mathematics and theory.

TU/e is one of three Dutch technical universities (Delft and Twente being the others). All three run solar car teams, which showcase the students’ technical expertise. Eindhoven’s team has won the World Solar Challenge Cruiser class in both 2013 and 2015, with their “solar family cars” (see this article in IEEE Spectrum).

Eindhoven’s solar car Stella Lux at the 2015 World Solar Challenge, where it won the Cruiser class (my photo)

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Praising Twente

The green University of Twente campus (photo: “Galaufs”)

The University of Twente is located near Enschede, in the eastern Netherlands. The university has one of my favourite solar car teams, and is ranked equal 82^nd in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions.

Artwork on the University of Twente campus (photo: “Daiancita”)

The University of Twente was founded in 1961 as the Technische Hogeschool Twente, joining similar technical institutions at Delft and Eindhoven. Today, the university teaches a number of subjects beyond Engineering, and the current name reflects this broader focus, which includes Health, Administration, IT, and Behavioural Sciences.

Twente’s solar car Red One comes 2^nd in the 2015 World Solar Challenge (my photo)

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Praising Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge (my photo)

The University of Cambridge has been mentioned repeatedly on this blog. It is one of the oldest universities in the world – so old, in fact, that nobody is quite certain when it began (it seems to have been up and running by 1226, however). Cambridge is home to the Cavendish Laboratory, where many of the greatest scientific discoveries were made (the electron, the neutron, the structure of DNA, and more). Cambridge is ranked 4^th in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions. In the humanities, C. S. Lewis moved there from Oxford in 1954.

The university buildings are scattered across the city, which tends to confuse people. I can recall a tourist asking me, on a visit I once made to Cambridge, “Where on earth is the university?”

The Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (photo: “RichTea”)

The university is also home to the Cambridge University Eco Racing team, which competes in the World Solar Challenge, and which fielded a rather unusual-looking design in 2013 and 2015:

Cambridge University Eco Racing team’s 2015 WSC entry (photo: CUER)

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Praising Michigan

Angell Hall, University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is ranked 17^th in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions. It is located in the small city of Ann Arbor, and has over 40,000 students, who are required to take race and ethnicity courses as part of their degrees.

Since its founding in 1817, university staff and alumni have collected several Nobel prizes. The university is also proud to have America’s number one solar car team:

Michigan’s solar car Aurum comes 4^th in the 2015 World Solar Challenge (my photo)

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Praising Delft

Library at TU Delft (photo: Nol Aders)

The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has been mentioned a few times on this blog. It is ranked 19^th in the world on the Times Higher Education list of engineering institutions.

Its history goes back to 1842, when King Willem II founded a “Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers, for serving both nation and industry, and of apprentices for trade.” It later became a Polytechnic. Following a period of competition with (and hostility from) traditional universities, it was given university status in 1905, thanks to theologian-politician Abraham Kuyper (who was thanked with an honorary doctorate in 1907).

Highlights of TU Delft’s research include the discovery (and naming) of viruses in 1898 (by Martinus Beijerinck), and the continued domination of the World Solar Challenge (TU Delft’s team won in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, and 2015, and came second in 2009 and 2011). One of the world’s great technical institutions!

TU Delft’s solar car Nuna8 wins the 2015 World Solar Challenge (my photo)

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