The School and Disciplines
School of Engineering
Welcome and Vision
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the web site of the School of Engineering (SoE), University College Cork, Cork City, Ireland. Whether you are a prospective student, interested colleague, or simply browsing the web, you will find that the School of Engineering offers a wealth of expertise in education and research within the fields of architecture, chemical, civil, electrical, electronic, energy, mechanical, and process engineering, all embraced in an intimate surrounding of a scholarly learning experience in beautiful Cork city. UCC has a long and proud tradition in engineering education dating back almost a century. George Boole (1815-1864), the father of Boolean Algebra, a fundamental theory for modern electronic computing and engineering served as Professor at UCC. Today, graduates and academic members of the School continue to contribute worldwide to advancing engineering technologies and are highly regarded by employers and scholars across the globe.
The School’s vision is to be the premier School of Engineering in Ireland, recognised internationally for producing professionals educated to the highest standards, cutting-edge research, and innovative engineering solutions to global challenges.
The web site is designed to provide you an overall snap shot of the School’s overall balanced teaching and research excellence covering topics of UCC Engineering history, people and awards, research areas, undergraduate and post-graduate education, student admissions, facilities, alumni, life in Cork, news, spotlights, and School contact information.
If you strive for personal excellence in science and engineering as a means for intellectual growth and balanced life views within a European setting, our team at UCC welcomes you to join us in a memorable journey. In life one never knows what one might be missing out on so feel free to engage us and learn about UCC and our School of Engineering.
Constituent Disciplines
The School has six constituent disciplines listed below and further information can be obtained by clicking the specific discipline web sites:
- Cork Center for Architectural Education (CCAE) http://ccae.ie
- Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) http://cee.ucc.ie
- Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) http://eee.ucc.ie
- Energy Engineering (ENE) http://ene.ucc.ie
- Mechanical Engineering (ME) http://mech.ucc.ie
- Process & Chemical Engineering (PCE) http://pce.ucc.ie
History and the School
University College Cork (UCC), originally known as Queen's College Cork was founded by the provisions of an act which enabled Queen Victoria to endow three new colleges in Ireland. Our college opened in 1849 with 23 professors and 181 students. In 1908, the Irish Universities Act formed the National University of Ireland and the college was given the status of a university college as University College Cork. Engineering was initiated in 1905 which was mainly Civil Engineering. In 1914, the first degree course in mechanical and electrical engineering was set up at UCC. Later, additional degree programs were added in the disciplines of Process and Chemical Engineering, Architecture, and Energy Engineering.
The present School of Engineering commenced operations 1 May 2009 on the appointment of Dr. Michael Creed as the Head of School of Engineering. The School with four existing Engineering Departments and the Cork Centre for Architectural Education (CCAE) became the Engineering academic unit within the College of Science, Engineering, and Food Science (SEFS). The engineering departments were the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, the Department of Process & Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Microelectronic Engineering. In the summer of 2010, the Department of Microelectronic Engineering and the Department of Electrical & Electrical Engineering merged into a single Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, located in the Electrical Engineering Building. In June 2013, UCC Chair Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nabeel Riza was appointed by the President of UCC as the new Head of the School of Engineering. Starting September 2013, the School operational management structure was reorganized as one multi-disciplinary non-departmental unit using taught degree program directors, research centre directors, and committees (with committee chairs).
The School is a thriving community of 960, with 650 undergraduates and 212 post-graduates, all supported by a dedicated team of academic, research, administrative, and support staff totalling 98.
Alumni
UCC engineering alumni have gone on to make professional contributions at leading research and corporate institutions around the globe. The list next is a sampling of some of our graduates.
- Cormac Conroy, PhD Univ. of California Berkeley, Vice-President, Engineering, Qualcomm, USA
- Deirdre O'Brien, PhD Stanford University, Analyst Google, CA.
- Stephen O'Driscoll, PhD Stanford Univ., Asst. Professor Univ. of California-Davis
- Mike Flynn, PhD Carnegie Mellon University, Associate Professor, University of Michigan
- Fergus Hurley, MS MIT, Founder/CEO Focal Laboratories, San Francisco
- Ger Hurley, MS MIT, IEEE Fellow, Professor National University of Ireland Galway
- Kaveh Hosseini, PhD, UCC, Postdoc Fellow California Institute of Technology, Cypress Semiconductor
- Ann Kelleher, BE, MEng, PhD, Vice President, Intel, Phoenix, USA.
- Mike McAuliffe, CEO Powervation, USA
- David Murphy, PhD Univ. of California, Los Angeles
- John Mullins, BS, MS UCC, MBA Univ. of California-Davis, CEO Bord Gáis, Ireland
- Olive Murphy, PhD UCC, Postdoc Fellow, Imperial College London
- Rory McInerney, BS, MS UCC, Exec. MBA, Stanford Univ., Vice President Intel, USA, 2009 UCC Distinguished Alumnus Award.
- John R. Scannell, BS, MS UCC, MBA Harvard, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Moog Inc., New York
- Francis O'Sullivan, PhD MIT, Executive Director Energy Sustainability Challenge MIT
- Stephen Keeney, PhD, VP, Lam Research
- Leonard Hobbs, MEng, R&D Director, Intel Leixlip, Ireland
- John Ryan, MEng, VP Engineering, Powervation
- Finbarr Crispie, PhD, CEO, President S3C, Sunnyvale CA, USA
- Seamus Power, PhD, Director Engineering Services, Analog Devices
- Pat Lynch, BE, HR Director, ESB