UBC Research Assistant Essay

1.0 Introduction On the May of 2016, I embarked on the journey of becoming a research assistant in the Material Engineering Department of University of British Columbia (UBC). With two materials engineering professors, Dr. Chad Sinclair and Dr. Daan Maijer, we set out to build an additive manufacturing competition. This report will give an overview of my workplace (UBC), my department and my experience working as an UBC research assistant. The report will first give an introduction to UBC as a research institution. Details such as background, organization structure and mandate will be provided here. This section will emphasize of the research side of UBC, rather than its role as an academic institution. Next, we will look into the Materials Engineering department in UBC, the place where I work and study. Here, I will give a brief introduction on the department and go in details on the structure of the department and its history. The final section will give a description of the job I am doing this summer and recommendation for future research

The series of events that led up to the founding of UBC goes like this: With the approval of University Endowment Act in 1907, and the University Act in 1908, the government is set out to build a provincial university in British Columbia (“A Brief,” n.d.). In 1910, the Point Grey site was chosen to house the University, but with the declining economy and the outbreak of World War 1, the construction of the university was put on hold. Looking for alternative solutions, the existing McGill University College of British Columbia, a university set up by Henry Marshall Tory in 1906 at Fairview at that time was chosen as replacement. The former McGill University College of British Columbia adopted the name “University of British Columbia” in 1915, marking the foundation of the university (“A Brief,”