The Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Electrical and Computer Engineering was formed in May 1983 combining the graduate programs and research activities in the area of electrical engineering of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, the Department of Electronics, Carleton University, and the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University. Through the resources provided by the two universities, the Institute offers graduate programs at both master's and doctoral levels in all areas of electrical engineering with the exception of power engineering. The Institute for Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of a number of joint institutes/centers in science and engineering that have been established between the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
The three departments forming the Institute are located on the main campuses of their respective universities. Both of these campuses are situated along the scenic Rideau Canal within the limits of the City of Ottawa. The University of Ottawa campus adjoins the downtown section of the city, approximately one kilometer from Parliament Hill, with Carleton University located five kilometers southwest of the University of Ottawa, between the Canal and the Rideau River adjacent to Vincent Massey Park. A free shuttle bus service is operated between the campuses to facilitate students taking courses at either university. The parkland along the canal is used as a recreational facility by the approximately one million inhabitants in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. In the summer, cyclists are afforded an extensive network of bike paths; in the winter, skaters enjoy the beauty of the Rideau Canal, as the "world's longest skating rink", allowing skating between the two universities.
The Institute for Electrical and Computer Engineering represents one of the largest graduate programs in Electrical Engineering in Canada, and has the unique advantage of being located in a region with extensive federal government and industry research laboratories. The many links the Institute and its members have with local industry and federal government research laboratories allow the Institute to provide one of the best opportunities in Canada for industrial contact in electrical and computer engineering graduate research. The membership of the Institute currently consists of over 110 full-time professors and more than 34 adjunct professors drawn from the Federal Government and local industry. Through these professors and a few experts from the Federal Government and local industry, the Institute offers a large selection of approximately 75 graduate courses annually (in the fall and winter terms) to its graduate students as well as to a large number of special students (typically engineers employed in local companies). The Institute graduate student body numbered approximately 239 full-time Ph.D. students, 325 full-time Master's students and 105 part-time students in the winter of 2013.