Undergraduate Courses

Course list

Minors & certificates

ISTEP courses can contribute to minors and certificates such as:

TEP234: Entrepreneurship and Small Business

Complementary Studies (CS) Elective

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Engineers with an interest in starting a new business venture of their own!

What you'll learn

The skills and knowledge necessary to build confidence and grow your entrepreneurial vision

What you'll do

Join a highly immersive environment featuring industry guest lectures focusing on real world scenarios

Course Description

The age of enterprise has arrived. Strategic use of technology in all sorts of businesses makes the difference between success and failure for these firms. Wealth creation is a real option for many and the business atmosphere is ready for you!

Increasingly, people are seeing the advantages of doing their own thing, in their own way, in their own time. Entrepreneurs can control their own lives, structure their own progress and be accountable for their own success - they can fail, but they cannot be fired! After all, engineers are the most capable people to be in the forefront of this drive to the business life of the 21st century.

The course is based on real life issues, not theoretical developments or untried options. Topics covered include:

Who is an entrepreneur;
Canadian business environment;
Acquisitions;
Different business types (retail, wholesale, manufacturing and services);
Franchising;
Human resources;
Leadership;
Business law;
and many others.

Several invited visitors provide the student with the opportunity to meet real entrepreneurs.

TEP321: Introduction to Science Communication

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Students interested in understanding the way that science is communicated through and by the media

What you'll learn

Insights that will improve your media literacy and techniques to shape your own science stories

What you'll do

Learn from popular science communication failures and successes. Apply this learning to your own stories in an interactive, collaborative classroom environment

Course Description

Introduces students to the history, theory and practice of communicating science to the public. We first establish a theoretical foundation for understanding the complex relationship between science, scientists, and the public, closely examining techniques and strategies for communicating about science to non-technical readers with a variety of backgrounds and ideological perspectives.

We apply these concepts to contemporary case studies in multiple media, focusing on (mis)representations of climate, environmental, and biomedical sciences, breakthroughs in engineering. In doing so, we explore how the shift from traditional news to new media – including videos, podcasts, and social media – has changed how science is communicated to the public, plus the implications of this shift for scientists and engineers.

TEP327: Engineering and Law

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Fall — Days and times TBD

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Engineering students who want to prepare themselves for the challenges they will face in the professional world

What you'll learn

Practical skills for engineers such as risk evaluation, issuing a tender, and preparing a patent

What you'll do

Gain experience applying what you learn in fact scenarios like those you’ll encounter in your career

Course Description

Upon graduating university and entering the workforce, engineering students have little idea about how frequently in their professional lives their interactions, decisions, and actions will touch on various areas of law.

This course is designed to highlight the amount of overlap between these two pillars in today's society. Some examples include: acting as an expert witness, preparing a patent, creating a contract for supplies and more. By the end of this course, students will have a working understanding of the intersection between Engineering and Law, and be able to navigate the legal complexities in their professional and business lives.

TEP343: Engineering Leadership

Complementary Studies (CS) Elective

Fall — LEC0101: Days and times TBD | LEC0102: Days and times TBD

Winter — LEC0101: Days and times TBD | LEC0102: Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Students looking to lead with confidence, courage and competence

What you'll learn

How to intentionally leverage your unique leadership style to better lead yourself and your teams

What you'll do

Reflect a lot, have lively discussions, work in a team, interview a senior leader and be able to articulate your personal leadership philosophy

Course Description

This course is a practical approach to being a more productive engineer based on the premise that for technology to become a reality, it must be translated through people. A key is understanding that engineers lead in ways that reflect their skills and mindset.

The course begins with examining:

the meaning of leading (why do something?)
the processes of leading (how do you do you create a vision and motivate others?)
the tools of leading (what steps do you take to lead?)

Learning frameworks and personal working style inventories provide practical tools to assist the student to understand human nature and the logic of learning, to become a competent leader of self, teams and organizations. The student prepares to become a competent leader by undertaking to learn key skills, character attributes and purposeful behaviours.

The course presents strategies for development of high-performance teams. Special attention is given to a number of subjects such as:

Transformational change
Organizational culture
High performance work systems
Self-leadership

The course material is delivered through lectures, readings, in-class discussion and a team project. The project is based on the team interviewing the CEO of an engineering-intensive company or senior leader in the community. Students will be required to submit written reflections on course content and their personal experience.

TEP432: Advanced Topics in Entrepreneurship

Complementary Studies (CS) Elective

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

For students with strong entrepreneurial foundations who are ready to design, build, and launch real, value-generating projects as founders, innovators, or early-stage contributors.

What you'll learn

How to strategically design, operate, and launch a real business by integrating advanced thinking across strategy, product and service design, finance, marketing, operations, and leadership.

What you'll do

Build a real business—not a hypothetical exercise. Working in teams, you will launch and operate a live, value-generating venture, integrating insights from leading contemporary readings with direct lessons from guest speakers to actively build and guide your own project.

Course Description

The second of two complementary entrepreneurship courses (following TEP234), TEP432 moves beyond foundational theory into active execution. The core expectation of this course is that students will build and bring a real business, venture, or value-generating project into the world. This is not a hypothetical exercise. These ventures will span a wide spectrum of size and ambition, ranging from startups actively seeking external funding to lean, one-person operations like a localized tutoring business. Regardless of the project's scope, the focus is entirely practical, applied, and hands-on.

Students will navigate the strategic, operational, and human complexities of venture creation in dynamic markets. The curriculum is deliberately structured to bridge theory and practice by alternating between deep dives into the best contemporary books across various business disciplines and practical sessions with guest speakers. Through this blend of foundational knowledge and practitioner insights, the course explores how live businesses operate, adapt, and respond to uncertainty. 

Key topics include moving from prototype to minimum viable product, lean operations and bootstrapping, acquiring early customers, business model design across the tech-to-service spectrum, co-founder dynamics, capital strategy, and founder psychology and resilience.

Working in teams, students will integrate strategy, operations, financials, and go-to-market execution to get their ventures off the ground, facing the exact hurdles and ambiguities experienced by modern founders. This course is designed as a practical proving ground for students seeking to test their entrepreneurial capabilities in the real world.

TEP435: The Measure of All Things: Sensors and data for sustainable development

Complementary Studies (CS) Elective

Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Students interested in leveraging sensing and data analytics innovations to address global challenges.

What you'll learn

How to analyze and apply sensing and data analytics technologies to global development, assess societal impacts and develop entrepreneurial solutions

What you'll do

Propose and research a sensing or data analytics innovation, develop a business case for this innovation, and pitch your solution

Winter — Dates and times to be added

Course Description

We live in a data driven world, with the total volume of global data projected to be 181 zettabytes by 2025. New ways of measuring and analyzing data in the field of global development are opening the door to a better understanding of global challenges and data-driven innovations have significant economic and societal potential. For example in the healthcare sector, the use of new devices and analytics can improve diagnosis and triage of disease, improve health system efficiency, and reduce costs. However, there have also been many instances of sensing technologies and algorithms that perpetuate or enhance inequalities rather than reducing them.

Through the use of lectures, case studies, readings, and guest speakers working at the health-water-climate nexus of global challenges, students will learn about innovations in sensing, and data analytics that are helping to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They will learn to analyze and assess historical data and data that is currently being collected in the global development and engineering space and will critically examine examples of biases and flaws with the ways we develop sensors/measurements and train algorithms.

Students will have a practical opportunity to develop entrepreneurship skills through proposing and researching a sensing or data analytics innovation for tackling global challenges, developing a business case for this innovation, and pitching their solution to their peers through lectures, readings, in-class discussion and a team project. The project is based on the team interviewing the CEO of an engineering-intensive company or senior leader in the community. Students will be required to submit written reflections on course content and their personal experience.

TEP440: To Engineer is Human

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Fall — Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Students interested in exploring how human interactions influence engineering work

What you'll learn

The often-overlooked human story behind various technologies and engineering feats as well as its implications for engineering work in general

What you'll do

Dig into the human (socio, cultural, political and/or legal) backstory of a technology of your choice

Course Description

Behind every engineering feat is a human story. Students will learn to examine this often-overlooked perspective of engineering and its implications for engineering work. At its core, engineering is a human activity geared at helping to attain human goals, which requires the integration of many viewpoints, technical and non-technical.

Drawing on perspectives from humanities and social science disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, and political science), students will explore aspects of the human condition as it relates to engineering work: particularly the complexity of individuals, the contexts in which they operate and how this shapes collaborative work.

They will develop an appreciation for and skills to engage in the interdisciplinary work that engineering entails by examining conceptions of engineering, as well as the humanities and social and their intersections with engineering. Students will integrate these themes in projects that investigate the human stories behind various technologies.

TEP442: Cognitive and Psychological Foundations of Effective Leadership

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) & Complementary Studies (CS) Elective

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Students interested in a self-led and introspective exploration of a healthy mind set

What you'll learn

Psychological principles for leading a fulfilling life, such as motivation, resilience, self-efficacy and more

What you'll do

In this non-lecture based course, learning takes the form of activities, games and discussions with peers

Course Description

This course investigates the cognitive and psychological foundations of effective leadership. Students will explore current theories driving effective leadership practice, including:

Models of leadership
Neurophysiological correlates of leadership
Psychodynamic approaches to leadership

Students will learn and apply skills, including:

Mental modelling
Decision-making
Teamwork
Self-evaluation techniques

This course is aimed at helping Engineering students to gain practical skills, which will enhance their impact as leaders throughout their careers.

TEP444: The Happy Engineer - Positive Psychology for Engineers

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Fall — LEC0101: Days and times TBD | LEC0102: Days and times TBD

Who's this course for?

Students who want to focus on their personal development, success, and fulfillment as an engineer

What you'll learn

Self observation, metacognition, and letting go of self limiting beliefs. Practice learning for the joy of it!

What you'll do

Join your peers on adventures around the city, practice reflective writing, and learn about yourself!

Course Description

Many disciplines have explored happiness — philosophy, anthropology, psychology, sociology, neurobiology, film, art and literature - to name a few. Why not engineering?

During the first part of the course, we will play catch-up, examining the scholarly and creative ways that people have attempted to understand what makes for a happy life. Then we turn our attention to our own domain-expertise, applying engineering concepts like: "balance", "flow", "amplitude", "dynamic equilibrium", "momentum" and others, to explore the ways your technical knowledge can contribute to a deep understanding of happiness.

This course is designed to challenge you academically as we analyze texts from a variety of disciplines. It is also designed to challenge you personally, to explore happiness as it relates to yourself, your own personal development and your success and fulfillment as an engineer.

TEP445: The Power of Story — Discovering Your Leadership Narrative

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Fall — Days and times TBD

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's the course for?

Engineering students interested in speaking and writing their leadership narratives into existence

What you'll learn

Storytelling techniques/mechanics, public speaking skills, and leadership theory

What you'll do

Engage in reflective reading, writing, and peer discussions to help you craft your leadership narrative

Course Description

This course offers an introduction to relational, authentic and transformational leadership theory, by focusing on narrative and the power of storytelling.

Students will practice storytelling techniques by: learning about the mechanics of stories; improve their public speaking by engaging in regular storytelling practice; explore their personal history by reflecting on their identities; and develop critical thinking skills regarding the stories (meta-narratives) that surround us; particularly as they relate to engineering problems/ethics. This is a highly experiential course with a focus on reading, discussion, practice and reflection.

TEP447: The Art of Ethical & Equitable Decision Making in Engineering

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Fall — Days and times TBD

Who's the course for?

Students interested in understanding their relationship with the social impact of technology

What you'll learn

Develop the analytical and communicative skills necessary to advance responsible industry practice

What you'll do

Examine and discuss real world case studies. Sharpen your oral communication skills

Course Description

The primary objective of this course is to help engineering students navigate the ambiguous world of engineering ethics and equity using case studies drawn from the careers of Canadian engineers. This course tackles complex ethics and equity challenges by focusing on multiple levels of practice: from design work to organizational practice and governance.

By applying a systems lens, students will learn to develop the knowledge and skills needed for short-term and long-term action strategies. In addition to being exposed to a range of ethical theories, the PEO code of ethics, and the legal context of engineering ethics, students enrolled in this course will engage in ethical decision-making on a weekly basis.

TEP448: System Mapping

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's the course for?

Engineers interested in learning how to better define and solve complex environmental and social problems

What you'll learn

Skills to help you bridge the gap between engineers and professionals in adjacent fields

What you'll do

Engage in individual and team exercises that will allow you to apply your knowledge to real world problems

Course Description

Engineers are taught to think in systems, but often these are limited in scope to the technical realm. Yet, many of today’s “wicked problems” are as much dictated by social and environmental considerations as by any technical considerations. System mapping is a system thinking tool frequently used in fields such as public health and environmental policy to describe complex, multi-stakeholder problems.

Students will apply system mapping techniques to describe complex problems with technical, social and environmental aspects. Students will explore fields outside of engineering critical to these challenges, including: public policy, sociology, and law. Students will complete a team project to develop a system map of a complex problem. The emphasis will be on problem definition, not problem solution, though it is expected maps will point to potential paths for solution.

TEP449: Intercultural Communication and Leadership

Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Elective

Winter — Days and times TBD

Who's the course for?

Engineers who want to enhance their cultural sensitivity, competence, and humility beyond the classroom

What you'll learn

Practical analytical and observational skills to support leadership in multi and intercultural contexts

What you'll do

Develop strategies and practice to increase your cultural knowledge, competence and sensitivity beyond the classroom!

Course Description

A highly experiential but theoretically grounded exploration of intercultural communication developments and practices. The focus on intercultural communication will be applied to the practice of leadership in the many intercultural contexts students engage in as students and as junior engineers.

Students will deepen their understanding of culture and leadership through developing a nuanced understanding of culture and cultural practices beyond national, linguistic and ethnic boundaries. Concepts of cultural sensitivity, cultural competence and cultural humility will be related to models of leadership (authentic, collaborative, transformational, and ethical) to enable students to increase their cultural sensitivity, and humility beyond the classroom, in both multi- and intercultural contexts.

Undergraduate Courses

Minors & certificates

TEP234: Entrepreneurship and Small Business

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP321: Introduction to Science Communication

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP324: Engineering and Social Justice

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP327: Engineering and Law

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP343: Engineering Leadership

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP432: Advanced Topics in Entrepreneurship

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP435: The Measure of All Things: Sensors and data for sustainable development

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP440: To Engineer is Human

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP442: Cognitive and Psychological Foundations of Effective Leadership

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP444: The Happy Engineer - Positive Psychology for Engineers

Who's this course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP445: The Power of Story — Discovering Your Leadership Narrative

Who's the course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP447: The Art of Ethical & Equitable Decision Making in Engineering

Who's the course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP448: System Mapping

Who's the course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do

TEP449: Intercultural Communication and Leadership

Who's the course for?

What you'll learn

What you'll do