Marcia Friesen

We are committed to providing engineering education and engineering research that engages the imagination of our community and contributes to the economic, environmental, and social health of our province and country. Whether you are drawn to engineering for its creative and artistic character, its technology leadership, its role in social development, or any other motivations, the Price Faculty of Engineering has a place for you.

The Price Faculty of Engineering is a vibrant place to be with approximately 2000 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students. Beyond teaching and research, the Price Faculty of Engineering reaches Manitobans through a vibrant Co-op & Industrial Internship Program, the Engineering Access Program for Indigenous Canadians, articulation agreements with RRC Polytech engineering technology programs, and a revamped Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Engineering for those returning to engineering practice. Our WISE-KidNetic Energy K-12 STEM outreach program makes over 30,000 youth-contacts a year through camps and workshops, cultivating the next generation of engineers and scientists. 

We have a strong co- and extra-curriculum of technical societies and student-led design competition teams which regularly place in national and international competitions. Whether you’re a prospective student interested in designing solar cars, biomedical devices, satellites and rockets, steel bridges, concrete toboggans and concrete canoes, tiny tractors, and much, much more, we have a place for that! 

Our Faculty is also a significant research hub including research partnerships with all sectors of Manitoba industry. Our faculty generates approximately $12M annually in principal-investigator held research funding and is home to Canada Research Chairs and other sponsored Chairs.

I thank everyone in our community who support the Price Faculty of Engineering through gifts of time, expertise, advocacy and finances. Your contributions support our responsibility as Manitoba’s only engineering school to be accessible for all learners and their goals via multiple pathways, to deliver strong core disciplines, to advance research that drives Manitoba and Canada forward, and to connect the Price Faculty of Engineering with the community. 

 
Our students are waiting to take their place in solving the problems that need engineering as part of the solution. They are looking to their engineering education as the foundation to pursue their visions and goals, and we’re ready for it! The engineering profession represents technical excellence, leadership and service, and we’re proud to be shaping the next generation. 

Marcia Friesen, PhD, P.Eng.
Professor & Dean, Price Faculty of Engineering
 

Marcia Friesen, P.Eng., received her undergraduate and graduate training at the University of Manitoba. She holds a doctorate in Biosystems Engineering. Currently, Friesen is the Dean of the Price Faculty of Engineering. From 2018 to 2023, she was the NSERC Chair in Design Engineering. From 2003 to 2017 she served as Director of the Internationally Educated Engineering Qualifications Program (IEEQ) and as Director of the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education and Associate Dean (Design Education) from 2017 to 2020.

Friesen is active in both research and teaching activities, and has received more than $2 million in research funding from local and tri-council funding agencies. She serves on local and national boards, including serving as past president of Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba, as a director of the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation and as a director of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada.

Her research program focuses on engineering qualifications recognition for engineering newcomers, the scholarship of teaching and learning in engineering education, mHealth applications, and modelling and simulation for healthcare applications. 

As NSERC Chair in Design Engineering for Sustainable Development and Enhanced Design Integration (2018–2023), Friesen focused on:

• Advancing students’ design knowledge in sustainable development and sustainable design in all disciplines. This is a set of knowledge and skills identified by the practice community as critical for the profession in the future, and it has applications across our programs, ranging from energy resources and security, water resources management, agriculture and food security, transportation and resilient cities, infrastructure resiliency and adaptation, and smart systems.
• Advancing students’ Indigenous Knowledge, perspectives and design principles as part the principle of social inclusion inherent in sustainable development. In addition to cultural awareness, design focuses on important Canadian applications in energy independence, food security and infrastructure development. In a province with the highest proportionate Indigenous population (17 percent) in Canada and an Indigenous population that is predominantly young and growing, Friesen fosters education and reconciliation through curriculum initiatives by which graduate engineers can more effectively provide design services to and with Indigenous clients and communities in Manitoba and Canada.