A portion of Albert Einstein's brain is preserved and held for medical research at the McMaster brain bank and it doesn't take a genius to work out that this university, located in Hamilton, Ontario, is renowned for its academic strengths, most notably in the fields of health sciences and engineering. This specialization is reflected by the fact that the port city where it is located has always had a heavy emphasis on the steel and heavy manufacturing industries with a recent shift towards the service sector, particularly health sciences, in the last decade.
McMaster takes its name from the man who founded it in 1887 - William McMaster. It now comprises six faculties: Science, Health Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences and Business and has 12 smoke-free residence buildings totalling approximately 3,756 bedspaces. One of them is rather sinisterly named Bates Residence. Late, great actor John Candy is a former McMaster student - he would approve of the fact that the city has a growing arts and culture scene.
