From aerospace and biomedical engineering, to robotics and vehicle dynamics, mechanical engineers contribute to many industries that touch our lives everyday.
From June 1 – 4, U of T Engineering welcomed over 400 mechanical engineering students and academics for the biennial . With delegates joining from 14 different countries – including as far as China, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Iran – the four-day conference saw presentations of more than 350 research papers from across the field.
The CSME International Congress facilitates networking and the dissemination of research and new technologies amongst universities, industries, government agencies and R&D laboratories.
This year, the CFD Society of Canada – a forum for researchers in the area of computational fluid dynamics – also held their 22nd annual conference in conjunction with CSME.
“It was a unique opportunity to bring together CFDSC and CSME,” said Markus Bussmann, vice dean, graduate studies, and chair of this year’s CFDSC conference. “CFD encompasses a broad spectrum of application areas, and many of the papers presented as part of CSME, are of equal interest to CFDSC members. It was a successful experiment, bringing the two societies together for one joint conference.”
U of T Engineering Dean Cristina Amon was one of six keynote speakers at the event. She addressed attendees on the topic of engineering education, sharing the importance of diversity and system-thinking, as well as instilling professional transferable skills including global outlook, leadership and entrepreneurship. Other keynote speakers included Elliot L. Chaikof, Harvard University, and Grétar Tryggvason, University of Notre Dame.
Dean Amon and Professor Jean Zu, chair of mechanical engineering at U of T, also took part in a special panel discussion during symposium session on women in engineering. Organized by Christine Wu, University of Manitoba professor and president of CSME, the special session included a keynote address by Catherine Mavriplis, a University of Ottawa professor and NSERC/ Pratt & Whitney Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering. Professor Mavriplis shared new initiatives that are underway in both academia and industry that demonstrate positive approaches to promoting women’s advancement to leadership in engineering.
During the conference banquet, which recognized recently named CSME fellows and award winners, the CFD Society of Canada honoured Professor Dominique Pelletier, École Polytechnique de Montréal, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was recognized as an individual who has made outstanding time-enduring contributions to computational fluid dynamics in Canada, and he is only the third recipient of honour in the 22-year history of the society.
Additional events included a reception at Hart House, a research poster showcase by MIE graduate students, mechanical engineering lab tours, an NSERC information session and special musical performances by the U of T Engineering Iron Strings quartet and Skule Jazz combo.
“We are very proud to have hosted a productive and successful CSME and CFDSC,” said Professor Jean Zu, chair of the this year’s Congress. “By bringing both national and international researchers together, we understand more deeply the importance of learning from the expertise of our engineering colleagues.”
The next CSME International Congress will be hosted by the School of Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan in 2016.
