Five U of T Engineering professors from the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) have been honoured by the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) for their achievements in, and contributions to, the field.

Professor Chul B. Park is the 2012 recipient of the C.N. Downing Award for distinguished service to CSME over many years. Professor Park is the Canada Research Chair in Microcellular Plastics and the founder and Director of the Microcellular Plastics Manufacturing Laboratory.

A world leader in the development of innovative technologies for the manufacture of microcellular foamed plastics, he holds 20 patents and his research has been licensed by more than 200 companies.

Professor Park is a Fellow of CSME, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Royal Society of Canada, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Society of Plastics Engineers, the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), and the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC).

Joining Professor Park as a CSME Fellow are Professors David Sinton, Pierre E. Sullivan and Murray J. Thomson. This recognition is awarded to those who have attained excellence in mechanical engineering and contributed actively to the progress of their profession and society.

Professor Sinton joined the University of Toronto in September 2011, after serving as Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Victoria (2003-2011). His research interests include fluidics and energy, involving the study and application of small scale fluid mechanics for use in energy systems and analysis. He received the 2006 CSME I. W. Smith Award, the 2006 Douglas R. Colton Award from CMC Microsystems, and the 2008 Early Career Achievement Award from the University of Toronto Engineering Alumni Association.

Professor Sullivan’s research focuses on microscale electrohydrodynamics and aerodynamics control at aerodynamically low Reynolds numbers. His work has resulted in useful applications to microscale jets and has improved sensing and mixing technologies that are important to practical applications of electrowetting on dielectric devices, to name a few. Professor Sullivan previously served the MIE Department as Associate Chair, High School Liaison (2000-2004) and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies (2004-2009). He is a member of the CSME, ASME, Society of Automotive Engineering and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Professor Thomson has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the areas of alternative fuels, pollution control and combustion sensors, and his research has been widely applied in industry. He has commercialized and licensed four process sensors based on optics and spectroscopy, which are used by a number of companies to reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions. He has also developed fundamental models of particulate emissions in flames, which he has applied to develop particulate emissions models for engines produced by companies such as Pratt & Whitney Canada. He has made outstanding contributions to the Canadian Section of the Combustion Institute, where he serves as Treasurer and as Member of the Board of Directors, and is an EIC Fellow.

Professor Jean Zu, MIE’s Chair, has received the 2012 Robert W. Angus Medal for outstanding contributions to the management and practice of mechanical engineering. Professor Zu served as President of CSME from 2006-2008. In this role, she restored regional activities throughout the country, implemented an online membership database and created close ties between CSME and NSERC. She is currently President-Elect of the Engineering Institute of Canada and serves on the Canadian National Committee for the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. Professor Zu is a Fellow of AAAS, ASME, CAE and EIC. Professor Zu was previously recognized with the C.N. Downing Award in 2011.

“We are proud CSME is recognizing five of our faculty members for their remarkable contributions to mechanical engineering,” said Engineering Dean Cristina Amon. “I congratulate them for this honour and the department as a whole for this distinction.”

The CSME Awards recipients will be honoured at the CSME Awards Ceremony on June 5 in Winnipeg.