Dean Cristina Amon, along with fellow Professors Aimy Bazylak (MIE), Tobin Filleter (MIE) and Craig Simmons (IBBME, MIE), have been honoured by the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME). Professor Filleter is the 2014 recipient of the I. W. Smith Award, for outstanding achievement in creative mechanical engineering within 10 years of graduation. Professors Bazylak and Simmons were elected CSME Fellows, for excellence in mechanical engineering and significant contributions to the profession. Dean Amon received the Robert W. Angus Medal, for outstanding contributions to the management and practice of mechanical engineering.
About Professor Tobin Filleter
Professor Filleter held a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University before joining MIE in 2012. He is a leader in the emerging field of nanomechanics, with applications to nanostructures in a variety of mechanical engineering disciplines. Professor Filleter’s work relating to metallic nanowires, carbon nanotube fibers and ultrathin films has already received international attention. His results relating to carbon nanotube fibers have demonstrated an increase in the strength-to-weight ratio of an order of magnitude; this has significant implications for the reinforcement of composite materials. Professor Filleter has authored more than 20 papers in top international journals and his work has been cited over 570 times.
About Professor Aimy Bazylak
Professor Bazylak has established herself as an expert in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. In 2007, her pioneering research uncovered the irreversible damage that the PEM fuel cell gas diffusion layer may endure during device assembly. In 2012 Professor Bazylak received the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award. In 2013 she was awarded a prestigious NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement. She is the associate director of the University of Toronto Institute for Sustainable Energy and associate director of a NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program focused on developing clean energy solutions for remote communities in northern Canada.
About Professor Craig Simmons
Professor Simmons is the Canada Research Chair in Mechanobiology. His research applies mechanical engineering principles to biological applications, with a view to establishing the role that mechanical forces play in regulating biological functions. He was the first to establish the relationship between blood flow forces on heart valve leaflets and the development of heart disease. Professor Simmons is currently the director of the NSERC CREATE program in Microfluidic Applications and Training in Cardiovascular Health (MATCH), as well as the Associate Director, Research for the Institute for Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME). He received the 2009 Early Career Teaching Award and the 2010 McCharles Prize for Early Career Research Distinction from the Faculty. In 2012 he garnered the University of Toronto McLean Award.
About Dean Cristina Amon
Dean Amon is Alumni Chair Professor of Bioengineering in MIE and Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Her research pioneered computational fluid dynamics techniques for simulation-based thermal design of electronics subject to competing constraints. This led to the creation of multi-stage concurrent thermal design methodology, which has significantly reduced the time required for thermal design of portable electronics. Dean Amon has also been a tireless advocate for increased diversity in the engineering profession, and has spearheaded efforts to increase the Faculty’s diversity and address gender disparity. She has garnered dozens of prestigious awards and fellowships for her leadership, education and research achievements.
“The continued success of our faculty in receiving these prestigious awards is a testament to the calibre of our leadership and research accomplishments,” said Dean Amon. “I am grateful to the CSME for this recognition and to my fellow award recipients for their exceptional contributions to the Faculty and to the field.”
CSME award recipients will be honoured at the Congress Banquet on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, as part of the 2014 CSME International Congress, hosted by the University of Toronto.
