From February 3 to 5, more than 230 engineering students from across Ontario gathered at U of T to put their engineering skills to the test at the 33rd annual Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC).
OEC challenges students in design, innovation and communication in six competition categories. This year’s event focused on issues relevant to urban and suburban areas, both close to home and around the world. Students were asked to engineer innovative, sustainable and adaptable solutions to these issues while considering political, economical and societal repercussions. A panel of faculty and industry professionals then decided on which winning teams would advance to the Canadian Engineering Competition in Vancouver, BC.
U of T Engineering students had a strong showing, with eight teams competing. By the end of the day, U of T came away third in the Engineering Communication and Innovative Design categories. Lorne Mlotek (CivE 1T3), who competed in the Communication category, also picked up the Social Awareness award for his “green building” design.
During the competition, Mike Del Balso (ElecE 1T2) and his senior design team were tasked to create an automated truck that could collect garbage, cross a bridge and drive around a curb to dispose of the garbage. Before presenting to the judges and a packed room of observers and competitors, Del Balso was nervous and running on little sleep.
“We finished at 4 am,” said Del Balso. “But it’s fun to see what ideas you can come up with in just eight hours. We used some creative engineering to make things simpler. Other teams opted for a forklift in their design, but we’re using a lever.”
Although it was the third year of competing at UTEK and OEC for Del Balso, it was the very first OEC experience for Jenny Yao (IndE 1T5). She and her team in the Junior Design category had to engineer a solution to storing nuclear waste before it seeps into houses.
Yao is already hopeful to participate again next year. “This event lets you see new ideas and explore problems that we face today and the problems we’ll face in the future,” she said.
That was the take-away Andy Chen (MechE 1T3), this year’s OEC Chair, was hoping for when he and his committee came up with the focus. “Not only is this event an opportunity to interact with students in Ontario, industry and faculty, we’re having engineering students think of ways to make cities and suburbs sustainable. By doing that, we’re redefining the challenges and opening up possibilities of engineering design,” he said.
Professor David A. Steinman (MIE/IBBME) has been elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Fellowship is the highest elected grade of membership within ASME, the attainment of which recognizes exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession.
Professor Steinman’s research focuses on the integration of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and medical imaging to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases.
Professor Steinman has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers, and served two terms as Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. He currently holds a Career Investigator Award from the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada.
“The Department is delighted that Professor David Steinman has been recognized by his colleagues of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering,” said Professor Jean Zu, Chair of the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering. “Professor Steinman is at the forefront of biomedical engineering research, and I congratulate him on this tremendous honour.”
Professor Steinman will receive his award at the Society’s Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC) June 20 to 23 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. He is the Technical Program Chair of SBC 2012.
Crowded emergency rooms and long waiting lists are just a few of the many “bottlenecks” that affect the efficiency of healthcare delivery.
Professor Michael Carter (MIE), of the Centre for Research in Healthcare Engineering (CRHE) at U of T, was recently on Business News Network (BNN) to discuss how engineering can be used to improve the healthcare system. One way is by identifying waste, he explained.
“People in healthcare are putting in 110%, but they’re not working together, they’re not coordinated… there’s a lot that we can learn about process and having the right person at the right place and time, with the right equipment,” said Professor Carter.
Since 1989, he has been researching healthcare resource modeling with a variety of projects in hospitals, home care, rehabilitation, longterm care, medical labs and mental health institutions. He has supervised more than 160 engineering students in more than 100 projects with healthcare institutions.
Professor Andreas Mandelis (MIE) has received the 2012 American Physical Society’s Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science for his seminal contributions to photothermal science and the application of innovative techniques to a variety of real-world problems.
A Canada Research Chair in Diffusion-Wave Sciences and Technologies, Professor Mandelis has authored more than 300 refereed papers as well as the acclaimed textbook, Diffusion-Wave Fields: Mathematical Methods and Green Functions.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was the inaugural recipient of the Premier’s Discovery Award in Natural Sciences and Engineering in 2007. In 2010, he received the Killam Research Fellowship, one of Canada’s most prestigious research awards. His research includes developments in dental imaging and instruments for the early detection and monitoring of osteoporosis.
“We are grateful that Professor Mandelis has been recognized by his colleagues of the American Physical Society,” said Engineering Dean Cristina Amon. “Professor Mandelis is a world-leader in his field and on behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate him on this honour.”
The American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy and international activities. APS represents 48,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories and industry in the United States and throughout the world.
Professor Mandelis will give a lecture on his research and receive his award at the Society’s meeting in Boston, from February 27 to March 2.
An industrial researcher with more than 35 years of experience conducting research and development toward reducing the environmental impact of aviation has been named the inaugural NSERC/P&WC Industrial Research Chair in Aviation Gas Turbine Combustion/Emissions Research and Design System Optimization. Dr. Sam Sampath was named to the position at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) on January 24.
In his new role, Dr. Sampath, along with UTIAS Professors Ömer Gülder, Clinton Groth, and Adam Steinberg, will help to create the preeminent group in Canada, and one of the top groups in the world, working on combustion research in aviation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that aviation is currently responsible for approximately 3% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, and the aviation industry is seeking to cut those emissions in half by 2050.
Dr. Sampath worked as a senior combustion researcher at Pratt & Whitney Canada, a global leader in the design and manufacture of aircraft engines. He holds 14 U.S. patents and has published more than 35 research papers. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and has been a member of numerous government and industry organizations, including the IPCC, the International Business Aviation Association, the Canada/India Environmental Committee, the Canadian Aviation Environmental Working Group, and the Green Aviation Research and Development Network. Dr. Sampath’s environmental impact studies for the IPCC contributed to its receiving the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
The addition of Dr. Sampath further strengthens the research undertaken at UTIAS that seeks to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. That focus is a strategic direction for the Institute, which is the premier aerospace engineering department in Canada and among the best in the world.
“Our objective is to establish UTIAS as the world’s top research centre focused on reducing the environmental impact of aviation. This Executive Industrial Research Chair program substantially strengthens UTIAS’s research efforts toward this end and reflects its commitment to collaborating with Canadian industry to improve the competitiveness of the Canadian aerospace sector,” states Professor David Zingg, Director of UTIAS and Canada Research Chair in Computational Aerodynamics and Environmentally Friendly Aircraft Design.
The new chair was made possible thanks to the generous financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC).
“At NSERC, we are proud to be making investments in people who are pursuing some of the most ambitious and creative ideas in the world,” said Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of NSERC. “Dr. Sampath is a highly respected leader in the field of combustion for aviation gas turbine engines. His novel research program will bring critical advancements for the development of green aircraft engines.”
“I’m not going to try to tell you how to do business in the Middle Kingdom (China),” retired businessman Paul Ip told a crowd of budding entrepreneurs during a recent Engineering Entrepreneurship Series lecture at U of T. The series is hosted by The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.
“I started up and ran two different businesses in China. I’ll tell you my story and let you draw your own conclusions.”
Ip’s words were music to the ears of Professor Jonathan Rose (ECE), who launched the entrepreneurship lecture series for business-minded students looking to some day establish their very own start-ups.
“I’m trying to help inspire a culture of entrepreneurship here,” he said. “My goal is to have students hear stories of entrepreneurship. If they hear enough of those stories and learn about how the entrepreneurs navigated the issues, they’ll come to believe they can do it, too.”
Ip, a native of Hong Kong, had interesting stories to share. He never attended university; instead, he learned on the job. While working for Bayer, a conglomerate based in Germany, and AVEBE, a Dutch Farmers’ Co-op, he was twice given the task of opening a factory in China. He succeeded in both projects, but it was the obstacles along the way that made the process interesting.
“Building a factory in China is not something you do overnight,” he said.
As fast as the obstacles popped up, Ip found a way to knock them down. “I’m of the belief that if you’re afraid, don’t build in a foreign country,” he said.
“His views about working with people being not so black and white were very interesting,” said Kenny Ho (ElecE 0T6, MASc 0T8), a U of T Engineering graduate who is working on starting his own business.
The Engineering Entrepreneurship Series is open to everyone across the university.