Toronto-based company, Solar Ship, has built and flown the first solar-powered aircraft that has the potential to hold heavy cargo for a distance of 1,000 km per day.
“Caracal,” named after the African cat, runs on solar power generated from the photovoltaic (PV) panels on its wings.
The company said the aircraft is perfectly suited for disaster relief efforts, field research or any situation in which specialty, or heavy cargo, needs transport to remote locations with little or no infrastructure.
Solar Ship’s unique aircraft is the brain child of Solar Ship founder and CEO, Jay Godsall, and Professor Emeritus James DeLaurier (UTIAS). Professor DeLaurier, the company’s chief aerospace engineer, made aviation history in 2006 with the design and construction of the “The Flapper,” the first motorized, human-piloted ornithopter to achieve sustained flight. In 2010, he was the faculty advisor to U of T Engineering’s record-breaking ornithopter.
Read the full story at Canadian Manufacturing .
Professor Emeritus Gordon R. Slemon (ECE), former Dean of U of T Engineering, was a visionary engineer. He recognized the need and market for electric cars and magnetic trains long before they were considered “green.”
Recognized worldwide as an authority on the analysis, design and development of electric machines and controlled drive systems, his main research focus was magnetics as applied to electric machinery. He made major contributions to the development of permanent magnet motors and high-speed, magnetically levitated and propelled interurban vehicles.
As Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering at U of T from 1966 to 1976, and Dean from 1979 to 1986, he was loud and clear in his warnings that government funding cuts were resulting in universities that were ill-equipped to provide training on modern equipment with modern techniques.
“We in engineering schools are woefully short of resources because of budget constraints,” he told The Globe and Mail in 1982. “We need to get into arrangements which are income earners because we’re not getting the resources we need from the provincial government.”
Professor Slemon passed away on September 26 at the age of 87. The Globe and Mail takes a closer look at the legacy he leaves behind.
It was an earth-moving idea that won recent Civil Engineering graduate Michael Montgomery (CivE, PhD 1T1) the NSERC Innovation Challenge Award.
Or rather, it was the novel approach to keeping buildings structurally sound after the earth moves that was key.
Montgomery, who recently completed his PhD in Civil Engineering, was recognized for his proposal to commercialize the research conducted during his graduate studies into a new product for the marketplace. More than mere words, Montgomery has established a new company — Kinetica Dynamics — along with his graduate supervisor, Professor Constantin Christopoulos.
“It is a considerable new challenge,” Montgomery says about starting a new company. “I am not just the researcher anymore, but I am now also a salesman, a marketer, an accountant, of course, an engineer. There are a lot of new skills I am developing,” he adds.
At the heart of the company is a novel design technique for high-rise buildings.
Tall buildings will naturally sway throughout the day because of wind or because of movements in the earth. These subtle movements are less perceptible when you are close to the ground. However, taller buildings amplify these movements. For people occupying higher floors, motion sickness is a serious problem unless a damping device is deployed to control the building’s swaying. This becomes all the more important in the event of an earthquake, which can cause damage to structures.
Previous efforts to dampen sway have consisted of making a building as heavy as possible or as rigid as possible. However, both of these approaches reduce the amount of usable space available in the building and add significantly to its construction costs, and both solutions do not prevent damage to buildings caused by earthquakes.
The University of Toronto team’s solution is to replace some of the building’s coupling beams, which are common features that connect structural elements of the building, with their Wind-Earthquake Coupling Damper. Montgomery and Christopoulos’s damper is effectively a series of interlaced steel plates that are connected by a high-damping rubber that absorbs both wind and earthquake vibrations.
“This is what we call game-changing technology,” exclaims Professor Christopoulos, who notes that it is not just important for earthquake-prone zones, but is needed for any new high-rise construction.
“There was a recent study released that showed that Toronto is currently the world leader in high-rise construction. So it’s nice that not only can we offer this technology to the world, but we can also benefit from it here at home,” Professor Christopoulos states.
“The Faculty is extremely proud of Michael’s extraordinary achievements,” says Professor Cristina Amon, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “His success demonstrates the remarkable ability of our graduates to develop their research into innovative solutions to important problems.”
Montgomery, who received the $10,000 prize at an awards ceremony in Ottawa on October 17, is gratified for the recognition but notes that many more challenges lie ahead.
“I certainly feel encouraged by receiving this award, but now the hard work begins, convincing industry insiders the merits of the technology and hopefully incorporating this in some of the most ambitious projects in the world,” he states.
The Innovation Challenge Award was launched in 2004 by NSERC and the Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund (CSTGF). The program is currently sponsored by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and NSERC.
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) announced today that Professor Cristina Amon, Dean of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, has received the 2011 SWE Achievement Award, the highest award given by the Society, for her outstanding contributions to the field of engineering over more than 20 years.
“Dr. Amon is widely recognized for her work in fluid mechanics and heat transfer, as well as for her leadership in engineering education,” says Melissa Tata, SWE president. “Her significant discoveries have advanced engineering science immensely, particularly in a broad range of manufacturing processes, and her groundbreaking research and education positively impacts her community, both in the industry and in the university.”
Prior to joining U of T in 2006 as Dean and Alumni Chair Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Dean Amon was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research has advanced the engineering foundation of heat transfer enhancement by flow destabilization, nano-scale thermal transport in semi-conductors, and hemodynamics mass transport in biological systems, including aortic aneurysms and intravenous blood oxygenators. She has made pioneering contributions to concurrent thermal designs, innovation in electronics cooling and transient thermal management of wearable computers.
Dean Amon has delivered keynote lectures worldwide and contributed twelve book chapters, one textbook, and more than 280 refereed articles in the education and research literature. She has served the engineering profession with exceptional dedication; her many roles include Chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council and Chair of AAAS Engineering. She was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering, and Royal Society of Canada, and is a Fellow of several technical societies including AAAS, ASEE, ASME and IEEE.
Among her many awards and honours, Dean Amon has been recognized by SWE as their Distinguished Engineering Educator and Professor of the Year. She is a Senior Member of SWE and served as President of the SWE Pittsburgh section in 2004-2005. Cristina Amon created and led the development of the summer SWE workshop ‘Engineering Your Future’ for 8th-12th grade female and minority students. This workshop has been offered annually since 1993 by the SWE Carnegie Mellon chapter, with the objective of encouraging girls and underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in engineering. At the U of T, Dean Amon promotes women in engineering through a number of outreach initiatives, including Skule™ Sisters, Go Eng Girl, and Women Empowered in Engineering.
Dean Amon has also been recognized as an outstanding role-model for female engineers. She was the recipient of the 2010 Award for the Support of Women by Engineers Canada and the 2011 YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction award. She been previously recognized by SWE as their Distinguished Engineering Educator and Professor of the Year.
Dean Amon earned her Engineering diploma from Simón Bolívar University and her MSc and ScD degrees from MIT. She has served on external advisory boards at several educational institutions, including Stanford University, UCLA, UIUC, University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania.
“Cristina Amon, in addition to groundbreaking research contributions, has served the University of Toronto and its Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering with the greatest distinction,” said Cheryl Misak, U of T’s Vice-President and Provost. “She is a brilliant role model for and champion of women in engineering.”
Dean Amon was honoured at the Society of Women Engineers’ Achievement Awards Banquet in Chicago on October 14, 2011.
The University of Toronto and the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) hosted international research leaders at the Nanomaterials for Energy International Symposium.
Held September 29 and 30 at the Royal Ontario Museum, the symposium was an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in utilizing nanomaterials to harness and store energy.
Organized by Professor Ted Sargent (ECE), the event was intended to bring together leading university researchers and thought leaders from relevant commercial sectors, including venture capital investors and leading solar and battery companies.
The event was also an opportunity to celebrate the partnership between U of T and KAUST in advancing nanomaterials research.
“This remarkable event brought together research leaders from MIT, Stanford, EPFL, Columbia, KAUST, Penn State, Berkeley, U of T, Chicago, UIUC and IBM Research,” said Professor Sargent, “One of the many U of T graduate students in attendance called it an All-Star event – nothing could be more true. It was a stimulating event – and a privilege to have the world’s leaders in nanomaterials for energy research converge on U of T.”
Professor Sargent, along with researchers at KAUST and Pennsylvania State University, recently reported a breakthrough in the development of colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells in Nature Materials. Quantum dots are nanoscale semiconductors that capture light and convert it into electrical energy.
The late Irving O. Shoichet was a remarkable man who loved science.
A successful entrepreneur, first in the oil and gas industry and then as an executive for his founding company Skycharter, Mr. Shoichet believed in building a community of ideas based on intelligent debate and discussion. He had a profound impact not only on his family, but friends, colleagues and others around him. The Irving O. Shoichet Lecture Series for the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry was established through a gift from Mrs. Dorothy Shoichet as a way to celebrate the accomplishments of her late husband and recognize his commitment to intellectual exchange and dynamic discourse.
The series provides an important forum for distinguished researchers from across North America and around the world to showcase cutting-edge scientific research that addresses critical issues facing our world today. Situated within the Department’s renowned Lectures at the Leading Edge series, the Irving O. Shoichet Distinguished Lecture brings together innovative thinkers and scientists to stimulate discussion and generate ideas. The inaugural lecture of 2010 featured MIT’s Professor Robert Langer, a world expert on biomedical engineering, and continues in 2011 with lecturer Professor Rakesh Jain of Harvard University.
Internationally recognized for his seminal research in tumor biology, Professor Jain promotes the normalization of blood vessels in the tumor as a way to more effectively deliver cancer drugs. He is the Cook Professor of Tumor Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Steele Laboratory in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital. His seminar, entitled “Delivery of molecular and nano-medicine in tumors” will illuminate the role of chemical engineering in understanding blood vessel function and cancer growth. The lecture will be delivered on Wednesday October 19 from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. in room 116 of the Wallberg Building (200 College Street).
In concert with the lectureship, the Shoichet family has generously established an Irving O. Shoichet Graduate Scholarship. This important Scholarship is awarded to graduate students within the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry whose research and studies are focused on the areas of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The Scholarship enables students to reach their full potential and personifies Mr. Shoichet’s passion for the individual’s pursuit of higher education.
“My dad had a big heart and a love for learning,” says daughter, Professor Molly Shoichet of the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Science. “He was a perfectionist with a photographic memory. He and my mother encouraged us to pursue our dreams and strive for excellence in everything we do.”
In celebration of the importance of dreams, excellence and intellectual rigour, the Irving O. Shoichet Distinguished Lecture exposes the community to innovative thinkers.