Engineering Headlines

Karim S. Karim of electrical and computer engineering has won a $100,000 grant from Grand Challenges Canada to help improve global health by developing an inexpensive tuberculosis test to combat the disease in developing countries. Karim was one of 15 researchers recognized on February 9 by Grand Challenges Canada’s rising stars awards handed out to the country’s most creative innovators to improve global health. Karim’s  low-cost, portable tuberculosis test exemplifies the federally funded organization’s goal, said chief executive officer Peter Singer. ”It’s a bold idea with big impact that could save and improve lives of people in the developing world,” Singer said. The test will also be beneficial in other parts of the world, including Canada. Tuberculosis infection rates are very high in Aboriginal communities-upwards of 185 times greater than for others born in the country. [Record article] [Grand Challenges Canada]

Gordon Stubley, a mechanical and mechatronics professor, has been appointed Waterloo Engineering’s first associate dean, teaching, for a three-year term beginning May 1, 2012. A memo written by Adel Sedra, dean of engineering, says the new position has been created to address a Vision 2015 strategic priority to enhance Waterloo Engineering’s support for teaching. Stubley, who will continue to serve in his current role as academic director of WatPD-Engineering, will work closely in his new position with the university’s Centre for Teaching Excellence and will draw on the considerable teaching experience and expertise within the Faculty.

Five Waterloo Engineering teams placed either first or second in this year’s Ontario Engineering Competition and will advance to the Canadian Engineering Competition to be held March 8 to 11. Dhananja Jayalath, Neil Olij, Chris Wiebe and Ryan Mann, all fourth-year electrical engineering students, took top spot in OEC’s Innovative Design contest with their Muscle Activation Detection Suit entry. In addition, team members also took home the Technical Excellence award presented to the team displaying the greatest consideration and attention to technical aspects of design.

Second place in the Innovative Design contest went to Ilia Baranov, an electrical engineering student and Melvin Ng, a computer engineering student. Kumar Singh, a chemical engineering student, Drupadh Manjunath, an electrical engineering student, and Ayush Kapur and Dhrumhill Parikh, both mechatronics engineering students, won second place in the Junior Design competition. Second place in the Senior Design contest went to Nevin McCallum, an electrical engineering student, and Cody Prodaniuk, Jeff McClure and Maple Leung, all mechanical engineering students. Second spot in the Engineering Communications category went to Erin Matheson, a chemical engineering student for her topic entitled Developing Techniques for Surgical Treatment of Brain Aneurysms. Waterloo Engineering students won over $10,000 in prize money between all competitions. [OEC website]

Fathy Ismail of mechanical and mechatronics engineering will serve as interim chair of the department from February 1 to December 31 2012. He will replace Pearl Sullivan who is succeeding Adel Sedra as dean of Waterloo Engineering on July 1, 2012. Sullivan is resigning as chair of MME on January 31 to allow time for the transition of the dean’s position. A full search will take place for Sullivan’s permanent successor.

Waterloo management engineering students won a number of awards, including the overall conference grand prize trophy, at the Institute of Industrial Engineers National Student Conference held January 19-21 in Halifax. The Golden I trophy was awarded based on the points the students earned for winning individual and team competitions, contributing a school video and cheer, and for participating in various conference events. Fourth-year student Amanda Leduc won first prize in the Technical Paper competition and Christopher Smellie, also in fourth year, came second in the same competition for a paper he co-authored with management engineering students Alex Dueck and Michael Quinlan. The team of Yousif Al-Khder, Molly Beckel, Helen Jiang, and Pranav Sampat won second prize in the Theoretical Competition-a three-hour exam of academic knowledge related to industrial engineering. Other management engineering students who participated include Harleen Ahuja, Anirudh Cavale, Karen Choi, Tim Hong, Hobyung Lee, Sally Lee, Curtiss Luong, Megan Maguire and Jennifer Yip. This is the first time Waterloo Engineering students have taken part in the conference. [conference website]

Pearl Sullivan, chair of Waterloo’s mechanical and mechatronics engineering department, will become Waterloo’s eighth dean of engineering on July 1, 2012. Sullivan, an award-winning professor and accomplished researcher, joined the university as a professor of mechanical engineering in 2004. She will succeed Adel Sedra whose second term as dean ends June 30, 2012. “The exemplary reputation of Waterloo Engineering fueled a lot of international interest in this position,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president of the University of Waterloo. “We were thrilled that, in the end, one of our own professors was the best person for the job. Faculty and students both here and elsewhere have the greatest respect for Pearl Sullivan-a striking example of the top-quality educators and leaders we have in our own community.”

Sullivan has had a distinguished academic career. She is the founding director of Waterloo’s joint graduate program in nanotechnology within the faculties of engineering and science. Before joining Waterloo, she was a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of New Brunswick, and a lecturer and visiting professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. [news release] [Record article]

Apurva Narayan, a systems design engineering doctoral candidate, received the best paper award at the recent 35th Annual National Systems Conference organized by the Systems Society of India, and jointly by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Indian Institue of Technology, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India. His paper entitled “Neuro-Fuzzy (m-ANFIS) based Technique for Short-Term Load Forecasting in Large Geographical Area: Ontario, Canada” was co-authored by systems design engineering professors Fakhri Karray and K. Ponnambalam, who is also Narayan’s graduate studies supervisor.

Waterloo School of Architecture professor John McMinn and graduate Melana Janzen of McMinn + Janzen Studio located in Toronto have won a 2011 North American Wood Design Citation for their CP Harbour House project. CP Harbour House is a vacation home shared by two families on the shores of Georgian Bay. McMinn and Janzen’s project was one of 16 honoured by the North American Wood Design Awards Program out of over 100 entries. [news release]

Andrew Clinton (BASc ’05, Comp) is among the 28 recipients of scientific and technical achievements for the Academy Awards 2012 Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation to be held February 11 in Beverly Hills, California. Clinton, along with Mark Elendt, are being awarded a Technical Achievement Award for their work on “the invention and integration of micro-voxels in the Mantra software.” Clinton and Elendt work for Side Effects Software, a Toronto-based 3D animation firm whose work, according to a profile by the Toronto Region Research Alliance, has “been used in over 250 feature films including nine of the last 11 films to win the Academy Award for best visual effects.” According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ website, the Technical Achievement Awards are presented for accomplishments that contribute to the progress of the motion picture industry. Parts of the February 11 presentation will be aired during the Academy Awards telecast on February 26. [DB article]