Thursday, July 19, 2018

Canadian Network of Asset Managers awards researchers

Professor Mark Knight accepts the CNAM Pioneer award presented by Pious Maposa, CPA, CGA, MBA, Manager, Asset Planning Infrastructure Planning & Policy Public Works at Halton Region.

The Canadian Network of Asset Managers (CNAM) gave two Waterloo researchers awards at their recent 2018 CNAM Conference.

Professor Mark Knight, the executive director of the Centre for the Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CATT), received the 2018 CNAM Pioneer Award. This award honours individuals who have played an integral role in advancing the asset management industry in Canada and celebrates their long-term commitment and unwavering dedication to the asset management industry.

Professor Knight accepted the award on behalf of his fellow researchers colleagues (Andre Unger in the Department of Earth Sciences, Carl Haas in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Neil Brisley in the School of Accounting and Finance, and Rizwan Younis at CATT), PhD and master’s graduate students at the University of Waterloo, and industry partners (City of Waterloo, City of London, Region of Waterloo, City of Niagara Falls, and City of Cambridge). 

“This award would not be possible without our amazing research team and industry partners and financial support provided by our industry partners, the Natural Science Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Centre for Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CATT).” said Professor Knight. 

Over the past ten years, Knight and the team have been working with industry partners to develop innovative water asset management tools that allow water utilities to develop long-term sustainable financial plans and to use existing utility data to determine inflation rates in water projects. 

“Our current research is implementing machine learning, artificial intelligence, agent-based modelling and game theory into our tools to automate key processes for water utility data importing and data analysis such inflation analysis, the potential for contractor collusion, bidder profiling and the development of defensible cost saving multi-year capital programs," says Knight. "This is exciting research that we feel will really help water and other utilities in North America and around the globe to develop sustainable water rates and fees while at the same time improve network performance and operation and reduce or eliminate the well-known and reported infrastructure backlog and deficits."

In addition, Civil and Environmental Engineering PhD candidate Hamed Mohammad Fardi was given the 1st place award for the 2018 CNAM Student Research Symposium.

Hamed's presentation focused on Sustainability Assessment of Asset Management Plans of Wastewater Collection Network Systems. His research supervisors are Professor Mark Knight in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor Andre Unger in the Department of Earth Sciences. 

Hamed’s research is focused on implementing sustainability assessment to the Systems Dynamic model developed by his supervisors. He has successfully developed a novel decision-making tool to coordinate asset management plans of linear and non-linear water and wastewater infrastructures at the strategic level. His research shows that the high cost of building and operating of wastewater treatment plants can be reduced if the utility implements cost saving pipeline renovation programs that will reduce inflow and infiltration into the pipe networks.

CNAM is the association of public infrastructure asset management in Canada. Its government and private sector members develop policy, tools and technologies, which improve the level of service for public infrastructure assets in every province and territory.

Co-op students build first-of-its-kind machine in Canada

by Lily Roth.

With the help of seven University of Waterloo co-op students, Canada’s first Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD) system is up and running. At the celebratory ribbon cutting on May 10, 2018, project leader Professor Kevin Musselman said he couldn’t have done it without the co-op students who helped design and build the machine.

“I was sitting at my desk the whole time. I don't think I ever lifted a finger so it was entirely built by the students,” laughs Musselman.

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems is a nanoscience technique that allows you to coat a surface with a substance just a few atomic layers at a time. The technique is frequently used in the micro-electronics industry. Unlike traditional ALD systems, the Spatial ALD does not require a vacuum and therefore is cheaper to build, operates faster and can coat larger scale items. Now that the first SALD system is working, Musselman plans to continue hiring co-op students to work on a commercial scale version of the system.

The ribbon was officially cut by the Director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology Sushanta Mitra, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Chair Jan Huissoon and Executive Director of Co-operative Education Ross Johnston.

After the ribbon cutting, the students spent some time reminiscing about their involvement with the project. Stella Kim, 3A Environmental Engineering, was the first co-op student to work on the system. “It was a really good opportunity to learn about the software. I didn't have a research background so I wanted to learn more about the research,” says Kim. “It was four months, it was short, but it was a great time.”

Graduate students also commended the co-op students for helping with the project. “It's really impressive what the co-ops have done because this is something that you would pay a consultant, a technical person, a company or a design firm to do,” says graduate student Kissan Mistry, PhD Nanotechnology Engineering, who also worked on the project.

Remembering James Dyal and Jeremy Anglin

Human Resources has reported that two retired Psychology professors died recently.

James Dyal died on June 4. He started his career at the University in September 1968 when he was hired to chair the Department of Psychology. His research foci included the understanding of human behaviour, the biology of memory, cross-cultural comparisons of cognitive development, and psychological changes brought on by acculturation. He worked on the adjustment of immigrants and international students in Canada, and investigated how people, during the heights of the Cold War, dealt with the fear of nuclear threat. He was a consultant to a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) conference on Russian immigrants.

He retired as Professor in Psychology in January 1991. He is survived by his spouse Ruth.

Jeremy Anglin died on June 21. Anglin joined the University in July 1976 as an Associate Professor. His field of interest was the development of linguistic behaviour and the learning habits of children. His research contributed to a wider understanding of how children acquire vocabulary words, and he published four books on this subject, including "Word, Object and Conceptual Development."

He retired as Professor in September 2009. He is survived by his spouse Margaret.