Friday, November 13, 2020

Chemical engineering professor receives prestigious Steacie fellowship

By Brian Caldwell. This is an excerpt of an article originally featured on Waterloo Stories.

Aiping Yu is one step closer to her dream of establishing a world-leading carbon nanotechnology centre at the University of Waterloo after winning a prestigious award for highly promising researchers.

The chemical engineering professor is one of six nation-wide recipients of 2020 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships announced today by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Winners receive $250,000 in research grants over two years and, via payments of up to $90,000 a year to their universities, are freed from teaching and administrative duties so they can concentrate on research full-time.

Yu, who has been at Waterloo Engineering for more than a decade after working for a year in the plastics industry, is thrilled by the recognition and the opportunity to take her work in the lab to the next level.

Two years to 'take off and fly'

“As a female researcher, it is difficult to balance family life and career development,” she says. “I appreciate this award because it gives me two years of teaching relief so I can really take off and fly.”

As director of the Applied Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory, Yu’s main research focus is on carbon nanomaterials, particularly carbon nanotubes and graphene, to make longer-lasting, smaller, faster-charging batteries and supercapacitors.

Carbon nanotubes and graphene are particularly well-suited to those applications, including use in electric vehicles and consumer electronics such as smartphones and laptops, because they are highly conductive and have large surface areas.

“These two materials are the driving forces pushing the entire development of nanotechnology,” Yu says. “They have amazing physical properties.”

A secondary area of research involves the use of graphene at the nanoscale level as an additive to an extremely expensive polymer coating for corrosion protection of pipelines made of carbon steel.

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo Stories.

Celebrating your support

A message from the Office of Advancement.

November 15 is National Philanthropy Day, when we celebrate the donors and volunteers who contribute so much to our campus community. During this difficult year, your support for a wide range of activities and programs allowed our researchers to continue their vital work and helped our students overcome unprecedented challenges. Thank you for your generosity.

See how you helped this year.

Remembering Professor Emeritus Alan Plumtree

By Carol Truemner. This article was originally featured on Waterloo Stories.

Alan Plumtree, who helped put the University of Waterloo on the map as an inventor of a pump that provides clean drinking water to developing countries, died suddenly on November 5.

Plumtree, a Waterloo mechanical engineering professor, and Alfred Rudin, a Waterloo chemistry professor, created the hand-operated pump in the late 1970s after being approached by the International Development Research Centre.

Taking inspiration from their Mennonite neighbours, Plumtree and Rudin made a pump that was both simple and versatile with local materials that could be easily manufactured and repaired by villagers using readily available materials.  

“Water pumps at that time were manufactured in industrialized countries and exported to developing nations,” recalled Plumtree in a 2015 interview. “The imported pumps were complex machinery, although very lovely and worked fine when new, when they broke down, they were done.”

The Waterloo Pump design is still in use in countries around the world, delivering clean, safe water on demand. In 1995, it was the subject of a Canada Heritage Minute.

Born in Lincolnshire, England in 1936, Plumtree received a BSc and doctorate in metallurgy at the University of Nottingham in the 1960s.

After completing his PhD, Plumtree and his wife Diana emigrated to Canada where he became an assistant professor in materials and metallurgical engineering at the University of Toronto.

In 1965, he joined the mechanical engineering department at the University of Waterloo. He served in many capacities at the University including as associate dean for graduate studies, and a member of the Board of Governors.

Plumtree’s research focus was the relationship between the mechanical properties of materials and their microstructure composition and heat treatment. He was the author of more than 200 scientific and technical publications.

His achievements were recognized with a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Nottingham and the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of mechanical and mechatronics engineering by the University of Waterloo.

Grad scholarship named for Plumtree

The Alan Plumtree graduate scholarship in mechanical and mechatronics engineering was established by Waterloo’s mechanical and mechatronics engineering department with a donation from Plumtree.  

According to his obituary, Plumtree and his wife enjoyed travelling throughout the world during their 61-year marriage.

“Alan was a keen follower of Premier League soccer but on summer weekends the countryside beckoned and day trips around Ontario with a picnic lunch at hand were simple pleasures he enjoyed,” his obituary says.

The Plumtree family will receive friends at Erb & Good Family Funeral Home on November 17, 2020 from 2 to 5 p.m. and again from 7 to 9 p.m. Due to COVID-19 restrictions guests must RSVP to attend and wear personal face coverings.

Books by mail and more begin this week

A message from the Library.

The Library is pleased to announce that Waterloo faculty, students, and staff will have the option to receive books by mail effective November 9.

Patrons will see “books by mail” as one of the pickup locations in Omni, the Library’s catalogue, when placing requests on eligible materials from the Dana Porter, Davis, Witer (Optometry), Musagetes Architecture, or Milton Good (Conrad Grebel) libraries.

Requested items will be mailed out to any address within Canada or campus office location, if working on campus has been approved. As part of the process, patrons will receive an email asking for confirmation of the mailing address. Prepaid return shipping labels will be provided for off-campus addresses.

Requesting books from Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier universities resumes

On November 9 Waterloo students, faculty and staff will be able to borrow books and other physical items from the University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, and the TriUniversity Annex. Physical items will be available through Omni, the Library's catalogue.

Due to COVID-19, items will take longer to arrive than they have in the past. Patrons will continue to receive item pickup availability notices from Omni when their items are ready. Local pickup requirements will remain in effect. For pickup details see the book pickup services page.

We look forward to eventually expanding this service to include 14 Omni libraries in Ontario.

Google searches return to campus sites; other top hits

"The University web search tool has moved to the Google Programmable Search Engine platform," says a note from Information Systems & Technology (IST). "Accessing search within the WCMS will remain unchanged (i.e. via the global header and resulting modal window)."

The following changes will be made to the search tool:

• Search results may appear in a different order;
• Keymatches (a.k.a. “promoted items”) will be more prominent;
• Maps will no longer appear in search results; and
• Additional visual changes to better resemble the WCMS.

"This year the WUSA Food Support Service is organizing our second annual Stock the Bank Challenge," says the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association. "This is your department or faculty’s opportunity to shine. Compete against others on campus to see who is truly the most generous. Think of creative ways to raise funds for purchasing items that the Food Support Service needs. You can donate cash ($1= 1 point), or non perishable food items (1 item = 1 point or items from our Needs List* = 5 points)."

Stock the Bank is a three-week long challenge where self-formed teams compete against each other to see who can raise the most non-perishable food items and/or cash using any creative strategies that come to mind. Up for grabs is the prestigious Golden Can trophy and a $250 Sobeys gift card. All participating departments will receive a thank you at the end of the challenge.

You can register your team to compete online.

For more information, contact the WUSA Food Support Service.