Keith Hipel, a professor of systems design engineering, is the recipient of this year’s Royal Society of Canada’s Sir John William Dawson Medal. Hipel, who was named an RSC fellow in 1998, will be awarded the medal November 26 at the Ottawa Convention Centre.
David Roulston, an internationally recognized researcher in bipolar semiconductor devices and integrated circuits, who was a faculty member in Waterloo’s electrical engineering department from 1967 to 1996, will be recognized with an honorary doctor of engineering degree at fall convocation on October 22. Roulston will also be the central figure of a “celebration” October 20-22 that will include several social events and a Friday afternoon public lecture.
David Weckman of mechanical and mechatronics engineering has been honoured with the American Welding Society’s 2011 Charles H. Jennings Memorial Award for most valuable paper written by a college student or faculty representative published in the Welding Journal during 2010. It is the second time Weckman has won the award. The paper entitled Double-Sided Arc Welding of AA5182-O Aluminum Sheet for Tailor Welded Blank Applications was co-written by Jeff Moulton, Weckman’s graduate student. The award will be presented in November at the AWS annual awards lunch in Chicago.
University of Waterloo research project looking to expand the concept of a “smart grid” beyond electricity is receiving a $10,000 grant from Union Gas to create a fully integrated “smart energy network.” The project being run by the Waterloo Institute of Sustainable Energy is building on work ongoing in Ontario to develop a smart grid for the province’s electricity system, using digital two-way communication to allow utilities to respond instantly to changes in demand and automatically fix power outages, as well as giving consumers more control over how and when they use power.
Congratulations to Maclean’s on publishing an article highlighting the need to encourage more top Canadian engineering students to pursue graduate studies in Canada. (“Engineering: The home advantage),” Maclean’s magazine, September 19, 2011)
It should be noted, however, that many Ontario engineering schools have already begun to make significant progress in this regard under the Government of Ontario’s “Reaching Higher” program.
Waterloo Engineering achievements were recognized October 6 at the Faculty of Engineering dinner. The Faculty of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award was presented to Christine Moresoli of chemical engineering, Bob McKillop of civil and environmental engineering and Ehsan Toyserkani of mechanical and mechatronics engineering.
Martha Nelson joins Waterloo Engineering from Brock University where she held the post of Associate Vice President, Marketing and Communications. Martha will lead the Faculty’s advancement team, recently created by combining the Faculty’s communications team with the development and alumni affairs team. We look forward to the new team’s significant contribution to our Vision 2015 goals under her leadership.
A memorial service for Donald Grierson to celebrate his long career as a distinguished engineer, researcher and educator will take place Thursday, October 27 at 2 p.m. at Trinity Evangelical Missionary Church on Conservation Drive in Waterloo. Grierson, distinguished professor emeritus in civil and environmental engineering, died on August 25. A Waterloo Engineering faculty member for 37 years, he had earned his BASc in civil engineering in 1964, master’s in 1966 and PhD in 1968.
Waterloo’s Midnight Sun team is now in Australia preparing for the 3,000-km World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide which takes place October 16-23. Forty vehicles are participating, including ones from the University of Calgary, University of Toronto and Montreal’s Ecole de technologie superieure. The top teams in the world aim to finish the course in three or four days. The 14-member Midnight Sun X team expects to finish in either fifth or sixth place.
Engineering researchers will benefit from the use of the new, state-of-the-art CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory that is part of the collaborative research agreement the University of Waterloo signed with the federal government October 12 in Engineering 5.