News

2G Robotics, founded by mechanical and mechatronics master’s student Jason Gillham, is helping document the HMS Investigator, a British ship sent out 150 years ago to search for John Franklin’s lost Arctic expedition. This summer, divers are recording and assessing the wreck resting near the shore of Aulavik National Park in Northwest Territoires. Equipment to be used includes a robotic underwater laser scanner developed by 2G Robotics, a University of Waterloo spinoff company.

Saied Yousefi, who recently completed his PhD in systems design engineering, Tarek Hegazy, a civil engineering professor, and Keith Hipel, a systems design engineering professor, have been honoured with this year’s best peer-reviewed paper award from the Journal of Management in Engineering. Their award-winning paper, Yousefi’s doctoral thesis, is entitled Attitude-Based Negotiation Methodology for the Management of Construction Disputes.

Mechanical engineering professors and graduate students captured two awards at the recent NSERC Magnesium Strategic Network annual general meeting. The best poster award was won by professor Kaan Inal and students Yauheni Staraselski, Abhijit Brahme and Raj Mishra for their work entitled Modeling Dynamic Recrystallization in Magnesium Alloys. The best oral presentation honour went to professor Mary Wells and student Pedram Mehraram for their presentation Heat Transfer During Twin Roll Casting of Metals.

Devon Rizzo, a first-year management engineering student, will be a member of Team Canada’s golf team at the 2011 Summer Universiade games in Shenzhen, China, August 17-20. Rizzo is the record holder for the lowest OUA women’s golf score. [news release]

Derek Satnik, an electrical engineering alumnus, and his family have built the first LEED Platinum certified building in the Waterloo Region. Making the investment to build an energy efficient home was a natural one for Satnik who works as an energy-efficiency consultant with Mindscape Innovations, a “green home” consulting firm located in Kitchener. 

Accolades continue to come in for the new Engineering 5 building. It was recently reviewed by Gabriel Fain in the June issue of Canadian Architect Magazine. Fain notes that the six-storey E5 successfully combines student project space on the lower levels with labs, offices and classrooms on the upper levels. He concludes that, “… there is no question that a new sense of identity will be formed that builds upon the rich academic culture and reputation of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering” with the construction of E5 and the other planned engineering buildings on this part of campus. 

A story in the July 6 Globe and Mail outlines a funding challenge faced by software engineering alumnus Kunal Gupta and his company Polar Mobile. They need bridge funding to meet their growth needs while they wait for government research and development grants to come in. Advice comes from three business specialists, including Rod McNaughton, director of the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre at the University of Waterloo. READ more about Polar Mobile’s challenge and McNaughton’s recommendations.

Mark Cremasco, a mechanical engineering MASc candidate, and his supervisor Carolyn Hansson won the best poster award at the 23rd annual Canadian Materials Science Conference held recently at UBC Okanagan. Their poster was entitled Analysis of the Effects of Anti-Icing Agents on the Durability of Concrete.