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- MASC students are required to attend 8 seminars for degree completion
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Note: To receive credit, students can ONLY attend MME Department Research Seminars.
From walls to water: How does turbulence affect fluids problems?
Speaker: Prof. R. Jason Hearst
Norwegian University of Science & Technology
(NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
Theme: Fluids
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Time: 2025-Apr-17, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT Hybrid, in person in E7-7363,
Zoom: (link) Meeting ID: 966 7094 8019
Passcode: MME2025
Abstract: Turbulence is pervasive in real-world flows, yet it is often studied in idealised environments. From wall-bounded flows developing in laminar freestreams to gas-liquid (air-water) interfaces where turbulence is parameterised or neglected, these simplified scenarios reveal fundamental physics but fall short of capturing complex, real-world behaviour. Our findings show that external turbulence above a wall-bounded flow can significantly alter wall shear stress and may even lead to “de-evolution” of the boundary layer. We extend this approach to air-water interfacial flows, examining the interaction between surface waves and subsurface turbulence, with a focus on enstrophy enhancement and wave scattering. Moreover, our results demonstrate that turbulence can increase the rate of environmentally significant gas exchange—such as O₂ and CO₂ transfer across the air-water interface—by up to 45%. The talk will also showcase recent advancements in flow measurements, including the use of quantifiable laser-induced fluorescence to map O₂ concentration in water while simultaneously capturing the velocity field and surface topology. Additionally, we introduce a novel co-flowing air-water facility equipped with active turbulence grids in each phase, allowing for independent control of turbulence in the air and water.
Jason Hearst is a Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. He was awarded his PhD in 2015 from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (Canada), and then worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Southampton (UK). He moved to NTNU in 2017 as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 2023. He is presently on sabbatical at the University of Toronto until June 2025. His primary research activities are centred around the generation of bespoke turbulent flows using active turbulence generating grids and investigating how turbulence influences other canonical and environmental fluids problems. Most recently, his group has focussed on momentum and gas transfer processes at the gas-liquid (air-water) interface and how they are influenced by turbulence. Prof. Hearst’s team is primarily funded via the European Research Council (Starting Grant, GLITR), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (Post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Yi Hui Tee, InMyWaves) and the Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO, WallMix; Knowledge Building Project, reSail).
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
SURFICE: Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control
Speaker: Prof. Carlo Antonini University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
Theme: Fluids
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Time: 2025-Apr-09, CANCELLED
In person only at E5-2004
Light refreshments will be served
Abstract: SURFICE "Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control" through discontinuityenhanced icephobicity is an experimental, theoretical, and engineering project. SURFICE goal is to formulate a rational framework for the design, fabrication and testing of icephobic surfaces for industrially relevant applications. The three major research objectives of SURFICE are: (i) investigation of the physics of icing of morphologically complex microstructured surfaces, (ii) rational design of new icephobic/anti-icing materials and coatings, (iii) development of new technologies and systems for efficient ice prevention and control. SURFICE is a European Training Network funded by the European Union’s under the Marie SkłodowskaCurie grant Action (2021-2025, 3.5 M€). The project brings together comprises universities, research institutions, enterprises and partner organisations in 8 European countries, training the next generation of experts in the field of atmospheric icing of solid surfaces and ice protection technologies. During the talk, Carlo Antonini will provide an overview of the project results, discussing in particular the concept of discontinuity-enhanced icephobicity. He will also introduce the opportunities for PhDs and post-docs within the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant Action, to boost Europe-Canada collaboration through mobility programme for young researchers.
Prof. Carlo Antonini received the BSc in Aerospace Engineering (2004) and the MSc in Aeronautical Engineering (2007), from Politecnico di Milano. and the PhD from University of Bergamo (2011), Italy. From 2012 to 2018 he worked in Zurich, first at ETH as post-doc, then at EMPA as scientist. In September 2018 he joined the Department of Materials Science at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy), where he created the "Surface Engineering and Fluid Interfaces Laboratory" (SEFI Lab, sefilab.mater.unimib.it). In 2021 he got tenured as associate professor. He is currently spending his sabbatical in Toronto, at YorkU and UofT.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Innovative Business Models for Decarbonised Economies
Speaker: Dr. Ángel Paredes Parrilla
University of Málaga, Spain
Theme: Energy
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Time: 2025-April-4th, 9:30-10:30 am
Location: remote
Meeting ID: 986 8082 9047
Passcode: MME2025
Abstract: The transition to decarbonised economies necessitates innovative energy management strategies that effectively integrate renewable generation, storage, and market participation. Traditional business models often fail to capture the complexities of multi-energy systems, overlooking key revenue opportunities. In response, emerging models leverage digitalisation, distributed energy resources, and sector coupling to enhance both efficiency and profitability. This presentation examines innovative business models reshaping modern energy systems, focusing on three critical areas: i) digitalisation-driven solutions, ii) cross-sector synergies, and iii) performance-based mechanisms. Digital technologies are driving new approaches such as Virtual Energy Storage Systems (VESS) and intelligent Grid-Forming Buildings (iGFBs), which generate revenue by providing grid services and enhancing operational flexibility. Sector coupling, facilitated by digitalisation, offers a powerful decarbonisation strategy, as seen in hybrid electrolyser-battery systems and synergies between data centres and local energy communities, which optimise energy use and reduce costs. Market participation remains a cornerstone of economic viability for decarbonised energy systems. Research demonstrates that multi-market participation and dynamic pricing strategies can substantially improve internal rates of return, particularly when optimising demand-to-storage ratios. This presentation synthesises insights from recent global studies, highlighting the transformative potential of these business models and their role in accelerating the energy transition.
Dr. Ángel Paredes Parrilla holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Energy Systems (2023) and two Bs.C. in Electrical Engineering (2019) and Mechanical Engineering (2019), as well as a Ms.C in Industrial Engineering (2021) from the University of Málaga. His research focuses on renewable energy, energy storage, and smart grids, with contributions that optimize flexibility in distributed networks and local energy markets. He has held key roles in projects like WeForming and i-STENTORE and led international collaborations with institutions including the University of Edinburgh and the University of Mons.
Steering Towards Safe Human-AI Interactions
Speaker: Dr. Changliu Liu
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), USA
Theme: Robotics
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Time: 2025-Mar-21, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EDT
Zoom: (link) Meeting ID: 966 7094 8019
Passcode: MME2025
Abstract: Abstract: As generative AI and robotics increasingly integrate into daily life, ensuring their safe interaction with humans remains a critical challenge. Safety concerns extend beyond physical interactions—such as preventing collisions—to conversational safety, where AI must avoid exchanging harmful or dangerous information. In this talk, I will discuss how we frame these challenges as constraint satisfaction problems and address them using forward invariance principles from control theory. The first line of work I will discuss focuses on Physical Safety. I will introduce SPARK, a comprehensive toolbox and benchmark designed to ensure safety in humanoid autonomy and teleoperation. The second line of work addresses Conversational Safety. Large language models (LLMs) are highly vulnerable to multi-turn jailbreaking attacks, where contextual drift gradually leads them away from safe behavior. To mitigate this, we propose a safety steering framework grounded in control theory to maintain invariant safety in multiturn dialogues. Lastly, as many safety certificates are learned via neural networks, a critical question arises: how can we certify Neural Safety Certificates? I will discuss formal verification methods designed to provide guarantees on their reliability. By applying control-theoretic safety principles across diverse domains—from physical robot safety to conversational AI—we aim to build AI systems that interact with humans in both safe and trustworthy ways.
• https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.03132
• https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.00187
• https://openreview.net/pdf?id=jnubz7wB2w
Changliu Liu is an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where she leads the Intelligent Control Lab. Prior to joining CMU in Jan 2019, Dr. Liu was a postdoc at Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory in 2018. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering together with Master degrees in Engineering and Mathematics from University of California at Berkeley (in 2017, 2014, 2015 respectively) where she worked at the Mechanical Systems & Control Lab. She received her bachelor degrees in Engineering and Economics from Tsinghua University (in 2012). Her research interests lie in the design and verification of human-centered intelligent systems with applications to manufacturing and transportation and on various robot embodiments, including robot arms, mobile robots, legged robots, and humanoid robots. Dr. Liu cofounded Instinct Robotics, a robotics company for intelligent manufacturing. She published the book “Designing robot behavior in human-robot interactions” with CRC Press in 2019. She is the co-founder of the International Neural Network Verification Competition launched in 2020. Her work has been recognized by NSF Career Award, Amazon Research Award, Ford URP Award, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Champion Award, Young Investigator Award at International Symposium of Flexible Automation, and many best/outstanding paper awards. Her research has been covered by IEEE Spectrum, ATI News, Robotiq Blog, etc. She served as the associate editor of Mechatronics from 2023 to 2024 and she is currently the associate editor of ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions
Manufacturing at micro scale: Case studies on transfer printing and 3D printing technologies
Speaker: Dr. Changhong Cao
McGill University
Theme: Manufacturing
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Time: 2025-March-6th, 10:00-11:00 am
Location: E5-2004 (In-person only)
Refreshment will be provided
Abstract As we rapidly progress into the era of artificial intelligence, the demand for faster, smaller, more flexible, and more sensitive electronic devices drives the miniaturization of their foundational components. This shift necessitates the development of novel manufacturing technologies capable of handling materials and devices at the micro and nanoscale. From assembling µLED-based displays to manipulating components in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses, the importance of manufacturing at smaller scales has become paramount. Traditional assembly technologies fall short as surface tension begins to dominate over gravitational forces at small scale. At McGill Nanofactory, we are committed to advancing scalable production processes for assembling small structures into functional devices. In this talk, I will discuss several micromanufacturing technologies developed in my lab, with an emphasis on 2D and 3D printing techniques designed to meet these modern challenges.
Dr. Changhong Cao is an Assistant Professor and Chwang-Seto Faculty Scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto and later conducted postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining McGill. His expertise spans transfer printing technologies, experimental nanomechanics of advanced structures, and additive manufacturing platform development. As the lead author, his research has been published in prestigious journals, including Science Advances, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, and ACS Nano. He has also been recognized with the Young Leaders Award from TMS and the Young Scientist Award from Springer Nature Microsystem and Nanoengineering.
Language-Driven Learning for Interactive Robotics
Speaker: Siddharth Karamcheti
Stanford University, USA
Theme: Robotics, Machine Learning
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Time: 2025-Mar-05, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST
Online on Zoom meeting: (link)
Meeting ID: 966 7094 8019
Passcode: MME2025
Abstract: Building and deploying broadly capable robots requires systems that can efficiently learn from and work with people. To achieve this, robots must balance capability — the fundamental tools necessary to enable real-world deployment — and sustainability — the ability to grow and adapt through human feedback.
In this talk, I will motivate language-driven learning to tackle these axes, providing robots with better abstractions for perception, action, and human-robot interaction. Towards capability, I will present Voltron, our approach for using language to learn visual representations that can be efficiently adapted for diverse robotics tasks. Building on these ideas, I will discuss Prismatic, our experimental framework for developing visually-conditioned language models and vision-language-action policies at scale. Towards sustainability, I will next introduce Vocal Sandbox, a new framework that integrates these models to develop collaborative robots that can work alongside human partners, using language to express uncertainty and learn new behaviors from real-time interactions. Finally, I will conclude with open challenges for enhancing both the capability and sustainability of modern robots, with directions for future work.
Siddharth Karamcheti is a final year PhD student at Stanford University advised by Dorsa Sadigh and Percy Liang, and a robotics intern at the Toyota Research Institute. His research focuses on robot learning, natural language processing, and human-robot interaction, with a goal of developing scalable approaches for human-robot collaboration. Prior to the PhD, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Literary Arts at Brown University, where he worked with Eugene Charniak and Stefanie Tellex. He is a recipient of the Open Philanthropy AI Fellowship (2018), is an RSS Pioneer (2024), and his research has won paper awards at conferences such as RSS, CoRL, ICRA, and ACL.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Microfluidic Systems for Patient-Derived Cellular and
Acellular Specimens in Personalized Medicine
Speaker: Dr. SooJung Claire Hur
Johns Hopkins University, USA
Theme: Fluids
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Time: 2025-Feb-27, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST
In person only at QNC 1501
Abstract: Rapid advancements in clinical medicine have underscored significant challenges arising from individual variations in treatment responses, making the development of personalized medicine essential. To overcome these challenges, systematic and quantitative analyses of patient-derived cells and extracellular vesicles (EVs) are crucial. The Hur lab focuses on developing microfluidic systems that observe and modulate single-cell behaviors and acellular specimen properties, providing new insights into clinical heterogeneity. By understanding the relationship between biophysical properties and cellular phenotypes, the lab recognizes that these properties not only influence cellular
functions but can also be harnessed to regulate them. A key innovation from the Hur lab involves differential inertial microfluidic devices, which precisely position cells in flow based on their intrinsic physical properties. These devices facilitate the isolation and maintenance of identical cell populations within specific regions of the microfluidic channel, enabling detailed studies of function modulation. Recent advances include integrating electroporation with vortex-cell trapping microfluidics to enhance primary cell transformation and pioneering electroporating of EVs for targeted cargo delivery. The Hur lab continues to innovate high-throughput techniques for target cell detection, cost-effective cell and particle separation, and multimolecular delivery, with promising applications in oncology, immunology, gene therapy, and regenerative medicine.
Dr. Soojung Claire Hur is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University. She received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. After her doctoral training, she joined the Rowland Institute at Harvard University as one of two Rowland Fellows in September 2011 with five years of research funding. Before joining Johns Hopkins University, she managed clinical studies funded by Vortex Biosciences, Inc. as an assistant researcher at UCLA Department of Bioengineering. She has won numerous awards and scholarships, including the Edward K. Rice Outstanding Doctoral Student award, the 2018 inaugural Johnson and Johnson WiSTEM2D scholar award, the School of Engineering Faculty Award at the 2018 Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine Research Retreat, the 2019 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Award, 2019 Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Award and 2023 JHU Catalyst Award. She co-authored 25 peer-reviewed journals, including three articles featured as journal covers, 40+ conference proceedings, 3 US and two
internationally granted patents.
Note: This seminar is organized by WIN: https://uwaterloo.ca/institute-nanotechnology/events/win-seminar-dr-sjclaire-hur.
Attendance code for MME will be provided at the end of the seminar by Prof. Carolyn Ren.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
LARGE DROPLET FORMATION AND BREAKUP
Speaker: Prof. Tadd Truscott
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
(KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Theme: Thermal and Fluids
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Time: Feb-7th, 2025, 11:00 am-12:00 pm EST
In-person in E7-7363, or Zoom meeting: (link)
Meeting ID: 966 7094 8019
Passcode: MME2025
Abstract: The aerodynamic breakup of droplets is essential for many applications like fuel atomization, agricultural spraying, fire suppression, and crashing sea waves. While most studies focus on droplet sizes from microns up to the capillary length, we explore the breakup of extremely larger droplets. We designed a novel device that releases a large droplet onto an air jet combined with a moving plate mechanism that impulsively exposes the droplets. The breakup phenomenon is visualized by high- speed shadowgraph from two angles.
Qualitative comparisons reveal that the breakup of large droplets differs from smaller ones. Notably, we identify a new breakup regime termed Forward Bag, where bag formation occurs in the direction of the incoming air stream, contrasted with the backward bag regime observed in smaller droplets at similar Weber/Ohnesorge numbers. One key distinction between small and large droplet breakup mechanisms is that small droplets exhibit singular breakup regimes (e.g., vibrational, bag, or sheet thinning). In contrast, large droplet breakup occurs in a cascading manner, with atomization occurring through multiple mechanisms, including forward bag and multi-bag with stamen formations. Finally, we also show that initial droplet shape plays a key role in breakup and varies depending on the timing of the oscillations induced at release. Come see these rare droplets form, expand, and break up through beautiful imagery and physics.
Dr. Tadd Truscott is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at KAUST.
Professor Truscott's current research interests are in droplet levitation, coral reef thermodynamics, and large droplet behavior. He has worked on problems such as three-dimensional flow-field dynamics of rising and falling objects in the water, acceleration-induced cavitation, the transport of water through desert plants, and the collective behavior of pelotons and fish. Tadd has a mechanical engineering B.S. from the University of Utah, and an ocean and mechanical engineering PhD.09’. He is currently an associate professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Human-Robot Integration: Designing Interfaces for Augmenting Human Capabilities
Speaker: Dr. Tomoya Sasaki
Tokyo University of Science, Japan
Theme: Robotics
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Time: 2025-Jan-24th, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST
In person in E5-2004
Abstract: This talk introduces an overview of my current research and past projects aiming to augment human
capabilities using robotics, virtual reality, and human-computer interaction approaches.
Dr. Tomoya Sasaki has been an assistant professor at Tokyo University of Science since 2023. He completed
his Ph.D. degree from the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2023. His
research interests include Robotics, Haptics, Wearable Technologies, and Virtual Reality.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
ACES MODEL –
Supporting Atlantic Canada’s Pathway to Net-Zero by 2050
Speaker: Dr. Mohammed Alkatheri
Net Zero Atlantic
Theme: Energy
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Time: 2024-December-2nd, 4:00-5:00 pm
Location: E5-2004 (In-person only)
Refreshments will be provided
Abstract: This presentation will provide an overview of the ACES Model and explore a scenario analysis assessing Atlantic Canada’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, highlighting both opportunities and challenges.
Why ACES?
To fulfill our mission, Net Zero Atlantic created the Atlantic Canada Energy System (ACES) Model—a comprehensive, bottom-up, capacity expansion and linear optimization tool. By identifying least-cost pathways for energy development within specific policy and technology constraints, ACES provides insights into areas that need further study and helps shape our research priorities.
At Net Zero Atlantic, we lead research and projects that support Atlantic Canada’s transition to a carbon-neutral future. Our mandate centres on objectively assessing the impacts of various energy technologies on both the natural and social environment, helping to guide decision-making.
Dr. Mohammed Alkatheri is an Energy System Modeler at Net Zero Atlantic, where he leads the technical development and application of the ACES model. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, where he specialized in optimizing energy systems using advanced data tools such as AI and machine learning. He also holds an MSc from Khalifa University and a BSc from United Arab Emirates University in Chemical Engineering.
At Net Zero Atlantic, Mohammed has been closely involved in enhancing the ACES model, making it a credible, user-friendly tool for Atlantic Canadians, providing insights into "what if" scenarios. His work supports the region’s transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future by identifying strategic pathways and essential research areas to meet ambitious climate targets.
Please contact the host, Prof. XiaoYu Wu (xiaoyu.wu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions
Enhancing Image-Guided Surgery through Robotic Surgeon-Support Systems
Speaker: Prof. Mahdi Tavakoli
University of Alberta, Canada
Theme: Robotics
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Time: 2024-Nov-29th , 1:00-2:00 pm EST
Online, Zoom meeting: (link)
Abstract: Surgical, therapeutic, and diagnostic interventions can be significantly enhanced using computerintegrated robotic systems with real-time decision-making capabilities that work under the direct, shared, or supervisory control of surgeons and therapists. Incorporating appropriate levels of autonomy in systems for healthcare delivery can lower the mental and physical loads on clinicians while improving the reliability, precision, and safety of the interventions for patients. In this seminar, Dr. Mahdi Tavakoli, Professor and Senior University of Alberta Engineering Research Chair in Healthcare Robotics, discusses several applications of medical robotics and their related challenges and offers solutions based on combining the capabilities of humans with the precision, accuracy, and fast decision-making capabilities of machines.
Prof. Mahdi Tavakoli is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Biomedical Engineering Department and a Senior University of Alberta Engineering Research Chair in Healthcare Robotics. He is also Scientific Vice-Director for the Institute for Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies (iSMART) at the University of Alberta. He received his PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 2005. From 2006 to 2008, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR), Canada, and an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University, USA. Dr. Tavakoli’s research interests involve medical robotics, image-guided surgery, and rehabilitation robotics. Dr. Tavakoli is the lead author of Haptics for Teleoperated Surgical Robotic Systems (World Scientific, 2008) and the Specialty Chief Editor for Frontiers in Robotics and AI (Robot Design Section). He is a Senior Member of IEEE and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Robotics Research, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics’ Focused Section with Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, and Journal of Medical Robotics Research.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
The Life of an Educator and Entrepreneur
Speaker: Prof. Clovis Maliska
Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil
Theme: entrepreneurship in mechanical engineering
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Time: 2024-Nov-28th, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm EST
In person only in E5-2004
Clovis R. Maliska is a Full Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada, under the supervision of Professor George D. Raithby. He teaches fluid mechanics, heat transfer and computational fluid dynamics at the graduate level in mechanical engineering at UFSC. In 1995, he launched a pioneering book in Brazil on Computational Fluid Dynamics, with the second edition, published in 2004, which is used as a textbook in both under and graduate engineering programs. Professor Maliska is a member of the National Academy of
Engineering (ANE), Chair 71, and has also received the citation (medal) of the National Order of Scientific Merit from the Ministry of Science and Technology.
About this talk: Dr. Maliska completed his PhD in 1981 and launched a successful research and teaching career that resulted in the widespread application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) across all South America. He was the driving force behind the incorporation of ESSS (Engineering Simulation and Scientific Software Ltd.) that now has offices in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Columbia, USA (Texas), Portugal, Spain and most recently Italy. His most recent book, Fundamentals of Computational Fluid Dynamics, has had more than 16,000 downloads. Dr. Maliska has received many awards for his work, including honoring him, by the President of Brazil, with the title “Commander of the National Order”. This will be a non-technical lecture in which Dr. Maliska describes the evolution of his life as Professor, Researcher and Businessman. It will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students who might see entrepreneurship in their future.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Theoretical Performance Bound and its Experimental Validation
of Battery Capacity Estimates in Rechargeable Batteries
Speaker: Professor Balakumar Balasingam
University of Windsor
Theme: Energy
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Time: 2024-November-22nd, 4:00-5:00 pm
Location: E5-2004 (In-person only)
Refreshment will be provided
Abstract: Capacity of a battery is a salient indicator of aging. Accurate estimation of capacity will help in evaluating the state of health (SOH), predicting its remaining useful life (RUL), and in determining a suitable second use application for the retired battery. The existing methods in the literature employ slow discharge, standard C-rate discharge, or curve-based approaches to estimate the battery capacity. A major drawback of these methods is that the quality of the estimate is not known. The Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB) defines the theoretical minimum error variance of an unbiased estimator. This talk discusses several real-world uncertainties that influence the capacity estimation in batteries. Such uncertainties are taken into consideration in deriving the CRLB for the estimated capacity. The derived performance limits help one to choose the method that best fits the quality of capacity estimation in a given application. Experimental data obtained from cylindrical Li-ion battery cells are used to validate the theoretical derivations of capacity estimation uncertainties.
Dr. Balakumar Balasingam (Ph.D., P.Eng. Ontario) received his B.Sc.Eng. degree specializing in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering with first class honors from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2002. He received his M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees, both in Electrical Engineering, from McMaster University, Canada, in 2004 and 2008, respectively. He held postdoctoral position at the University of Ottawa from 2008 to 2010, and then a University Postdoctoral position at the University of Connecticut from 2010 to 2012. From 2012 to 2017, he was an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Connecticut. From 2017, he has been with the University of Windsor where he is now an Associate Professor. Dr. Balasingam’s research interests are in signal processing, machine learning, information fusion, and their applications in autonomous systems; particularly, his close interests are in battery management systems, human-machine systems, and surveillance & tracking systems. In these areas, Dr. Balasingam has contributed to over 100 peer reviewed research papers, a US patent grant on battery
management systems, and a book, titled “Robust Battery Management Systems with MATLAB” published by Artech House in 2023. Dr. Balasingam is a senior member of IEEE.
Please contact the host, Prof. XiaoYu Wu (xiaoyu.wu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Use of Remote Sensing Techniques in the Finance and Insurance
Sector
Speakers: Dr. Xi Zhu and Sebastian Paolini van Helfteren
Wholesale & Rural Innovation, Rabobank (Netherlands)
Theme: Interdisciplinary
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Time: 2024-November-13th, 9:30 - 10:30 am (Eastern Time)
Remote: Zoom Link *
Meeting ID: 989 5052 0533 Passcode: MME
Abstract: In this talk, the speakers will be talking about the use of Remote Sensing techniques in the finance and insurance sector, with a focus on the Acorn project. Acorn stands for Agroforestry CRUs for the Organic Restoration of Nature. Acorn is an agroforestry program that unlocks the international voluntary carbon market for smallholder farmers who are realizing agroforestry projects for carbon sequestration through biomass growth, predominantly through trees. Acorn supports the initiation and development of these agroforestry projects and facilitates the subsequent trade of the so-called carbon removal units (CRUs) that are generated from the sequestered carbon. Acorn is currently operating in 28 worldwide projects.
Sebastian Paolini van Helfteren will present in detail the Acorn project and how remote sensing is used in the finance and insurance sector in general, and Dr. Xi Zhu will present the methodology that Acorn used to estimate CRUs for each onboarded plot.
Dr. Xi Zhu and Sebastian Paolini van Helfteren are from Remote Sensing team of Wholesale &
Rural (W&R) Innovation from Rabobank (Netherlands).
* Students who need seminar attendance credit must log in with their UWaterloo accounts or write their name + student ID clearly before joining the meeting. Only attendance > 45 min will count. Otherwise, no attendance credit would be issued.
Please contact the host, Prof. XiaoYu Wu (xiaoyu.wu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions
Structured Representations for Human-Centered
Embodied AI
Speaker: Prof. Jiajun Wu
Standford University, USA
Theme: Robotics, Reinforcement Learning
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Time: 2024-Oct-25th, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Online, Zoom meeting: (link)
Abstract: For embodied AI systems to assist humans in the real world, we must consider
human factors in all aspects. In this talk, I'll introduce our recent work on developing humancentered
embodied AI, including assets, environments, tasks, and learning algorithms. What
is shared across all these works is our choice of structured representations inspired by human
sensory observations, skills, and behaviors. I will discuss how we design the representations,
and how we use them to collect assets, build environments, design tasks, and finally
develop algorithms to solve embodied AI problems.
Jiajun Wu is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and, by courtesy, of Psychology at Stanford
University, working on computer vision, machine learning, and computational cognitive science. Before
joining Stanford, he was a Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google Research. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Wu's research has been recognized through the Young Investigator Programs (YIP) by ONR and by AFOSR, the NSF CAREER award, paper awards and finalists at ICCV, CVPR, SIGGRAPH Asia, CoRL, and IROS, dissertation awards from ACM, AAAI, and MIT, the 2020 Samsung AI Researcher of the Year, and faculty research awards from J.P. Morgan, Samsung, Amazon, and Meta.
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Challenges of Economic Research in Energy Systems
Speaker: Dr. Patrick Jochem
German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
Theme: Interdisciplinary
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Time: 2024-October-10th, 9:30 - 10:30 am (Eastern Time)
Remote: Zoom Link *
Meeting ID: 919 6700 2966 Passcode: MME
Abstract: The presentation focuses on challenges in decarbonized energy systems and their current transition phase for achieving greenhouse gas emission targets. The consequential conversion of these energy systems correlates with several challenges with regard to technical applicability, economic concerns or social acceptance (among others). The talk will highlight three research areas: (1) Analysis of potential resource scarcities in future energy systems and during their transition including associated threads due to political tensions and dependencies. (2) The technical transition is in most countries well defined, and several suitable scenarios show potential pathways. However, their implementation and the resulting impact on macroeconomic indicators are highly uncertain. Agent based macroeconomic modelling might help to understand these hurdles and develop suitable policy instruments for realizing these transition pathways. Finally, (3) the research on synergetic integration of electric vehicles in national electricity systems is illustrated by presenting current modelling approaches and results, such as resulting greenhouse gas emissions, flexibility provision due to controlled charging etc. For (2) and (3) open-source tools are available, i.e. AMIRIS, sfc tools, REMix, and venco.py.
Bio: Patrick Jochem studied economics at the universities of Bayreuth, Mannheim and Heidelberg, Germany. In 2009, he completed his award-winning doctorate in the field of transport economics at the University of Karlsruhe (TH), funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). In 2009, he founded the "Transport and Energy" research group at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which he headed until 2019. Between 2014 and 2019, he was a fellow of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In summer 2015, he was a visiting professor at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and completed his habilitation in 2016 with the topic "Electric Mobility and Energy Systems - A techno-economic impact analysis of electric vehicles on the energy system" in the field of business administration at KIT. Since 2016, he has been a member of the editorial board of the journal "Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment" and since 2020 he has been Head of Department of Energy System Analysis at the Institute of Networked Energy Systems of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR-VE). Patrick Jochem has published over 100 scientific papers and has an excellent international network in the interdisciplinary field of transport and energy.
* Students who need seminar attendance credit must log in with their UWaterloo accounts or write their name + student ID clearly before joining the meeting. Only attendance > 45 min will count. Otherwise, no attendance credit would be issued.
Please contact the host, Prof. XiaoYu Wu (xiaoyu.wu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions
Innovating at Interfaces: Enhancing Performance and Longevity of Sustainable Energy Systems
Speaker: Dr. Sami Khan
Simon Fraser University
Theme: Thermal, Fluids
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Time: 2024-September-30th, 3:00-4:00 pm
Location: E5-2004 (In-person only)
Refreshment will be provided
Abstract: Interfaces are ubiquitous, and bottlenecks to performance and longevity in sustainable energy systems often occur due to interfacial interactions. Deciphering and controlling mechanisms underlying these interactions is critical to designing improved and long-lasting sustainable energy and chemical generation systems. My group has developed a novel approach to reduce soot accumulation on biomass combustor surfaces using microtextures, reporting that randomly microtextured surfaces obtained by sandblasting shows a 71% reduction in the time taken to oxidize 90% of surface soot coverage when compared to smooth surfaces at 530°C. We also study grooved microtextures fabricated via laser ablation and find that grooves with widths between 15 and 50 µm enhance soot oxidation, while the expedited advantage is lost when the groove width is 85 µm, indicating that there is an optimal length-scale of surface roughness for this self-cleaning effect to take place. Microtextured surfaces that facilitate soot oxidation upon contact could significantly improve performance and longevity in various combustion applications.
Bio: Dr. Sami Khan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering at Simon Fraser University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2020. At SFU, Dr. Khan leads the Engineered Interfaces for Sustainable Energy (EISEn) group, which aims to improve the performance and longevity of sustainable energy systems by fundamentally understanding and tuning electro-chemo-physical interactions at interfaces, with a particular focus on enhancing CO2 capture and conversion processes. He has previously worked in the rare-earth mining industry in Canada and was a Science and Technology Advisor to the Chief Scientist of Natural Resources Canada. He is the recipient of many awards including the Action Canada Fellowship (2021) and the Marcel Pourbaix Award for Best Poster in Corrosion Science (received at the NACE International CORROSION conference in 2019).
Please contact the host, Prof. XiaoYu Wu (xiaoyu.wu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Leveraging Structure and Abstractions for OOD Generalization
Speaker: Prof. Amy Zhang
UT Austin, Texas, USA
Theme: Robotics, Reinforcement Learning
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Time: 2024-Sept-13th , 2:00-3:00 pm EDT
Online, Zoom meeting: (link)
Abstract: Out-of-distribution generalization relies on leveraging structure inherent to our problem domain. We explore how different structural assumptions common to robotics can be incorporated into reinforcement learning and planning algorithms for improved sample efficiency and generalization. Specifically, we explore object-oriented representations and using them to decompose object rearrangement tasks and quasimetric structure and richer learning signals in goal-conditioned problems.
Prof. Amy Zhang: I am an assistant professor at UT Austin in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. My work focuses on improving generalization in reinforcement learning through bridging theory and practice in learning and utilizing structure in real world problems. Previously I was a research scientist at Meta AI - FAIR and a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. I obtained my PhD from McGill University and the Mila Institute, and also previously obtained an M.Eng. in EECS and dual B.Sci. degrees in Mathematics and EECS from MIT
Please contact the host, Prof. Yue Hu (yue.hu@uwaterloo.ca), if any questions.
Supervisor: Dr. Roydon Fraser