Mechanical graduate students win their way to Italy

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Congratulations to Devon Hartlen, Hossein Pishyar, Raphael Boulis and Bruna Do Nascimento Figueredo for their noteworthy achievement.

The Italian Technology Awards program is a competition that invites applications from graduate students attending international universities (outside of Italy) who are conducting research on an array of topics relevant to innovations and challenges facing various manufacturing sectors in their countries or globally. 

Prof. John Montesano from the MME Department has been collaborating with the Italian Trade Commission Office in Toronto in partnership with the Association of Italian Manufacturers of Machine Tools, Robots, Automation Systems and Ancillary Products (UCIMU-Sistemi per Produrre) and the National Federation of Association of Manufacturers (Federmacchine) to facilitate the awards at the University of Waterloo (the only invited Canadian University). This year four students from the MME Department were award recipients and attended the activities in Milan, Italy.

The aim of the program is to enrich the education of engineering students and foster international collaborations and cooperation.  Winners of the Italian Technology Awards are awarded with a one-week trip to Italy with a range of activities scheduled, from workshops at post-secondary institutes, visits to the facilities of some of the leading Italian technology and manufacturing companies and social activities. This year the awards were held during the week of November 10-17, 2019 with more than 50 participating students and professors from 10 countries in attendance.

One of the key technological areas for the awards is metalworking, including topics such as materials for manufacturing, additive manufacturing, mechatronics, manufacturing processes, machining, nanomanufacturing, and digital manufacturing. Metalworking research in Canada has been identified as an area of interest by the Italian Trade Agency.