When it comes to the motors that make electric cars go, Narayan Kar is one of the world’s leading experts. The federal government highlighted that Wednesday by naming the UWindsor engineering professor a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair holder in electrified vehicles.

The position comes with $200,000 in annual federal funding for seven years, a term renewable for an additional seven years. It provides Dr. Kar with steady funding to work on innovations that benefit the automotive industry and Canadian consumers.

“Major challenges the global automotive industry faces today related to mass adoption of electrified vehicles include purchasing cost, driving range, performance, and durability — key barriers for advancing technologies and ensuring consumer friendliness,” Kar said.

“The research under this Tier 1 Canada Research Chair program will involve multi-disciplinary collaborations among industry, academia, and government and will advance electric vehicle adoption by holistically improving performance while lowering costs.”

The Canada Research Chairs program is a national strategy to propel the nation to the forefront of research and development in the world. The program, launched in 2000, invests up to $295 million each year to attract and retain a diverse cadre of up to 2,285 world-class researchers in engineering, the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and the social sciences. There are currently 1,922 of these positions filled.

Navdeep Bains, federal minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced 260 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs on Wednesday.

“Our government is taking action to attract and retain the world’s brightest and most distinguished researchers,” Bains said. “For over 20 years, the Canada Research Chairs Program has been mobilizing Canada’s most esteemed academics to train and mentor the next generation of researchers and pursue ground-breaking research that responds to society’s economic, social and health needs.

“Congratulations to the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs! I look forward to seeing where your research and innovation leads us.”

Kar’s research aims to develop electric vehicle motors, drives, and other powertrain components that are better performing, lighter, and more reliable while being less costly to produce.

He was named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in electrified transportation systems from 2008 to 2018, a position that came with federal funding of $100,000 per year.

Canada Research Chairs funding brings prestige and stability to research programs, explained K.W. Michael Siu, UWindsor’s vice-president, research and innovation.

“Dr. Kar’s research under the Canada Research Chairs program will advance electric vehicle technology,” Dr. Siu said. “Dr. Kar has long-standing research relationships with industry partners and this program will boost that innovative work.”

—Sarah Sacheli

After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, you will want to know if you have gained immunity to the very contagious and potentially life-threatening virus. UWindsor professor John Trant is working with a biomedical industry partner to develop a simple antibody test that will quickly tell if the vaccine has boosted your immune system enough to create antibodies that will fight off the coronavirus.

“With just a few minutes and a drop of blood, we will be able to determine if the vaccine has made you immune to COVID-19,” says Dr. Trant, a chemistry and biochemistry professor.

A joint partnership grant of $75,000 from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Ontario Centres of Excellence through their Alliance VIP Partnership for Industry, along with support from the industry partner, Windsor-based biomedical company Audacia Bioscience, will finance the COVID-19 Neutralizing Antibody Test Kit.

Trant and his team of graduate students are helping test the chemistry of the antibody test, which is made as a lateral flow test: using a simple device called a lateral flow cassette, the tool detects the presence of a target substance in a liquid sample.

“Most people are familiar with a home pregnancy test which uses a lateral flow cassette to look for and measure the presence and level of the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Hormone in a woman’s urine,” Trant says.

“With the COVID19 test, the cassette tests for the presence of antibodies in your blood. You only need to prick your finger and the cassette can detect and measure the number of antibodies, so in this case two pink lines mean you can celebrate COVID-19 immunity.”

Phillip Olla is the CEO of Audacia Bioscience, which he runs with his partner, chief scientific officer Stephen Bartol. Dr. Olla says even with availability of the vaccine, a certain percentage of the population must be inoculated and demonstrating immunity for life to return to normal.

“It is critical that we have an uncomplicated and fast way to determine the state of the immune response to various vaccines, including how long that immunity will last, whether that is three months, six months, or two years,” says Olla. “Determining if a patient has immunity, and for how long they have immunity, will be valuable in knowing who may need a booster shot or who may need to try a different vaccine altogether.”

The research team is currently investigating a prototype test to check how long protection lasts and what level of antibodies determine an immunity level.

“We are making sure this rapid test is reliable and can do what we need — that the buffer fluid works quickly enough, that the test’s sensitivity is accurate to measure low, medium, and high antibody level,s and that the materials we’ve chosen will not damage or destroy the antibodies,” says Trant.

Once his research team has validated the cassette, Audacia Bioscience will start testing immunized individuals. This data will start to paint a picture and they could even be able to determine how gender, or different ethnicities, may affect reactions to the vaccine.

Much of this project is about building up irrefutable scientific data, says Olla, data that will help the public understand and therefore trust the safety of various vaccines.

“We need 70 per cent of the population to voluntarily get vaccinated to eradicate the virus, or at least make it scarce,” he says.

“More people will get the vaccine if they feel safe, so it is crucial we start collecting the data now, and that researchers openly shares their results, so six months from now when the vaccine is more widely available, we will have collected an appropriate amount of information — it’s building trust through data.”

The Leddy Library has put together a virtual display to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Polonia Collection, a unique stock of material built with the support of the Polish community in Windsor.

In the summer of 2000, members of the local Polish social club sought to support a book fund after noting a lack of reference material documenting the contemporary history of Poland, its culture, and its role in the fight to destroy Soviet communism in Europe.

By that fall, the Polonia Centre presented the Leddy Library with the first donation and worked with librarians to identify 48 items that would act as a starting point for the collection. Over the subsequent 20 years, the total contribution has exceeded $56,500.

“This very generous donation has enabled us to purchase nearly 1,200 items in English language on Poland,” says Pascal Calarco, university librarian.

He considers the collection one of the best in the province, “perhaps rivalling the Slavic and Eastern European Studies collection at the University of Toronto, for coverage of recently published materials on Poland.”

The library has furthered partnered with the Polonia Centre of Windsor to host events and exhibits and in 2018, was gifted a special edition facsimile of the 1791 Constitution of Poland. Among the planned expansions of the archive is a recent digitization of Kronika Tygodniowa, a Polish-language weekly newspaper originating in 1942.

A life-changing experience wasn’t exactly what Dustin Rivard was expecting when he embarked upon a co-op placement as a test engineer in a bearing department.

As a mechanical engineering student, he jumped at the chance to work in Germany for a year with the Schaeffler Group, a global automotive and industrial supplier, figuring it would be a great opportunity to work and travel.

“I rave about this opportunity to every engineering student I know,” says Rivard (BASc 2017). “First, I tell everyone they need to do co-op; It provides you with the connections that help you get the career you want, not to mention just giving you experience. Second, the chance to live and work in another country for a year turned into an incredible, life-changing experience.”

His rigorous training at Schaeffler landed him a job with the company’s product development department in Troy, Mich., and then at its headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Rivard recalls while sitting in his apartment nestled in a small Bavarian town lined with cobblestone paths and bustling cafés.

The Schaeffler Group co-op partnership with the University of Windsor, established in 1998 by the engineering professor Peter Frise, has sent more than 200 engineering, business, and computer science students to gain 12 months of real-word experience in Germany.

Lucas Dodson, a third-year industrial engineering student, just completed his co-op placement in Schaeffler’s advanced development department.

“One of the best parts about working for a large company abroad is getting to learn about and experience a whole new culture in the professional world,” he says. “Another great part is how much Germans value a strong work-life balance.”

Kristen Morris, UWindsor’s manager of co-operative education and workplace partnerships, says the Schaeffler work abroad experience is truly transformative.

“Students come back forever changed,” she says. “More open to new cultures and able to see their life and career through a new lens while gaining a year’s worth of paid, relevant work experience at an organization that is committed to student learning and growth.”

Find the full version of this article in the latest issue of WE, the Faculty of Engineering’s annual magazine.

—Kristie Pearce

The Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering are collaborating with partners from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences on a project that aims to enhance students’ science communications skills through arts training.

The Science Communication Skills grant is a one-year pilot program funded with $20,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

The partnership will ensure UWindsor trains future scientists and engineers to become effective communicators in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields through writing, film and media, drama, music, and visual art.

“By improving science communication skills, we see an increase in science literacy, as well as introduce the role of using science in evidence-based decision making, while countering science-related misinformation — this strengthens the appreciation of science in Canadian society,” says Chris Houser, dean of science.

Students, mainly from the faculties of science and engineering, will be challenged to translate scientific knowledge into engaging common language through creative means, while maintaining scientific accuracy. A masterclass series will offer students training in creative writing, dramatic arts, visual arts, music, and film and media, taught by leading FAHSS arts scholars.

The project includes experiential learning specialist Michelle Bondy from the Faculty of Science and learning specialist Lisa Salfi from the Faculty of Engineering. They will recruit students from their respective disciplines, share results of the classes through the various school and community outreach programs, and help plan the masterclasses.

Prof. Salfi says many students struggle with writing their complex ideas in simple and clear terms. She says this project encourages students to translate their contemporary science and engineering issues to communicate to non-specialists.

“In order for their ideas, ingenuity, and critical work to be understood and adopted, engineers and scientists must be capable of communicating clearly and effectively to various audiences,” she says.

“Clear communication through audience accommodation will help to prevent the scientific misinformation that is widespread today with the prevalence of social media and internet news sources and will, in turn, protect public welfare, which is the cornerstone of engineering.”

Dr. Houser has been championing the integration of the arts into science since his arrival in UWindsor in 2016. He is joined in that passion, and in this project, by biomedical sciences professor Dora Cavallo-Medved, faculty advisor for the USci Network. In 2017, they helped establish a student-led initiative called Science Meets Art (SMArt). Under the SMArt umbrella, artists, who are also UWindsor science students, have put on showcases, created original artwork for scientific journals, and designed a range of creative inclusivity posters.

In 2018, Houser collaborated with drama professor Michelle MacArthur to offer the science-based drama course, Staging science.

“We tend to focus student training on discipline-specific research and analytical methods,” says Houser. “Yet employers seek graduates who are able to communicate with a diverse audience, putting our future scientists and engineers at a disadvantage in communicating their science to non-specialists in a world of democratized knowledge through social media.”

Participants will not receive course credit for the masterclasses, but will be acknowledged through student recognition programs such as the LEAD medallion program and certificates. They will also have an opportunity to learn skills by participating in both STEM faculties’ various outreach programs as well as showcasing their masterclass projects in a proposed one-day SMArt Communications Symposium.

Masterclass workshops will launch in Fall 2021. The pilot grant also plans to develop a universal, usable model for other institutions to adapt into their curricula.

“It is not just about expanding the capabilities of our science and engineering training here at UWindsor,” Houser says. “It is about creating an adaptable model for other institutions to follow, so future scientists and engineers everywhere are able to effectively communicate.”

—Sara Elliott

The Office of Enrolment Management is hosting an outreach event Saturday, Jan. 9, to encourage students to choose UWindsor.

Applicant Day is scheduled just prior to the Ontario secondary school application deadline and represents a collective effort of the campus community: faculty, staff, and students, says Chris Busch, associate vice-president, enrolment management.

“Selected partners from across the University are assisting us by delivering sessions to address the needs of our applicants, or those who have not yet applied, to provide them with additional information on why to choose UWindsor,” he says.

Attendees will have the ability to connect with faculty, staff and students, get answers to questions, and gain insight into what it’s like to be a UWindsor student.

“The program marks an advance along an applicant’s journey and builds off our fall recruitment events,” says Busch. “It will focus on providing practical information and guidance to applicants and prospects as they take their next steps in the application process.”

More information on Applicant Day is available at https://future.uwindsor.ca/applicant-day.

“Let’s continue to do our parts to stop the spread of COVID-19,” urges a message sent by the Return to Campus working group to UWindsor employees and students Thursday.

It noted that the safest way to celebrate the holidays is:

• staying home and celebrating with your household members only;
• reducing your number of close contacts and staying local; and
• avoiding any activities that pose a risk of close contact with others outside your household.

The newsletter offers advice for virtual celebrations and reminders of pandemic hygiene practices; read it here.

A video produced by Public Affairs and Communications highlights the collective efforts keeping our community safe. Watch it here:

To learn more about UWindsor’s plans for a safe and gradual return to campus, visit www.uwindsor.ca/returntocampus.

Last week, federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough met virtually with Windsor-Essex advocates for people with disabilities, including the Law, Disability and Social Change Project at Windsor Law.

Led by project director Laverne Jacobs, associate dean of Windsor Law for research and graduate studies, the group had seven students in attendance, including third-year JD/MSW major Deborah Willoughby.

“The opportunity to speak with Minister Qualtrough was encouraging as she underscored the importance of the research we are doing for the LDSC project and how it is contributing to real change in the community by providing accessible information,” Willoughby said. “Our discussions highlighted how our legal advocacy for accessibility can extend beyond law school in various exciting contexts as there is continuing work to be done.”

Dr. Jacobs added the meeting represented opportunity for the group: “Minister Qualtrough had numerous, insightful experiences to share as both a lawyer and the minister responsible for improving disability inclusion in Canada.”

The minister was Introduced by Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk, who joined in an informative discussion about a shared vision for potential in the community.

“It has been an absolute honour to serve as Minister Qualtrough’s Parliamentary Secretary, working hard to ensure all Canadians have the support they need to get through this pandemic,” said Kusmierczyk. “It was inspiring to hear Dr. Jacobs and law students reflect on their recently released Annotated Accessible Canada Act directly with the minister responsible for crafting Canada’s first piece of national accessibility legislation.”

The meeting was part of a larger plan to build a strong disability inclusion action plan in Canada.

—Rachelle Prince

When using Microsoft Teams to facilitate classes or meetings, creating meaningful connection can be difficult in one large group. Breakout rooms allow instructors or organizers to divide the class or meeting into sub-groups to facilitate discussion and other learning or working opportunities.

Watch Information Technology Services team member Craig Brown as he provides an overview of breakroom rooms in this 136-second Tech Talk video.

If you want more information about using Teams breakout rooms, click on the links in the Comments section below the video.

Other new Microsoft Teams features include:

• Polls
• Pre-Meeting Join Experience
• Hard Mute for Attendees
• Background Noise Suppression
• New Together Mode Scenes

Tech Talk is a presentation of IT Services. More Tech Talks are available at www.uwindsor.ca/its/tech-talk.

Campus partners are working to maintain a robust set of Knowledge Base Articles (KBAs).

The KBA team has compiled a digest of this week’s most-referenced KBAs to streamline student-focused questions to ask.UWindsor to support consistent communication with current and future students.

These are this week’s top-five referenced KBAs:

• How do I access and complete an online SET?
• How do I apply to graduate?
• How do I view my offer of admission to an undergraduate program at UWindsor?
• How do I sign in to UWinsite Student?
• How do I receive an Enrolment Verification letter?

Find Winter 2021 KBAs by clicking here.

Submit common questions to askkba@uwindsor.ca.