Material chemists and engineers were in full networking swing at the Masters in Material Chemistry and Engineering (MMCE) program’s first annual MCEcon event on Aug. 13.

The UWindsor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry hosted around 50 students, scientists, and industry professionals.

“This unique networking event aimed to introduce the high-quality research projects carried out by the MMCE students enrolled in the project-based stream of the program to the industry professionals,” says conference founder Zareen Amtul, co-ordinator of the MMCE program in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

John Hunter, a retired senior consulting scientist at Novelis, says he thoroughly enjoyed the event.

“All of the students were fantastic, a real credit to the U of W. It was a real pleasure interacting with them all,” Dr. Hunter says. “The event was extremely well organized — a very nice balance between informality and a well-structured-schedule.”

A jury of experts from the industry and academia chose best student project and best student presenter awards founded by Dr. Amtul with industry funders.

Graduate student Saif Ur Rehman, supervised by professor Simon Rondeau-Gagné of chemistry and Mohammed Jalal Ahamed of engineering, earned both the Ethos Engineering & Testing Best Project and Novelis Best Presentation awards for his project, “Analysis of PDMS-Based Self-Healing Capacitive Pressure Sensors.”

In addition to networking sessions, panel discussions, and mixers to connect academics, potential future employees, and students, the event featured a workshop offering advice on careers, resumé writing, job applications, and first-hand experience by experts from industry and the Career Development and Experiential Learning office.