News and Events

 
Jul 5th, 2021

A team of UWindsor engineering researchers envisions a future where electric transport trucks can deliver more than goods.

While loading or unloading zero emission trucks, why not transfer electrons too? The road-bound big rigs can deliver electricity to companies in need to extend the limits of the electrical grid at high-peak hours.

It’s a scenario Rupp Carriveau and Hanna Maoh are mapping out in partnership with MitacsIndependent Electricity System Operator360 Energy, and Leamington-based greenhouse grower, Nature Fresh Farms.

“Let’s say a truck is done for the day and still has an 80 per cent charge,” Dr. Carriveau explains. “That truck can deliver electrons to a nearby company that’s going to be hit with some penalties for having a high draw on the grid — maybe for the lights in a greenhouse or an electric press machine in a warehouse.”

Jun 22nd, 2021

Waguih EIMaraghy has been inducted into Professional Engineers Ontario’s Order of Honour for his dedicated contributions to the engineering profession as a volunteer and educator.

The University of Windsor professor was honoured among select engineersacross the province during a virtual awards ceremony June 19.

The licensing and regulating body for the province’s professional engineers cited Dr. EIMaraghy’s intense passion for the profession and community.

With more than three decades as a volunteer on its Academic Requirements Committee, EIMaraghy has pioneered and been instrumental in improving the Professional Engineer designation application process. He serves as the committee’s vice chair and chairs the distance education subcommittee, helping to develop guidelines and criteria for evaluating the credentials applicants acquire through distance education.

Jun 21st, 2021

Two teams of UWindsor engineering students have triumphed in an industry-led, pitch-off competition for their solutions to cross-border congestion at the future Gordie Howe International Bridge.

The teams impressed a panel of industry judges with their suggestions to implement mobile apps to reduce delays at the border and to facilitate the use of alternate modes of transportation to relieve congestion. The students also recommended using machine learning technologies, sensor-based systems, and even a suicide prevention system in plans for the new bridge, which is one of the largest infrastructure projects underway in North America.

The pitch-off competition hosted by Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) and Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) challenged post-secondary students in engineering, information technology, and business administration to utilize smart mobility technologies, data analytics, and new payment and security technologies to reduce cross-border congestion and wait times.

Jun 11th, 2021



​A study led by UWindsor researchers aims to equip Canada with a diverse and inclusive pool of leaders for the clean energy sector of the future.

The Environmental Energy Institute’s Lindsay Miller and Rupp Carriveau say a new research program they’re spearheading will help bridge the gaps between the technical, economic, and political aspects of the nation’s energy sector.

“While our energy systems are presently undergoing an unprecedented spectrum of change, the same cannot be said for the conventional educational pathways that were designed to produce the highly qualified people (HQP) to drive the energy sector,” Dr. Miller says.

Using a multi-stakeholder approach, the initiative will inform clean energy curriculum development and encourage underrepresented minorities to pursue clean energy careers.

As leaders of the Climate Led Energy Evolution Network 2040, Miller and Carriveau have developed an international network of stakeholders across universities, businesses and government agencies with a vested interest in the future of energy systems.

This broad and diverse cross section of clean energy sector stakeholders will help identify gaps between skill sets and current Canadian post-secondary clean energy curriculum.

May 27th, 2021

Ram Balachandar has been recognized for his pursuit of excellence by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

Dr. Balachandar, a civil engineering professor, was elected as a fellow during the society’s annual conference held virtually between May 26 and 29.

In 2019, he received the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering’s Camille A. Dagenais Award for his research on open channel flows, fluid-structure interaction, and efforts in the area of scour, which have led to substantially improved design equations.

Balachandar has published 160 journal papers, eight book chapters, and more than 250 conference papers. He is an associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering and was recently appointed as the section chief editor of the fluid mechanics section for Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering.

May 26th, 2021

The University of Windsor’s SHIELD Automotive Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) to collaborate on innovative technology and knowledge mobilization designed to help public transit operators keep riders safe.

According to SHIELD co-founders Mitra Mirhassani, a UWindsor electrical and computer engineering professor, and Ikjot Saini from the School of Computer Science, the partnership will work to develop cybersecurity research, training, and awareness.

“If there’s one thing we have learned over the past year, it’s the importance of collaboration,” says CUTRIC president Josipa Petrunic. “CUTRIC is proud to be partnering with the University of Windsor as we set out on this new journey of strengthening and advancing our scientific, educational, and technological capabilities.”

May 11th, 2021



​UWindsor engineering professor Narayan Kar is leading a new $1.8 million research project to make better electric drive systems.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has awarded the electric vehicle expert more than $1 million for the three-year project with Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International, Ottawa-based power device company GaN Systems, and a researcher at Concordia University. The industry partners will add more than $700,000 in in-kind contributions to the research.

“With this project, we want to create a paradigm shift in the field of transportation electrification,” said Dr. Kar. “We hope to give Canada a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.”

The research project will examine several elements of the electric drive system and make improvements. The goal is to make electric vehicles more powerful, efficient, and reliable, while making them less costly to produce and maintain.

May 6th, 2021

Shayan Shirzadian is the first first recipient of the Iranian Students Memorial Scholarship - Remembering Flight PS752.

It was just a casual conversation with a fellow UWindsor graduate student, but one Shayan Shirzadian will always remember.

He and engineering doctoral candidate Hamidreza Setareh Kokab, both international students, talked about living in Canada. Setareh Kokab was happy to offer advice.

“My overall feeling from our conversation was that I was joining a community with great people who love to help,” Shirzadian says. “It left an impression on me.”

A month later, Shirzadian was shocked to learn Setareh Kokab’s life was taken in a plane crash in Iran while returning to campus for the winter semester. The incident claimed the lives of all 176 on board, including four other members of UWindsor’s community — engineering doctoral candidates Pedram Jadidi and Zahra Naghibi and her spouse Mohammad Abbaspour Ghadi and biology research assistant Samira Bashiri.

They were caring friends and talented researchers who were on the cusp of promising careers. Countless stories emerged as the campus community mourned such a significant loss.

An immediate outpouring of support from the UWindsor community and general public followed to establish the Iranian Students Memorial Scholarship - Remembering Flight PS752, a graduate scholarship that will annually support two international students conducting vital research in the Faculties of Engineering and Science.

May 6th, 2021

Movement, pressure, temperature, humidity, sound frequency — sensors that are now integrated into our daily lives collect an endless stream of data about the way we interact with products and their environments.

From autonomous vehicles to health monitoring devices, the ever-growing amount of smart devices and information generated is becoming challenging to manage and more expensive to process.

“This massive amount of data needs to be stored and analyzed, and as a result, real-time processing is critical,” says Afshin Rahimi, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “We are examining new techniques to accelerate the process.”

One of which is using gateway devices to analyze the data with deep learning models. This is called edge computing, and 90 per cent of industrial enterprises will be using it by 2022, according to a report by business consultants Frost & Sullivan.

The name edge is in reference to applying a deep learning model to analyze the data at the edge of a framework — where data is acquired — differing from cloud computing, which conducts the analysis on a remote server — where data is usually warehoused.

Apr 21st, 2021

Calling her “an inspiration for women in research and engineering around the world,” Denmark’s Aalborg University conferred an honorary doctorate on UWindsor professor Hoda ElMaraghy in an online ceremony April 15.

Aalborg’s Faculty of Engineering and Science noted Dr. ElMaraghy’s contributions to the development of modern manufacturing systems. A distinguished university professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering and director of the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Centre, she pioneered the use of “learning factories” in teaching and research. A “Smart Production Lab” at Aalborg University was inspired by her work.

ElMaraghy and four other honorees — women academics from France, Norway, and the United States — participated in a round-table discussion on the theme “Research collaborations in a changed world” before the awards ceremony.