News and Events

 
Oct 10th, 2018

UWindsor researchers and students will share more than $6 million of more than $558 million in Discovery research funding announced Tuesday by Kirsty Duncan, federal minister of science and sport.

Duncan visited the University of Windsor campus to announce the funding as part of the government’s plan to attract global talent, promote diversity, and provide nearly 4,300 researchers and students across Canada with the means to pursue world-leading discovery work.

UWindsor interim president Douglas Kneale said the announcement provides a major boost to the advancement of science and engineering.

“Whether one’s area of research is a singular endeavour or a team effort, whether it’s curiosity-driven or hands-on applied, this investment in researchers at the University of Windsor and elsewhere will pave the way to untold discoveries,” he said.

UWindsor boasts nearly 30 Discovery Grants recipients focused on research in such areas as advanced manufacturing and ecology.

Sep 12th, 2018

Hailing her as a “world leader in manufacturing systems,” the Royal Society of Canada announced Tuesday its election of UWindsor engineering professor Hoda ElMaraghy as a fellow.

“Distinguished scholars and artists are elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada on the basis of their exceptional contributions to Canadian intellectual life,” said the society’s president, Chad Gaffield. “Your election is a telling recognition of your remarkable accomplishments and an invitation to further the leadership you have already shown in advancing knowledge and scholarship in Canada.”

Sep 5th, 2018

Engineering professor Waguih ElMaraghy was honoured as a founding member of the Design Theory and Methodology Committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at its conference last week in Quebec City.

Dr. ElMaraghy, a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering, also received a pin recognizing his 30 years of involvement with the group.

Aug 17th, 2018

Krown Rust Protection has joined forces with engineering researchers at the University of Windsor to develop a Corrosion Index, a consumer-oriented metric they hope will become a standard measurement for communicating the amount of rust on vehicles. 

The university research team photographed a little over a third of the visible surfaces of 228 Krown-protected vehicles that were collected through the course of two sampling campaigns. The results were compared to measurements taken from 141 unprotected vehicles that were collected in a similar fashion. Both protected and unprotected vehicles that were studied varied in make, model and age.

By examining these photographs with special imaging software, the scientists were able to measure the amount of visible rust to determine what percentage of the surface area in square centimetres was corroded and then recorded that number to establish each vehicle’s Corrosion Index (CI).

Aug 9th, 2018

UWindsor students got a first-hand look last week at the challenges engineers face when working on heritage projects.

Visual Arts and the Built Environment professor Jason Grossi and sessional instructor William Tape led 48 fourth-year civil and environmental engineering students through the site of the future Windsor Public Library branch in historic Sandwich last Friday.

Grossi said the new library holds many lessons for students.

“The new library is really the unification of two historic structures connected by a contemporary addition,” he said. “The completed complex will rise from the historic fire hall at the front of the property and connect to the middle 19th-century stables at the back that pre-date the 1921-built fire hall.”

Grossi said connecting the two structures took a lot of careful design and “a little bit of whimsy.”

Jul 31st, 2018

The exciting part of working on a project redesigning the intersection of California Avenue and Wyandotte Street is the possibility of seeing it implemented, says Emma Teskey.

A fourth-year civil engineering student, she was part of a group that suggested several changes to the pavement and traffic signalling systems that would make the crossing safer for pedestrians and smoother for vehicles.

It was one of more than 60 projects displayed by graduating engineering students during Capstone Design Demonstration Day, Friday in the Centre for Engineering Innovation.

Teskey and her teammates — Abigayle Diemer, Kailee Dickson, Curtis Lanoue, and Sarah Zaarour — suggested altering the traffic signals so that cars and trucks are stopped in all directions while pedestrians cross, a system known as the “pedestrian scramble.” They also proposed adding wide white stripes to the crosswalk pavement and relocating a transit stop so buses do not block the intersection.

Jul 23rd, 2018

Campers had a hard time picking their favourite activity at UWindsor’s Engineering Lancer Summer Camp.

“I loved everything. I can’t pick one thing. We built stuff, we had fun, we were creative,” says Emma Hobbs, 9, a Grade 5 student at D. M. Eagle Public School. “I love engineering.”

The week-long camp hosted 60 children between the ages 8 and 12. Participants were introduced to a variety of engineering-related concepts, including aerodynamics, forces and motion, fluid dynamics, material strength, and the design process.

The July 9 to 13 camp included outdoor activities and swimming at the St. Denis Centre.

Jul 4th, 2018

Portrait of student Dylan VerburgHow one engineering graduate student is turning convention on its head to deliver a vital human resource – clean drinking water.

Dylan Verberg is an environmental engineering graduate student from the University of Windsor who spent nearly five months in the Indian capital, Delhi, contributing to an international research project funded by the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to accelerate community transformation and sustainability (IC-impacts).

Growing up on a farm, Dylan’s experience with small construction projects has proved invaluable in his current challenge – deploying equipment in the New Delhi, India drainage pond in an attempt to improve the quality of a water system that serves as a lifeline for nearly 60 million people.

“For this project, we needed to solve a massive issue threatening a vital human resource – clean drinking water,” Verburg said. “To do this, we had to create a paradigm shift from traditional sewage management techniques and develop a tailored approach. Using the infrastructure available and highly optimized existing technology, we have been able to demonstrate the potential of utilizing and rejuvenating a polluted water body into an active environmental wastewater treatment plant.”

Jul 3rd, 2018

Portrait of Samer Toukan and Easa Ahmadzai.

Two University of Windsor Master of Engineering Management students have turned their class business plan into a reality. 

Easa Ahmadzai and Samer Toukan say their Master of Engineering Management (MEM) courses in finance, accounting, entrepreneurship and marketing helped them found Archery Mayhem— a combat archery game similar to dodgeball but instead uses bows and soft foam-tipped arrows. 

“We do everything from finance and IT to designing bows and arrows, and marketing,” Toukan says. “And all of those skills are skills we picked up in the MEM program.” 

The two launched Archery Mayhem in April 2018 and say the response “has been excellent.”

“Our customer retention is more than 50 per cent week over week. As soon as people know about us, they keep coming back. We think our experience is second to none in Windsor,” adds Toukan.

Offered by the Faculty of Engineering in partnership with the Odette School of Business, the MEM program is the only weekend engineering management degreeoffered in the province. 

The two-year program allows working professionals like Ahmadzai and Toukan to earn their master’s degree without interrupting their careers. 

Jun 28th, 2018

When Bruce Minaker, associate professor and acting department head in Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering at the University of Windsor, began initially exploring routes to patent his invention, he recalled a previous mechanical engineering student he had taught — now the director of the International Intellectual Property Law Clinic. Dr. Minaker reached out to clinic director Wissam Aoun, who responded with interest.

Minaker’s invention is a new style of front suspension for motorcycles. His idea sprouted from his time as a motorcycle rider and enthusiast, and after working with engineering students for many years as a project advisor for the senior capstone design course.

Minaker explains: “For many years, the telescopic fork has been the standard for motorcycle front suspensions, despite the fact that it has some well-known weaknesses. These include fork bending deflection under braking forces, the associated sliding friction that results when that bending occurs, and the reinforcement needed in the frame to counter the large bending loads near the steering head bearing.”