2020 News Archive

Two UWindsor professors have received $383,000 in funding to research how to ensure the cybersecurity of autonomous vehicles.

The research money for Mitra Mirhassani and Huapeng Wu was announced Thursday at the Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre as part of a $1.1 million funding announcement for the National Academic Cluster for Smart Vehicles through the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC).

Drs. Mirhassani and Wu will investigate how to ensure technology used in autonomous vehicles and transit systems doesn’t include Trojan hardware.

“We have to make sure they are safe, secure, and can’t be tampered with,” said Mirhassani. “If any loophole exists, there goes your security.”

Two UWindsor professors have received $383,000 in funding to research how to ensure the cybersecurity of autonomous vehicles.

The research money for Mitra Mirhassani and Huapeng Wu was announced Thursday at the Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre as part of a $1.1 million funding announcement for the National Academic Cluster for Smart Vehicles through the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC).

Drs. Mirhassani and Wu will investigate how to ensure technology used in autonomous vehicles and transit systems doesn’t include Trojan hardware.

“We have to make sure they are safe, secure, and can’t be tampered with,” said Mirhassani. “If any loophole exists, there goes your security.”

A University of Windsor coding workshop for young women has more than doubled in size since launching in 2018.

Nearly 100 female Grade 7 to 11 students left the university campus Feb. 8 equipped with one of the most in-demand skills across industries. One of them was Amna Ahmed, 13, who lives in Michigan and crossed the border for the second year in a row to take part.

Mike Konstantino, the university’s engineering outreach coordinator, says the faculty has expanded the intake of the complimentary workshop and will host a second one that’s open to both female and male students in the spring. 

They were dedicated researchers who were bolstering bridge safety with artificial intelligence, improving the accuracy of critical medical procedures and using solar energy to increase greenhouse efficiency.

They were friends who never forgot a birthday, supported each other like family and reminded others of the importance of living in the moment.

On Jan. 8, the University of Windsor lost five cherished members of its community, who were returning to campus, when Ukrainian International Airlines’ Flight PS752 crashed in Iran and claimed the lives of all 176 on board.

“We all feel the tremendous depth of human suffering caused by this tragedy,” says Dr. Robert Gordon, UWindsor president and vice-chancellor. “Our own students were standing on the very doorstep of discovery in their research careers and their potential was limitless. We will never know what life-changing contributions they may have made in their areas of study and academic pursuits — and that loss is unfathomable.”

Engineering doctoral candidates Hamidreza Setareh Kokab, Pedram Jadidi, Zahra Naghibi and her spouse Mohammad Abbaspour Ghadi and biology research assistant Samira Bashiri will be remembered by friends, faculty and staff as vital contributors and caring companions.  

Following the news of their deaths, the university received an immediate outpouring of support from the UWindsor community and general public to establish the “Remembering Flight PS752” fund, a graduate scholarship endowment that will support international students conducting vital research in the Faculties of Engineering and Science.

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A member of the Faculty of Engineering’s technical staff has been recognized for his innovative ideas and problem solving that have made an impact campus-wide.  

Andrew Jenner, the faculty’s manager of technical support, was nominated by his peers for his “exceptional willingness” to assist colleagues.

“Andy’s ongoing responsiveness and contributions to support his colleagues across the university is inspiring and builds morale, respect. His positive approach makes for a more fun and collegial environment,” Rita LaCivita, vice president of human resources, said during the university’s annual Employee Recognition Awards reception on Jan. 20.

“He exemplifies excellence and the ability to reach above and beyond the expected to truly make a difference.” 

Jenner received the “U” Make a Difference Award and was among 10 other honourees. In his role, Jenner oversees technical operations of the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation and 18 engineering technologists. 

UWindsor grad Donald Mavinic (BASc 1969, MASc 1971, PhD 1973), a professor emeritus in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia and an internationally recognized expert in water treatment, received a call to the Order of Canada from Gov. Gen. Julie Payette on Dec. 28.

Membership in the order is extended to people “whose service shapes our society, whose innovations ignite our imaginations, and whose compassion unites our communities.”

The announcement praised Dr. Mavinic for his contributions to environmental engineering science and technology in Canada, notably in the areas of liquid wastewater and residuals management.

It is the latest in a series of honours for Mavinic. In 2010, he received the Ernest C. Manning Innovation Award and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Synergy Award. The following year, he was given the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia. He is the only Canadian to be named a Water Environment Federation Fellow. In 2016, he received the Engineers Canada Gold Medal Award.

Hundreds of mourners filled Alumni Auditorium for a service Friday commemorating five members of the UWindsor community who died in the Jan. 8 crash of Ukrainian International Airlines’ Flight PS752.

University officials, faculty, staff, and students were joined by elected representatives of the municipal, provincial, and federal governments, as well as hundreds of family members and friends who watched a webcast of the ceremonies.

“Our hearts break today for all the families that have lost loved ones,” said UWindsor president Robert Gordon. “We mourn as the world mourns with us at the loss of promise and possibility.”

He noted that the victims — biology research assistant Samira Bashiri, engineering doctoral candidates Hamidreza Setareh Kokab, Pedram Jadidi, and Zahra Naghibi, and her spouse Mohammad Abbaspour Ghadi — had “unlimited” potential to add to human discovery.