Mechanical Engineering professors Yusuf Altintas and Anthony Hodgson were each singled out for excellence by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. (APEGBC) at its annual awards ceremony last week.
Professor Yusuf Altintas has received APEGBC’s highest honour—the R.A. McLachlan Memorial Award—for his outstanding professional and community service.
Photo courtesy of APEGBC.
Award Citation: Dr. Yusuf Altintas is recognized internationally as a leading engineering researcher in the field of machining and machine tools. Over the past two decades he has made innovative scientific contributions in modeling the mechanics, dynamics, stability and control of machining operations. He has contributed significantly to industry literature—particularly his theory of kinematics and chatter vibration stability in milling. He has authored a popular book and published 120 journal articles. An exemplary engineer and leader, Dr. Altintas is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, International Academy for Production Engineering Research, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Pratt & Whitney Canada. He is the founder and president of MAL Manufacturing Automation Laboratories, which distributes practical applications of his state-of-the-art research to more than 130 companies and universities worldwide. Inspiring the next generation of engineers, Dr. Altintas is an accomplished professor of mechanical engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He pioneered and led the mechatronics engineering option at UBC. He has been an invaluable presence in his community as a tireless advocate for the Turkish Canadian Society. His passion for machining technology, and dedication to research and education make him an outstanding candidate for APEGBC’s highest honour for a professional engineer, the R.A. McLachlan Memorial Award.
Professor Anthony Hodgson has received APEGBC’s Teaching Award of Excellence.
Photo courtesy of APEGBC.
Award Citation: Preferring to adopt an unconventional approach when educating the next generation of engineers, Dr. Antony Hodgson, director of the Biomedical Engineering Program at UBC and NSERC Chair in Design Engineering, is a champion of curriculum and program enhancements that have gained international recognition. As an engaging and open-minded educator, he is primarily interested in active learning techniques and in situating course material within a realistic context, often incorporating team-based learning, case studies, projects and site visits in his courses. Through his versatile teaching style, Dr. Hodgson enables students to exceed their own expectations, and by fostering a socially responsible outlook, he enables them to develop a sense of purpose within the profession—accomplishments which have earned him UBC’s prestigious Killam Teaching Prize. Dr. Hodgson’s invaluable mentorship and contagious passion for the profession have led many of his students to the top of their respective fields, and he will invariably continue to play a pivotal role in the lives of his future students.