Mechanical Engineering Researchers Receive +$2.7 Million in NSERC Funding

Mechanical Engineering Researchers Receive +$2.7 Million in NSERC Funding

June 23, 2020

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has awarded over $2.7 million in funding to Mechanical Engineering faculty members. The funding includes ten Discovery Grants to support ongoing research, two Research Tools and Instrument grants for new equipment, one Discovery Accelerator Supplement, and one Discovery Launch Supplement. These grants are meant to support long-term research projects while allowing researchers the flexibility to follow new high-risk high-reward avenues, encourage Canadian research excellence, and foster research training by supporting the next generation of researchers including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Some examples of the awarded NSERC Discovery Grants for 2020 include:

  • Gwynn Elfring – Modelling the dynamics of active matter | $320,000 + $120,000 Discovery Accelerator Supplement
  • Ian Frigaard – Sealing, Plugging and Visco-plastic Networks | $380,000
  • Robert Rohling – Advancing towards ubiquitous medical ultrasound | $320,000
  • Minkyun Noh – Design and Control of Novel High-speed Bearingless Motors | $140,000 + $12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Research Tools and Instrument grants were awarded to:

  • Hongshen Ma for a wide-field microscope to support research programs in image cytometry and image-based cell separation | $150,000
  • Boris Stoeber for Preparation and Characterization of Piezoelectric Materials | $142,591

The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced the NSERC Discovery program’s +$492 million in research funding for a broad range of projects in the natural sciences and engineering at Canadian institutions:

“On behalf of the Government of Canada, I’d like to thank the country’s researchers for the hard work they continue to do at such a challenging time. With this support, we are investing in, and celebrating, the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research.”

UBC researchers received a over 40 million dollars for 183 projects. See the full list of UBC researchers to receive NSERC funding here, and read the full NSERC announcement.

MECH Hosts Virtual Reception for Graduating Class

June 15, 2020

Congratulations to the class of 2020! We’re excited for you to celebrate your university achievements, and to embark on your next chapter and the bright future ahead.

If you couldn’t make the Virtual Graduation Reception and Awards Ceremony on June 11th you can watch the recording here, featuring words from Department Head Dr. Steve Feng, Dean James Olson, and Mechanical Engineering PhD Student and FlowO2 Respirator team member Sam Berryman, as well as a toast to the graduating class by Club Mech President Paige Ngo. Faculty members Dr. Sheldon Green, Dr. Tony Hodgson, Dr. Gary Schajer, Dr. Mike Van der Loos, Dr. Lyndia Wu, Dr. Agnes d’Entremont, Professor Jon Mikkelsen, and Lecturer Markus Fengler also offer their congratulatory messages to the class of 2020!

Statement Against Racism

June 3, 2020

MECH Statement Against Racism

Reflecting on the violence against Black communities in Canada and the United States, both currently and historically, the Department of Mechanical Engineering stands in solidarity with those facing racism and other forms of discrimination. We join UBC President Santa Ono, UBC’s Black Student Union and many others on campus in denouncing the recent anti-Black and anti-Asian violence faced by communities across North America. We also condemn all other forms of racism and discrimination, including anti-Muslim prejudice, and ongoing and systemic oppression of Indigenous peoples, while acknowledging that we are part of an institution that stands on unceded territory of the Musqueam people. We commit to fostering a safe, diverse, and equitable environment in and beyond our department, in which everyone feels they belong as a valued part. We know we have much work to do to make this a reality for all. We pledge to address these issues within our own structures and to continue the work we have begun to be anti-racist in our hiring, student recruitment, curriculum, and culture. We welcome conversation and engagement at our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigeneity page.

– Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, on behalf of UBC Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Agnes d’Entremont Wins Killam Teaching Prize

June 1, 2020

Dr. Agnes d'Entremont wins Killam Teaching Prize

Mechanical Engineering faculty member Dr. Agnes d’Entremont has won a 2019/2020 Killam Teaching Prize in recognition of her excellence in teaching. Faculty are nominated for the Killam Teaching Prize by students, colleagues and alumni. She has made ongoing contributions to educational excellence in Mechanical Engineering, through her teaching, leadership, advocacy, and dedication to student learning.

As the coordinator of the department’s award-winning second year program, for the last four years Dr. d’Entremont has influenced the experience of hundreds of Mechanical Engineering students. She has provided teaching excellence in her Dynamics and Mechanical Design courses, as well as her upper year Orthopaedic Biomechanics and Fundamentals of Injury Biomechanics courses.  As the Mech 2 coordinator, she has molded the undergraduate experience by coordinating the seven integrated courses of this foundational curriculum – which involve 16 instructors and 59 teaching assistants from four departments.  Among other efforts she has made to facilitate student success and mental well-being this demanding program, she collaborated with UBC Wellness in 2019 to introduce a mental health component into the Mech 2 program.

Dedicated to access and inclusion, Dr. d’Entremont has sought to reduce barriers to engineering education within all her roles. As an educational leadership researcher, she investigates various topics within the context of engineering pedagogy, including gender, mental health, engineering literacy, and open educational resources, and has shared her findings in 15 conference papers. Striving to make engineering a discipline where all people feel included, she is involved in initiatives on and off campus to foster the participation of women and members of the LGBTQ community in engineering, and works to align her teaching approach and curriculum with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

Of particular importance to Dr. d’Entremont is increasing access to engineering education to students of a wide socio-economic background. As the founding chair of the Special Interest Group in Open Educational Resources for the Canadian Engineering Education Association and one of Open UBC’s Open Educational Resource Champions, she is a leader in the development of openly accessible educational materials. Integrating open educational resources (OER) the classroom, her assignments have involved students in the creation of OER for their peers, such as working on an open textbook. Involved in developing content for the open source online homework platform WeBWork, she has led local and national workshops on how to use it, and spearheaded the creation of over 1600 new engineering problems, which can be used by educators and students all over the world.

She is one of 23 Killam Teaching Prize recipients from across campus, and one of two in Applied Science, with Nursing’s Cheryl Segaric also recognized. Our congratulations to Dr. d’Entremont for this prestigious recognition and for her many contributions to student learning within the department!

UBC News: UBC researchers develop portable ultrasound scanner network for COVID-19

May 27, 2020

UBC’s Dr. Teresa Tsang (Medicine), Purang Abolmaesumi (Medicine), Robert Rohling (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Dr. Oron Frenkel (Electrical and Computer Engineering) are designing portable hand held ultrasound scanners that can aid in COVID-19 diagnosis, connecting the scanners with an AI algorithm and an online library of lung ultrasound images to help health care practitioners assess patients for COVID-19 pneumonia at the point of care.

 

Projects by MECH Faculty Receive Competitive New Frontiers in Research Funding

May 22, 2020

Dr. Zimmerman, Dr. Giang, Dr. Ponga, and Dr. Jelovica

Two research projects lead by Mechanical Engineering faculty members have received funding from the competitive Government of Canada New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF). The projects are in the Exploration stream, which seeks to support “opportunities for Canada to build strength in high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research.” Each project has received the maximum $250,000 funding over two years:

  • Cannabis cultivation in Canada: Assessing the air, health, and equity impacts of a growing and uncharted industry

Nominated Principal Investigator: Naomi Zimmerman  | Co-Principal Investigator: Amanda Giang

  • Materials à la carte: Accelerating materials discovery with large scale ab-initio simulations and machine learning

Nominated Principal Investigator: Mauricio Ponga  |  Co-Principal Investigator: Jasmin Jelovica

These are two of nine projects led or co-led by researchers from the Faculty of Applied Science, which account for almost half of the twenty NFRF funded projects across UBC.

UBC Mechanical Engineering Prof Receives Human Frontier Science Program Grant

May 21, 2020

Mattia Bacca, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UBC, has been awarded a three-year research grant from the Human Frontier Science Program Organization.

The France-based organization, which established its namesake program in 1989, aims to support innovative international research collaborations that clarify “the sophisticated and complex mechanisms of living organisms for the benefit of all humankind”. Twenty-eight recipients of HFSP awards have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

Together with his colleagues Natalie Holt, a biology professor at the University of California, Riverside, and David Labonte, a bioengineering professor at Imperial College London, Bacca will create a physical and mathematical framework that enables researchers to predict the morphological evolution of leafcutter ants based on their feeding behaviour.

The framework, to be based on new insights into how the ants mechanically break down plant material, will advance our understanding of insect-plant co-evolution and interactions. How insects select their food sources — and how those plants defend themselves — has major implications for human food security and the structure of ecosystems.

The team’s work may also inspire developments in small-scale cutting tools and motor control theory, among other fields.

Dedicated to promoting bold, interdisciplinary research, especially by young investigators, the Human Frontier Science Program has provided funding to more than 7000 researchers from over 70 countries since 1990.

Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash  

Article originally appeared on UBC Applied Science News

 

Mechanical Engineering Alumnus Awarded Dean’s Medal of Distinction

May 15, 2020

The 2020 recipients of the Dean’s Medal of Distinction have been announced, and include Mechanical Engineering alumnus Bill Adams, who received his BASc in Mechanical Engineering in 1987. The Dean’s Medal of Distinction is given to members of the community who have made exceptional contributions to the disciplines within Applied Science, according to the announcement:

Through their deeply valued contributions to advance the Faculty’s vision, mission, and mandate, or their exemplary work in one of our member disciplines – Engineering, Nursing, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, or Community and Regional Planning – the positive impacts these individuals are making are truly exceptional. 

Congratulations to Mr. Adams, and to all this year’s recipients of the Applied Science Dean’s Medal of Distinction! Learn more about the celebration here: https://apsc.ubc.ca/alumni/alumni-events/applied-science-celebration.

Bill Adams

A leader in sustainability in the forest products industry, Bill has over three decades of experience in the fields of engineering, manufacturing and corporate development in senior positions across Canada and the US. Currently, he is Vice President, Sustainability & Innovation at Mercer International, one of the largest manufacturers of market pulp in the world, and, between 2014 and 2019, he held the position of Senior Director, Sustainability, Strategy and Innovation at Canfor, a North American leader in green energy production. Bill has also served as the Manager of Engineering and Strategy Planning at Domtar’s mill in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Bill is a double alumnus of the UBC School of Engineering, earning his BASc in Mechanical Engineering in 1987 and his MEng in Chemical Engineering in 1991, before completing an MBA in International Management. A Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, he has been a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia since 1987.

Originally posted on the Applied Science.

Cambridge Recognizes Dr. Clarence de Silva with Prestigious Higher Doctorate

May 8, 2020

UBC Mechanical Engineering faculty member Professor Clarence de Silva has achieved the prestigious Doctor of Science (ScD) degree at the University of Cambridge. This higher doctorate (unique to the UK) recognizes the full body of work a candidate has contributed to their field – acknowledging them as an expert in their area. Candidates’ contributions to knowledge are assessed through a multi-step process involving reviews by experts in the field of study. With the granting of an ScD, Cambridge recognizes Dr. de Silva as a leader in the subject of mechatronics and automation. His research focuses on the areas of process automation, control sensors and actuators, and multi-robot systems, with applications in automated machine monitoring, diagnosis, and repair, telemedicine and environmental monitoring.

Through his extensive career, Professor de Silva has been granted many chairs and fellowships, including the Senior Canada Research Chair in Mechatronics and Industrial Automation, and won numerous notable awards including D.Eng. (Honorary) from the University of Waterloo, Paynter Outstanding Investigator Award and Takahashi Education Award from ASME Dynamic Systems & Control Division (DSCD), Killam Research Prize from UBC, Outstanding Engineering Educator Award from IEEE Canada, Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Automation Congress, IEEE Third Millennium Medal, Meritorious Achievement Award from the Association of Professional Engineers of BC, and Outstanding Contribution Award from the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society. He has written 25 technical books and 19 edited books, as well as 51 chapters, 270 journal articles, and authored 285 conference papers, and delivered 45 keynote speeches.

The distinction is only open to former graduate students at Cambridge, where Professor de Silva previously completed one of his two PhD degrees, his other PhD having been completed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his MASc degree from the University of Toronto.

Faculty Receive NSERC/Seaspan Industrial Research Chairs for Intelligent and Green Marine Vessels

May 4, 2020

Vancouver is a marine hub, a port for trade and shipbuilding that draws traffic from all over the world into BC’s coastal waters. These waters are also home to North America’s dwindling population of endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, one of many marine species threatened by the underwater noise pollution ships generate. This begs the question; how do we foster a vibrant marine industry while also protecting our coastal wildlife?

Faculty from UBC’s Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering program have received an Industrial Research Chair from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to study next-generation intelligent and green marine vessels (IGMVs). Dr. Rajeev Jaiman and Dr. Jasmin Jelovica bring their respective expertise in computational fluid mechanics and fluid-structure interaction as well as advanced techniques for analysis and optimization of multifunctional structures for marine vessels to this exciting new project. Their research on IGMVs aims to create efficient vessels that not only produce less greenhouse gas emissions, but also less harmful underwater noise.