'Re'-Telling the Story: A Conference on International Development

'Re'-Telling the Story: A Conference on International Development

October 15, 2012

You are invited to the ‘Re’-Telling the Story: A Conference on International Development event. This public engagement conference will aim to focus on and explore the complexities surrounding development. Stories can illustrate power, privilege, systemic and gender inequalities, the difference between charity and social justice —they also explore the potential for genuine solidarities.

When?
Saturday, October 20 from 12pm – 5:30pm

Where?
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, room 182.

For map and directions follow the link below:
http://www.maps.ubc.ca/PROD/index_detail.php?show=y,n,n,n,n,y&bldg2Search=n&locat1=516

What?
The conference will feature a keynote from East Africa, panel discussion on the role of the ‘outsider’ in development and most importantly – presentations from the students who have just returned from ISL placements this past summer. The event is free to all invitees.

PROGRAM:

  • Keynote speaker: Salim Mohamed, community development practitioner and scholar from Kenya
  • Presentations by returned UBC International Service Learning participants
  • Panel discussion on the role of ‘the outsider’ in international development
  • Feature presentation by Students for Development Interns on Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods project with TASO,
    Uganda
  • Booths by UBC clubs and organisations

If you are interested in attending this conference, please register via the EventBrite page here. The poster for the conference has also been attached for your viewing. If you have any questions or queries in the meantime,feel free to contact goglobal.isl@ubc.ca.

We hope that you are able to attend and join us in supporting and celebrating the work that students have dedicated to their respective projects!

Poster:

New Appointments in the Mechanical Engineering Department

September 28, 2012

Dr. Patrick Kirchen, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Dr. Patrick Kirchen has recently joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as an Assistant Professor working on minimizing the environmental impact of power and heat production systems. In particular, his interests are in the reduction of emissions and fuel consumption of internal combustion engines, as well as the development and application of novel membrane reactors for low CO2 emission production and utilization of hydrocarbon fuels for power and heat generation. He received his BSc and MSc from the University of Alberta, his PhD from the ETH Zurich in Switzerland and more recently worked as a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prior to coming to UBC.

Dr. Tatiana Teslenko, B.A.,Ph.D.

Dr. Tatiana Teslenko recently joined the MECH team and teaches APSC 201, Technical Communication, as part of a MECH 2 project course, MECH 223. Her field of research encompasses technical and professional communication, theory and history of rhetoric web technologies in writing instruction, instructional methodology and educational psychology.

Article: Thunderbots – Latest Scoop

September 28, 2012

UBC Thunderbots team working

“Whistler Retreat: Resident
AI expert, Terence Lin, gives a software tutorial to the team.”

The UBC Thunderbots — the autonomous soccer-playing robot design team — hosted Canada’s first RoboCup competition at UBC this past summer. Rivalling teams from China and Germany arrive to compete their robots in a soccer tournament against the defending North American champion (the home team). The success of the tournament and peripheral events allowed teams to interact with the community in a variety of demos, games, and workshops. The Thunderbots then went on to  compete at RoboCup 2012 in Mexico City, the largest international robotics competition in the world. The team placed 11th in the world, while showcasing their new and innovative designs.

This year, Thunderbots formed two brand new teams: Thunderbots@Home and Thunderbots Simulation. Simulation is designing artificial intelligence software to compete in fully software-based soccer games, and @Home aims to build an autonomous domestic assistive robot. Both teams will compete in their respective RoboCup leagues. As a kickstart to the year, this past weekend, all three teams took off for a retreat to Whistler to share ideas, brainstorm new concepts, get to know each other and plan for the exciting year ahead.

Video: The Omnimotion XY

September 17, 2012

The Omnimotion XY is a mechatronic device from Dr. Lu’s research group at the Precision Mechatronics Laboratory.  From the video description, the “Omnimotion-XY shown here is a magnetically-levitated planar motion stage. All 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) motion are achieved by one motor, which is free of force ripples or cogging. There is no need to supply electricity or pressurized air to the moving stage. The planar motion stroke can range from cm to m level without much complexity difference. Its non-contact bearing-less features make it very suitable for applications requiring high speed, high acceleration, high vacuum, or high precision in one to six DOF motion.”

Article: “Selling science to students”

September 11, 2012

The Global and Mail editorial post titled “Selling science to students”, published 20 August 2012, discusses the reasons and ramifications of students graduating from high school not choosing careers in math, science, technology and engineering. While students understand the value of this education and its importance in finding a future career, they often still choose other career paths.  For the full article, click here.

International Opportunities

September 7, 2012

Looking for international opportunities? Hopefully you have checked out UBC’s own Go Global (http://students.ubc.ca/global), but an interesting external opportunity is coming up. A different organization with an identical name will be at the Creekside Community Recreation Centre on Sunday, September 6 from 11 am – 5 pm, with over 40 exhibitors of international opportunities. www.letsgoglobal.ca

Article: Dr. Croft featured in Metro Vancouver article "Women Physicists Wade into a Man’s World"

August 20, 2012

“Girls are looking for opportunities to make a difference. What we don’t communicate well about fields like physics and engineering, is that these are careers where you can have a great impact… In high school we say, ‘Solve equations!’, ‘Do this study on the Milikan experiment!’ or ‘Document the number of electrons!’ Well, how exciting is that?” Dr. Elizabeth Croft said. “We don’t connect that to knowing the strength and materials needed to design a car to keep people safe, or how to process chemicals to produce enough energy for our world without polluting our environment.”

Dr. Croft, Mechanical Engineering professor and NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, was one of 15 female scientists invited to speak at UBC’s second annual Women in Physics in early August, 2012.

The conference, Dr. Croft, and other inspirational women in physics were mentioned in the Metro Vancouver news article.

For more information about the Women in Physics Conference, visit their website: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~wipc2012/ 

Article: "The Fall and Rise of the Dark Knight – the Difficulty of Batman’s Life While He Exists"

August 20, 2012

The Scientific American blog post titled “The Fall and Rise of the Dark Knight – the Difficulty of Batman’s Life While He Exists”, published July 19, 2012, discusses the science behind Batman with emphasis on improving the Bat suit to reduce injury. Dr. Peter Cripton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, provides expertise and input on a better helmet for the Batsuit based on his research and development of the Pro-Neck-Tor helmet, also featured in the post.

The post was also featured on the website of the International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries (ICORD) Centre.

Congratulations: Two Mechanical Engineering Faculty Members Win Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service

July 6, 2012

Glenn Jolly, Engineering Technician, and Jennifer Pelletier, Manager of Undergraduate Affairs and Special Projects, were among three recipients of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service. This award recognizes the positive impact they have on the faculty and its employees.

Each received a personalized plaque and a $1,000 cheque presented by Dean Eric Hall during the annual Applied Science Staff Appreciation barbecue held on June 20th.

Congratulations again to Glenn Jolly and Jennifer Pelletier!

Read the full article here.

Graduation Reception 2012

June 29, 2012

The Department of Mechanical Engineering recently held their annual Graduation Reception ceremony.

The event was held in the CHBE atrium. It was an opportunity to recognize the achievements of exceptional students graduating from the Mech department. Congratulations to all recipients!

Letson Prizes (The Letson Prizes are given to the Head of the Graduating Class for each Option):
Stephen Ecklin (General Mechanical), Jennifer Reimer (Biomedical Option), Eric Buckley (Mechatronics Option), Robert Lion (Thermofluids Option)

Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering Gold Medal (The CSME Gold Medal is given for outstanding achievement.): Pimchanok Kwang Pithayachariyakul

APEG Achievement Award (The APEG Achievement Award is given to one graduating student in each Department who shows great promise.): Cole Crocker

Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Student Leader Award (The Outstanding Student Leader Award recognizes the top undergraduate student and the top graduate student who has demonstrate strong leadership skills and have made outstanding contributions to the Department and Faculty, specifically in the realms of student affairs, design competition teams, professional association student chapters, and other related activities.): Amanda Li (Undergraduate), Graeham Douglas (Graduate)

Degrees with Distinction (These students achieved an overall first-class average in second through fourth year courses.): Nicholas Andruschak, Eric Buckley, Keqin Chen, Hen Li Chin, Hung Keat Chua, Cole Crocker, Amanda Deacon, Mark Dyck, Stephen Ecklin, Gordon Evens, Joshua Fong, Song Ji, Mayank Kalra, Ryan Kelly, Philipp Krebs, Cassondra Kurenov, Xiao Li, Robert Lion, Matthew Maguire, Lindsay McInnes, Evan Meyer, Neal O’Grady, Jeffery Oakes, Trent Pehlke, Pimchanok Kwang Pithayachariyakul, Kimmy Poon, Andrew Reimer, Jennifer Reimer, Diego Ribas-Cadle, Ethan Stewart, John Van, Khai Yew, Thanet Ying-Udomrat, Jarrod Yip, Leon Ching Fung Yuen, Leon King Wah Yuen

Mechanical Engineering Student Leadership Award (This award is presented to students who have demonstrated leadership skills and made significant contributions to the Department and Faculty, specifically in the realms of student affairs, design competition teams, professional association student chapters, and other related activities.): Keqin Chen, Cole Crocker, Hamed Hosseini, Tom Huryn, Quang Huynh, Devjit Kanjilal, Cassondra Kurenov, Robert Lion, AJung Moon, Andrew Reimer

Capstone Design Awards (The Capstone Design Award goes to two teams who excelled in engineering design.):
“Mustang Buoyancy Test Chair” – Quang Huynh, Alvin Lam, Greg Looy, Sara Tahermaram
“Mu Chiao Optical Probe” – Richard Aang, Keqin Chen, Mark Dyck, Ian Wan