McMaster University Faculty of Engineering Vol.32 No.1 Spring 2007 Mac EngineerTH

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Students Invent Life-Saving Device page 15

› Government Fuels Auto Research

› All Avatars Are Invited

Computer Science comes to EngineeringI am pleased to report that, starting in Sep-tember 2007, the Faculty of Engineering will become the home to students in Computer Sci-ence. As you probably know, Computer Science students at McMaster are currently in the Facul-ty of Science, even though they are in Comput-ing and Software, which is a department within the Faculty of Engineering. The new organiza-tion should simplify matter considerably! Students in the new Computer Science I direct-entry program will have the choice of

three programs at the end of their first year at McMaster. The new Honours Computer Science program will have a greater emphasis on appli-cations, to reflect Engineering’s usual focus. We are also introducing a second program, Honours Business Informatics, which will help students acquire the skills to effectively apply the science of computing to the needs of business. A third program, Honours Medical Informatics, will be inaugurated in September 2008 and will focus on the computing needs of hospitals and phar-maceutical industries. The degree designation will also change from a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) to a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) to reflect the new applied emphasis. All three undergraduate programs are designed to meet the accredita-tion requirements of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) and will run in paral-lel with our Software Engineering programs, which are accredited by the Canadian Engineer-ing Accreditation Board (CEAB).

While still in their infancy, these programs are already generating international interest. Dr. Peter George, the University President, recently signed a 2+2 agreement with the Ansal Institute of Technology (AIT) during his recent trip to New Delhi. This agreement allows students to study at AIT for two years and then transfer to McMaster for the remaining two years of their program. Similar agreements are being negotiated in China and elsewhere. It is our hope that these partnerships will evolve over time and provide all of our students with a unique opportunity to study abroad and acquire valuable international experience. These developments coincide with a noticeable increase in the general demand for Computer Science graduates. Once these pro-grams are established, we anticipate that some 60 students will be enrolling in our first-year program every year, with additional students joining the Faculty in upper years as a result of our international agreements.

A Message from the Associate Dean

A Message from the DeanMo Elbestawi, Dean of Engineering

Peter SmithAssociate Dean

(Academic)

The Ontario automotive industry stands as one of the main pillars of the provincial econ-omy with a total output of more than $100B annually. McMaster’s vision is to create a world-class materials and manufacturing research cluster, offering pioneering research with a project-wide focus on innovation, commercialization and technology transfer to the Ontario automotive industry. Building on our ability to integrate research that couples together work in advance materials develop-ment, metal forming, polymer processing, casting, joining, and machining, we bring together a consortium of industry, academia and government partnerships. In March, Premier McGuinty was at McMas-ter and announced the Initiative for Automotive Manufacturing Innovation (IAMI), a newly created research consortium involving the Province of Ontario, McMaster University and Waterloo University, and 35 industrial partners. The total value of the initiative will be $46.5 million over five years through matching funds provided by both the industrial partners and the two universities. The focus of the consortium is to investigate and develop new technologies for producing lighter-weight, cost-competitive automobiles. It will be developing new generations of metal alloys, polymers, composites, and coatings, in-troducing advanced manufacturing processes,

and improving product performance. This new automotive initiative is under the leadership of David Wilkinson, co-director and principal investigator of IAMI, and Director of both the McMaster Centre for Automotive Materials and the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute, along with Saeid Habibi, professor, Mechanical Engineering. With their guidance you will see a new approach to tech-nology development and its rapid deployment in the automotive industry. On a personal note, I wish to share with you news about my move from the Dean’s Office to that of the Vice-President, Office of Research and International Affairs. After serving 6 years as the Dean in the Faculty of Engineering, I feel that the experience has been one of ac-complishment and personal growth as I have been working with a dynamic team of faculty and staff. We have expanded possibilities into realities. I will be assuming my new role as Vice-President as of July 1, 2007. It has been a privilege to have the opportuni-ty to serve the Faculty in the capacity of Dean, and I encourage you to continue your support of McMaster and the Faculty of Engineering. I look forward to an on-going interaction with our alumni and friends.

Alumni Profi les 4

Engineering News 6

MES News 13

Newsbriefs 16

Alumni Grapevine 18

Hey Alumni!Have you got something to say, or any other news? We would like to hear from you. Contact Carm Vespi:Tel: (905) 525-9140 ext. 24906Fax: (905) 546-5492e-mail: vespi@mcmaster.cawebsite: www.eng.mcmaster.ca

The MacEngineer is published by the Engineering Faculty for its alumni. Distribution assistance is provided by the Alumni Offi ce.

The MacEngineer is printed and produced by: Editor: Carm Vespi Art Direction and Design: Jay PrimeauContributing Writers: AdministrativeCoordinators, Terry Milson, Trudi Down, Carm Vespi, Eugene Nakonechny

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Welcome to the latest update on the research activities and accomplishments in the Faculty of Engineering. I am delighted to report several major research success stories involving engineer-ing faculty. In December 2006 and May 2007, the New Initia-tives Fund of the Canada Foundation of Innovation (CFI) and the Research Infrastructure Program of the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) announced co-funding of the Micro- and Nanosystems Labora-tory (Project Leader: M. Jamal Deen, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering). The Laboratory will be housed in the new engineering building and will enable researchers to combine dissimilar materials, devices, and components to create fully integrated micro- and nanosystems for targeted applications. The multi-disciplinary team includes members from Chemical Engineering, Engineering Physics, Materials Science & Engineer-ing, Medicine, and Pathology, as well as researchers from the Universities of Toronto and Waterloo. The total project cost is more than $10.6 million. On March 7, Premier Dalton McGuinty an-nounced $15.5 million in funding from the Government of Ontario to be used in the establish-ment of a $46.5 million Initiative for Automotive Manufacturing Innovation (IAMI) led by McMaster University and the University of Waterloo. IAMI is a newly created research consortium involving the Province of Ontario, the two universities and 35 industrial partners, ranging from principal OEM investor General Motors of Canada to major Tier 1 suppliers such as Linamar and Orlick Industries, and materials suppliers such as Dofasco and Nov-elis. According to David Wilkinson, co-director and principal investigator of IAMI, and director of both the McMaster Centre for Automotive Materials and the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute, a primary emphasis of IAMI will be to commercial-ize and quickly implement developments through an aggressive technology transfer program. The expertise of the Xerox Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at McMaster and the Centre of Busi-ness, Entrepreneurship and Technology at Waterloo will be used for this purpose. More than 200 young researchers are expected to be trained in this col-laborative research environment. Results of the latest round of competition in the CFI Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF) saw three successful applications from the Faculty: Qiyin Fang (Engineering Physics), “Time-domain optical spectroscopy and imaging for biomedical applica-tions”; Mehran Kasra (Mechanical Engineering),

“Biomechanics of musculoskeletal system at tissue and cellular levels”; and Hatem Zurob (Materials Science & Engineering), “Infrastructure for the Development and Characterization of Advanced Functionally Graded Materials”. The three projects represent a total of almost $300,000 in CFI funding. Congratulations to all! As part of the external relations portfolio, we continue to explore and develop international part-nerships in both research and education. Over the past few months, the Faculty entertained visitors from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique in Grenoble, France, and Nanyang Technical University of Singapore, as well as industrial representatives from Germany, the US, Israel, and Norway. Even more recently, we hosted a delegation of senior executives from the Catalonia region of Spain as part of a week-long visit to Ontario. Coordinated by Isidro García, Trade Commissioner (Science and Technology) with the Canadian Embassy in Madrid, the delegation included Àngela Bàguena i Maranges of the Catalan Ministry of Innovation, Universities, and Enterprise and Ramon Noguera i Hancock, coordinator of the Research Park of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). The UAB has more than 20 research centres and institutes, both public and private, as well as a number of business incubators and project-hosting facilities for industry research and development. The visit focused on sharing information and exploring potential collaborations in research, tech-nology transfer and industry relations, particularly in areas relating to materials science, nanotech-nology, biotechnology, biomedicine, automotive research, and water quality. Such interactions will be greatly aided by the signing on May 1st of a memorandum of understanding between Catalo-nia and the Province of Ontario, committing both constituencies to explore further partnerships and collaborations. The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Inc. and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) of Catalonia recently signed an agreement on enhanced collaborations in photonics. McMas-ter is well positioned in this area through its leader-ship role in the Ontario Photonics Consortium. Looking ahead, we are very excited about our participation in the fi rst Ontario-India Nanotech-nology Workshop, to be held from June 11 to 15, 2007 at the University of Waterloo. As part of the program, a high-level delegation representing nine universities and research centres across India will visit our campus and the Faculty on June 12. At the federal level, a broad-based Canadian nano-work-ing group/committee has been struck as part of a Canada-India S&T agreement. Jamal Deen will represent McMaster on the organizing committee for a bilateral Canada-India Nanoscience/nano-technology Networking Workshop, to be held in conjunction with the above visit. I will report on the outcome of this Workshop in a future edition of the MacEngineer.

A Message from the Associate Dean

Peter Mascher Associate Dean

(Research & External Relations)

“Being named Engineer of the Year was a great honour for me,” Tim Dobbie admits. “It is wonderful to be recognized by my engineering peers.” Dobbie (CivEng ’71) received the award in

October from the Hamilton-Halton Professional Engineers Chapter of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and the Hamilton Engi-neering Institute. “It is something that I’m very proud of and display the award in my office.” That office is located in the City of Burling-ton. Dobbie has for the past 33 years been with the City in various capacities, most recently as City Manager. In this position, which he has held since 1995, he oversees 700 employees and manages a budget of $100 million. He admits that the day-to-day work is a long way from engineering but credits his McMaster degree with helping him achieve his career goals. “I chose civil engineering because I had an interest in working for a municipality,” he explains. The best way to achieve that goal, he

believed, was through the civil engineering stream. He was correct! “My engineer-ing degree has been a benefit to my career throughout the 35 years I’ve been working.” While admitting that he has strayed from a strict engineering background, the knowledge learned from engineering courses has been invaluable. “Engineering teaches you how to solve problems by analyzing appropriate solu-tions and then to make a recommendation on one solution. This is basically what I do all day long as City Manager.” After graduating, Dobbie worked in Toronto and then for the City of Guelph as a Traffic Engineer. He joined the City of Burlington in 1974 as a Transportation Engineer. Later he was Executive Director of Community Services with responsibility for fire protection, parks and recreation, and special projects. Prior to his appointment as City Manager, Dobbie had been the General Manager of Development and Infrastructure, in charge of the Planning, Building, and Engineering Departments. Having been born and raised in Hamilton played only a small part in his selection of

university. Dobbie says he chose McMaster because of the strength of its en-

gineering program. An added bonus was the fact

that most classes during the late 1960s were fairly small. “Students received a good deal of individual assistance,” he remembers. Dobbie, who will retire in June this year, lives in Burlington with his wife and two teen-age daughters, while a son currently lives in Hamilton. He has been active over the years in community affairs, serving on the Board of Di-rectors of the Hamilton-Burlington United Way (President, 2002-2003), the Hamilton-Burlington YMCA, and the Institute of Public Administra-tion of Canada (IPAC). He is currently presi-dent of the Ontario Municipal Administrators’ Association (OMAA) and a Board member of Burlington Hydro. For relaxation, he enjoys golf and traveling. As a family, the Dobbies have been to Japan and Australia. Tim and his wife Cheryl also like cruising, with Italy ranking as one of their most favourite places to visit.

Tim Dobbie – Beyond Management

“The work volume, work ethic, problem solving skills, and team work that are required to complete an engineering degree are the perfect founda-tion for the real world of business. There is no better parallel!”

Nick Romano (MechEng & Mgmt ’94) speaks highly of the courses he took and the experiences he encountered as a student at McMaster. Although his career path turned out differently from what he had originally planned, a foundation in engineering has been invalu-able to his ongoing success, he says. “I have always been technical but knew that I would eventually be following the business end of my career. Engineering & Management provided a way to chase both interests simultaneously.” Mechanical engineering was Romano’s choice of discipline because it was expected he would enter the family business. Instead

he chose an IT path after graduation, working at CP Rail in the information technology area. There he met Steve Biancaniello, an engineer-ing grad from the University of Waterloo. Romano and Biancaniello left CP to work in a small technology company. In 1998 when the tech “bubble” burst, the two entrepreneurs started Prinova Technologies. Now as President of Prinova, Romano often muses on how the engineering degree has been a benefit to his career. Only engineering students and graduates can truly appreciate the effort required to successfully complete the program, he says. Regardless which engineering discipline a student selects, engineering in gen-eral is intense. It promotes a discipline to detail and a structure by which problems are solved. “Taking it one step further, as an entrepreneur I can say that the long hours, late nights and strict deadlines were my world at Mac – these continue today at Prinova!” Toronto-based Prinova specializes in consult-ing, design, and systems integration services for Fortune 1000 companies across North America. Clients come from the banking, financial services, insurance, healthcare, and utilities

industries. The company helps these organiza-tions communicate with their customers by improving and coordinating their paper, Web, and human touch-points. The name Prinova came from a brainstorm-ing session at the time the company was found-ed. It is a combination of the words “print” and “innovation”. Prinova’s roots are in the print delivery channel for customer communications, Romano explains. “If you’ve received a visa bill in the mail or looked at your bank statement online – that’s what Prinova does.” Over the last 9 years, Prinova has grown to a team of 40 staff across North America and has been named to the PROFIT 100 Canada’s Fast-est Growing Companies for 2 years running. Recently, it opened a Research & Development Centre in Waterloo where a new enterprise software platform is being built. “While I do not pretend to practice engi-neering today, I remain a Professional Engineer as a member of the PEO and wear my ring proudly. I would not be where I am today without my experiences at Mac and the unique programs that Mac offers.”

Nick Romano – Engineering a Successful Career

4 The MacEngineer

Alumni Profiles

In Memoriam Brian Latto1937 – 2006 The Department of Mechanical Engineering was saddened by the death of Brian Latto, BSc (Eng), PhD, P. Eng., C. Eng, in Hamilton on December 14, 2006. Dr. Latto was a professor in the Department from 1965-1997 and since then, was Professor Emeritus with the Department. Dr. Latto was educated in Great Britain, receiving his BSc from the University of London (1960) and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Glasgow. In 1984, he was the recipient of the Engineering Teaching Award from the McMaster Student Union. He held a Senior Industrial Research Fellowship in the R&D Centre at Stelco Inc. in Hamilton, was a part-time lecturer at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, and was President of Mixis Corporation from 1988 until his death. In addition to his professional career, Dr. Latto enjoyed sculpting and had a great love of music. He is survived by his wife, three children and one grandchild.

David J. BraithwaiteThe McMaster Engineering Society was sad to learn of the death of David J. Braithwaite who passed away on March 29, 2007.

It may seem strange for a man to be keen about both fishing and raising thoroughbred horses. The first brings up im-ages of sleepy relaxation; the other injects an adrenaline rush and a quickening of the heart rate.

It’s not a contradiction to James Mann (Mech Eng 84). “I really like fishing and the outdoors,” he says, and he has great admira-tion for horses and the environment. He finds time away from his everyday work to run a salmon fishing charter business on Lake Ontario (www.bigfish.ca ) and to raise thoroughbreds on his farm in Port Perry (www.spiritrun.ca ). But these are not his only passions. When not fishing or mucking out, Mann is principle and president of Toronto-based Mann Engineering (www.mannengineering.com ), which specializes in energy management in large buildings. James started Mann Engineering in 1988 and had driven the company into a multi-branch engineering and construction operation with over 40 engineers and technicians serving all of Ontario and with services to other provinces. “I have a passion for the environment. I am actively involved with community environment events, greenhouse gas reduction, as well as wet-land restoration and preservation.” His firm supplies technologies, engineering and construction services in commercial, insti-tutional and industrial facilities. It offers a broad range of consulting, engineering, procurement and construction services for all areas of the energy conservation market, including HVAC, boilers, auto-mation and alternate energy. “We at Mann have eliminated more than 210,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere through

the implementation of energy conservation strate-gies for large commercial clients in Canada,” he says proudly. “The company has become one of the leading solar energy companies in the country and incorporates renewable technologies into many energy conservation projects.” Kingston’s Homestead Land Holdings, Great-West Life Assurance Co. of Winnipeg, Greenwin Properties of Toronto, and Hamilton-based Effort Trust are some of the companies that Mann Engi-neering has worked with to upgrade buildings by means of energy efficient technologies in an effort to improve the environment. When James Mann was deciding on a university, he chose McMaster because it had a well-known and well-respected engineering program that was recognized world-wide. “I chose Mechanical Engineering due to the broad range of applications and opportunities in the market. I was especially interested in thermodynamics and automation.” After graduating, he worked for a time as me-chanical design engineer in industrial and automo-tive process automation, spending much of his time in the United States. While at Volvo Canada in the industrial automation division, he was responsi-ble for the installation of an $80-million automated guided vehicle (AVG) system at the GM Oshawa plants (still the largest installation of its kind in the world). As the North American Marketing Manager for the Siemens line of HVAC products, he imple-mented energy conservation programs at Toronto’s Skydome and hundreds of other facilities. Mann’s current involvement with environmen-tal groups and activities is supported by his wife along with their four children who, he says, have developed a great sense of environmental responsi-bility and commitment. That’s not surprising, given who their Dad is!

James Mann – The Energy to Succeed

Mac grad Jeff More is Chief Executive Officer at Trylon TSF, a global telecommunica-tions infrastructure company operating in over 25 coun-tries. To many, Trylon might be best known for the manufacture of pre-engi-neered communications

towers. Based in Elmira, Ontario, Trylon has manu-factured more than 50,000 towers for a diverse range of projects from its 84,000 sq. ft. plant. But there is much more to this 50-year-old Canadian company whose name is derived from the phrase “triangular pylon”. “We provide a full turn-key service in the design and construction of cellular networks,” explains More. “This includes design of the physical network, design and manufacture of

the towers and related accessories, project man-agement, and site construction.” The company has over 700 employees in 14 offices spread throughout Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As CEO, More finds himself traveling quite a bit during the course of a year. North American projects, where the market for telecommunications networks is mature, differ dramatically from those the company has handled in developing countries, he notes. “In developing countries, we are building first-time networks. The country is going from no telephone service at all – no land-line service – to a full wireless service.” People in these countries adapt very readily, he adds. They are excited to be able to communicate among each other and between communities. In developing countries, the system typically works on a prepaid service

Jeff More – Towering In His Field

The MacEngineer 5continued on page 11

Solar Car Shines

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has provided a $4.5 million grant to support research into nano-devices at McMaster University. The fund-ing is part of a $10.6 million initiative to expand existing nano-fabrication and integration facilities

and establish a Micro- and Nanosystems Labo-ratory. Jamal Deen, Professor of electrical and computer engineer-

ing and the Canada Research Chair in Information Technology, is the project

leader for the initiative. Engineering researchers are looking to develop miniaturized, low-cost and easy-to-use prototypes for imaging and sensing that could be used in healthcare and environmental applications. The imaging and sensing technologies being developed

would be non-invasive, removing the discomfort, expense, and risk associated with many screening procedures, such as a colonoscopy. Researchers will integrate dissimilar technologies such as semi-conductors, DNA, nano-wires and polymers into “smart systems”. Current research projects include: a miniature (pill-sized) device that will provide early detection of abnormal cells inside the body; an imaging and communication system for non-invasive screening systems such as the breast, pancreas and gastroin-testinal tract and the relaying of information to an external receiver; developing ingestible and insert-able non-invasive imagers for routine screening of pancreatic and gastrointestinal tumors; sensors that can detect food- and water-borne pathogens.

6 The MacEngineer

The Light Metal Casting Research Centre (LMCRC), opened at McMaster in October 2006, will work with industry and government to advance automotive casting research for engines and body panels. The goal is to help develop lighter, stronger, and more fuel-effi cient automobiles. The Centre was established through the support of the Braley-Orlick Chair in Advanced Manufacturing, as well as through collaborative projects with federal and provincial governments and with industry. Current project partners include Orlick Industries, General Motors, Burlington Technologies, Alcan International, and Magna Powertrain.

Centre Focuses on Lighter, More Effi cient Cars

Solar Car Shines

Nano-Research Receives Funding

The Ontario Government has given McMaster $15.5 million toward the establishment of the Initiative for Automotive Manufacturing Innovation (IAMI). The funds were made available through the Ontario Research Fund’s Research Excellence Program. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, a McMaster science graduate, made the announce-ment in March during a visit to his alma mater. The newly created $46.5-million research consortium involves the Province of Ontario,

McMaster and the University of Waterloo, and 35 industrial partners including principal OEM inves-tor General Motors of Canada, and suppliers such as Linamar, Orlick Industries, Dofasco, and Novelis. The Initiative will focus designing lighter metal for building cars by using steel, aluminum and mag-nesium. It is expected that lighter cars will bolster the province’s $100-billion auto industry and help the environment through gas savings.

Government Fuels Auto Research

ENGINEERING NEWS

For more information, please check the Web site at www.solarcar.mcmaster.ca

McMaster’s solar car Phoenix wowed visitors, especially youngsters, at the Toronto-based Canadian International Autoshow in February. This was Phoenix’ debut at the Autoshow; a previous model known as Fireball II made an appearance at the show in 2003. Phoenix is a lightweight, aerodynamic electric car that can travel up to 100 km/hr. Solar cells transform the sun’s rays into electricity, which is then stored in lithium-ion batteries until needed by the electric motor. The Phoenix is the result of the efforts of more than 100 members from all departments in the Faculty of Engineering who comprise the McMaster Solar Car Project. Faculty advisor for the Project is Dr John Preston of the Department of Engineering Physics.

The MacEngineer 7

New Lab Homes In On RFID Research The new McMaster RFID (radio frequency iden-tification) Application Lab (MRAL) is an initiative between McMaster University and EPCglobal Canada, Hewlett-Packard, IPICO, RF Code, Deloitte, Sun Microsystems, LRNI, and Ontario Centres of Excellence. MRAL, the only initiative of its kind in Canada, is located at the McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton. Radio frequency identification is being adopted in industries such as supply chain management, manufac-turing, retail, financial services, and public health. MRAL will provide a hub for applications-oriented RFID research and develop-ment between academia and multiple industries, promoting investigation in technology, social policy, commercialization and busi-ness process. In addition to working on a pilot project with Hamilton Health Sciences to develop an equip-

ment management system, the Lab is collaborat-ing with private and public sector organizations to provide contract research services, proof-of-concept facilities, advisory services, and student and professional training. Four centres at McMaster are involved in the initiative: the Xerox Centre for Engineering

Entrepreneurship & Innovation, the Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy, the McMaster Centre for Emerging Device Technologies, and the McMaster eBusiness Research Centre. The idea for establishing MRAL came from former McMaster student Pankaj Sood, now MRAL Commercialization Manager. He identified the need and pur-sued it as his enterprise start-up project while a student at the University’s Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation (XCEEI). According to IDTechEx, the total value of the RFID market including systems and

services will grow from $2.71 billion in 2006 to $26.23 billion in 2016.

Doug Barber Receives Order of Canada

In a show of support for engineer-ing entrepreneurship, Bell Canada announced in October a $1-million investment in the University’s Master of Engineering Entrepre-neurship and Innovation (MEEI) program. The funding, which will be provided over the next five years, will focus on systems and technology development initia-tives. MEEI students will work collaboratively with Bell employees to research and evaluate business breakthroughs. MEEI was established to provide engineers and scientists with the skills necessary to transform technical expertise into commer-cial success.

Bell Invests in MEEI Program

Mamdouh Shoukri, McMaster’s vice-president of research and international affairs, has been named the new President of York University. The appointment takes effect on July 1, 2007. Shoukri will be the 7th President and Vice-Chancellor of the Toronto-based institution. Shoukri joined McMaster faculty in 1984 and was appointed Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1a990. In 1994,

he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. Since 2001, he has held the posi-tion as VP of research and international affairs. He is also a member of the Ontario Research and Innovation Council (ORIC). Prior to his academic appointment, Shoukri worked in various capacities with the research division of Ontario Hydro. At the announcement of his appointment, Shoukri noted that the decision to leave McMaster was a hard one to make. “The Uni-versity has been a part of my life since I was a graduate student. I am profoundly grateful for the many opportunities the University has

given me and for the support I’ve received for taking on this new challenge.” University Presi-dent Peter George noted the many con-tributions Shoukri has made to McMaster in areas such as attract-ing promising students and researchers, devel-oping new programs and fostering outreach to industry. “We will miss his guidance and vision.”

VP Research Leaves for York

Douglas Barber, the Faculty of Engineering’s distinguished professor-in-residence, was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in February. Barber, who is also a member of the Board of Governors at McMaster and chaie of the Dean’s advisory board, was recognized for his contributions to the Canadian microelectronics industry over the past 30 years. Barber holds degrees from the University of Saskatchewan (MSc) and from Imperial College, University of London (PhD), both in electrical

engineering. He is co-founder and former CEO of Gennum Corporation, the Burlington-based company that designs and manufactures integrated circuits used in hearing aids, recording studios and high-definition video. He has been influential in the development of many initiatives in the field including the Canadian Semiconductor Design Association and the Canadian Semiconductor Technology Conference.

As of February 21, the Faculty of Engineering has a presence on Second Life, the Internet’s popular resident-built 3-D virtual world. Café Fireball is a Moroccan-style building located on Info Island II. It’s a place to meet and chat about such engineering topics such as sustainable devel-opment and nanotechnology, and a place for avatars to collect information about engineering programs offered by McMaster. “We chose a multicultural theme to celebrate McMaster’s diversity and to recognize the many engineering breakthroughs that have come from the East,” says Lucy Sheung, the Faculty’s outreach and enrolment manager. The first floor of the two-storey building houses the virtual café. The design of the espresso ma-chines were chosen to reflect the industrial design component of engineering. One is an antique Victoria Arduino; the other is a more modern Italian design. The second floor “difference” engine is a tribute to Charles Babbage, a Victorian math-ematician who developed the blueprints for a gear-driven computer. The difference engine houses

an interactive guide to engineering programs at McMaster. A podcast listening station allows avatars to listen to Radio Fireball, a podcast series discuss-ing life as an engineering student at McMaster. The roof will house exhibits and displays. “Second Life is a leading-edge social networking tool. It is well-suited to international recruitment, especially for students interested in 3-D gaming environments, programming and graphical interfaces,” explains Sheung. “It gives us not only an innovative outreach tool, but exposure to a rich new learning and education medium for students and faculty.” This is McMaster’s second established destina-tion on Second Life. Last fall, the University’s library opened its virtual doors, and now offers its entire catalogue to the community’s more than three million residents. Café Fireball can be found on Second Life, Info Island II at 235,220,35. If you are not currently registered with Second Life, follow the registration process starting at “Join Now.” Basic membership is free.

ENGINEERING NEWS

8 The MacEngineer

The 29th Annual Bell Lecture, held on campus in February, explored the next generation of new di-agnostic and treatment devices, and their potential application in health care and the environment. The talk, entitled Parallel Revolutions: How Breakthroughs in Electronics and Biology are Converging at the Molecular Level, was delivered by James Hollenhorst, vice-president and director of Molecular Technology at Agilent Laboratories in Santa Clara, California. Hollenhorst, who received a PhD in physics from Stanford University, is a former editor of the

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, a member of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics, and a Fellow of the IEEE. He described some of the new measurement methods enabled by applying the techniques of electronics to the problems of life scientists. The annual Bell Lecture series is organized by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. It was created in honour of Alexander Graham Bell and features an outstanding speaker on a topic in information and emerging technologies.

Lecture Focuses on Electronics + Biology

Over 800 high school students from across Ontario attended the McMaster Engineering and Science Olympics on a Thursday in October. Competi-tions in the highly popular annual event included Engineering Jeopardy, construction of a Canada Arm-type product from plastic straws, program-ming a robot, and the infamous egg drop. McMaster entrance awards totaling over $20,000 were presented to the top student teams in each event. A special teachers’ challenge event provides an additional $7,000 in tuition awards for students selected by their teachers.

Both McMaster Engineering teams entered in the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) earned second place honours. This year’s CEC was held in Saskatoon in March. Corey Centen and Nilesh Patel, fourth-year electrical and biomedical engineering students, earned silver in the Innovative Design category. Lauren Davies (chemical and bioengineering), Marka Jansen (chemical and bioengi-neering), Paul Okrutny (materials science and engineering), and Patrick Wilson (engineering physics) took home silver in the Consulting Engi-neering category. Each team competed against seven other Canadian universities in their category. The competition consists of six categories: Innovative Design, Consulting Engineering, Team Design, Senior Design, Debate and Communication. Twenty-one Canadian universities were represented at the national competition. Teams qualify for the CEC by first winning their univer-sity engineering competition and then by placing first or second at regional competitions.

It’s Silver! Twice!

Science Olympics A Huge Success

All Avatars Are Invited

Globalization influences the lives of people throughout the world. In the 21st century the global nature of the engineering profession makes a study abroad experience both attractive and necessary. The Engineering Study Abroad Program (ESAP) is a summer educational option that allows engineering students to broaden and enhance their education, to develop a global view of engineering, and to get cross-cultural experience during a summer semester (May-June). In this program, engineering students and former graduates from all majors as well as students from other Universities can take courses offered by McMaster University and its international partner universities.

How it Works The ESAP list of courses – including courses offered by McMaster University (Canada), Michigan State University (U.S.), and Volgograd State University of Architecture and Civil Engi-neering (Russia) – is advertised to students at the three universities. (A Memorandum of Agree-ment on Academic co-operation has been signed by the participating universities). Students who participate in the program take engineering courses, have field trips to see industrial companies, and enjoy many cultural activities/events during their stay abroad. The primary location of the Sum-mer 2007 Program is Volgograd, Russia – a city with rich history, cultural and industrial traditions. Volgograd is located in southern Russia on the Volga River. Students will also visit St. Petersburg and Moscow where they will explore the famous historical and cultural centers and attractions of these two cities. In addition, there will

be opportunities for participants to meet with students and faculty

members from several leading Russian Universities to discuss

the current and future developments of

engineering in

Eastern European countries. This summer, students will also visit Cologne (Germany) where they will meet students and faculties from the University of Applied Sciences and experi-ence the beauty of medieval architecture and art. The program has received the support of the Government of Volgograd Region (Russia), the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada and the Consulate General in Toronto, the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA), and other governmental and non-governmental organizations. The ESAP started last year, 2006. This year twelve McMaster engineering students will participate in the program. “The appeal of the location is what first got me interested in the program,” said Carly Forsythe, a fourth-year civil engineering and management student, who participated in ESAP in 2006. “This was the perfect opportunity to

immerse myself in the culture instead of simply being a tourist.”

“There was an appeal to study in a culture that is relatively unknown to me,” said

Kevin McCullough, a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering and Management student. “To work study under Russian Nationals was a great learn-ing experience and gave me some insight on how to approach different cultures on a social and professional level.”

Our ExpectationsIncreasingly, companies are recognizing the value of an international experience obtained during university education. McMaster’s Engineering Study Abroad

Program is open to new contacts with universities and indus-trial companies from Russia,

Canada and other counties. We are convinced that such international co-operation can bring a real-life component into engineering education, and enhance the university graduate’s future career within the engineering profession.

A New Frontier Through International Co-operation in Engineering Education

The MacEngineer 9

Lecture Focuses on Electronics + Biology

Great Lakes Governance ExaminedMcMaster’s Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy is un-dertaking a study to evaluate current governance and accountability systems relating to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence ecosystem. The study, announced in October 2006, will also evaluate relevant international case studies, identify key stakeholders in the United States and Canada, and provide recommendations for future gover-nance. Study results will be provided to the Binational Executive Committee overseeing the review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initia-tive, and other Great Lakes institutions. For more information please log on to the Program Web site

www.eng.mcmaster.ca/esap or contact Dr. K.Kreyman at kreyman@mcmaster.ca, or phone 905-525-9140 ext 27950.

A new five-storey, 125,000 sq. ft. building to be constructed near the front entrance to the University is the first phase of a complex that will be shared by the Faculties of Engineering, Science and Health Sciences. The building will provide space for the School of Biomedical Engineering and the School for Engineering Prac-tice, Mechatronics and Energy Studies. Space will be allocated for research laboratories, classrooms and offices, meeting and presentation rooms, a machine shop, and student clubs. It is expected that the graduate schools will have approximately 45 new fac-ulty members, 280 graduate students, and 850 first-year students. The basement and first floor of the building will be used by first-year en-gineering students. The second floor will be allocated to the Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy, and the General Motors of Canada Centre for Engineering Design. The third floor will house research space for micro- and nano-systems. Labs for biomedical engineering will be located on the fourth floor, while the Mechatronics Centre will be located on the fifth floor along with research facilities for sustainable energy.

New Engineering Building Approved

Clock Restored by Susan Bubak

‘Twas the night before Kipling, and all through the campus, not a creature was stirring, except for a group of engineering students who wanted to leave their mark on McMaster before they graduated. Several students, including Ryan Gillespie and Klaus Werner (fourth-year mechanical engineering) and Steve Collee (fifth-year engineering and management) spent the night of March 22nd restoring the clock in front of the John Hodgins Engineering Building. They turned back the hands of time with a new coat of paint, new Plexiglas face covers, and four hours of polishing the clock’s copper features. They also installed energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs to illumi-nate the clock at night. “The actual work started at 10:30 p.m. on March 22,” said Gillespie. “We had a lot of help from some of the other graduat-ing mechanical engineering students. The

clock wouldn’t have come together without them. We worked through the night and finished up reinstalling the faces, hands and rings by approxi-mately 5:30 a.m. on March 23.” Gillespie described the project as part prank, part legacy gift. The makeover cost about $300,

which the students collected from the Faculty of Engineering. The clock isn’t working yet

because it still needs a new motor to power the hands, but the students hope

to get a new motor this summer. The Kipling Ceremony marks

an engineering student’s transition from academic to professional life. The ceremony includes the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer,

where students receive their iron rings as a reminder of their responsi-

bilities as engineers. It’s a tradition for graduating students

to carry out a prank before the ceremony. Previous Kipling pranks have involved parking

cars in unusual places, such as on top of the University Hall tower.

ENGINEERING NEWS

Nine engineering projects will receive financial support from The McMaster Laboratory Advance-ment Benefaction Endowment Fun (macLab) in 2007. Over $52,890 will be distributed to assist in such areas as purchasing surveying equipment (civil) and 32 additional computers for ITB/235 (CAS), and providing upgrades to the Materials 3T04 and EE 4B04 laboratories. One project from each of the Faculty’s seven departments was approved for fund-ing. In addition, the Bio-Engineering program and a special project to provide laptops for a first-year lab will also receive funding. Established in 1997, macLab is a student-funded program that assists in the renewal and upgrading of undergraduate laboratory facilities. Students are asked to voluntarily contribute $50 of their yearly tuition fee to the fund. The fund currently has grown to over $1.2 million (in principal), and has disbursed more than $260,000 in project funding.

Funding Makes a Difference

An Event of Fun and EducationIn October, McMaster hosted a Go ENG Girl event that attracted the participation of over 175 young girls from grades seven to eleven. The elementary and high school girls from Hamilton-Wentworth, Halton, Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk, and Niaga-ra regions descended on the campus for a half day of hands-on activities. Participants also had an opportunity to talk to women currently working in engineering, and to engineering women students to learn about career options and course programs. The goal of the province-wide initiative is to introduce young wom-en to engineering, to challenge and dispel stereotypes about engineering being a male only profession, and to highlight the wide range of careers in engineering that would be of inter-est to women. Special thank you to Dow Chemical and Hatch for spon-soring the event. 2007 Go Eng Girl will be on Saturday, October 13, 2007. http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/goeng_girl_07.htm

10 The MacEngineer

The MacEngineer 11

The Engineering Co-op & Career Ser-vices (ECCS) welcomes Lynn Stewart, PhD, who recently joined the office as Manager. Dr. Stewart is a McMaster University graduate and former Ses-sional Lecturer for the Faculty of Social Sciences. She has extensive senior management experience in an em-ployment counseling environment, combined with a solid background in business plan development, strategic planning, project development and evaluation, and human resources management. ECCS plans career information/ networking panels for McMaster Engineering students and we invite Engineering alumni to participate in these events to share experiences with current students and to help provide students with career-related information. We welcome ideas for new presenta-tions and workshops.

Career Panels/Networking Events We would like to offer Chemical, Civil, Materials Science and Mechanical panels during Winter 2007/08. Please contact us if you are interested in participating.

Employer-in-Residence Events Participate in these sessions (similar to faculty office hours) and meet with students in 15-minute intervals to discuss a variety of employment topics.

Information Sessions Host one of these events to discuss Co-op (or full-time) opportunities at your company. Information sessions are useful marketing tools when posting job opportunities and conducting inter-views at McMaster.

Engineering Co-op Program Whether your organization hires students for four-month Co-op work terms over the summer, or students who remain on-site for 12 to 16 months, we would be pleased to post these oppor-tunities in our online recruiting system. We can also set up on-campus inter-views if you are interested in meeting with any of the McMaster Engineering student applicants.

For more information, please con-tact ECCS at 905-525-9140, ext. 22571, or via email at engcar@mcmaster.ca.

Thank you for your support of McMaster Engineering students.

ECCS Update

Mamdouh Shoukri

The fall 2006 Convocation was a time for celebra-tion for two deserving engineering graduates. Christian van der Pol, a fourth-year Electrical & Biomedical Engineering student, received the Chancellor’s Gold Medal. Van der Pol has excelled as a student, earning a number of scholarships including the Bell Canada Scholarship, Atomic Energy of Canada Scholarship, the Dr. Harry Lyman Hooker Scholarship and the Herbert A. Ricker Scholarship. He achieved a perfect grade point av-erage in third year and joined the Provost’s Honour Roll. Van de Pol was named a Killam Fellow and received acceptance into a 2007 exchange with Harvard University. The Chancellor’s Gold Medal is awarded to an undergraduate student in his or her final year of study who ranks highest in scholar-ship, leadership and influence. Dr. Todd Hoare, who graduated in chemical engi-neering, received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. The Medal is awarded to the graduate stu-dent who achieves the highest academic standing in his or her graduate degree program. Dr. Hoare is now an NSERC post-doctoral fellow at MIT. He is developing in situ-cross-linkable hydrogel systems to facilitate local drug delivery and to regulate biological adhesions in the peritoneum and joints. He is also investigating anti-fungal coating and “smart” magnetically activated devices for patient-regulated drug release. Dr. Hoare earned a number

of awards while at McMaster, including the Julie Payette NSERC Research Scholarship, NSERC In-novation Challenge Prize, Dow Chemical Teaching Assistant Award, and R.B. Anderson Memorial Prize for Leadership. He has co-authored seven papers published in refereed journals and, in addition, he and his doctoral thesis supervisor have applied for a U.S. patent on glucose-responsive microgels.

Fall 2006 Convocation Highlights

Jeff Moore Profile continued from page 3

basis. “Each customer buys a little chip that goes into the phone and lasts for a certain period of time,” More explains. “Even the street vendors sell them. It’s kind of startling the first time you see a vendor selling phone chips along with produce like bananas!” After graduating with his BEng (ChemEng & Mgmt, 86), More gained experience in sales, marketing, plant management, business manage-ment and corporate development in a variety of industries. These diverse experiences included es-tablishing a joint venture with a China-based firm involved with aluminum extrusion and running a global robotics business for a Canadian capital equipment manufacturer. An engineering degree provides a foundation of understanding for working in technical and indus-trial-based enterprises, he says. While he has not been in a “pure” engineering role for some time, most of the businesses he has been involved with included a significant engineering component. “It would be difficult to lead and manage an engineer-ing-based company if you had no background in engineering at all. An engineering education

provides one with the ability to interface with engineers working in multiple disciplines.” More didn’t really know what career path he wanted to pursue prior to enrolling at McMaster, although he was leaning towards business manage-ment. That’s why he decided on the Engineering and Management combination program. “I felt the engineering education would give me the background in how to design and manufacture products, while the management side would edu-cate me on how to finance a company and sell and market products.” His Mac memories include courses taken with Dr. Don Woods. “He always had such great energy and enthusiasm for the subject material. He also did a very good job of including practical material that would put the academic principles into con-text.” More also enjoyed playing Marauders football and rugby. When not traveling on business, More enjoys the busy life he shares with his wife and four teenagers, which includes daily activities such as hockey, soccer, dance, as well as taking time off to travel to various locations for family vacations.

Christian Van der Pol

Adapted from an article by Professor Malcolm Baird, Department of Chemical Engineeringand Sam Marcuson, Director of Process Research , CVRD Inco published in CIM Magazine (February 2007)

Reasons for IACs • corporate research labs being phased out• pressure from governments to make universities

more relevant to society

Benefits to the Corporation• gain from researchers’ expertise, skills, and

enthusiasm as applied to the problems and challenges

• low costs

Benefits to the Academic• offers researchers additional funding apart from

government grants• provides a linkage between theory and computer

modeling with the practical applications• provides a sense of usefulness beyond academia

Challenges to Developing a Successful IAC• industry-related work seen by academics as less

valuable (or a hindrance) in terms of tenure and future advancement

• IAC projects can make heavy demands on an academic’s time

• perception by industry that academics are not practical, are oblivious to deadlines, are interested in their own special field

Keys to Successful IACs• start with a small project• both sides need to practice patience• realize that most IAC projects call for a generalist

approach (from the academic side)• projects and their problems/challenges will take

time to address• industrial partners need to realize that the

academic is not a company employee• successful projects have a fit with the academic’s

skills and interests• industrial partner must recognize that the

academic has to publish papers; the academic must be sensitive to the company’s desire to protect intellectual property

Professor Baird has had a long and successful association with CVRD Inco (formerly Inco Limited), starting in 1988. In October, he was asked to present an overview of all the IAC projects for the benefit of CVRD Inco management. (The overview has since been published in the February 2007 issue of CIM Magazine.)

Forging Successful Industry/Academic Collaborations

As many students pack to head home for the summer, two McMaster students prepare for a summer overseas volunteer term through the McMaster chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Denis Beaulne and Daniel Langdon, who were se-lected for the summer 2007 overseas junior fellowship program, will be travelling to Malawi and Ghana, respectively. Bealune will be working with Canadian Physicians for AIDS Relief in Lilongwe,

Malawi, which is in the central region of the country. Langdon is travelling to Saboba, Ghana, and will be working mainly with the mu-nicipal government to increase the avail-ability and quality of resources to women. Bealune and Langdon will be report-ing their experiences through personal blogs, which can be accessed through the chapter’s website (see below). When they return in the fall,

Overseas with ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS by Sura Abdul-Razzak

12 The MacEngineer

The Faculty’s Applause and Accolades event recognizes the successes and contributions of its engineering faculty, staff and students. The special gala is a way to celebrate their collective achieve-ments, as they win awards, are recognized by their peers, or are appointed to positions such as research chairs. The 2007 celebratory event was held on May 10 at the Sheridan Hamilton Hotel. Applause and Accolades was created to publicly acknowledge the success of our corporate partnerships and our internal successes within the Faculty, and to bring awareness of these successes to the campus community, to the wider Hamilton community, and to alumni and our industry partners. As well as our internal people, there are individuals outside McMaster who also deserve recognition for their achievements

and contributions to the Fac-ulty. For this reason, we have developed the corporate leadership award to be given to an external candidate. This year’s recipient of the Faculty of Engineering Leadership Award is Joseph Liburdi, President of Liburdi Engineering. He was recog-nized as a corporate partner who has had an important

impact on our research and educational programs, as well as for provid-ing leadership, vision and contributions to the Faculty’s mission. The L.W. Shemilt Distinguished Engi-neering Alumni Award is intended to hon-our alumni whose accomplishments and contributions are of national and/or inter-national significance and which may have had a transformative impact on their field of endeavour. This year’s recipient, Stephen Elop, was recognized for his leadership contributions to the multimedia industry as former President of Macromedia.

Partnerships and Successes Recognized

continued on page 19

Pictured (left to right):Joseph Liburdi and Sephen Elop

Steve Remilli is the new president of the McMaster Engineering Society (MES) for the 2007-2008 term. Re-milli’s appointment was announced during the annual Fireball Engineer-ing Formal in January. A fourth-year mechanical engineering and manage-ment student, he assumed his new position on March 14. Associate Director of the Engineer-ing and Management program, David Conochie, is the recipient of the MES Teaching Appreciation Award. The award, presented for the first time at this year’s Fireball gala, recognizes teaching staff within the Faculty who demonstrate dedication to student academic and extracurricular development and service to the MES. In addition to his leadership with the Engineering and Management program, Conochie supports the Society as an advisor and is a judge for engineering competitions. Daniel Borrelli and Jackson Wiegman were presented with the President’s Award for their work on the MES Executive Council. Deborah Lee and Lija Fogels received Council Appreciation Awards for their work in their counsel roles and their im-pact as a whole on the MES. Katelyn Smith, Jennifer Drake and Steve Quinlan each received an Image of an Engineer Award for contibutions in improving the image of an engi-neer through extracurricular, leader-ship and/or community activities.

MES News

On its annual Santa Hog campaign day in December, the McMaster Engineering Society (MES) raised $2,000 for Interval House – a record amount for six hours of “hogging”. Hamilton’s Interval House is a non-profit agen-cy that serves women who are in, or have been in, abusive relationships. Services provided include safe residential emergency shelter and hous-ing available 24 hours a day, seven days a week (including all meals, emergency clothing and personal items), as well as outreach services, legal

advocacy services, confidential crisis telephone counseling, and child and youth counseling. Every year before exams, a group of engineer-ing students led by the MES Culture Chair and the Redsuits (the engineering spirit leaders) visit classes and offices, spreading pre-exam holiday cheer, singing carols, and collecting donations. The MES thanks all students and faculty who donated to the campaign, and those professors who agreed to let their classes partici-pate in Santa Hog.

Hoggers Raise Record Amount

The MacEngineer 13

Alumnus Matthew Rosato (‘03) is the recipient of the 2007 Computer Applications Best Paper Award from the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST), for his paper Thinking Outside the Storage Box. The award is presented for best technical paper submitted to the AIST Process Automation and Control Technology Division. The winning paper will be considered for the AIST Hunt-Kelly Outstand-ing Paper Award in 2008. Rosato, who is currently working for Com Dev Ltd in Cambridge, Ontario, is enrolled in part-time MBA studies at McMaster and will graduate in 2009 with a specialty in Manage-ment of Innovation and New Technology (MINT).

McMaster’s concrete toboggan won the 33rd annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race held in Winnipeg during February. The tobog-gan’s recorded top speed was 69.2 km/h. McMaster’s 24-member toboggan team began planning the design in May 2006; construction started in September using materials donated by Hy-Grade Precast Concrete of St. Catharines. The toboggan had to weigh less than 300 pounds and hold five riders. All surfaces in contact with the snow must be made of concrete, but the frame and braking devices can be made with a material of the team’s choice. “The concrete skis were arranged in a GT snow racer fashion, with two 6-foot side skis and a 2-foot steering ski at the front,” said Matt

Polera, co-captain of the team. “These were all mounted on an aluminum superstructure which houses the braking system and roll cage to protect riders in the event of a roll-over.” The aluminum was donated by Russel Metals Inc in Hamilton, “which helped to greatly offset the substantial costs of entering such a competition,” Polera said. More than 20 teams from engineering schools across the country participated in the race this year. Points were awarded for best overall design, fastest speed, best team spirit, best technical report and other criteria. In addition to winning the race, the McMaster team also placed second in both technical report and team spirit.

Concrete Wins the Day

The 15th Annual Engineering Physics Alumni and Undergraduate Forum attracted a number of distin-guished alumni: Adam Leslie (B.Eng.Mgt 2000) from Leggett & Platt-Automotive Group; Charlie Elliott (B.Eng.Mgt 06) from Innovative Finishing Solutions; Mike Schincariol (B.Eng. 98) from Gennum Corpo-ration; and Jenn Garrett (B.Eng.Mgt 06) from Bruce Power. In addition, Peter Tiley (B.Eng. 70) from G.L. Tiley & Associates Ltd, and PhD student Avery Yuen (B.Eng. Mgt 05) both generously agreed to partici-pate on the panel at the last minute. Addressing the undergrads in attendance, panel members outlined their careers since leaving McMaster, and described how the Engineering Physics program had prepared them for the workforce. Ray LaPierre, associate chair (undergraduate), acted as Moderator for the event, held on Friday, March 30. Following the presentations, alumni mixed and

mingled with old friends, professors and staff. Oth-er alumni who were able to attend included Andrew Dawes, Kirk Lau, Thomas Ip, Anthony Colebrander, Dan Goguen, Isabel Berger, Jamie Smith, Daryl Wallace, Brian Mitchell, and Joel Hilchey. The forum was followed by a social in the Wentworth House Lounge where undergraduates had an opportunity to talk informally with faculty and alumni. This forum is a valuable learning experience for our undergraduates and the Department is eager for this contact with the alumni to continue. If you missed the event, but would be interested in participating in the next forum or in coming to McMaster to present a seminar to the undergrads, please contact Fran Allen, Engineering Physics Department, McMaster University, L8S 4L7, Tel(905) 525-9l40, Ext. 24548, or e-mail, allenf@mcmaster.ca.

Eng Physics Forum Connects

14 The MacEngineer

ENGINEERING STUDENT NEWS

Engineering alumni are supporting the newly-created McMaster Mini Baja Team with funds raised at a November 2006 Charity Casino Night. In addition, the Mechanical Engineering department has taken a bronze level sponsorship in support of the club. The new engi-neering student club was established in the fall of 2006 with an operating budget of $15,000. Current co-cap-tains are Matt Green and Jeremy Dutka. Full details are available at www.mcmasterminibaja.com . The mini Baja car is based on the larger dune-buggie type vehicles which compete in the popular Baja race. The vehicle is a cross between a go-kart and an ATV. Most go-karts have very responsive handling and acceleration but no suspen-sion; ATV’s typically have rugged suspension that gives them access to remote areas. The mini Baja car combines the best of both worlds – a go-kart that can go off-roading! The Mini Baja competition is held annually by the Society of Automo-tive Engineers (SAE). The challenge is to design and build a working mini Baja car that meets the SAE’s stringent safety standards, yet still be cost effective and have ease of manufacturability. Every team uses the same stock 10hp engine very generously donated by Briggs and Stratton. No modifications are allowed to the engine. The competi-tion has a variety of static events including a cost breakdown along with a reproducibility report, and dynamic events like the mud bog and hill climb. These are followed by a 4-hour endurance race. The 2007 SAE Mini Baja competi-tion will take place in Rochester, New York, from June 7th to 10th.

New Team for Engineering Students

Software Engineering Students Tested

Over 130 Girl Guides earned their engineer-ing and science badges through a specially designed Venture En-gineering and Science Camp in March. The girls who belonged to various packs in Hamilton, Burlington, Mount Albion, Rock-ton, and Woodburn attended the day-long event on Saturday March 24th. To qualify for their badges, participants had to complete one of two activities: build an interactive mouse trap car

or create a scientific DNA extraction project. The day also included discussions about engineering and sci-ence and how they relate to everyday life, and a visit to the Planetarium. McMaster Universi-ty’s Venture Engineering and Science Program is a non-profit, student-run

summer program for children. This is the fourth year a special event has been organized to assist local Girl Guides in obtaining their science and engineering badges.

Guides Earn Their Badges

Two teams of McMaster software engineering students placed first and second in the seventh annual Software Engineering Design Project Competition in April. The competition, sponsored by IBM, is part of the senior software engineer-ing capstone design project in SFWR ENG 4G06. Seven teams participated in the competition and were judged on an established set of criteria by a panel of IBM judges. This year’s project challenged teams of five or six students to develop Remote Image Guided Autonomous Rescue Robots (RIGARR). The inspi-ration for the project comes from real life rescue robots, which are used in a disaster when the conditions are too dangerous for humaan rescuers. The teams were given a digital image showing the destinations they had to reach and the obstacles blocking their path. Teams competed to reach all of the destinations in the shortest time. The robot and the associated user interface software had to be completely designed and developed by the par-

ticipants. The hardware used consisted of the Lego Mindstorms product, which is a kit that combines traditional Lego bricks with a computer control unit, motors, sensors, wheels and gears. Mac’s winning First Place team was Team 5 (Mr. Robotto): Michael Darmitz, FanFan Huang, Ethel Macasias, Alan Sia and Kiruthiga Sinnarajah. Second Place was won by Team 6 (The NaviBot): Justin Chang, James Leroux, Xuan Li, Moffat Matenge and Robert Zagorac. Congratulations! Course instructor Dr. Spencer Smith comment-ed that “the students this year excelled in solving a challenging problem. Not only did they have to get a Lego robot to perform a challenging mission within tight tolerances, they also had to develop sophisticated image processing algorithms.” The first and second place prizes consist of monetary awards and an engraved plaque with the winner’s names. The plaques are on display in the main office of the Department of Computing and Software.

First Place Winners - From Left to Right: David Muir, Ethel Macasias, FanFan Huang, Nadine Nichols, Kiruthiga Sinnarajah, Michael Darmitz, Alan Sia and Husein Shamshudin

The MacEngineer 15

Two electrical and biomedical engineering students at McMaster have invented a solution to a problem faced by persons administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Studies have shown that many who have been trained in this life-saving technique are unable to properly administer the procedure six months after training. The solution: the CPR Glove. Cory Centen and Nilesh Patel, who are both in fourth year, have developed a one-size-fits-all glove with sensors and chips that measure the frequency and depth of compressions being administered during CPR and provide the data on a digital display. To be effective, CPR compressions must be given at a rate of 100 per minute and to a depth of four to five centimeters. Centen and Patel read the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showing that 59

per cent of the time, compressions were applied at a rate of only 80 per minute. In addition, for 37 per cent of the time, the compressions were too shallow. The pair has been working on the concept since September 2006 for their final-year design project. They developed a number of prototypes, reducing the size of the unit each time. They wrote the programs themselves and hand-fabricated the button-size sensors, but used a professional seamstress to recommend fabric and stitch the glove. They have filed a provisional U.S. patent on the technology and are looking for a manufacturer. Centen and Patel believe the product would be useful not only for those who provide CPR training, but also for use in sporting facilities, workplaces, medical facilities, and at home.

Students Invent Life-Saving Glove

Engineering Competition Comes to Mac

Members of the McMaster Engineering Society Organizing Committee are busy planning for the 29th Annual Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC), which will be held on campus in Febru-ary 2008. The Ontario Engineering Competition

is one of several events being hosted by the Fac-ulty of Engineering during its 50th anniversary in 2008. The OEC challenges university engineering students from across the province to a series of competitions. The Competition is comprised of six categories: Senior and Junior Team Design, Innovative Design, Consulting Engineering, Engi-neering Communications, and Parliamentary De-bate. Typically, more than 200 students from 14 universities participate, and the winning teams go on to compete at the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC).

Biomedical Engineering at McMaster

Over the past few years, the faculty has introduced several new biomedi-cal engineering programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The following is a brief overview of these programs. The four-year electrical and biomedical engineering program combines a full electrical engineer-ing degree with key courses in the biological sciences. Areas of research include: biomedical imaging and signal processing techniques, analysis of cardio respiratory control, im-plantable biological sensors, speech and hearing engineering, computa-tional, theoretical and experimental neuroscience in motor and sensory systems, and computer-based sys-tems and techniques for recording and analyzing physiological signals. The chemical & bioengineering program combines core and special-ized chemical engineering under-graduate courses with courses from the biological sciences. The program is structured to include courses in biology, human anatomy and physiol-ogy, biochemistry of macromole-cules, cellular and molecular biology and the application of biological processes to chemical engineering. The recently launched McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering is a graduate program offering research and teaching at the Master’s and PhD levels in the areas of biomolecular, biomedical and bioengineering investigation.

Get your MacEngineer

by e-mail!Contact Carm Vespivespi@mcmaster.ca

Chemical Engineering NewsThe Department held is annual Graduate Seminar Day 2007 on Wednesday April 11th in the John Hodgins Engineering Building. The event features presentations by distinguished McMaster researchers, graduate student poster exhibits, and industry booths. The keynote address was given by McMaster grad Kim McAuley (ChemEng) who is currently profes-sor at Queen’s University in the Chemical Engineering Department. Santiago Faucher was the recipient of the A. E. Hamielec Gradu-ate Student Award, which is presented to the graduate student who gave the best seminar during Seminar Day.

Congratulations to Don Woods who will be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from McMaster at the June Faculty of Engineering convocation and will address the graduating class. Don has dedicated his career to improving the student learning experience. This is a tribute to his work and impact on edu-cational scholarship and pedagogy - not only at McMaster but also nationally and internation-ally. Congratulations, Don! In addition, Don’s book “Rules of Thumb in Engineering Prac-tice” has been published by Wiley VCH. The rules of thumb are for process skills, such as problem solving and team work, for systems, and for over 350 pieces of processing equip-ment. For each type of equipment the emphasis is on when to use, how to rough size, how to trouble shoot, and how to cost. Also, Don was the invited luncheon speaker at the teaching and learning series at Queen’s University in March. His session was on “Ideas to help focus on student learning”.

After more than 23 years of dedicated service to McMaster University and the Chemical Engineering department, Gord Slater decided to take early retirement. We wish Gord a happy and healthy retirement. Recently Gord’s exceptional research work was recognized and acknowledged by Dr. Baird in an article on the long-standing industry/academic collaboration between McMaster and Inco Limited (now CVRD Inco), published in the February 2007 CIM Magazine.

Congratulations to Lynn Falkiner, the recipi-ent of the 2007 Veronika Czerneda Staff Award.

Lynn is the Adminis-trative Secretary for the Department and is known to every-one for her friendly and helpful commu-nication skills, and for her expertise at building user-friend-ly course websites.

Luis Garcia Rubio (‘76 MEng, ‘81 Ph.D) was inducted to the

McMaster Alumni Gallery in February. Rubio is currently a professor in Chemical Engineer-ing at theuniversity of South Florida. He is also President and Co-founder of Claro Scientific LLC, a biomedical company focused on the development of biophotonictechnology used to rapidly detect and diagnose diseases, like malaria, in the blood or other bodily fluids.

John Vlachopoulos presented his 60th Inter-national Intensive Short course on “Polymer Rheology and Extrusion” in Brussels, Belgium in February 2007, and the 61st offering in Miura (near Kamakura) Japan, in March 2007. John has been offering this course in various parts of the world since 1987. He estimates that about 1,800 polymer professionals have attended from large multinationals like ExxonMobil, General Electric, Dow Chemical, and DuPont as well as from many small companies involved in production, processing and machinery for plastics.

Raja Ghosh has recently published a book on “Principles of Bioseparations Engineer-ing” [ISBN 981-256-892-1] by World Scientific. Bioseparations engineering deals with the scientific and engineering principles involved in large-scale separation and purification of biological products. It is a key component of most chemical engineering/biotechnology/bioprocess engineering programs. This book discusses the underlying principles of biosepa-ration engineering written from the perspec-tive of an undergraduate course.

Civil EngineeringCongratulations to Daman Panesar, PhD candidate, working with Dr. Chidiac. She was awarded second prize at the Cement Associa-tion of Canada’s cement/concrete workshop at the University of Toronto in October 2006. The event attracted Master’s and doctoral candi-dates from Toronto, Waterloo and Ryerson, in addition to McMas-ter. A panel of judges, including experts from industry, selected two presentations for awards based on the quality of the research and the presentation itself.

Computing & SoftwareGraduate students Shiqi Cao and Mehrdad Mozafari have received IBM Centre for Advanced Studies fellowships that include four-month paid internships at IBM. The students are involved in the Coconut (Code Construct-ing User Tool) project. They are developing a prototype compiler for producing programs for the Cell processor. The Cell processor (currently used in the Sony Play Station 3) will be the heart of the world’s first supercomputer capable of sustaining a petaflop.

Electrical & Biomedical EngineeringKeeping it all in the family! Associate professor Hubert de Briun had the distinct pleasure of hooding his daughter during Fall Convocation. Tabitha de Briun (now Marshall) received her PhD in history at the November event. This is the second time she has been hooded by her father. De Bruin also conferred her with a BA in history in 1998. Professor de Bruin himself has received all his degrees from McMaster: BEng (1969), MEng (1971, and PhD (1976). In addi-tion, his wife Joanne (BA in philosophy, 1998) and his son David (BA in religious studies, 2001) are also McMaster graduates.

Electrical & Computer EngineeringAssistant professor Steve Hranilovic has been awarded $100,000 from the Ontario Early Researcher Award (EAR) program. Hranilovic runs the Free Space Optical Communications Algorithm Lab (FOCAL). He plans to hire two Master’s students and four doctoral candidates to join his research team exploring the pos-sibilities of wireless optical communications. The EAR awards assist universities in retain-ing leading early career researchers and must match each award with $50,000.

Engineering PhysicsAn article in the November 17th issue of The Hamilton Spectator highlighted research being conducted by Jacek Wojcik in nanotechnol-ogy, specifically on solid-state light bulbs. The bulbs will use 90 per cent less energy than incandescent bulbs and will last for decades. Wojcik is connected with the Centre for Emerging-Device Technologies.

On March 6, Andy Knights, Ray LaPierre, Dave Novog, and Dave Jackson presented a seminar “Beyond Carbon” on the next genera-tion of energy technologies including nuclear, solar, and other renewables. The presentations highlighted our undergraduate program in en-ergy systems engineering and related research being conducted in Engineering Physics. The event was a great success judging from the lively discussions with the audience that fol-lowed the presentations. The presentations are available on the Department website

Congratulations to David Jackson who has

DEPARTMENTAL NEWSBRIEFS

16 The MacEngineer

Gord Slater

Lynn Falkiner

Daman Panesar

just been reappointed for a further year as Acting Director of the McMaster Institute for Energy Studies (MIES). MIES focuses on leading-edge research in nuclear, solar, wind, energy modeling and fuel cell technology.A current graduate student

Matthew Minnick was awarded the Associa-tion of Professional Engineers (OPE) Gold Medal which is awarded to the graduand who attains the highest cumulative average. The Gold Medal was established in 1961 by the OPE Foundation for Education. Way to go Matthew! Congratulations to graduate student Behrooz Komeili-Zadeh who received the Best Paper Award from the CAGE student conference this past summer.

A paper entitled “Wide-Range Two-Dimen-sional Imaging of NO Density Profiles by LIF Technique in a Corona Radical Shower Reactor” by J.S. Chang et al. received the IEEE Industrial Society’s award for the Most Innova-tive Research paper in August 2006. Jen-Shih Chang has also received a Polish Academy of Science honorary award from the Plasma & Laser Research Centre.

John Luxat was appointed as a member of the Advisory Board, International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technol-ogy (IASMiRT). He has also been appointed for a two-year term as Chair of the University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE) Research Advisory Committee. He also undertook an expert mission on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IdEA) to review nuclear safety in Argentina.

Qiyin Fang and Mac alumni Louis W-C.Liu (B Eng 88, M Eng 91) were featured in a February 27 Globe and Mail article. The ar-ticle described a “smart diagnostic pill” that is being developed within McMaster’s new Centre for Research in Micro- and Nano-sys-tems. Dr. Liu is currently professor and gastro-enterologist at the University of Toronto.

Engineering & ManagementAdrienne Reader, a 4th year student, took third place in the 2007 Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC), in the Engineering Communications category. She presented her technical viewpoints on the subject of biodie-sel in a way that could be understood by thegeneral public.

With a score of 192 out of 200, Brandon Cormier led the E&M group who sat for the Major Field Test in Business, held at the University in November. The Major Field Test program is an innovative battery of tests that is used by more than 700 colleges and universi-ties around the world to measure business student academic development and achieve-ment. Senior Engineering & Management students at McMaster take the test as one of the requirements in Commerce 4PA3 Business

Policy: Strategic Management. Of the 40 E&M students who wrote the test, 22 stood in the top 5%.

Materials Science & EngineeringGord A. Irons won the ‘Non Ferrous Pyro Section’s’ Best Paper award for his paper “A Mathematical Model of a DC Electric Furnace for Recovery of Zinc from Lead Blast Furnace Slag” published in 2005 in the Metallurgical Society of CIM.

The Sawamura Award and the Guimaraes Award of the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan: H. S. Zurob, G. Zhu, S. V. Subramanian, G. R. Purdy, C. R. Hutchinson and Y. Brechet for the paper entitled Analysis of the Effect of Mn on the Recrystallization Kinetics of high Nb Steel: An example of physically-based alloy design, ISIJ 45,713-722 (2005).

The Department is busy preparing for the 19th Canadian Materials Science Conference, which will be held at McMaster from June 20–22, 2007. This is a joint event with the 6th International Workshop on Alloying Elements Effects in Migrating Interfaces, which takes place June 18 and 19, and with the 5th BIMR Advanced Materials Workshop, also being held June 18 and 19. A number of sessions have been planned, along with workshops co-organized by the BrockhouseInstitute of Materials Research. Complete information is available at www.cmsc.mcmaster.ca, or e-mail CMSC2007@mcmaster.ca .

Ayesha Hashambhoy ‘07 is the recipient of the Light Metals Division Scholar award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). The award, which is given to an undergraduate student majoring in metallurgical and/or mate-rials science and engineering, was presented at the TMS 2007 annual meeting in Orlando, Florida in February.

Mechanical EngineeringThe Department extends congratulations to Dave Arthurs on receiving the Undergraduate Prize for Best Paper at the 3rd CSME Student Paper Competition last summer. His paper was titled: Aeroacoustic Response of an Annular Duct with Co-Axial Side Branches. Arthurs’ supervisor is Samir Ziada.

Phil Koshy and Stephen Veldhuis have been granted tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor effective July 1, 2007. Joe McDermid has been granted tenure effective July 1, 2007. Gary Bone has been promoted from the rank of As-sociate Professor to Professor effective July 1, 2007.

The Department welcomes

Gregory Wohl. Dr. Wohl is currently em-ployed as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Washington University School of Medicine in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He was awarded B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary. Prior to his employment at Washing-ton University School of Medicine, Dr. Wohl was a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. Dr. Wohl, whose research expertise is in musculoskeletal tissue mechanics, molecular biology, and analytical models of biological tissues, joined the Depart-ment on May 1st.

Allan Spence is working with Patricia Monger, Director, Research and High-Perfor-mance Computing Support, on 3-D visualiza-tion of mechanisms and architecture. UROP students will be working over the summer of 2007 on converting CAD models into virtual reality worlds that will be displayed using the stereo 3-D theatre in MDCL 1110.

Ross Judd has received an Ontario Volunteer Service Award for 2007 by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration - Ontario Honours and Awards Secretariat. The award was pre-sented at a reception on April 16th in Hamil-ton. Dr. Judd is being recognized for 25 years of continuous commitment and dedicated service to Professional Engineers Ontario.

Kevin McLaren, MSc. candidate, was awarded the John H. T. Wade Scholarship for the 2006/07 academic year. The value of the scholarship is $1,000. It is awarded annually to a student entering the MSc. program whose studies are in the area of Thermofluid Sciences and is based on academ-ic entrance qualifications.

Fourth-year students Jonathan (Kwok Kin) Ho, Jonathan (Chin-Hung) Lo, and Ste-phen Niedojadlo won the Minerva Canada James Ham Safe Design Award worth $3,500. Their design of a stair-climbing delivery device that can safely transport gas cylinders or other equipment up a flight of stairs when an eleva-

tor is not available was completed as part of the fourth year design project supervised by Mateusz Sklad. The Minerva Canada James Ham Safe Design Award was es-tablished to recognize an Ontario engineering student or team mak-ing an original and unique contri-bution to integrating safety into engineering design. The award was presented on April 16th at the Health and Safety Confer-ence organized by the Industrial Accident Prevention Association in Toronto.

The MacEngineer 17

MacChemEngSussman, Robert (Bob) ’83: Since graduating, I have left engineering and pursued a career in medicine. Even though I am now a doctor, I still wear my pinky ring! I live in Hawaii now and am self employed. Check out my website at www.TheMedicalCorner.com .

MacCivEngEscalante, Carols ‘98 : My wife Laura and son Carlitos are thrilled to announce the birth of Diego Eduardo Jorge on Tuesday October 17th. He weighed in at 6 lb 9 oz, and was 19.5 inches. We are happy to report that the labour was quick and easy!

Ward, Aaron ’03: Cheryl Bassett (Hon. B.Comm. ’04) and I were married in September 2006 at the Valhalla Inn in Toronto. We both live in Hamilton where I am running a branch office for the engineering firm Richardson Foster Ltd, and Cheryl is working for McMaster University in the Payroll Department. Special thanks to McMaster pub Quarters for hiring us – that’s where we met!

MacMechEngEastman, Rod ’72: Last year just before I re-tired from Dofasco Inc. in November, I was in-ducted into “The Klaus Woerner Skilled Trades Hall of Fame” for leadership in design, develop-ment and implementation of skilled trades and apprenticeship programs (sponsored by Skills Canada). For 13 years I have been active in designing and developing training programs,

including a Co-op Apprenticeship Technician program with Dofasco, Mohawk College, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universi-ties, and CSTEC (Canadian Steel, Training and Employment Congress). I have always felt very strongly about the value of apprenticeship opportunities and will continue to promote training through my business, R. Eastman and Associates, Project Management Services.

Feenstra, Paul ’91, M.Eng. ;93 : In the fall of 2006, I moved to Deep River, Ontario where I am working. You can e-mail me at pfeenstra27@sympatico.ca .

Molgaard, Lena ’83: Andy Turner and I were married in Burlington on May 27, 2006 in the company of friends and family. We spent our honeymoon in Cambodia, Lao and on the beaches of Phuket, Thailand. It sure was mem-

orable. Andy, a Ryerson grad (’83) is a designer technician. I currently work at MDA (previ-ously MD Robotics) in Brampton, Ontario.

Munn, Carly ’05: Trevor Marshall (Mech.Eng. ’05) and I were married on September 3, 2006. We are living in Sudbury where we have bought a house. Trevor is working for LKM Consulting Engineers, and I work for Inco.

Perrons, Robert ’95: I am married to Shan-non Woodward, an Australian, and we live in the great city of New Orleans, U.S.A. After working in the R&D division for Shell’s “Smart

Fields” technology program in the Nether-lands, I am now working on the deployment end of the program with emphasis on North and South America. We are expecting our first-born in September. I’d love to hear from former classmates at perrons@alum.mit.edu .

Scremin, Frank ’94: In November 2006, I was appointed as Director of Operations at the Hamilton International Airport. My responsi-bilities will include developing, recommending and implementing strategic and operational programs and procedures for the airport, the largest inter-modal freighter airport in Canada. Prior to this appointment, I had been with Union Gas Limited for ten years in a manage-ment capacity.

MacSoftwareEngOrd, Scott ’05: I’m working as a consultant with a small firm called Pentura Solutions of Mississauga, Ontario, which specializes in financial/healthcare information systems. It’s really great working for a small firm; I’m exposed to a lot of very exciting materials and involved in nearly everything that goes on. One of the coolest things I’ve worked on is the development of a location-based information system, www.findbyclick.com . We’ve started with coffee shops and will be pursuing a num-ber of other avenues. I can be reached at scott.ord@pentura.ca .

MacChemEng & MgtAsthana, Deepti ’06: Since graduating, I have been working at the law firm of Stikeman El-liott in Toronto. In September 2007, I plan to go back to school for my LLB.

MacMechEng & MgtSindrey, Russell ’03 (MBA ’04, MSc ’07): Katie (nee King, BScN ’04) and I are proud to announce the birth of Colin Russell Sindrey,

18 The MacEngineer

ALUMNI GRAPEVINE

Carlitos and Diego

Aaron and Cheryl

Lena and AndyCarly and Trevor

Paul Feenstra

Bealune and Langdon plan to incorporate the knowledge they gain on international development into the EWB High School Outreach program, campus workshops and public outreach programs. In March, the Chapter was awarded the MSU Club of the Year Award for its diverse and high quality programs reach-ing McMaster University students from all faculties, high school students within and around Hamilton as well as its public outreach work within the community. Thursday March 1 was annual National Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Day. McMaster’s EWB Chapter joined other Canadian chapters in a unique community outreach initiative focusing on extreme poverty. EWB volunteers across the country distributed over 70,000 mock newspapers with the headline: “Extreme Poverty Is Eradicated”. Dated 2025, the paper had a simple message: extreme pov-erty can be eliminated and all have a part

to play in making this a reality. McMas-ter University’s EWB Chapter volunteers reached out to early morning commuters during rush hour, handing out over 1,000 newspapers. Several on-campus events were held to raise awareness about the is-sues among students. The day ended at the local Fortinos grocery store where EWB volunteers engaged in a public awareness event – closing EWB Day ’07 with a bang! EWB works in developing communities to promote human development through access to technology. It has 20,000 mem-bers in 32 Chapters across Canada. Given its charitable structure, the organization relies heavily on support from the com-munity to further its cause. To learn more about the McMaster chapter of Engineers Without Borders, and for inquiries on sponsorship and donations, email us at mac@ewb.ca or visit our website at http:// mcmaster.ewb.ca. The MacEngineer 19

Celebrating AnniversariesThis year, Oakville-based Bot Construction Group (www.botconstruction.ca) celebrates 50 years of successful heavy civil engineering construc-tion and development projects across Canada.

As part of the anniversary cel-ebrations, Bot Construction has developed an anniversary logo and flag.

Founded by Silvio Bot in 1957, the company’s first project involved site preparation work for the con-struction of the Ford Motor Company’s Oakville plant. Over the following three decades, Bot Con-struction gained a solid reputation as builders of highways and bridges throughout Ontario. These days, projects include the expansion of Ontario Highways 69 and 11, and the Highway 401 expan-sion at Ajax and Port Hope. The current manage-ment team, located in the head office on Speers Road, is led by McMaster graduate Roy Bot (Civil ’81). The company also operates the Silvio Bot Charitable Foundation, established in 1995, which has supported such charities as the St. Michael’s Neurosurgery Research Fund and the Multiple Sclerosis of Niagara Peninsula Chapter.

Soil-Mat Engineers & Consultants Ltd. (www.soil-mat.on.ca) of Hamilton is celebrating its 15th anniversary during 2007. Founded in 1992 by Danny Schebesch, McMaster graduate John Monkman [Civil ‘79] and Gilbert Adams, the

company has a staff of over twenty-five engineers and techni-cal staff, including McMaster grads Stephen Sears (Civil Eng & Mgmt ’95) and Ian Shaw (Civil ’00). They special-ize in geotechnical

assignments, environmental assessments, hydro-geological investigations and construction quality control/assurance projects. Soil-Mat Engineers maintains a Canadian Standards Association Certified laboratory in Hamilton and have been approved by the Ministry of Transportation for soil, 50 MPa concrete and Rapid Chloride Penetra-tion test procedures. Past projects have included work on the Lincoln Alexander Parkway and the Red Hill Creek Expressway projects, including the soon-to-open ‘Escarpment’ bridge. The firm is currently providing geotechnical services regard-ing the consultation/settlement of underlying soft soils during the placement and compaction of the approach fills for the City of Hamilton’s Ferguson Avenue bridge structure. Other current projects include numerous residential subdivisions in the Golden Horseshoe area, commercial development within Hamilton’s Harbour area, and wind turbine generator structures across Ontario.

born October 18, 2006 at McMaster Medical Centre. Proud uncle Len King (CivEng ’72) and aunt Su-san (nee St. John, BA, BSW ‘72), and aunts Jessica King (BA ’05) and Sarah King (BA, BSW ’00) are all Mac grads! I am currently with HATCH Associates Ltd, while Katie has been working as a Public Health Nurse in the Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program for the City of Hamilton.

Valters, Tim ’90: Appointed President of Selkirk in February 2007 with responsibility for all the North American operations (www.selkirkusa.com). The company makes chimney, venting and fireplace products. I have been with Selkirk since 1999, as VP and General Manager at the Stoney Creek, Ontario loca-tion. In 2004, I was appointed President of Selkirk Canada. My family and I still live in Burlington, Ontario.

MacMechEng & SocietyBecause of their experiences as volunteers in Africa and India, Robert Borzychowski (‘07) and Mac grad Meghan Bruni (PoliSci, ‘07), are biking across Canada from Victoria to St. John’s, to raise aware-ness and money for education in Kenya.

Through the student-run organization SEED McMaster, they will be raising money to help pay for the second-ary schooling of a number of students Meghan met while in Kenya. In the community-run school in Ukwala, 95% of the students cannot afford to pay the school fees. The biking duo left Victoria on May 8th and plan to arrive in St. John’s on September 1st. For more information, visit

www.seedacrosscanada.ca.

Engineering PhysicsRow, Andrew ‘86: For the last couple of years I have adopted a semi-retired lifestyle while keeping my hand in the world of Ultra Pure Water plants, yet finding time to pursue other interests. Last year I pub-lished my book ‘Budgeting 101, Taking Control of Your Money’. Check it out at www.andrewgrow.com.

Engineers Without Borders continued from page 12

Colin Sindrey

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Wednesday, June 20, 20072nd Annual Beer TastingNiblick Pub, 1011 Upper Middle Road Upper Oakville Plaza

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