News archive for October 2010

Staff and faculty members from across Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science came out in droves on Friday afternoon to celebrate the approach of Halloween. While most came "disguised" as administrators, technicians, or professors, you could still spot a scarecrow and a witch or two in the crowd.

A lavish Halloween lunch spread gave attendees the chance to mingle and snack. But the star attraction was by far the inedible pumpkin display. The giant orange gourds were carved with care by staff members and professors from across the faculty. A feather-boaed entry from the General Studies Unit, a penny-filled pumpkin from the Budget Office, a light-up jack'o'lantern from Student Academic Services, and an automated pumpkin infrastructure from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering were just a few of the highlights.

The Faculty's Associate Deans and Department Chairs were named Official Pumpkin Judges and took their duties very seriously, judging each entry on several criteria. Dean Robin Drew was very pleased with the strong turnout for the Halloween happening but abstained from the vote, as he was naturally biased towards the Dean's Office entry.

The competition amongst the pumpkins proved so fierce that there was a tie for top place!  Due to the seriousness of the matter, the final decision was brought to Faculty Council. There, the final winners were decided:

1st place: CSE (Ms. Algorithma Ciesi)

2nd place: MIE

3rd place: BCEE

Congratulations to all the entrants... and happy Halloween to one and all!

On Saturday, October 23, the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science joined the rest of Concordia in opening its doors to thousands of potential new students, interested individuals, hopeful parents... and folks who just wanted to know a bit more about what the University has to offer.



The atrium of the EV building was abuzz with activity. Representatives from all of the departments and institutes of the Faculty, as well as from several Engineering & Computer Science-related student groups, were on hand to answer questions and to give an insider's point of view on what it's like to study, teach, or work here.

Open House attendees also got the chance to experience Concordian expertise firsthand, through the Faculty Showcase organized by the Concordia University Alumni Association. Our own Hashem Akbari led the second session of the showcase, with a lecture entitled "Cooling the world one roof at a time." Akbari, a Professor from the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, spoke passionately about his research into how to cool the "urban heat island"--while mitigating global warming and lightening national debts--through the use of innovative roofing and paving materials. His lecture spawned so much debate and discussion that participants seemed reluctant to leave once the lecture was over!

The day also featured departmental tours that took potential students through the facilities offered to both graduates and undergraduate students pursuing degrees here at the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. Technicians, current students, and even some professors were on-hand to give demonstrations of the kinds of research projects that are carried out at Concordia.

Be sure to check out our slideshow on Flickr if you missed out on the day's events.

When the 12th Annual "Profit W100" list of the top 100 female entrepreneurs in Canada came out earlier this month, it was no surprise to see a Concordia graduate leading the pack. What is interesting to note is the fact that Gina Cody, ranked #9 on the W100, hails from Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science--rather than its business school!

Cody is used to being part of an exclusive list of individuals: in 1989 she became the first woman ever to be awarded a PhD in Building Engineering at Concordia. Well-respected across the building industry, Cody is now one of Ontario's leaders among its engineering community as co-owner of Construction Control Inc. In her role there, she oversees over 70 engineers, building scientists and technologists who test building materials and inspect structures.

Born in Iran, Cody knew early on that engineering was her calling. She followed in the footsteps of her father and three brothers to pursue a career in engineering. Cody obtained her undergraduate degree in Structural Engineering in Iran before coming to Concordia to pursue her Master's and eventually PhD through the Centre for Building Studies, which is currently the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering.

As past Chair of the Professional Practice Committee of Professional Engineers Ontario, past President of the Canadian Condominium Institute (Toronto and Area Chapter), and committee member on several Canadian Standards Association groups, Cody truly sets the bar high for business leaders in her field. It is unsurprising that she is ranked near the top of the W100--a group that represent the elite among Canadian entrepreneurs, regardless of gender.

Related links:
First Female PhD Graduate in Engineering
Profit W100 - Canada's Tope Women Engineers

Five American teenagers, all bullied because they were gay, have committed suicide over the past few weeks. The deaths have caused a media storm and raised a critical question: Did the social or healthcare system fail these adolescents? "Absolutely," says Concordia University Professor Deborah Dysart-Gale. "Bullying and such resulting suicides are avoidable. Healthcare workers have tools that can help queer teens - no one needs to die because of their sexual orientation."

As Chair of the General Studies Unit of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Dysart-Gale's research normally addresses different research areas. But for a special issue of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, she produced a review article that's a call to action for nurses to leverage their position in society and clinical milieus.

The study argues that nurses can advocate for better healthcare and services for teenagers who are LGBTIQ: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed (people who are in the process of gender reassignment surgery) and queer. "My goal in writing this paper was to raise practitioners' awareness, since queer and intersexed teens are in the blind spot of the healthcare system," she says.

Despite progress in social acceptance and civil rights, LGBTIQ adolescents can be reluctant to consult a physician because they may experience misunderstanding, bias or homophobia. "Nurses' attitudes may be critical in determining LGBTIQ adolescents' satisfaction with their healthcare," says Dysart-Gale.

"Nurses are frequently gatekeepers of the clinical encounter, administering the typically heteronormative nursing assessment," she says, adding that gains in LGBTIQ trust could be as simple as asking patients if they are "partnered" rather than inquire if they have a "girl or boy friend" and asking if they are "sexually active."

Dysart-Gale is concerned that many government-funded sex-education programs in the United States teach abstinence until marriage rather than safer and alternative sex practices.

"Such curricula pose particular dangers for LGBTIQ youth, who are implicitly taught that heterosexuality is the only sanctioned sexual behavior and attraction to same-sex peers is illegitimate," she says, stressing that nurses can help reduce transmission of sexually transmitted infections by discussing safe LGBTIQ sex practices.

Nurses should be nonjudgmental, tolerant and supportive of LGBTIQ individuals in both the clinic and the community adds Dysart-Gale. "Nurses can build bridges of trust to patients. In the clinic, nurses can combat homophobia by informing themselves about the needs of LGBTIQ clients, and maintaining open and positive communication. They can advocate for institutional policies that are fair and inclusive."

The five American teens who killed themselves might still be alive had school nurses been able to provide support.

"Over time, nurses became more sensitive to the different needs of ethnic communities and they need to be equally sensitized to the queer community," says Dysart-Gale. "When practitioners are given the proper tools and best practices, they apply them."

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Coverage of this story has appeared in Canoe News, Red Orbit, Science Daily and the Journal de Quebec.

The objective of the Idea to Innovation (I2I) program is to "accelerate the pre-competitive development of promising technology and promote its transfer to Canadian companies," according to the governmental funding agency. In essence, the program was established in order to assist professors in the development of marketable products based on scientific research.

Because few research programs mature into marketability, these awards are a rare occurrence. Indeed, even though the I2I program has been in existence for five years, this is only the third time a researcher at Concordia has ever been chosen.

Vatistas says he is honoured to be part of such a select crowd, noting that the award "shows that the work going on right here in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science has great value, both academically and in industry."

The project that the I2I grant, worth $115,452, will fund is a brand new type of compact heat exchanger that Vatistas and his post doctoral fellow Mohamed Fayed designed based on pioneering research into swirling flows spanning over two decades. The heat exchanger will be simpler in design and easier to manufacture than models currently on the market. It will also be superior in effectiveness and more environmentally friendly device. The heat exchanger has potential applications for power plants, petrochemical plants, natural gas processing, oil refineries, air conditioning, refrigeration, and even food processors.

Vatistas and Fayed filed a provisional patent for the product with the US Patent Office in June 2009 and plans to submit his final project report to NSERC in late 2011.

Close to 100 alumni from Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science returned to campus for their reunion during Homecoming 2010 for what proved to be a wonderful time.

"Thank you for bugging me to come! As I get older, it sometimes takes that extra push to get me out," retired long-time professor Dr. Graham Martin later emailed. "I thought it was excellent and I had a good time."

"The reunion was a blast; we need to do it again before Christmas," added Glenn Menzies, Class of 1975. "It was great to see Drs. Stan Kubina, Ed Czerny and Chris Trueman.

On Saturday, Oct. 2, alumni 'Hit the Books' with back-to-back presentations from two of Concordia's distinguished faculty members. Dr. Daniel Sinnig presented some of the faculty's software engineering research, while Dr. Luis Rodrigues spoke about aeronautics and gave alumni a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pilot the on-campus flight simulator.

 

The guests then came back down to earth for a cocktail reception on the 11th floor of the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (known as the EV Building). The fine autumn day allowed them to explore the terrace and admire its bird's-eye view of downtown Montreal.

Staff and faculty donned their bright red Concordia Shuffle t-shirts despite the rain on Friday, October 24. It was all for a great cause: scholarships for Concordia students. This year, Shufflers raised an impressive $40,000.

Dr. Ali Dolabatadi, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, was named a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineers during the society's annual forum, held this past June in Victoria, BC.

Dolatabadi is an expert in the fields of two-phase flows, Computational Fluid Dynamics, and thermal spray technologies. He is a holder of a patent on "High efficiency nozzle for thermal spray of high quality, low oxide content coatings."

His patented nozzle considerably expands the capacities of the HVOF process and widens its applications. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2002 and was awarded a Materials and Manufacturing Ontario Technology Transfer Fellowship in recognition of his research in the field of design and optimization of HVOF thermal spray processes.

Dr. Dolatabadi is the founder and director of the Multiphase flow and Thermal spray coating laboratory at Concordia. He collaborates extensively with aerospace industries such as Pratt and Whitney Canada, Bombardier Aerospace, and Rolls-Royce Canada on fuel spray atomization, ice protection, and novel coatings. Dr. Dolatabadi received the ENCS Young Researcher Achievement award in 2008, as well as teaching awards in 2006 and 2009.

Nghi  M. Nguyen (Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering) presented a paper titled "The Development of an ISO Project Management Standard: A Global Challenge for Transferability of Management Systems and Technologies" at the XXVII Pan Pacific Business Conference in June in Bali, Indonesia.

He also chaired the "Management of Technologies and Systems" session and is currently a member of the Canadian Advisory Council (CAC) contributing inputs to the development of this internationally recognized standard, ISO 21500, which has been developing by the International Organization for Standardization since 2007 with participation of experts from thirty one countries worldwide and is anticipated to be completed by 2012. The standard will eventually impact project management practice around the world.