News archive for January 2010

The work of ENCS Faculty member Georgios Vatistas was recently featured in a book  published by Oxford University Press, entitled Flow: Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts.

The note focuses on Vatistas and his team's work on vortex patterns, with Concordia University mentioned in a very prominent place, within the images caption.

Author Philip Ball is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was a physics editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years.

On the inclusion, Dr. Vatistas notes, "it's very satisfying to be mentioned along with the renowned Belgian scientist of the 18th century Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau."

The 9th annual Canadian University Software Engineering Conference (CUSEC) was held January 21-23 at the Hotel Omni in Montreal. Over 350 delegates from across the country attended the 3-day event, which boasted acclaimed speakers and innovative demonstrations.

CUSEC founder John Kopanas was thrilled with the turn-out. "Every year, I'm amazed that we manage to put together such an amazing conference--I only hope CUSEC continues to grow through the next decade," he noted warmly on Thursday evening, having just taken in an inspirational lecture by renowned blogger and software programmer extraordinaire, Reg Braithwaite.

Kopanas first came up with the idea while still an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Concordia in the 90s. "I'd just been to a conference at Waterloo," he recalls, "and was frustrated by the experience. I wanted to be able to meet my heros, not just listen to corporate talking heads." When his professors told him that an undergrad couldn't possibly put together such an involved event, Kopanas's mind was made up. That first year, 120 students attended the conference.

A decade later Kopanas cites CUSEC's continued success as a result of the volunteers running everything behind the scenes. This year's team was lead by co-chairs Andrew Louis and Juan Musleh, who had a support crew of students from around Quebec and Ontario. Sven James, a Computer Science Student at Concordia, served as CUSEC's  Co-Director of Sponsorship and loved the experience: "it's awesome to see all these students from around the country coming together to learn more about what they're studying."

One University of Toronto student couldn't agree more: "I've attended four sessions today and they were more useful to me than an entire semester of lectures put together!" he happily enthused.

Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science proudly helped sponsor the event and would like to extend sincere congratulations to the organizers.

Adel Hanna, Professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering recently sat down with the Concordia University Communications group. In this brief interview, he suggests what needs to be done to help Haitians construct safer, more resilient buildings in the wake of the devastating earthquake. You can watch the video here.

The Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science is pleased to announce that, on January 1, 2010, Abdel Sebak of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was named a Fellow of the IEEE in honour of his  contributions to electromagnetics scattering, and design and modeling of antennas.

The title of IEEE Fellow is one of the most prestigious honours of the IEEE, and is bestowed upon a very limited number of Senior Members of the international engineering organization who have made outstanding contributions to the electrical and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession.

Concordia University's Engineering delegation is proud to announce that while attending the 20th Engineering Games in Quebec City they brought back two trophies.

The consulting engineering team composed of Christine Kalil, Hao Yin, Sergio Lando, Francine Nguyen and Jonathan Yu brought home the third place award. The debating team composed of Vijeta Patel and Sergio Lando brought back the first place trophy.

Above: a photo of the winning debating team with their trophy.