News archive for April 2011

Earlier this month, Concordia--and Quebec--celebrated a milestone: a group of our students became the first in the province to participate in the internationally renowned Cessna/Raytheon Missile Systems Student Design/Build/Fly competition, hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This year's event was held on April 15 in sunny Tucson, Arizona and brought together international talents from various universities from countries around the world including Italy, Slovenia, Turkey, Israel, the UAE, and beyond!

82 teams were put to the test in Tucson, proving their design, manufacturing, and flight capabilities with electric-powered and radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles. Under the dedicated supervision of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering professor Hoi Dick Ng, the Concordia team ensured their project conformed to the competition's tight constraints.

After the Concordia entry passed its meticulous inspection after the first round (a feat which only half of the teams manage), the aircraft had to complete three missions:

1. Dash to critical target: complete as many laps as possible in 4 minutes.
2. Ammo re-supply: carry the heaviest steel bar possible
3. Medical Supply Mission: carry as many golf balls as possible

After completing 5 laps, carrying 2.2 lbs of steel, and hauling 18 golf balls, the Concordia team (composed of seven students from the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and the Concordia branch of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute) was ranked 22nd. Team captain Hadi Alaee was pleased with the result, noting that "overall, the team's performance in this year's competition was perfect, considering we participated for the first time and we were the only Canadian team. There were minor details we were not aware of, which could have made a big difference in our performance. Still, I am happy with the results we got, and I am confident Concordia will do much better next year. Our team worked hard, and we couldn't have done it without our supervisor, Dr. Ng."

Dr. Robin A. L. Drew, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; and Dr. Andreas Athienitis, Director of the NSERC Solar Buildings Research Network and Professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering have both been awarded Fellowships of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).

This recognition represents the highest achievement in engineering in Canada.  The Academy comprises of the country's most accomplished engineers, who are dedicated to the application of science and engineering principles in the interests of the country and its enterprises. Members of the Academy are nominated and elected by their peers for their distinguished achievements and career-long service to the engineering profession. Presently, there are only 346 active Fellows. Here at Concordia, only three other faculty members hold Fellowships from the CAE. Provost David Graham called this "wonderful news" and extended his heartfelt congratulations: a sentiment echoed by the members of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science.

Drew and Athienitis will be officially inducted as Fellows of the Academy during the CAE's 2011 Annual General Meeting and Symposium, which will be held in Vancouver on June 2nd.

On Wednesday, April 20, the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) held its Annual Design & Awards Day Ceremony. Professors, students, and undergraduates gathered for the special event, which honours overall academic achievement, excellence in teaching, and the best Capstone projects by students in the Department.



Onur Kuzgunkaya served as Master of Ceremonies for the event, which began with the presentation of Certificates of Appreciation for Service to the Department to individuals who had recently celebrated milestone anniversaries with MIE. Javad Dargahi , Ramin Sedaghati , Paula Wood-Adams, Jose Esteves, and Sabrina Poirier celebrated their 10-year anniversaries; Rajamohan Ganesan, Ion Stiharu, Sophie Merineau, and Charlene Wald were honoured  for 15 years of service; Gilles Huard rang in 20 years with MIE; and Waiz Ahmed, Gerard Gouw, and Jayne Claassen were singled out for their quarter century anniversaries.

Then, Certificates of Merit for undergraduate student involvement in extracurricular activities through student associations were presented to the presidents of the Concordia Chapters of the IIE (Gregory Ning - who then presented Akif Bulgak with the IIE Award for Teaching Excellence) and CASI (Hadi Alaee).

Georgios Vatistas then took to the podium to present the Silas Katz Memorial Scholarship Award to François Paquin. First awarded in 1984, this scholarship for mature students was made possible through donations from faculty, students and staff, in memory of the late Dr. Silas Katz, Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

The Capstone awards then honoured the best final-year undergraduate projects that the Department had to offer:

Henry Hong presented the Richard Cheng Design Award for Mechanical Engineering to the "Design, Build and Fly 2011 Competition" project, supervised by Hoi Dick Ng. Members: Hadi Alaee, Jordan Lafreniere, Hong Quan Pham, Andrew Romano, Wenwei Yang, Oliver David Ah Yan, Jeryes Daniel Dit Rabih

Engineer in Residence Dominic Ng then presented the two Capstone Design Awards for Mechanical Engineering, happily telling the crowd that he was glad there were two awards to give out because it would have been impossible to choose. The winning projects were:

•  Human Powered Vehicle: Rethink the bicycle "The Duoverto"
  Supervisor: Henry Hong
  Members: Alexander Marcakis, Gabriel McFern, Christopher Sharp, Vassilios Vezoniarakis
• Development of a New System for Testing Percutaneous Heart Valves Under Fatigue and Migration
  Supervisor: Lyes Kadem
  Members: Ahmad Farid Al-Akraby, Anand Bijoy Chowdhury, Antonio Lipardi, Rocco Portaro, John Balabanian, Saba Fattahi
  

Gerard Gouw then presented the Capstone Design Award for Industrial Engineering to the project entitled, "Improve performance of cycle 1 engine repair and overhaul lines at P&WC," supervised by Dr. A. Akgunduz (Concordia) and Carl Larouche (PWC). Members: Raissa El-Haddad, Nadine Safah, Soraya Linge, Ali Khachab, Jean-Francois Colin
Gaelle Chamma

Rolf Wuthrich then presented awards honouring undergraduate and graduate student achievements over the past academic year. Winning undergraduates in Mechanical Engineering were Amy-Lee Gunter and Rocco Portaro, while Raissa El-Haddad won in the Industrial Engineering category.

Winners of the Graduate awards were as follows:

• Posalux Graduate Scholarship: Jana Abou Ziki
• Pratt &Whitney Canada Targeted Scholarship: Ghobad Amini-Baziani & Yimin Zhao
• Campaign for a new Millennium Graduate Scholarship: Zahra Keshavarz Motamed, Md Rajib Ul Alam Uzzal, Farjad Shadmehri
• James W. Burns Graduate Award: Ali Alem
• Port of Montreal Award in Transportation Studies: Farjad Shadmehri
•  Faculty of Engineering & Computer Science Graduate Scholarship: Khodabakhsh Saeedi, Amir Sanati-Nezhad
• Hydro Quebec Graduate Award: Alireza Pazooki, Shahrokh Shahriari, Md Rajib Ul Alam Uzzal
• 2010-2011R. Howard Webster Foundation Doctoral Fellowship: Hamid Sadabadi
• Power Corporation of Canada Graduate Fellowship: Amir Sanati-Nezhad, Zahra Keshavarz-Motamed, Farjad Shadmehri
• Carolyn & Richard Renaud Graduate Teaching Assistantship: Zahra Keshavarz-Motamed & Shahrokh Shahriari
• FQRNT 2010-2011: Sining Liu & Kristina Cook
• NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS) - Doctoral: Othman Smadi
• PBEEE Quebec Merit Fellowship for Foreign Students - Doctoral: Hamid Sadabadi

John Cheung then wrapped up the awards ceremony with the presentation of awards for the special Sled Design Competition that was held this year, sponsored by the company H20 Recreation Inc. Winners were:

MECH 211/M

• 1st  Prize Team #1: Maria Fernanda Hernandez, Karol Laguna Elliott , Mercedes Parrella-Ilaria
• 2nd  Prize Team #4 : Jeffica Natalie Hannesto, Gabriel Naccache, Christian Saadalla, Hassan Shah
• 3rd Prize Team #3: Said Ehsan Azizi, Matthew Brownridge, Abraham Bagandooh

MECH 313/M

• 1st Prize Team #1 - Mach 3: Alouani Adel, Feng Yao, Jason Gagnon
• 2nd Prize Team #5: Stephanie Lambrinakos-Raymond, Daniel Chirico, Andrea Latella-DuBoyce
  
• 3rd Prize Team#2: Bassel Eladas, Jason Savage-Pollock, Johnny Alberto Paredes Seminario

MECH 313/N

• 1st Prize Team #6 - Stinger: Andrew Halarides, Colin Chisholm, Mathieu St-Martin, Maxim Kassimov
• 2nd Prize Team #N-4 - Crazy Squirrel: Ivan Ivanov, Vanessa Cheng, Andrei Jones
• 3rd Prize Team #N-3 - Snow Drifter GT: Matthew-Maximo Vizcaino, Bradley Barr

Congratulations to one and all!

On April 7, the annual Concordia Council on Student Life (CCSL) Outstanding Contribution Awards and the Concordia University Volunteer Initiative (CUVI) Recognition Awards were given to Concordia students, staff and faculty who have made exceptional contributions to student life or services at the university.

This year, 25 awards were distributed and several awards went to members of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science!

CCSL Outstanding Contribution Awards

• Student: Jad Saleh, Mechanical Engineering undergraduate, president of the Concordia chapter of Engineers Without Borders
• Faculty: Ketra Schmitt, associate professor, Centre for Engineering in Society
  Hoi Dick Ng, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering professor, Aerospace program director

CUVI Student Recognition Award: Soraya Linge, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering undergraduate, president of the Haitian Students Association

For the whole story, check out Concordia NOW.

Originally posted on Concordia Now - by: Russ Cooper

Three-dimensional printing has the potential to change how products are designed, manufactured and consumed.

This was the idea at the centre of a presentation given by third-year Mechanical and Industrial Engineering student Gavin Kenneally to engineering faculty and students on April 6.

3D printing technology -- which "prints" an object, instead of a two-dimensional image, one layer at a time -- has existed since the 1980s, but has required bulky, expensive machines that use its primary publishing material  plastic powders that yield fragile products.

Now, Kenneally says, 3D printing equipment is getting smaller and less expensive and can handle different and more durable materials, such as stainless steel and glass. He points to recent work at Cornell University that has tested printing electrically-conductive materials, and researchers at Wake Forest University in North Carolina who are even experimenting with the 3D printing of human organs.

3D printing hardware can be constructed using open-source files found online as a blueprint -- something Kenneally himself did with the 3D printer that sits on his desk at home.

With this "sea change of manufacturing and design," Kenneally says a smart and resourceful designer can complete every step of the production process -- serving not only as designer, but also engineer, manufacturer, distributor, product tester, and end-user.

Kenneally says this concept and technology has many benefits, including the potential to reduce waste or eradicate lengthy shipping bottlenecks at borders. Eventually it might even create a perfectly fitting pair of shoes custom-moulded for one's feet.

This was the same message he had delivered at the TEDxConcordia event this past February. Based on TED Talks, the events feature speakers presenting, in the words of the originators, "ideas worth spreading". Kenneally's post-TEDxConcordia Faculty talk was more technical albeit, to reflect the audience's engineering savvy.

He was invited to give the repeat performance to Concordia's engineering community by Mechanical and Industrial Engineering professor Paula Wood-Adams, who has been supervising his research into 3D printing since September.

Design and engineering, says Kenneally, "might seem like the two fields that are separate or exclusive, but there's so much crossover. I like to present them as if they're one and the same."

"Gavin is doing and learning so much more by making use of the university, the people, the facilities and opportunities such as TEDx," says Wood-Adams. "To me, this is a perfect example of getting every possible bit out of an undergraduate education."

This summer, Kenneally will be interning at the University of Pennsylvania. He'll be working in the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory, one of the United States' best-known laboratories for biomimetics -- the study and development of synthetic systems that mimic biologically-produced substances, materials, mechanisms and processes.

Kenneally will return to Concordia this fall for the fourth year of his degree.

To fully understand the power of 3D printing, watch Gavin Kenneally's presentation at TEDxConcordia, February 19, 2011 at the Eric Maclean S.J. Centre for the Performing Arts near the Loyola Campus:

According to a recent article by Jameson Berkow in the Montreal Gazette, "there could soon be more jobs than qualified people in Canada's information and communications technology sector." For the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concordia University, that's great news.

The Department's Chair, Sudhir Mudur, explains that information and communications technology (ICT) is "technologically the fastest growing field, impacting every aspect of our life in the present electronically networked world." He cites examples such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and mobile devices as excellent indications of how the ICT sector is flourishing. Mudur goes on to explain that there are "growing opportunities in virtually all sectors - manufacturing, government, economy, education, entertainment, transportation..." just to name a few!

With the ICT sector ramping up demand for qualified workers, this is exactly the right time for students to come to Concordia in pursuit of degrees with the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. The Faculty's dynamic curriculum, state of the art labs, hands-on practice oriented learning and industry-relevant education make Concordia the ideal place for higher education in ICT.

What's more, notes Mudur, the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering  "offers many different options that combine computing with other disciplines such as arts, sciences, mathematics, or even business administration. Our specific options relevant to the Montreal job market such as Gaming, Web Programming, and Aerospace can also lead to jobs in digital media, e-business, and aerospace industries." Plus, with Concordia's Co-Op option, undergraduates can also gain invaluable work experience while studying.

Students graduating from ICT-related courses can expect to land jobs in programming, software design, software test engineering, software support engineering, game software development, web software development, software marketing, software documentation, and many more!

To find out more about the exciting options Concordia has to offer in the field of information and communications technology, visit the website of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. But don't stop there: be sure to check out the great ICT-related courses offered within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as the Concordia Institute of Information Systems Engineering.

On April 1, after over six years of service helping to provide engineering, engineering mathematics, and computer science courses common to multiple departments within the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, the General Studies Unit made way for the Centre for Engineering in Society, or CES.

CES will have an expanded mission; beyond providing the same services as the General Studies Unit, CES will focus on complementary engineering studies, rhetoric and global engineering. Learn more about CES in these new webpages.

Each year, the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science holds a Capstone exhibition -- a showcase showdown of final projects from fourth-year students.

On March 31 and April 1, the EV Building came alive with these projects, which are the culmination of a year's hard work, the final hurdle before the bachelor degree can be granted.

Each project is judged for its innovation. Winners will be announced at departmental ceremonies later in April. To see a few of the creative ideas developed by the engineering students of 2011, have a look at the video below:

A new study by Subhash Rakheja, a professor in Concordia's Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, investigates hand-arm vibration syndrome, caused by the prolonged exposure to the motor vibrations of certain machines and power tools. Coverage appears in
Medical News Today, Science Daily, Techno-Science.net and ChemInfo.

---

Press release by Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
Anyone who's ever used an electric or gas lawnmower knows how pushing the device can cause tingling hands. This side-effect is caused by motor vibrations and comes with the turf for people who cut grass for a living.

Workers who employ handheld power tools in the mining, forestry, manufacturing and services sectors can also be exposed to large levels of vibrations in their hands and upper arms. Such vibrations are not without consequence. 

"Prolonged exposure to intensive tool vibration can cause hand-arm vibration syndrome," says Subhash Rakheja, a professor in Concordia's Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

"Over time, some workers can lose sensation in their hands or loss of dexterity, they can no longer distinguish between hot or cold surfaces or they can experience discoloration in the extremities of their fingers, which is known as Raynaud's Phenomenon," he continues.
The study of work-vibrations exposure is a relatively new in North America, although it has been a subject of extreme significance in Europe. As a member of the Concordia Centre for Advanced Vehicle Engineering, Rakheja has published widely on the ills of vibration overexposure and prevention.

His most recent study on soil compactors, staples of construction sites, found that exposure to vibrations could be reduced by a whopping 60 percent through a simple seat upgrade.
Rakheja routinely collaborates with an interdisciplinary research network on workplace health. His expertise led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to employ him as an advisor for its West Virginia research site. In Quebec, he works with the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST).

He's worked extensively with the IRSST's Paul-Émile Bouleau and Pierre Marcotte to develop best workplace practices, which have led to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for whole body vibration (ISO 5982) and for hand-arm vibration (ISO 10068). They are now investigating a world standard for anti-vibration gloves.

Rakheja is also examining how to reduce the impact of industrial power tools, such as jackhammers used in the mining industry, which can lead to vascular and skeletal disorders. "The most risky tool to use for workers is the jackhammer," he says. "It's like a loaded gun."

Solutions do exist, he says, and can be as simple as equipping workers with the appropriate anti-vibration gloves. "The goal is to cushion the hand from repeated exposure, but how do you measure if that glove is good?" he asks. "We can simulate any tool vibration in our lab, but how tools are actually used in the field can differ considerably. Everyone pushes at different strengths and speed."

While prevention remains the best medicine, Rakheja says workers are often asked to go beyond their capacity in the name of productivity. "We live in a society where everything must go faster," he says. "But when we make things go too fast, we forget about the slow poison. The biggest challenge is to convince industry to invest in worker safety beyond what's legislated."

Partners in research:
Subhash Rakheja's work is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail and the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies.