Spring
THE DEAN
The stories in this issue are highlights of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science over the past 12 months. Our faculty continues to be one of the premier engineering schools in the country.
I am happy to share that our international ranking as an engineering school has increased significantly over the past year. We are ranked by Times Higher Education in the top 200–251 engineering schools in the world. This ranking is important when recruiting students and professors to our faculty.
Our new mechatronics engineering program is launching this fall. This new program is a joint effort between the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, and many of our students are interested in this major.
I’m also pleased to share that some of our course-based students will have an opportunity to participate in internships under a new pilot program beginning September 2023.
The Centre for Artificial Intelligence, located on the fifth floor of the Core Science Facility, is progressing steadily. The centre will provide students with modern, active-learning and collaborative research and laboratory spaces.
Our enrolment numbers continue to grow. This past winter semester, we had over 2,000 students: 1,300 undergraduate students and more than 900 graduate students.
Our students, professors and alumni continue to impress and we are proud to highlight some of their achievements in this issue.
Dr. Kelly Hawboldt, a professor in the Department of Process Engineering; Dr. Wei Qiu, interim associate dean (research) and ocean and naval architectural engineering professor; Dr. Bing Chen, associate dean (graduate studies) and civil engineering professor; along with alumna Susan Molloy (M.Eng.’01; PhD’07) are among the newest fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Our students continue to compete internationally with great success. Enactus Memorial, which is comprised of students from engineering and business, won the Scotiabank Climate Challenge at the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition for Atlantic Canada for their project, R3D.
Mechanical engineering student Heidi Simpson received an honourable mention at the 2022 Cooperative Education and Work-integrated Learning Canada Student of the Year Awards.
Computer engineering student Shane Williams’ company Notch Embedded won the $25,000 top prize for his software tool that allows engineers to quickly support new chips in electronic designs at the 2023 Mel Woodward Cup.
We are very proud of our students, faculty and staff members, and their continued successes. We hope you will share that pride as you read through this issue of Benchmarks.
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE NEWSLETTEREDITOR
Jackey Locke
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Perfect Day
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jennifer Batten
Kelly Foss
Jeff Green
Kathryn Hong
Jackey Locke
Dr. Leonard Lye
Glenn Sharp
Kim Thornhill
Susan White
PHOTOGRAPHY
Steve Benton
Rich Blenkinsopp
Chris Hammond
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CIVIL
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MECHANICAL
MECHATRONICS
OCEAN + NAVAL ARCHITECTURAL
PROCESS
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
ENERGY SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
OIL AND GAS ENGINEERING
SAFETY AND RISK ENGINEERING
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Environmental Engineering For Cold Regions And Oceans
Autonomous Oceans Systems
Materials And Asset Integrity Lab
Computer Engineering Research
Thermo-Fluids
Structures
Enhanced Oil Recovery
Advanced Drilling
Multimedia Communications
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Centre For Risk Integrity
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Asphalt Laboratory
COVER STORY FEATURES
CIVIL ENGINEERING
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
MECHANICAL AND MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING
OCEAN AND NAVAL ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING
PROCESS
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Persistent Organic Pollution Control Laboratory
Soil-Pipe Interaction Research Laboratory
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Bio-Inspired Robotics
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Laboratory For Analog And Mixed-Signal Vlsi Systems
Memorial Advanced Research Laboratory For Optical And Wireless Communications
Radar Remote Sensing Laboratory
Vision, Software And Robotics Laboratory
Intelligent Systems Laboratory
Material And Asset Integrity Laboratory
Robotics, Mechanical And Control Laboratory
Thermal Fluids And Energy Research Laboratory
Autonomous Oceans Systems Centre
Extreme Loads On Arctic Structures Laboratory
Safety At Sea Laboratory
Drilling Technology Laboratory
Green Process Engineering Laboratory
Hydrometallurgy Laboratory
Waste Biomass To
Hibernia Enhanced Oil Recovery Laboratory
Safety And Risk Engineering Laboratory
A student project that tackles plastic waste pollution recently took home a regional title for Memorial.
Project R3D, created by Enactus Memorial in November 2022, won the Scotiabank Climate Change Challenge at the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition for Atlantic Canada.
“We’re very proud of how our presentations went,” said Allison Manning, a fourth-year electrical engineering student at Memorial who was part of Project R3D’s presentation team. “We’re so proud of Enactus
Memorial, and all the work we put into our projects. We’re grateful for the opportunity to represent Atlantic Canada at nationals.”
Enactus Memorial also competed in the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge with Equipped2Excel, a project that delivers workshops to high school students to help them develop soft skills such as time management, financial literacy, critical thinking and communication.
While the team was pleased with its presentation, it didn’t place in the competition.
To create Project R3D (pronounced “red”), the students reverseengineered a 3D printer.
They first sort and sanitize the plastic and then use a process called pultrusion to heat and shape it into high-quality, 3D-printing filament.
Simon Hawkenson, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student, says the idea for Project R3D was sparked at the Enactus national competition last year.
“We were really inspired by all the different solutions to plastic pollution problems that were being presented,” he said. “And being from Newfoundland and Labrador, where most of the plastic isn’t even recycled locally, we realized there was an opportunity to fill this gap.”
Enactus Memorial estimates the density of plastic pollution in the ocean around Newfoundland and Labrador to be about 5,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer.
Once fully launched, the project is expected to keep about 5,000 pounds of plastic out of landfills by the end of next year.
Enactus Memorial received a grant from Enactus Canada’s Scotiabank Climate Action Project Accelerator fund to purchase some equipment for the initial project stages and develop a prototype.
They also worked with Trevor Bessette (BBA’22), founder and chief executive officer of Recycle on the Rock, on the recycling processes.
Mr. Bessette is providing access to some of his recycling machinery, as well as industry expertise.
“A lot of the machines can be very expensive, especially in the initial stages, so we’re using my machinery to test out the viability of the project,” said Mr. Bessette. “I’m really excited to be part of it and see what we can create beyond the filament, as well.”
Mr. Bessette has been involved in plastic waste recycling for several years. Recycle on the Rock collects plastic waste and turns it into products such as key chains and home décor.
He says one of the challenges with recycling plastic is creating products that consumers want to buy. He hopes the project will eventually expand beyond simply creating the 3D filament to developing innovative products that will solve other societal problems.
“3D printing is cool because you’re not limited by what you can create,” said Mr. Bessette. “It makes it a little easier to create products that you can sell and people want.”
In the short term, they plan to establish a collection site for plastic waste at Memorial. Longer term, they want to expand beyond plastic bottles to plastics that aren’t typically recycled.
“We aim to adapt the process to recycle nylon from fishing nets or even polypropylene from discarded face masks,” said Mr. Hawkenson.
Lost or abandoned fishing nets, commonly known as ghost nets, are a significant source of plastic pollution in the ocean and threatens both habitat and wildlife.
Enactus Memorial plans to bring the model into classrooms and encourage students to recycle, and to provide more recycling options in rural areas.
They also want to enter the $26-billion, 3D-printing market by opening a storefront in partnership with local community groups.
In the two months before nationals, the group will be busy finishing the prototype and advancing the project as much as possible.
“We will further develop our projects so that we can have more impact, educate more people on our projects and recruit more members to grow our team,” said Ms. Manning. “Our goal for nationals is to present the best projects we can, do well in our category and hopefully be able to represent Canada at worlds!”
Enactus Memorial is composed of undergraduate and graduate students from across the university. It’s part of a global network of universities and college students that aim to use innovation and entrepreneurship as a catalyst for positive and social environmental change. ■■■
Enactus Memorial estimates the density of plastic pollution in the ocean around Newfoundland and Labrador to be about 5,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer
Dr. Octavia Dobre has been appointed interim dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, effective May 2, 2022 until a permanent dean is recruited.
Dr. Dobre replaces Dr. Greg Naterer who has been appointed vice president, academic and research at the University of Prince Edward Island.
Dr. Dobre is a highly accomplished, awardwinning scholar and researcher with more than 17 years of experience at Memorial. She is currently professor, research chair, and associate dean of research in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Her research interests include wireless technologies for 5G and beyond networks, blind signal identification and parameter estimation techniques, transceiver optimization algorithms, as well as optical and underwater communications.
Dr. Dobre is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, inaugural editor-in-chief of the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, and has contributed to a variety of roles to several reputable journals and to various flagship conferences. ■■■
Dr. Kelly Hawboldt was one of 55 fellows inducted this past June.
The process engineer was honoured for her contributions to the development and inclusion of remote and rural communities in the circular economy, and her commitment to helping Canadians produce, use and conserve resources while protecting the environment.
The CAE is an Independent, non-profit organization established in 1987 to serve the country in matters concerning engineering.
Fellows of the academy are nominated and elected by their peers, and chosen for their distinguished achievements and career-long service and contributions to the engineering profession.
Dr. Hawboldt’s research has improved the methods used for removing contaminants from gas streams, transforming biomass and industrial processing waste to value-added products and reducing emissions from offshore oil and gas operations.
The strength of her work is her engagement and contributions to the forest, fishery, and mining industries, as well as local and federal governments, that have benefitted from her innovative and integrated approaches to green engineering.
Dr. Hawboldt co-developed the process engineering undergraduate program at Memorial University, making the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science one of the first engineering schools in Canada to offer this discipline based on the principals of clean and green engineering and sustainable resource development.
Dr. Hawboldt was named University Research Professor in 2022, the most prestigious award Memorial University gives for research, acknowledging the awardees consistently high level of scholarship and international research reputation.
She was recognized for her training of graduate students with Memorial’s 2013 President’s Award of Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision. That year, she also received the Bantrel Award in Design and Industrial Practice from the Canadian Chemical Engineering Society in recognition of her innovative work, in particular for her major contributions to green engineering and conversions of finfish processing waste to biofuel. ■■■
Memorial University has received funding for a new Centre for Artificial Intelligence on the St. John’s campus.
The centre will build partnerships with industry and the province’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through collaborative projects, outreach and continuing education, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer related courses. It will also serve as a collaborative space for seminars that bring together AI-related researchers and students across campus for teamwork.
Minister of Labour and Member of Parliament for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, Seamus O’Regan Jr., on behalf of Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Minister responsible for Labour and Minister
responsible for Workplace NL, Bernard Davis, on behalf of Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Andrew Furey, announced funding for the centre on July 6, 2022.
The total project cost is $1,925,000 with $995,000 from the Government of Canada, through ACOA; $432,000 from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department Industry Energy and Technology; and $498,000 from Memorial University.
The funding will enable the hiring of four new term faculty positions and the completion of a 1,500 square foot classroom and active learning space on the fifth floor of the new state-of-the art Core Science Facility. It will be shared with other AI- and computing-related groups at the university, creating a vibrant hub of collaboration and a place where partnerships can flourish and expand. ■■■
More than $27 million for training and upskilling in N.L. tech sector
A federal government investment will support technology training and upskilling education in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Find Your Future in Tech program, funded with $27,172,355, will be administered by techNL, a not-for-profit industry association.
Private and public sectors, together with Memorial University and other educational institutions, are collaborating to offer meaningful opportunities to continue to build and reinforce a robust technology sector in the province.
Memorial is benefiting from the program in several ways.
Funding will cover 20 tuition vouchers for students in several graduatelevel, tech-based degree programs—the master of artificial intelligence, master of data science and the master of applied science in software engineering—and 10 undergraduate computer science programs; the Office of Career Development will promote training opportunities being offered by Keyin College to specific cohorts of graduating students and alumni; the Faculty of Business Administration, in partnership with the Husky Centre and the Office of Student Life, is leading a project focused on connecting students with opportunities and training in the tech sector; and ACENet is launching an advanced computing training program.
techNL is working with 11 partners, including Keyin College, Memorial University, ACENET, Ethree Consulting, Get-Coding, The Leap Method, Women in Resource Development Corporation, CoLab, Genoa Design and SEM Ltd. ■■■
A new program at Memorial University is seeking industry professionals across North America to help develop Newfoundland and Labrador’s next highgrowth startup.
The Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE) is piloting a new program called Solvers to connect industry professionals with entrepreneurial students to find technological solutions to real-world business problems.
It’s not the first time this approach has been successful in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Successful precedent
In 2003 entrepreneur David Kelly (B.Comm.’68) connected with a group of 12 Memorial students, including Jamie King, Brendan Brothers and Raymond Pretty, and together they explored ways to combat financial crime over the course of a six-month project.
Soon after, Verafin was born with Mr. King, Mr. Brothers and Mr. Pretty as its co-founders.
Verafin is now the industry’s leading financial crime management platform. It was acquired by Nasdaq for US$2.75 billion in 2020, and its software is used
Student-led companies focused on engineering software and waste management efficiency were the big winners at the 2023 Mel Woodward Cup.
Notch Embedded, founded by computer engineering student Shane Williams, won the $25,000 top prize for his software tool that allows engineers to quickly support new chips in electronic designs.
The $15,000 runner-up was SmartBin, which has developed a sensor to detect when waste bins are full to save companies time and money and plan more efficient collection processes.
SmartBin was founded by Aneesh Raghupathy, an undergraduate science student, and Niraj Shukla.
The company is currently running a pilot project with Heave Away Waste Management with plans to launch commercially.
SmartBin is also enrolled in the Enterprise incubator program at Genesis.
in more than 3,000 banks and credit unions across North America.
Investing in future tech Interested industry participants must invest $5,000 in the project.
The MCE will contribute up to $23,000 in student entrepreneurial work term or internship bursaries and support for project expenses. Participants can also avail of guidance from MCE staff as well as its co-working space.
The project is supported by a $20,000 donation from the Fry Family Foundation.
Both the winner and runner-up will receive in-kind prizes from Altitude Media, Gardiner Centre, Genesis, HeyOrca!, KMPG, McInnes Cooper, Perfect Day and techNL.
Two other awards were handed out at the event, courtesy of the Fry Family Foundation.
Stephanie Roberts, co-founder of Med SimuLabs, won the award for women or non-binary leadership and CodeDoc Hub, founded by Tashin Ahmed Prottoy and Shawon Ibn Kamal, won for an earlystage idea.
The seventh edition of the Mel Woodward Cup saw five finalist teams compete at the Emera Innovation Exchange, Signal Hill Campus, before panel of expert judges.
The Mel Woodward Cup was created through a donation to the Faculty of Business Administration in 2017 from the family of the late Dr. Mel Woodward, founder of the Woodward Group of Companies. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) also provides support for the competition. ■■■
A former dean and professor emeritus of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied has been named a member of the Order of Canada.
Dr. Ross Peters was named for his multiple contributions to engineering, notably in engineering education and regulation that have advanced the engineering profession provincially, nationally and internationally.
The Order of Canada is the highest civilian honour in Canada and recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the nation.
In 1963, after graduating from the University of Toronto with a bachelor of engineering degree, Dr. Peters joined Memorial University as a professor. During the next 30 years, he held several leadership positions, including leader of the Ocean Engineering Research Group and associate dean of engineering responsible for graduate studies in the faculty. He served as dean of Engineering and Applied Science from 1982-92 and led the faculty’s engineering programs to full accreditation.
In addition to his outstanding academic accomplishments, Dr. Peters also made significant contributions to the engineering profession through his outstanding leadership and selfless guidance.
His many contributions to the profession include service as director of the Canadian Council for Professional Engineers; chair of the National Committee of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science; member of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (including two years as chair); fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; and president of the Association of Professional Engineers of Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Peters also co-chaired the Hibernia Assessment and Review Panel and served on the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board for 11 years. ■■
The first annual Student Design Showcase brought in more than $23,000 in sponsorships, donations and in-kind support for student teams at Memorial.
The event, held last May 18, was organized by Memorial’s Student Design Hub, a collaborative manufacturing and assembly space on Memorial’s St. John’s campus. The hub was created to provide support to any undergraduate or graduate student competing in student-centred competitions or developing products as part of a startup.
The hub supports students in many areas. It provides them with access to equipment, prototyping spaces and creating tailored content. It also provides inspiration, guidance and connections to help students bring design and artistic projects to life.
Six teams, Paradigm Engineering; Eastern Edge Robotics; MUN RoboSub; FMUNTenth; Phoenix Aerospace; and MUN Concrete Toboggan, which comprised of students from the faculties of Business Administration, Science, and Engineering and Applied Science, each presented five-minute pitches and answered tough questions from attendees.
The award for Best in Show went to the MUN Concrete Toboggan.
After the pitches, participants and attendees networked in the newly created Student Design Hub Prototyping Laboratory. ■■■
More than $23,000 in sponsorships for student teams at MemorialMEMBERS OF THE MUN CONCRETE TOBOGGAN TEAM, WITH KYLE DOODY AND ADAM KEATING, PRESENT ITS BEST IN SHOW AWARD. DR. ROSS PETERS
It’s five for five.
Memorial was the only Canadian university included as one of the world’s best for the study for marine/ocean engineering in an annual publication of world university rankings in 2022 — and it’s the fifth year in a row to do so.
Memorial placed 38 among the top 50 universities as part of the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy’s 2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) in the category.
In 2021, it ranked 37, while in 2020 it placed 36 and in 2019 it ranked 45.
The rankings are an objective and independent assessment of a university’s performance.
Its methodology includes a number of indicators such as research output; research influence; international collaboration; research quality; and international academic awards.
The methodology is based strongly on research publication outputs using Web of Science data.
Individuals can search on the Web of Science site to assess which publication outputs are being assessed and who are the strongest researchers contributing to a given subject area. This might be used to influence future publication patterns.
Using these metrics, the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) contains the best performing universities in the world.
This year’s GRAS contains rankings of universities in 54 subjects across Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences fields.
In total, more than 5,000 universities were ranked.
Overall, Memorial ranks in the top 500 in 21 of the 54 subject areas.
Within the natural sciences field, Memorial ranks among the top 201–300 for the study of earth sciences; geography; and ecology.
It places among the top 301–400 for the study of mathematics and atmospheric science.
In the engineering field, Memorial places 301-400 for the study of computer science and engineering; electrical and electronic engineering; and chemical engineering.
And, it places among the top 401–500 for the study of environmental science and engineering.
Memorial is among the top 401–500 worldwide universities for the study of agricultural sciences, which falls within the life sciences field.
For the study of public health, Memorial lands among the top 401–500 global universities.
Within the social sciences field, Memorial ranks among the top 201–300 for the study of law.
It is also among the top 301–400 for the study of psychology; management; and business administration. ■■■
Researchers from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science are on the World’s Top 2% Scientists list.
The list, which was published by Stanford University, includes researchers that represent the top two per cent of the most-cited scientists in the world across various disciplines.
On the impressive list from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
are Dr. Octavia Dobre, dean; Dr. Sohrab Zendehboudi, Department of Process Engineering; Dr. Yuri Muzychka, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering; Dr. Tariq Iqbal, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Dr. Noori Saady, Department of Civil Engineering; Dr. Kelly Hawboldt, Department of Process Engineering; Dr. Ramin Azargohar, Department of Process Engineering; Dr. Weimin Huang, Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering; Dr. Ali Ashraf Khan, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Dr. Greg Naterer, adjunct professor, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering; and the late Dr. Md Azizur Rahman, a longtime electrical engineering professor. ■■■
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s associate dean (research), associate dean (graduate studies) and an alumna are among the newest fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
Drs. Wei Qiu, Bing Chen and Sue Molloy are being honoured for their outstanding achievements and career-long service and contributions to the engineering profession.
The Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) is a national institution through which Canada’s most distinguished and experienced engineers provide strategic advice on matters of critical importance to Canada.
Fellows of the academy are nominated and elected by their peers.
Dr. Wei Qiu
Dr. Qiu is the interim associate dean (research) in the faculty. One of the world’s leading specialists in marine hydrodynamics, Dr. Qiu specializes in solving fluid-structure interaction problems using experimental and numerical methods. He has made significant contributions to the field of ocean engineering and naval architecture in terms of student training, undergraduate and graduate programs, solving industry problems, publications, software packages being used by the marine and offshore industry. Dr. Qiu has also led the establishment of the Canadian Network for Innovative Shipbuilding, Marine Research and Training (CISMaRT) to foster collaboration among government, industry and academia in the marine sector.
Dr. Bing Chen
Dr. Chen is associate dean (graduate studies) in the faculty. He is also the UArctic Chair in Marine and Coastal Environmental Engineering and a civil engineering professor. He is the current director of a global network on Persistent, Emerging and Organic PoLlution in the Environment (PEOPLE Network) (and NSERC PEOPLE CREATE). He is also a fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) and a member of the Royal Society of Canada (College) and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Dr. Chen is an internationally recognized leader in environmental engineering and, particularly, in oil spill response, persistent/emerging contamination, water/wastewater treatment, AI-aided decision making, cold regions and climate change. As a registered professional engineer, he has provided consulting service in Canada and worldwide.
Dr. Molloy is chief executive officer of Glas Ocean Electric (GOE), a Nova Scotia-based company electrifying workboats and using AI-driven marine data to reduce GHG emissions. She received her M.Eng. and PhD degrees in naval architecture and ocean engineering from Memorial in 2001 and 2007.
Dr. Molloy has been an invited speaker, panelist and moderator on ocean engineering topics for many industry, academic, and outreach events over the years, and gave the prestigious Canada Ocean Lecture for 2021.
Dr. Molloy teaches about sustainable energy and related marine projects at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and enthusiastically supports women in engineering and energy fields.
Dr. Sue Molloy Drs. Qiu, Chen and Molloy were inducted June 2022 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ■■■Memorial University’s research capacity in areas relevant to the Arctic is expanding.
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s Dr. Bing Chen was appointed the UArctic Chair in Marine and Coastal Environmental Engineering.
UArctic chairs are internationally leading scientists and engineers who act as drivers for academic development in content areas relevant to the Arctic. Positions are selected globally and collaboratively appointed by UArctic and its nominating institutions.
Targeting two areas
As one of the newest UArctic chairs, Dr. Chen will establish and sustain a
Dr. Helen Zhang, professor, Department of Civil Engineering, is among the 2022’s inductees to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists (RSC).
Widely lauded for her dynamic research, Dr. Zhang, Canada Research Chair in Coastal Environmental Engineering, has made significant advances in handling coastal oil and emerging contamination.
She is the founder of Memorial’s Coastal Environmental Laboratory, which is among a select group of worldwide facilities developing novel and environmentally friendly bio-products
world-leading research program dedicated to marine and coastal environmental sustainability and community resilience in the Arctic and other cold regions by targeting two challenging and critical areas over the next five years.
The first area, preventing and responding to oil/chemical spills, will advance knowledge of the risks and impacts of oil and chemicals released from operational leakages or accidental spills. It will develop green cleanup technologies and effective emergency response methods through the integration of environmental engineering with bio/ nano-technologies and artificial intelligence.
The second area, managing and mitigating non-regulated persistent and emerging contaminants, including petroleum hydrocarbons, micro/nano-plastics,
pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, flame retardants, pesticides and others, will help Arctic communities better understand how to prevent and/or remove them from natural and human environments under climate change.
Dr. Chen’s research will also seek out scientific contributions and transformative impacts on the understanding and management of the environmental issues caused by the above pollutants under climate change and support Arctic sustainability. ■■■
for marine oil spill response. She is also a key researcher with Memorial’s Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control Laboratory, tackling the occurrence, transport, fate, impact and mitigation of emerging coastal contaminants such as microplastics and antibiotics.
Dr. Zhang’s cutting-edge work helps integrate coastal environmental engineering with the key ocean industrial sectors to drive our ocean economies to be more sustainable and productive under a changing climate.
Her research has resulted in invitations from Canada’s Ocean Protection Plan’s Multi-partner Oil Spill Research Initiative as one of the lead scientists.
She also served as senior expert of the United Nations Development Program and received a fellowship from the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering in recognition of her impact on the discipline.
Dr. Zhang and other honorees, which included Dr. Sonja Boon, professor, Department of Gender Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr. Julia Christensen, adjunct professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; and Dr. Sheila Garland, associate professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, who is cross-appointed to the Discipline of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, were celebrated by the RSC during a celebration of excellence and engagement this past November in Calgary, Alta. ■■■
Interim Dean of Engineering and Applied Science has received international recognition from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Dr. Octavia A. Dobre received the IEEE Communications Society Joseph LoCicero Award for Exemplary Service, as well as the Technical Recognition Award from the IEEE Communications Society’s Cognitive Networks Technical Committee.
Dr. Dobre was presented with the Joseph LoCicero Award for Exemplary Service for her exceptional leadership as the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society and editor-in-chief of the IEEE Communications Letters, and for exemplary service to the IEEE Communications Society’s publications.
She obtained the Technical Recognition Award for her outstanding contributions to cognitive radio communications and networking.
“I am deeply honoured and delighted to receive these awards from the IEEE,” said Dr. Dobre. “Thank you to all my students and collaborators, as well as my nominator and the selection committee.”
Dr. Dobre is a fellow of the IEEE. She is also interim dean and professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. She was a Royal Society Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar and a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Her research interests include technologies for the 6G wireless networks, as well as optical and underwater communications, and she has published over 450 referred papers in these areas.
She also serves as the director of Journals of the IEEE Communications Society, and has been a senior editor/editor/guest editor for numerous journals and magazines.
Dr. Dobre has also received various honours, such as Best Paper Awards at leading conferences, and was elected as member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. ■■■
This past fall, 20 research teams got a crash course on all things ocean.
The groups, from seven universities across the country, were among the latest cohort participating in the Lab2Market Oceans.
The seven-week program, hosted by Memorial and part of the Ocean Startup Project, provided post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and faculty the opportunity to explore their ocean research ideas in a new way.
Facilitated by world-class experts, teams learned about everything from stakeholder engagement to intellectual property to revenue stream.
The Lab2Market Oceans program is not just about commercialization, says Dr. Paula Mendonça (PhD’10), director of innovation and entrepreneurship, at Memorial who oversees Lab2Market Oceans.
“It’s about training ocean researchers to be better communicators, entrepreneurs and problem-solvers,” she said. “By participating in the program, these teams are opening up new doors as they enhance their professional networks, explore new business ventures and foster a better understanding of the ocean ecosystem.”
Interest in the program has risen since its launch in 2020.
The latest cohort consists of 13 teams from Memorial, along with groups from the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, Ontario Tech University, Concordia University and Dalhousie University.
Forty per cent of the entrepreneurial leads self-identify as female, up from 23 per cent in 2021 and 11 per cent in 2020.
Participating students receive $15,000 in Mitacs funding to support them through the program.
Memorial’s teams were based in the faculties of Science, Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Fisheries at the Marine Institute.
Dr. Oscar De Silva, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, was one of the participants.
He said the Lab2Market program was “incredibly” valuable.
“It allowed us to methodically assess where our R&D efforts were on the commercialization scale.”
He said students got access to key stakeholders and clients from across the country.
“Our team is focused on developing hardware and software to support aerial logistics and marine autonomy specifically for use in harsh environment applications. Through the Lab2Market program, we were hoping to learn from leading tech entrepreneurs and potential future clients how to better align our R&D efforts and at the same time enable tech startup spinoffs led by students of the lab.”
‘Economic driver’
Dr. De Silva says it makes sense for Memorial to be the host institution for Lab2Market.
“Ocean-related technology research is an economic driver for the province and the university,” he said.
“I think Memorial, with its facilities and network of partners, is uniquely geared to take on challenging ocean-engineering problems, which in turn produces highly marketable skills in the tech sector.”
‘Significant’ benefits
That feedback was welcome news for organizers.
“It’s exciting to see so many ocean researchers exploring commercialization in Canada, which adds to the significant momentum this country has in the blue economy,” said Don Grant, executive director at the Ocean Startup Project.
“Canada is uniquely positioned to be a global leader in developing innovative, sustainable ocean technologies that can help us better understand and protect our ocean resources. The potential for these researchers to create new products and services is huge, and the benefits to our economy and our environment are significant.”
The Lab2Market program is part of the Ocean Startup Project, hosted by Memorial University, and supported by Springboard Atlantic, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Mitacs. ■■■
When students choose to study ocean and naval architectural engineering at Memorial, they are receiving an education like no other.
Memorial University’s bachelor of engineering in ocean and naval architectural engineering is unique in Canada and around the world.
Not only is it the only Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) accredited ocean and naval architectural engineering program in Canada, it is one of only two similar ocean and naval architectural engineering programs in the world with mandatory co-operative education.
“The mandatory co-operative education component is truly a gem of our engineering program,” said Dr. Bruce Quinton, former acting department head. “Our students gain 16-24 months of paid industry experience and networking during their studies, which means they are ready to perform at a high level at the start of their careers. We are proud of our excellent reputation and the fact that out graduates are in high-demand in Canada, the United States and around the world.”
Dr. Quinton adds that Memorial’s ocean and naval architectural engineering students are immersed in a culture where engineering for marine environments matters.
“Newfoundland and Labrador is steeped in maritime tradition, and there are countless industries and research organizations focused on ocean and ship innovations. Our ocean and naval architectural engineering students are at the heart of it all.”
The program enables students to design a variety of boats and structures, autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, and the systems that enable all of those to function.
“Our students can learn how to design everything from yachts and icebreakers to offshore structures and autonomous vehicles,” said Dr. Quinton. “They also learn in a small group environment on the edge of the North Atlantic, in the heart of one of Canada’s centres of excellence for ocean and naval architectural engineering research and development.”
In addition to mandatory work terms, professors look for ways to further enhance students’ learning experiences by collaborating with industry and the local sailing communities to arrange tours of ships and facilities and students also have access to the university’s sailing club.
“Ship design is a unique engineering discipline,” said Dr. Quinton. “A ship is very much like a miniature moving floating city.
Ocean and naval architectural engineers not only have to understand how to design the individual parts and systems of that ‘city,’ they also have to understand how to integrate them to provide a functional, optimized and efficient solution.
“One of the major problems facing the shipping industry today is pollution caused by worldwide shipping. Over 90 per cent of traded goods are moved around the world in ships. This is an exciting and revolutionary time to be designing ships because of the multitude of new green technologies being developed to power ships and shipping in the coming years.”
An engineering professor has received national recognition for his “gamechanging” research in the mining industry.
Dr. Stephen Butt received the 2022 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) Award in Design and Industrial Practice.
The award, which is sponsored by the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Chemical Engineering, is presented for innovative design or production activities accomplished in Canada.
Dr. Butt is a geological engineer. His keen interest in the development of natural resources is evident through his teaching, research and industry collaboration.
He joined Memorial University as an engineering professor in 2006, and is cross-appointed with the Faculty of Science’s Department of Earth Sciences.
His teaching and research focuses on technology development and optimization, reducing the environmental footprint and training highly qualified personnel and industry professionals.
Dr. Butt has generated more than $6.5 million in research funding as a principal investigator and another $13.5 million as a co-investigator. He has supervised approximately 110 highly qualified personnel, published more than 200 articles and proceedings and holds several patents with others in progress.
He was the Mining Program Chair at Dalhousie University from 2000-06. At Memorial he was acting associate dean (graduate studies) from 2008-10 and interim discipline chair of process engineering from 2013-14. He is currently an associate mining engineer with MineTech International in Halifax, N.S.
Dr. Butt was presented with the award at the Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference this past October in Vancouver, B.C. ■■■
Dr. Kelly Hawboldt was officially named University Research Professor during the President’s Awards ceremony, this past fall.
The title is the most prestigious award the university bestows for research. It is a designation above the rank of professor and reserved for faculty members who have demonstrated a consistently high level of scholarship, including graduate student supervision and other mentoring activities, and whose research is of a truly international stature.
Dr. Hawboldt is a professor in the faculty’s Department of Process Engineering. She received her bachelor of engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a master of science and PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary.
Dr. Hawboldt is a chemical engineer with a particular interest in sustainable processing. Her research is in green processing, developing processes and products from natural resources where the energy required and generated wastes are minimized.
She is committed to helping Canadians produce, use and conserve resources while protecting the environment with a particular focus on developing solutions that “work” for rural and remote communities. ■■■
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science recognized individuals for their outstanding work ethic and contributions in 2022.
The Dean’s Awards, which recognize excellence among technical and administrative faculty and staff, highlight and celebrate individual excellence while helping to raise the profile of the faculty nationally and internationally.
Individuals are nominated by their peers and the recipients are chosen by an internal awards committee, ultimately approved by the Dean.
The following individuals received Dean’s Awards for 2022:
Caroline Koenig, a laboratory instructor for first-year engineering in the faculty received the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to teaching in one or more of the following areas: teaching effectiveness, teaching innovation and/or teaching scholarship and leadership.
Dr. Stephen Butt, professor, Department of Process Engineering, received the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence. The award recognizes faculty members for their outstanding research accomplishments and significant contributions to advancing the faculty’s national and international reputation for research excellence.
Dr. Sam Nakhla, associate professor, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision. The award recognizes and encourages excellence in graduate student supervision.
Dr. Jonathan Anderson, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Academic Service. The award recognizes exceptional contributions of academic staff members (ASMs and ASM-CEs).
The Dean’s Award for Exemplary Service went to Nicole Parisi, a program administrator in the faculty’s graduate studies office and Dr. Adedoyin Odukoya, a grants facilitation officer in the faculty’s research office. The award recognizes exceptional contributions of non-academic staff members who always make an extra effort, contribute significantly to the success of the faculty and consistently provide outstanding support and assistance.
Dr. John Molgaard, honorary research professor, Memorial University, and Andrew Kendrick, president of SNAME, received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Faculty. ■■■
Engineering participated in an event aimed at educating youth about the mining industry.
Members of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Process Engineering attended the Young Minds in Mining Showcase, held at Valmont Academy in King’s Point last month.
The event, which was organized by Maritime Resources, aimed to bring together the mining industry, its stakeholders and approx. 200 high school students for a day of information sharing.
The team from process engineering was led by faculty members Drs. Stephen Butt and Cui Lin, and included PhD candidates Judith George and Sharmin Israt from the Memorial chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) MetSoc Chapter.
Dr. Butt is pleased with the response from students.
“The showcase provided us with an opportunity to highlight process engineering education and the faculty’s co-operative education work term experience leading to careers in mining,” he said.
The team educated youth not only about the process engineering program, but also about the co-operative education program, which maximizes the learning experience for students by alternating classroom learning and industry work terms. This approach provides students with up to two years of industry work experience prior to graduation as well as networking opportunities.
Students learned about potential career opportunities across natural resources sectors, including mining, from process engineering professors and graduate students at the booth.
Dr. Butt said the plating experiment where students had to wear a laboratory coat, protective eye wear and gloves, was popular.
The first part of the experiment involved cleaning steel billets, which are round discs about the size of a loonie, by lowering them into hydrochloric acid using tongs. For the second part of the experiment the discs were transferred to a copper sulfate bath to plate the discs with shiny copper.
The students could keep their discs as a takeaway.
“The interest from the students in engineering, especially in mining and mineral processing is very encouraging,” said Dr. Syed Imtiaz, head, Department of Process Engineering. “This is a great way to give back to our community as well as promoting engineering to young minds.”
More than 120 delegates representing approx. 30 companies attended the second annual Industry Engagement Day on July 5, hosted by the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.
The one-day event at the Emera Innovation Exchange, Signal Hill campus, aimed to bring together industry representatives with university researchers to exchange ideas to help tackle challenges related to oceans, shipbuilding, Arctic shipping, energy, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and drones.
Building upon last year’s engagement day, the event featured engaging talks from technical industry, provincial government and Memorial University representatives.
Speakers
Dr. Octavia Dobre, interim dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, gave opening remarks followed by an overview of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.
Dr. Dobre highlighted the faculty’s new undergraduate mechatronics program, new internships for graduate students and an increase in the faculty’s global ranking for 2023.
Gerard Dunphy, vice-president, Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls, Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro, spoke about the past, present and future of electrical systems in Canada.
Afternoon speakers included Charlene Johnson, CEO, Energy NL, and Dr. Neil Bose, president and vice-chancellor, Memorial University, pro tempore.
Ms. Johnson spoke about the present and future energy initiatives happening in the province, while Dr. Bose shared how Memorial is playing a critical role in supporting and fostering a culture of innovation through securing the largest research funding ever awarded to Memorial with a federal government investment of $91 million for the Qanittaq initiative.
The final two plenary speakers were Stephen O’Brien, senior advisor, Chantier Davie Canada Inc. and Paul Griffin, president and CEO, C-CORE.
Mr. O’Brien spoke about some of the projects Davie is working on, including an investment in alternative fuels while Mr. Griffin gave an overview of C-CORE and its capabilities and highlighted a few projects. ■■■
The Faculty of Engineering’s Co-operative Education Office recognized engineering work term students and employers recently.
The Director’s Awards for Exemplary and Outstanding Work Terms celebrated and recognized the progress and achievements of senior engineering students from the Class of 2023 who have exemplified excellence in both performance and communications on assigned work terms over the course of their program.
The annual event also recognized the employers of the students for providing outstanding work-term opportunities.
The Director’s Award for Exemplary Work Terms is the pinnacle award of the engineering co-operative education program and is presented to students who receive a pass with distinction, the highest possible grade, on all of their work terms.
The 2022-23 recipients are Brooklyn Hollett, process engineering; Erin Burt, civil engineering; and Maria Blake, civil engineering
The Director’s Award for Outstanding Work Terms is awarded to one student from each engineering major who receives a grade of pass with distinction on most of their work terms.
The six recipients for 2022-23 are Brooke Mcculloch, electrical engineering; Carla Stephenson, process engineering; Clara Phillips, ocean and naval architectural engineering; Katherine Ledwell, mechanical engineering; Kelsey Smith, civil engineering; and Liam Warren, computer engineering.
Heidi Simpson, a mechanical engineering student in the Class of 2024, received the Director’s Special Recognition Award for her honourable mention at the 2022 Co-operative Education and Work-integrated Learning Canada Student of the Year Awards.
The 2023 Employer Recognition Award Recipients follow below.
• Bell Canada Enterprises
• Bird Heavy Civil Ltd., Bird Construction
• Canada-Newfoundland & Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
• Canadian Coast Guard, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Cenovus Energy Inc.
• Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
• Exmar Offshore Company
• Genoa Design International Ltd.
• Hatch Ltd.
• InnovativeNL Engineering and Project Management
• Irving Tissue, member of J.D. Irving Ltd.
• KelCo Construction
• Lake Utopia Paper, member of J.D. Irving Ltd.
• Mysa
• Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro
• Nokia Corporation
• Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering, National Research Council of Canada
• PolyUnity Tech Inc.
• SEMiLLA Sanitation
• Suncor Energy Inc.
• Vale
• Vard Marine Inc.
• Vigilant Management
• Wood
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science sponsored six awards, one for each discipline, at the Eastern Newfoundland Science and Technology Fair.
The event took place at the Marine Institute on March 31-April 1 with the awards ceremony held on the evening of April 1.
Congratulations to the following:
Civil Engineering: Madison Drover from St. Bonaventure College for their project, “The durability of engineering/architectural design: Wind and weight.”
Computer Engineering: Ryan Cullen from Holy Trinity High for their project, “Simulating Le Chatelier’s Principle.”
Electrical Engineering: Sophia Zhang from St. Bonaventure College for their project, “Triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting wind energy.”
Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering: Benjamin Thomas Gillingham from Lakecrest Independent School for their project, “How fins affect a submarine’s stability.”
Process Engineering: Matthew Pilgrim from Holy Trinity High for their project, “Comparing different biodegradable products decompose.”
Thank you to all the professors who attended as judges. Dr. Dennis Peters, associate dean, undergraduate studies, presented the awards, which came with a $200 prize. ■■■
The faculty returned to an in-person open house in 2023, with more than 300 visitors to our faculty.
Guests learned about engineering undergraduate and graduate programs, including our co-operative education program that allows undergraduate students to gain up to two years of industry work experience prior to graduation, and toured working laboratories.
Visitors also met some of our students involved in incredible groups and teams to learn about the exciting ways to apply the knowledge learned in classrooms through extracurricular activities. In engineering, students blend their studies with inspiring projects, competitions and more.
The Memorial Engineering Outreach station, which included exciting robots, 3D printing machines and design challenges, was popular with youth. ■■■
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s Memorial Engineering Outreach (MEO) office offers experiential science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning opportunities for youth in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The goal of the MEO is to provide opportunities for youth to experience engineering topics through hands-on activities and workshops to help increase their understanding and appreciation for engineering.
“A variety of outreach initiatives encourages youth to envision the roles they may play in this diverse and exciting field,” said Kathryn Hong, co-ordinator for outreach activities, MEO. “Helping to eliminate barriers to make quality STEM programming more accessible to as many youth as possible is a top priority.”
In 2022, the MEO engaged with more than 1,350 youth from communities across the province, with over 80 per cent of this engagement being in-person. In 2022, summer camps returned to fully in-person and participants were welcomed into laboratories to see inspiring research and demonstrations with engineering faculty, staff and students.
The faculty has been rebuilding capacity since the pandemic, and is pleased to see consistent increases in youth engagement. In 2022 the faculty saw a 12.5 per cent increase over 2021 and plans to increase outreach activity significantly in 2023.
Last year, the MEO introduced three new initiatives including a virtual game
design program for teens and a Python club for female identifying youth.
“Both of these programs were very well received and we are pleased to add these as future opportunities for youth in our province,” said Ms. Hong. “We also collaborated with Memorial’s Labrador Campus on a snow sculpture challenge for elementary grade students across Labrador. Over 10 schools participated and a virtual workshop was held with all classes at the end. The excitement was high and this event is planned to continue into 2023.”
In 2022, 11 engineering students completed work terms with the MEO. Work term students learn how to use a variety of engineering tools and resources to inspire youth and share their enthusiasm for engineering.
“Employing engineering work term students has been a very positive experience for all involved,” said Ms. Hong. “The students gain valuable work experience in areas such as project management, communication, professionalism, leadership and technical skills. It is rewarding to see past participants in the MEO programming become youth mentors as engineering students.”
Ms. Hong was recognized with a Certificate of Excellence from Actua, a network of over 40 STEM outreach providers across Canada in January 2022, and the MEO was awarded the Employer Recognition Award for Exceptional Mentoring from the Engineering Co-operative Education Office in the spring of 2022. ■■■
Newfoundland and Labrador teams captured major awards at the 2022 MATE ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) World Championship in Long Beach, Calif.
Laughter Afolabi is a fifth-year mechanical engineering student from Kwara and Oyo states in Nigeria.
Ms. Afolabi has competed in entrepreneurial competitions, and recently received a fellowship from Ventures for Canada. She chose engineering to combine her creative and technical skills.
Success Aifuwa is a fifth-year student from Lagos, Nigeria.
Whenever she designs a new device or improves an existing one, she is happy knowing she is helping at least one person.
From Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria, Hadiza Babatunde has used LinkedIn during her undergraduate studies with great results.
Ms. Babatunde encourages other students to be active on LinkedIn because, while the faculty supports students with securing work terms, the platform can help introduce students to recruiters and hiring managers.
Roxanne Balemaken is a third-year mechanical engineering student from Cameroon, who has been named to the Dean’s List and says she is a work-in-progress when it comes to staying disciplined.
Chinedu Obi is a second-year computer engineering student originally from Imo State, Nigeria.
While Mr. Obi has become quite good at juggling hackathons and his studies, there is something else that he prioritizes above everything else—his mental health.
When Ebbetien Bullard (B.Eng.’18) came to Memorial, she was the only Black person in her class. But, she quickly formed strong friendships and valuable connections with other Black students across campus.
Today, Ms. Bullard works as a manufacturing engineer with Irving Shipbuilding.
Cleverson Esene (M.Eng.’15, PhD’19) is currently a reservoir advisor with Suncor, and a strong advocate for mentorship.
He believes that an effective and well-defined relationship between a mentor and a mentee can have significant impact. He says he has seen many smart young individuals who need help putting their “right foot” forward, and would like to see more active mentoring. ■■■
Memorial University’s Eastern Edge Robotics team placed third overall and was awarded Best Engineering presentation in the Explorer category for post-secondary students. The team is comprised of more than 30 students from the Marine Institute and faculties of Science and Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial.
Mount Pearl Senior High’s Husky Explorer team received Best Engineering presentation in the Ranger class, the Guts and Glory Award and a Most Valuable Player honours for team member, Eric Goulding.
Twenty international teams competed in the Explorer class, while there were 25 teams in the Ranger class this year.
The MATE Center’s annual ROV competition, now in its 20th year, challenges international high school and post-secondary students to learn and creatively apply STEM skills to solve real-world problems using ROVs, as well as strengthen their critical thinking, collaboration, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Provincial high school and post-secondary teams excelled in the competition during the past two decades. Eastern Edge Robotics placed in the top three spots nine times, taking first place four times.
This year’s competition highlighted the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science and urged participants to embrace environmental, social and governance efforts.
Students were challenged to design and build an ROV and the necessary sensors and tooling to support work to combat climate change, provide clean energy, feed the growing global population, monitor ocean health and preserve maritime history.
A team from Memorial, including mechanical and civil engineering students, competed in the annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) 2023 in Kelowna, B.C. this past February.
The GNCTR is the oldest and largest student-run engineering competition in Canada, challenging more than 450 engineering students to design, build, and safely race toboggans with a running surface made entirely of concrete.
Competing teams are tasked with designing and building a toboggan with steering, braking and capable of carrying five people down a hill. The concrete skis, metal roll cage and the steering and braking systems must all weigh less than 350 lbs.
Toboggans are judged on design, level of ingenuity and innovation and how well it performs on race day.
The team from Memorial placed high in several categories, including third overall in the main racing event, King of the Hill, out of 12 competing teams. Other third-place finishes include the braking category for having the third shortest stopping distance and for ski reinforcement.
The team placed second in the Aestheticallypleasing Toboggan competition, fifth out of 15 teams for their steering design and had the fourth fastest overall run with a top speed of 45 kilometres per hour. ■■■
Memorial engineering students are designing, building and testing not one, but two, nano-satellites to launch and operate in space.
The first satellite, Killick-1, will collect data for a one-year period that will enable sea-ice monitoring from space at a significantly lower cost compared to traditional satellite remote sensing. It launches this fall.
The second satellite will have an extended mission—more than two years—and will be designed to image the Earth at longer intervals and higher latitudes, including the northern Labrador Sea and Arctic Ocean.
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s Dr. Weimin Huang says the payload for the second satellite will play a role in helping to understand Canada’s ocean environment.
“The ocean plays a significant role in global climate and human activities, and therefore, a good knowledge of our oceans is critical,” said Dr. Huang, who is one of two project leads for both projects. “The data will provide important inputs to weather and the climate models. My research team will focus on providing enhanced knowledge on Canada’s oceans, and climate change impacts.”
The second satellite is being funded by a $350,000 grant from the Canada Space Agency’s CubeSats Initiative Canada STEM (CUBICS) program.
CUBICS is providing an opportunity for professors in post-secondary institutions to engage student teams in an end-to-end space mission. The three-year project is in partnership with C-CORE.
Desmond Power, vice-president of remote sensing with C-CORE and the second project lead for both projects, says CUBICS is an “incredible” opportunity for Newfoundland and Labrador students to get experience in space systems development.
“The Killick-1 mission provided training to well over 120 students over a four-year period and we expect even more from CUBICS,” he said. “These are satellites that we own and control allowing us the freedom to collect data wherever we think is important.”
The second satellite, which will get underway this fall when a new student team is formed, is expected to launch in 2025–26.
Memorial is one of nine universities across Canada to receive funding under the CUBICS program. ■ ■ ■
Ethan Smith is the 2022–23 recipient of the substantial Peter Kohler Engineering Scholarship.
The scholarship, which was established in 2020, was created thanks to a generous donation from the late Peter Kohler, who passed away in 2019.
The MUN SailBot team competed in the International Robotic Sailing Regatta at Camp Bauercrest on Lake Attitash in Amesbury, MA, June 4–9, 2023.
The team placed third in the payload event, fourth in the station keeping challenge and for their technical presentation.
The team said they are happy to have successfully competed at the IRSR, and that the opportunity gave them a chance to showcase their hard work, apply their engineering skills in real life and bond as a team.
There were some challenges throughout the competition, including getting the sailboat
shipped to the U.S., and mechanical and electrical setbacks during the competition prevented the team from competing in the fleet races. However, the team was able to problem-solve themselves and with the other teams in order to make the most of the remainder of the events.
The team said that, overall, they are very happy with how well their sailbot performed in the events they competed in. They are taking what they learned this year to identify areas for growth in preparation for next year’s competition. ■■■
The annual scholarship is valued at $50,000 with $10,000 awarded annually for five years. Renewal is dependent on the recipient continuing engineering studies at Memorial and maintaining scholarship standing.
Mr. Smith grew up in Outer Cove, N.L., and graduated from Gonzaga High School in St. John’s.
In high school, Mr. Smith prioritized staying on top of his school work and making sure he maintained high academic standing. He is very grateful to the Kohler family for the financial support.
“To the Kohler family, I would like to say that I am nothing but grateful for what you’ve
done for my family and I,” he said. “The impact that this has and will continue to have on me is nothing short of life-changing. I could go on and on about how much this means to me, but it all boils down to ‘everything.’ Thank you very much for the opportunity you’ve provided me, and I will do my best to remain deserving of it.”
The scholarship means a lot less financial stress for Mr. Smith, who plans to study mechanical engineering once his first-year studies are complete. ■■■
Originally from Ghana, Mr. Aboagye’s research focused on resource allocation techniques for visible light communication systems.
This involved developing methods to efficiently allocate resources, such as bandwidth and power, to enhance the performance and reliability of communication systems that utilize visible light as a medium.
The Governor General’s Gold Medal in Graduate Studies is one of the most prestigious awards that a student at a Canadian educational institution can receive. The gold medal is awarded to the student who receives the highest academic standard in a graduate degree program.
When Sylvester Boadi Aboagye graduated from Memorial in spring 2023 with his doctor of philosophy degree in electrical engineering, he also received the 2023 Governor General’s Gold Medal in Graduate Studies award, which recognizes excellence in a doctoral program at Memorial, and the David Dunsiger Award for Excellence.
His research has the potential to advance communication technologies, cater to the demands of emerging wireless applications, provide connectivity solutions in challenging environments and promote sustainability and energy efficiency, he says.
“These contributions can shape the future of wireless communication, particularly in the context of 6G networks and beyond.”
The David Dunsiger Award for Excellence is awarded at spring convocation to an engineering graduate who produces work of outstanding quality.
While completing his doctoral degree, Mr. Aboagye was awarded a two-year Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Black and Indigenous Scholars Award from York University.
Dr. Aboagye plans to pursue a career that combines his passion for teaching, research and mentoring. ■■■
Spring 2022 graduate Dr. Xudong Ye’s positive attitude is taking him places.
Dr. Ye obtained a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Liaoning University, China, before coming to Memorial University in 2013.
He then completed not one, but two, master’s degrees in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science: one in environmental system engineering management and another in civil engineering, before continuing on to a PhD.
Dr. Ye chose to study environmental engineering because of his passion to help protect the planet. He says that as the quality of life improves, so does pollution.
The avid reader thoroughly enjoyed his programs at Memorial, despite some anxiety. At times, his research outcomes were completely different from what he expected, and he felt frustrated and unmotivated.
However, he says that, over time, he came to understand that failure that is one of the “most common” things in life, and that he should not settle. This realization helped him overcome his challenges.
Dr. Ye went on to become a postdoctoral research fellow, jointly hosted by the University of California, Berkeley and Memorial University, and co-supervised by Dr. Chen and Drs. Rune Storesund and Karlene Roberts of Berkeley. ■■■
He says that as the quality of life improves, so does pollution.
Dr. Kshama Roy’s (M.Eng.’12, PhD’17) professional career is taking off.
The Memorial engineering alumnus accepted a position as principal engineer, integrity solutions and compliance, energy systems, with DNV, the world’s leading classification society and a recognized advisor for the maritime industry.
DNV delivers world-renowned testing certification and technical advisory services to the energy value chain, including renewables, oil and gas and energy management.
Move to Memorial
Dr. Roy was born and raised in Bangladesh and came to Memorial in 2010 to study geotechnical engineering.
His main supervisor was Dr. Bipul Hawlader, professor, acting head (civil engineering), and a research chair in seafloor mechanics. His supervisory committee included Dr. Shawn Kenny, Carleton University, and Dr. Ian Moore, Queen’s University.
“I discovered Dr. Hawlader’s research group at Memorial offers a unique graduate program where you can study advanced |soil mechanics and its application on the soil-structure interaction problems,” said Dr. Roy. “In addition, St. John’s is a place where you can meet some of the sweetest people in the world, and I am proud to call St. John’s my Canadian home.”
Reflecting on his eight years at Memorial, Dr. Roy, who is currently also an adjunct professor, says he is proud to be a Memorial graduate and says the university has played a key role in his career path.
“I was extremely lucky to have an academic supervisor like Dr. Hawlader, who always believed in me and encouraged me to go
DR. KSHAMA ROYabove and beyond,” he said. “Memorial helped me develop not only technical skills, but also the “people” skills needed to be successful. I was also very fortunate to have mentors, like Dr. Leonard Lye, former associate dean, graduate studies, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, who helped me develop leadership skills.”
During his time at Memorial, Dr. Roy was president of the Teaching Assistants’ Union and the Engineering Graduate Students Society, among other leadership positions.
“These opportunities helped me to develop relationship building and networking skills and how to think differently to lead from the front.”
His professional career
And leading from the front is what he is doing.
Prior to joining DNV, Dr. Roy was employed by Northern Crescent Inc. (NC), a Calgarybased engineering service company. He started out as a geotechnical and pipeline stress specialist and was soon promoted to lead of special projects/pipeline integrity and principal investigator at NC Innovation.
After working for NC for almost five years, Dr. Roy was recruited by DNV. In his current role, he works with world-class experts in the area of pipeline integrity.
“I want to be a thought-leader,” he said. “I want to contribute to my community and society, overall. I built my expertise in a niche area that needs a lot more work. I enjoy challenges and this area offers me more than enough. Becoming a principal engineer at the age of 34 in a company that has been in service for over 158 years, has more than 15,000 employees worldwide and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, was not even in my wildest dreams.”
Dr. Roy earned a number of prestigious awards during his time at Memorial, including the Chancellor’s Graduate Award and the Fry Family Foundation Leadership Award.
More recently, he received Pipeline and Gas Journal’s 2021 Innovative Thinker Award and American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ 2020 Outstanding Young Pipeline Professional Award. He has received more than 50 awards and honours to-date.
“This is an excellent example of success not only for Dr. Roy, but also our department and university,” said Dr. Hawlader. “I believe it reassures our confidence in the great quality of teaching and research we are conducting in our faculty.”
“Congratulations to Dr. Roy on this welldeserved career growth,” said Dr. Octavia Dobre, interim dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. “We are very proud of the achievements of students trained at Memorial. It reflects on the exceptional training environment provided in our faculty.”
While not a typical career path for a geotechnical engineer, Dr. Roy says he is enjoying his professional career while finding time to volunteer and give back to his community.
“I am having the time of my life; however, I want to come back to academia at some point in my career. I strongly believe that industry experience will become a crucial part for becoming an “awesome” professor who shapes future leaders.” ■■■
Susan Redmond (B.Eng.’15) is hooked on spacecrafts – telescope balloons, to be exact.
Ms. Redmond always knew she wanted to work in the space industry. But it was during an internship at the European Space Agency when her passion really took off. Following that experience, she completed a master of engineering in aerospace engineering at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Aerospace Studies, which led her to work with balloon telescopes – a type of sub-orbital telescope suspended below a stratospheric balloon.
The SuperBIT, a super-pressure, balloonborne imaging telescope, was assembled, tested and launched in late-March.
“SuperBIT is an optical-to-near-ultraviolet telescope that studies dark matter via galaxy cluster weak lensing. It is at an altitude of approx. 35 kilometres,” she said.
Ms. Redmond, who has participated in two of the four one-night test flights SuperBIT has performed over the past eight years, is responsible for the thermal design and control and assisting with the optical, structural and pointing subsystems.
Prior to working in New Zealand, she was in Antarctica at the McMurdo Station working on a balloon-borne telescope called the SPIDER-II.
“SPIDER-II is a microwave polarimeter that studies the afterglow of the Big Bang (the cosmic microwave background) using six
telescopes housed in a vacuum vessel filled with liquid helium to cool the detectors to 300 milli-Kelvin (approximately -272.8 degrees C),” Ms. Redmond explained. “The instrument was lifted by a balloon the size of a rugby stadium to an altitude of 35 kilometres for approximately two weeks.”
When the experiments conclude, the payload separates from the balloon and parachutes back down to Earth. The hard drives, which hold the data, are recovered, as well as the payload carcass.
For the New Zealand and Antarctica flights, teams conducted a pre-deployment integration campaign in Palestine, Texas. “This past summer, both SPIDER-II and SuperBIT were fully assembled and tested in Palestine, then disassembled and shipped to Antarctica and New Zealand, respectively,” said Ms. Redmond. “The recovery for the payload in Antarctica was more difficult and required a team to be flown out to the landing site to retrieve the instrument. The entire structure must be retrieved, if it is safe to do so, to minimize pollution of the environment. This means a lot of the structure must be chopped up to fit into the small plane that is used for recovery.”
The telescope balloon researchers work |with two balloon launch providers: NASA and the Centre national d’études spatiales.
Ms. Redmond is currently completing a doctor of philosophy degree at Princeton University and will finish this spring. She
plans to start a post-doctoral position in the fall, focusing on high-contrast imaging work. With the upcoming launch of the Roman Space Telescope and the development of the Habitable World’s Observatory, there are exciting projects in her future.
Working as part of a team is not new to Ms. Redmond. When she was a student at Memorial, she says there was a saying that “engineering is a team sport.”
“I think this was one of my favourite things about the program, everyone was working to try and make sure everyone succeeded. Whether it was an exam or an interview, there was always a very collaborative and friendly approach among my classmates, as well as the class above us.”
Her advice to current students? Be creative and look far and wide for work-term opportunities.
“There are lots of really cool things to do in research labs around the world. Email professors and use your connections. Don’t be afraid to jump on an opportunity that surprises you.” ■■■
Dr. Sharp has also published two history books, the “Flower of Scotland” on the Scottish Monarchy, and “Discovery in the North Atlantic”. Both books have received excellent reviews by professional historians.
Dr Sharp’s primary research area has been related to environmental hydraulics and his research expertise has put him in demand as a lecturer in Canada and in other parts of the world. He has given lecture tours in China at the invitation of the Chinese Government and acted as a consultant to engineering consulting companies both here in Newfoundland, and elsewhere in Canada.
Dr. James Jack (Jim or JJ) Sharp, Professor Emeritus, passed away peacefully and with grace in his beloved Scotland on June 6th, 2022 in the presence of his eldest son Glenn. Dr. Sharp was a gentleman, scholar, musician, and exceptional engineer. Many former students and colleagues will remember him for his mentorship, collegiality, excellent teaching, supervision, and administrative skills.
Dr. Sharp had provided significant service to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and to Memorial University during his tenure from 1970-2001. He was the first Chair of Civil Engineering at Memorial 1972 to 1976 was Chair again from 1983 to 1991. He became Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering from 1992 to 1998. In total Dr. Sharp had administrative duties for 19 of the 31 years he spent at Memorial University. He had significant input into the development of programs in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and was involved and proud of moving the Engineering program into a blended work term environment.
Dr Sharp’s scholarly activity was both broad and fascinating covering a range of engineering specialities, history, and cooking. Two of his four engineering books have been translated into other languages.
Dr Sharp received the Camille Dagenais award from CSCE in 1981 “for outstanding contributions to the field of Hydrotechnical Engineering in Canada” and has received awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the best technical note of 1992, and from ICE in 2001 for his paper “The Sarawak River Barrage –Hydrotechnical and Geotechnical Aspects”. He also has a “Scientific Progress Award” from the National Environmental Protection Bureau of China.
Dr. Sharp’s professional work has been recognised by awards from CSCE – the “James A Vance” award, made for “Dedicated service which has furthered the advancement of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering” and from the Newfoundland Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists – the “Award of Merit”. This is the highest honour of the Association and is given “in recognition of having made an outstanding contribution to the Engineering profession and to the Community”.
Dr. Sharp was also an active individual with many other interests and lived a very full and happy life, and despite life’s ups and downs always chose to see the glass half full. Outside of work his hobbies were many - travel, painting, Scottish country dancing, writing, history, fishing, jewelry making, playing the bagpipes and other instruments. His most lasting impact was his ability to spread kindness and love to his family, friends and all of those he met. He always had a sparkle in his eye, was quick to help others and will be very sorely missed.
