FAC U LT Y O F
Engineering and Applied Science MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
Research Report
Section header Research Report
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Major Research Highlights Lesley James Government of Newfoundland and Labrador-Oil and Gas Industry Recovery Fund: Drilling: A Data Analytics Approach to Energy and Safety Improvements
$1,863,326 Kelly Hawboldt, Raymond Thomas, 24 other researchers New Frontiers in Research Fund Transformation: Repurposing Marine By-Products or Raw Materials for the Development and Production of Functional Foods and Bioactives to Improve Human Health and Coastal Community Sustainability
$14,961,023 Brian Veitch, with partners Virtual Marine Technology, American Bureau of Shipping, National Research Council of Canada, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Energy Research & Innovation Newfoundland and Labrador NSERC Alliance: Safe Marine Operations During the Digital Transformation
$908,000
Featured in this edition— stories and events from March 2021–April 2022
On the cover: Electrical and Computer Engineering students showcase their capstone project, the DekaBot, for their supervisor, Dr. Andrew Vardy. From left to right: Danielle Reid, Andrew Troake, Megan Spencer, Cait Chapman, Dr. Andrew Vardy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Major Research Highlights 02 Message from Dean 04 Message from Associate Dean of Research 06 Departmental Research Highlights 08 Our Faculty 10 Dean Naterer’s Reflections 16 Research Stories 18 Facility Spotlight 43 Research Week 46 Reflections at a Time of Industry Transition 48 In Memoriam–Tahir Husain 50 Research Awards and Accomplishments 54 Research Service 55 Faculty by the Numbers 57 Publications 60 Partners 67
Table of Contents Research Report
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Message from the Interim Dean OCTAVIA A. DOBRE
We are proud to showcase the excellent research outcomes
in their respective fields of research, compiled by Stanford
from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
University. Numerous faculty members are recipients of
(FEAS) in the 2021-2022 issue of the Research Report.
research, teaching and service awards. Several colleagues
FEAS is the home of talented and enthusiastic faculty and
serve on evaluation committees of the NSERC Discovery
students dedicated to advancing engineering technologies
and NSERC Research Tools and Instrument (RTI) grants,
for the benefit of humanity.
as well as NSERC Scholarships and Fellowships.
The world is quickly evolving and new technologies are
In 2021-2022, we secured over $10 million in research
emerging to solve problems associated with everyday life on a
funding from federal and provincial agencies, and industry.
global scale. Engineering solutions lead to economic growth
Furthermore, 150 new grant applications have been
and societal welfare, transforming businesses and society. At
submitted. Our researchers have been successful in the
FEAS, we are contributing to multiple areas of engineering,
NSERC Discovery grant competition, as well as in the
such as Arctic shipping, biomedical, biofuels, marine and
NSERC RTI and CFI John R. Evans Leaders Fund. The
coastal environment, fluid dynamics, hardware and software,
latter has enabled the development of new laboratories like
optical, wireless and underwater communications, remote
the inter-disciplinary micro-precision mechatronics lab that
sensing, renewable energy, and robotics. Our achievements
encompasses mechanical, electrical and control engineering.
in some of these areas are highlighted in the report. Our students have the opportunity to learn from renowned This year, our research excellence has been acknowledged
faculty members and research in world-class facilities and
through several awards and distinctions, such as Fellow of
state-of-the-art laboratories. The new Core Science Facility
the Engineering Institute of Canada, Fellow of the
offers modern student learning amenities and research
Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Canadian
laboratories. Spaces are being renovated to develop a modern
Society of Civil Engineering, and Fellow of the American
environmental engineering laboratory in the S.J. Carew
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Eight of our
Building and to enable a laboratory on bioprocessing of
colleagues have been recognized as World’s Top 2% Scientists
marine/terrestrial biomass in the Bruneau Centre for
Research and Innovation. Besides graduate and postgraduate students, undergraduate students are involved in research, working with our professors in excellent facilities. There is significant student interest in entrepreneurial activities, inspired by successful startups incubated by the Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship. Diversity in research is a key policy at FEAS, being fundamental to enhancing creativity and ensuring an exceptional learning and research environment. We promote a culture of strong community, discovery and innovation, to help our members reach their research and career aspirations. I invite you to explore our website to learn more about our programs, as well as the impressive accomplishments of our colleagues and students.
Dipl.-Ing., PhD (Politechnica University of Bucharest), P.Eng., FIEEE, FCAE, FEIC
Interim Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Professor Message from the Dean Research Report
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Message from the Interim Associate Dean of Research WEI QIU
The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science (FEAS) is
Kevin Pope is developing systems for hydrogen production
the home of excellent researchers residing in departments of
and storage. Dr. Carlos Bazan leads the building of an
civil, electrical and computer, mechanical, ocean and naval
aspiring entrepreneurial environment to turn student
architectural, and process engineering. Through strong
research into business.
partnerships with industry, government and industry, FEAS continues excelling in research and innovation while still
Training of high-qualified personnel is an integrated part of
facing challenges due to the pandemic.
our research programs, which not only train students to solve complex problems, but also promote the interaction of
This Research Report highlights the research excellence of
students with industry. With the support of Mitacs and
faculty and students in our strategic areas, including energy,
industry partners, students gain a comprehensive
ocean technology, information and communication
understanding of real-world problems and develop
technology, environment and sustainable infrastructure,
professional skills through many research projects. The
and other emerging areas of importance. They have made
research programs at FEAS have also facilitated students to
significant contributions nationally and internationally in
develop their skills in communicating complex ideas and
terms of innovation, training of highly qualified personnel,
results. Winners of 30-second video contests highlight how
new knowledge to fields through publications, problem-
students are well trained to effectively communicate their
solving and technology development to support industry,
research problems and outcomes.
and dedicated professional services to the community. As an example of supporting industry, Dr. Steve Butt and his team
The faculty values very much the partnership and support
developed a novel mining technique to solve a problem faced
from industry, government and funding agencies, which make
by Anaconda Mining.
successful innovation possible. In 2021, federal and provincial governments and industries provided approximately $10.6
Researchers have advanced in various areas and contributed
million through over 200 grants and contracts to support
to building a greener, technologically advanced NL
research and laboratory development. Among them, 21 new
economy and to Canada’s Blue Economy. For example, Dr.
funds were dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship.
The faculty is constantly seeking opportunities to modernize its laboratories and support innovative research. Among many examples, Dr. Mohammad Al Janaideh is developing a new Micro- Precision Mechatronics Lab to solve the problem of semiconductor shortage by streamlining the production process, with the support of NSERC, CFI and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The success of researchers and students is attributed to the dedicated support of our supporting teams, including the Engineering Research Office (ERO), the finance staff, technologists, and many others. While getting out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are thrilled to further engage with stakeholders, foster innovation, technology transfer and entrepreneurship, and contribute to building a greener, technologically advanced NL economy and to Canada’s world-leading capabilities in science and technology.
B.Eng., M.A.Sc. (Dalian University of Technology), PhD (Dalhousie), P.Eng., FSNAME, FRINA, FCAE Interim Associate Dean—Research Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Professor Message from the ADR Research Report
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Departmental Success Stories
Research Report
CIVIL ENGINEERING Ashutosh Dhar,
Joe Daraio
Noori Saady,
with partners
Natural Resources Canada—
with Lester's Farm
SaskEnergy, FortisBC
Building Regional
Government of
Inc., WSP Canada Inc.
Adaptation Capacity and
Newfoundland and Labrador
NSERC Alliance:
Expertise Program: Climate
Department of Fisheries,
Investigation of Gas
Change Adaptation Decision
Forestry and Agriculture—
Distribution Pipes Subjected
Support Tools for Planning
Canadian Agriculture
to Ground Movements
and Design of Infrastructure
Partnership: Development
in Communities with
of Anaerobic Digestion
Limited Resources
Technology for Processing Livestock Manure
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Xili Duan
Mohammad Al-Janaideh,
Oscar De Silva,
NSERC Discovery Grant:
Lihong Zhang
George Mann,
Multiphase Flow and Phase
NSERC Research Tools and
Thumeera Wanasinghe
Change Heat Transfer with
Instruments Grant:
National Research Council
Innovative Functional
Multi-Axis Laser
of Canada—Collaborative
Surfaces
Interferometer for Position
Research and Development:
Measurements and Motion
Artificial Intelligence Enabled
Feedback Control
Navigation of Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Drones Beyond Visual Line of Sight
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Jonathan Anderson
Lihong Zhang
Sarah Power
Mitacs: Application of a
NSERC Idea to Innovation
Medical Research Fund:
Novel Cryptographic File
Grant: Piezoelectric MEMS
Classification of Dual Tasks
System to High-security
Vibration Energy Harvesters:
for Multi-class EEG-based
Domains
Renewable Energy Source in
Brain-computer Interface
the Portable Era
PROCESS ENGINEERING Sohrab Zendehboudi
Stephen Butt
Syed Imtiaz
Mitacs: Kinetic and
Novamera Inc. Research
National Research Council
Thermodynamic Analysis of
Contract: Sustainable
of Canada–Collaborative
Post‐Combustion CO2
Mining by Drilling – Phase 2
Science, Technology and
Capture Process: Parametric
Innovation Program: Model
Modelling, Optimization
Predictive Controller and
and Solvents Screening
Monitoring Systems for Marine Autonomous Surface Ships
OCEAN AND NAVAL ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING Neil Bose
Heather Peng
Wei Qiu
Fisheries and Oceans
Transport Canada’s Clean
Transport Canada Quiet
Canada—Multi-Partner
Transportation System—
Vessel Initiative: CISMaRT
Research Initiative: Inshore
Research and Development
Training Courses for Marine
Trials of Robotic
Program: Improving
Industry on Quiet Vessel
Autonomous Underwater
Efficiency of Newfoundland
Initiative
Vehicle Technology for Oil
Fishing Vessels to Reduce the
Spill Reconnaissance and
Greenhouse Gas Emission
Delineation Using an
and Propeller Induced Noise
Highlights Research Report
Environmentally Friendly Proxy
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Faculty List
Research Report
CIVIL ENGINEERING Acting Department Head Hawlader, B.P. PhD, P.Eng.
ADMINISTRATION Interim Dean Dobre, O.A. PhD, P.Eng., FEIC, FIEEE, FCAE; Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Acting Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) Chen, B. PhD, P.Eng., FCSCE, FEIC, FCAE, MRSC, Professor, Civil Engineering
Interim Associate Dean (Research) Qiu, W. PhD, P.Eng., FSNAME, FRINA, FCAE; Professor, Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering
Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies) Peters, D. K. PhD, P.Eng., FEC; Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Director, First Year Engineering Peng, H. PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor, Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering
Director, Ocean Engineering Research Centre Molyneux, D. PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor, Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering
Director, Office of Industrial Outreach Bruneau, S.E. PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Senior Administrative Officer Elliott, B. B.Comm.
Specialization: Geotechnical engineering Deputy Head Daraio, J. PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor
Specialization: climate change; sustainable infrastructure Professors Chen, B. PhD, P.Eng., FCSCE, FEIC, MRSC, Professor
Specialization: Oil spill response and cleanup; emerging contaminant transport and fate; water/wastewater treatment
Hassan, A.A.A. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Development; durability; corrosion and service life prediction of concrete structures Zhang, B. PhD, P.Eng., Canada Research Chair in Coastal Environmental Engineering
Specialization: Biosurfactants; microplastics; marine oil spill response
Associate Professors Adluri, S. PhD
Specialization: Research mobilization; entrepreneurship; numerical methods Bruneau, S.E. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Arctic ships and structures; energy; marine structural design and analysis Dhar, A.S. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Geotechnical engineering; pipe testing; numerical modelling
Teaching Assistant Professor Hurley, S. PhD, P.Eng. Lecturers Spracklin-Reid, D. P.Eng. Professors Emeriti Jordaan, I.J. PhD, P.Eng., C.Eng., FICE, FCSCE, FEIC, FRSC Lye, L.M. PhD, P.Eng., FCE, FCSCE, FEIC, FCAE M.Eng. Student Haodong Wu tests a robot system for the removal of porcupine crab spine
Sharp, J.J. PhD, P.Eng., C.Eng., FICE, FCSCE, FEIC
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Hussein, A. PhD, P.Eng., FCSCE
Specialization: Advanced composite materials as reinforcement for concrete structures; testing of concrete under generalized stress conditions; constitutive modelling of concrete structures
Department Head Li, C.
Shiri, H. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Offshore foundations and geotechnique; subsea
pipelines and risers; offshore and subsea installation; arctic subsea hazards; offshore fatigue and fracture; reliability assessment
PhD, P.Eng.; Professor
Specialization: Wireless communications and networking;
communications signal processing; underwater communications and networking
Deputy Head Snelgrove, K.R.
Huang, W.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng.; Professor
Specialization: Physical hydrology; remote sensing and GIS; climate change and extremes of floods and drought
Specialization: Remote sensing Professors
Assistant Professors Bazan, C. PhD, P.Eng., Engineering Chair in Entrepreneurship
Specialization: Research mobilization; entrepreneurship; numerical
Dobre, O.A. PhD, P.Eng., FEIC, FIEEE
Specialization: Wireless, optical and underwater communications
methods
Gosine, R.G.
Saady, N.
Specialization: Telerobotics; machine vision; pattern recognition
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng., FCAE, FEC, Associate Vice- President (Research)
Faculty List Research Report
Specialization: Waste-to-bioenergy; biological wastewater treatment; site remediation
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Heys, H.M.
George, G.H.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, CertEd, FRAS, FIMA
Iqbal, M.T.
Masek, V.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Cryptography; digital hardware
Specialization: Computer vision; instrumentation; control and automation
Specialization: Calculus; probability
Specialization: Instrumentation and control; smart sensors and robotics Norvell, T.S.
Jeyasurya, B. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Power system stability; synchrophasor applications
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Digital hardware; software, robotics and vision Assistant Professors
Moloney, C.R.
Khan, A.
PhD
PhD
transformative pedagogy for science and engineering; gender and
factor correction circuits
Specialization: Nonlinear signal and image processing methods; science studies
Specialization: Photovoltaic inverters; renewable energy systems, power
O’Young, S.D. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Unmanned aircraft; instrumentation; controls and automation; robotics Peters, D.K. PhD, P.Eng., FEC
Specialization: Software design and specification; high performance computing; machine learning Vardy, A. PhD, P.Eng., Joint appointment (Computer Science) Specialization: Swarm robotics Zhang, L. PhD, P.Eng.
Post doctoral fellow Dr. Bo Liu conducting field tests of a mesoscale separation, demusification, and enhanced oxidation system for oil water emulsions
Specialization: Very large-scale integration; design automation; micro-electromechanical system Associate Professors Anderson, J. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Cybersecurity; operating systems; privacy Czarnuch, S.M. PhD, P.Eng., Joint appointment (Faculty of Medicine)
Specialization: Image processing; computer vision; machine learning
Power, S. PhD, P.Eng., Joint appointment (Faculty of Medicine)
Specialization: Biomedical engineering; brain-computer interfacing Teaching Assistant Professors Jamil, M. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Control systems; power electronics; machine learning
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Shahidi, R. PhD
Specialization: Radar signal and image processing; machine learning for geophysical applications; vehicular ad-hoc networks
Department Head Wanasinghe, T.R.
Rideout, D.G.
PhD
PhD, P.Eng.
digitalization; machine learning
vibrations
Specialization: Multi-agent systems with distributed state estimation;
Specialization: Modeling and simulation; engineering mechanics;
Lecturer
Deputy Heads
Karami, E.
Nakhla, S.
PhD
PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor
Cross Appointments
structural health monitoring (metal corrosion and composites)
Specialization: Computer aided design; finite element modelling;
Chen, Q. PhD
Pope, K.
optpelectronics
Specialization: Thermal fluids; energy systems
Specialization: Ultrafast photonics; lightwave technology; plastic Cross appointment (Physics and Physical Oceanography)
PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor
Professors Mahdianpari, M.
Mann, G.K.I.
PhD
PhD, P.Eng.
Cross appointment (C-CORE)
mapping
Specialization: Remote sensing; machine learning; geo big data
Specialization: Robot trajectory control; multi-robotic systems; robotic
Ngatched, T.
Muzychka, Y.S.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng., FCSME, FASME, FEIC; University Research Professor
Specialization: Wireless communications; visible light communications Cross appointment (School of Science and the Environment, Grenfell
Specialization: Thermo-fluids; heat transfer; multiphase flow
Campus)
Sharan, A.
Professor Emeriti
Specialization: Robotics; rotor dynamics
PhD, P.Eng.
Gill, E.W. PhD, P.Eng.
Associate Professors Duan, X.
Peters, G.R. PhD, P.Eng., FEC, FCAE
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Heat transfer; multiphase flow; energy
Quaicoe, J.E.
Taylor, R.S.
PhD, P.Eng., FEC
PhD, P.Eng.
Venkatesan, R.
mechanics of compressive ice failure
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Ice-load estimation for the design of offshore structures;
Faculty List Research Report
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Teaching Assistant Professors Bhouri, M.
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
PhD Nyantekyi-Kwakye, B. PhD, P.Eng.
Research Report
Rosales, J. Dr. Sam Nakhla and Dr. Ahmed Elruby setting up digital strain measurements
PhD
OCEAN AND NAVAL ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING Yang, J. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Machinery dynamics; random vibration; wind turbine dynamics
Assistant Professors
Acting Department Head Quinton, B. PhD, P.Eng.; Associate Professor
Specialization: Accidental limit states; polar class structures; moving (sliding) sliding loads; marine structure and materials; numerical modelling
Al Janaideh, M. PhD
Specialization: Mechatronics; precision engineering; micro/ nano-
Professors Bose, N.
positioning
Ph.D., FCAE, F.I.E.Aust.; Vice- President (Research)
Alidokht, S.A.
marine propulsion
PhD
Specialization: Surface engineering; coating tribology; mechanical
Specialization: Maritime robotics; autonomous underwater vehicles;
Daley, C.G.
properties and characterization
Dr.Tech., P.Eng., FEC, FSNAME, FCAE
De Silva, B.M.O.
analysis; materials and mechanics; offshore and marine safety; safety
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Navigation systems; machine learning; unmanned aerial
Specialization: Arctic ships and structures; marine structural design and and risk; simulation; structures and materials
vehicles
Qiu, W.
Ruby, A.Y.
Specialization: Ship and offshore hydrodynamics; wave and body
PhD
Specialization: Mechanical characterization; failure predictions;
PhD, P.Eng., FSNAME, FRINA, FCAE; Professor
interaction; seakeeping; marine propulsion; CFD for marine applications
numerical modeling
Veitch, B.J.
Zou, T.
Research Chair in Safety at Sea
PhD
Specialization: Robotics; mechatronics; mechanism design and control
Dr.Tech., P.Eng., FRINA, FSNAME, FCAE, NSERC - Husky Energy Industrial Specialization: Offshore and marine safety
Associate Professors
Professors
Molyneux, D.
Butt, S.D.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Ocean engineering; marine safety
Specialization: Petroleum and mining engineering; drilling and geomechanics engineering
Moro, L. PhD
Hawboldt, K.A.
health and safety
Specialization Chemical engineering; bioprocessing
Specialization: Marine acoustics; marine noise and vibration; maritime
PhD, P.Eng.
Peng, H.
James, L.A.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng.
application of marine hydrodynamics to ship and offshore structure
storage; digital oilfields
Specialization: Marine and ship hydrodynamics; development and design
Specialization: Enhanced oil recovery; carbon capture utilization and
Associate Professors Walker, D.
Zendehboudi, S.
PhD, P.Eng.
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Ship performance; small craft performance
Specialization: Energy and environment; transport phenomena; carbon management, and reservoir analysis
Assistant Professors Smith, D.
Zhang, Y.
PhD
PhD, P.Eng.
Professors Emeriti
Zhang, Y.
Specialization: Safety management; human factors; complex systems
Haddara, M.R. PhD, P.Eng., C.Eng.
PROCESS ENGINEERING
Specialization: Chemical and process engineering
PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Mineral processing; hydrometallurgy; materials chemistry
Teaching Associate Professors Aborig, A. PhD
Specialization: Reservoir engineering; enhanced oil recovery; well logging and formation evaluation
Department Head Imtiaz, S. PhD, P.Eng.; Professor
Specialization: Process control and monitoring; alarm management; managed pressure drilling Deputy Head
Lecturer Azargohar, R. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Chemical engineering and bioprocessing
Faculty List Research Report
Ahmed, S. PhD, P.Eng.
Specialization: Process safety and control; alarm system design; system identification
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Looking back on a decade of impressive engineering research achievements by DR. GREG F. NATERER Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science 2012-2022
At the end of my second term as dean, after 10 years since I
and internationally. A useful metric to characterize the impact
began in 2012, I have reflected on all that the Faculty of
of research is the number of citations by others to work
Engineering and Applied Science (FEAS) has accomplished
published by researchers in the Faculty. By this measure, our
over the past decade, including research and entrepreneurship.
Faculty’s research has become much more impactful on the
In the past ten years, FEAS has grown significantly, especially in terms of enrolments (doubling of graduate student enrolment from mid-300’s to over 700), faculty complement (from 61 to
technical community over the past decade. The average number of citations to research articles, per professor, has more than doubled since 2012 to over 200 citations per year on average.
84; nearly a 40% increase), space (80,000 sq. ft. added, plus
Another indicator of research excellence is through clusters of
30,000 more in progress), and research capacity, among others.
world-leading researchers who are named into prestigious
The Faculty’s research profile and prominence, nationally and internationally, have increased to become highly respected in Canada. In the 2021 World University Ranking (Times
chair appointments. Ten new research chairs have been appointed in the past decade. These include industry-sponsored chairs in areas such as
Higher Education), the rankings of our engineering programs
environmental systems, offshore safety, subsea
rose to 1st in industry partnerships and 4th overall among
communications, entrepreneurship, reservoir characterization
comprehensive universities in Canada.
and seafloor mechanics. Research chairs have been supported
Training of researchers such as graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are among the most impactful contributions and outcomes of the Faculty’s research activities. The graduate student-to-faculty ratio has increased
by a range of federal and industry funding sources such as Husky Energy, Wood Group, and Equinor, as well as NSERC IRC and Canada Research Chairs. The Faculty has also led a number of national and international
significantly in FEAS to become among the highest of research
research networks in the past decade. These too have raised the
intensive engineering schools in the country. The ratio of
visibility and profile of the Faculty’s research excellence.
graduate students has grown from about one–quarter to one–third of the total student enrolment in the Faculty.
Dr. Wei Qiu launched a new Canadian Network for Innovative Shipbuilding, Marine Research and Training (CISMaRT) in
The Faculty’s research has made many wonderful and beneficial
partnership with other universities, government agencies, and
impacts on our community and province, as well as nationally
marine industry partners across Canada. Dr. Bing Chen is the founding director of a pan-Canadian and global Network of
Persistent, Emerging, and Organic PoLlution in the Environment (PEOPLE Network). Over the past decade, opportunities have also increased for undergraduate students to participate in exciting research projects. To integrate research and innovation more actively into the undergraduate program, students can avail of research semesters within the co–op program. This allows undergraduate students to work with a professor on a research project in an eligible co–op work term. Many of these research projects have been multidisciplinary in partnership with other faculties / schools. For example, a MUN MED 3D initiative paired students from Engineering (on a co–op work term) and Medicine on a research project involving 3–D printing and assembly of prosthetic hands
"The Faculty’s research has made many wonderful and beneficial impacts on our community and province, as well as nationally and internationally."
from polylactic acid plastic.
Greg F. Naterer
In 2015, FEAS partnered with the Faculty of Business Administration to create a new Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE). This new Centre has significantly contributed to the culture of student entrepreneurship across campus. MCE’s student intake has grown from initially 20 to over 300 students per year in entrepreneurship programming activities.
Many successful ventures, initially formed at MCE such as
MCE was named one of the world’s top five emerging
CoLab Software and Mysa Thermostats, later became
entrepreneurship centers by the Global Consortium of
successful startup companies in the province that have hired
Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) for two years in a row.
hundreds of employees.
Through the MCE, new student opportunities were created in
The past decade has been an extraordinary period of growth
entrepreneurial work terms. These allow students to develop
and achievements in research, innovation, technology transfer
their business ideas and potentially launch a new venture. It
and entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Engineering and
also connects students with mentors and provides access to
Applied Science. Undoubtedly the coming decades will
startup funds to build up their business idea, concept or
continue this tradition of excellence and upward trajectory of
prototype on the path to business ownership.
Engineering at Memorial University.
Dean Naterer's Reflections Research Report
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Everything in its Place Memorial professor develops sorting system so robots can help organize our lives DR. ANDREW VARDY
Dr. Andrew Vardy is not only a professor jointly appointed to the Faculty of Science as well as the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, he is also a father whose children often provide inspiration for his research. “I have two young daughters and my house is in a constant state of chaos. I am always imagining ways to automate things like
Everything in its right place Dr. Vardy, whose research is funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant, is particularly interested in the task of object sorting, which is really just putting everything in its right place. Imagine a group of robots that not only sweep all the garbage in your home into a designated area, but also recognize that
clean-up. I envision robots in my house cleaning up, putting
some objects are not garbage, but valuable. These robots might
things in their proper places,” he said. He then extrapolates to
gather all the crumbs and debris in one pile, all the lost Legos
developing robots that can identify and class items and sort
in another pile, and your lost diamond earring in its own pile.
them appropriately in an industrial setting like organizing materials and tools in a warehouse. Insects as inspiration The solutions Dr. Vardy comes up with belong to the field of swarm robotics, an area he has been investigating for a decade. Swarm robotics involves large numbers of robots who solve
“There are many groups around the world doing research in swarm robotics; however, there are no groups that I am aware with the same focus on the topic of sorting,” said Dr. Vardy, whose work in swarm robotics led to the name Vardies being used for a swarm of robots in Season 10 of BBC's Doctor Who. “Another application is managing ice in shipping channels. I
problems without being centrally controlled. The topic is
have a new collaboration with Dr. Kevin Murrant of the
inspired by social insects like bees, wasps, ants and termites
National Research Council to investigate using robot boats to
who work together to solve problems such as foraging and
keep shipping channels free of ice,” he said. For this project,
building complex nests. Bees, for example, collaborate to build
with support from the Ocean Frontier Institute, Dr. Vardy
a hive. These insects can create intricate structures and engage
will be co-supervising a new PhD student who will investigate
in agriculture without a central coordinator.
the idea of using a swarm of autonomous surface vehicles to
“Human societies are hierarchical, but insect societies have a flat structure, without a clear leader,” said Dr. Vardy, explaining that in a bee hive, the queen plays a reproductive role, but she doesn’t tell every other bee what to do. “If we borrow the swarm idea for robotics, we can deploy robots to go out into the world and solve problems, such as collecting plastics in the ocean or building structures in inaccessible environments such as underwater or on other planets.”
push ice to the side in order to keep a shipping channel open for passage. “The robot boats won’t break up the ice,” he explained. “They’ll push it to one side so ice breakers won’t need to come by as frequently.” Bio-inspired Robotics Group - BOTS Besides the NRC shipping project, Dr. Vardy supervises or co-supervises two PhD students, five master’s students and
three groups of undergraduate engineering students in a group
The next problem is to reach all points in the environment
called BOTS or the Bio-inspired Robotics Group.
without requiring or building a map.
In the Vision, Software and Robotics (VISOR) lab located in
By following the labyrinth, the robots will eventually be able to
the new Core Science Facility (CSF), Dr. Vardy and his
reach all places within the environment. Finally, the robots
students are currently working on the idea of having robots in
must know the direction of the goal for each puck type. This
a labyrinth and developing robots to test the idea. Instead of a
information is encoded directly in the intensity of the labyrinth.
group of robots getting in each other’s way and reaching deadlock in a corner, Dr. Vardy developed an algorithm which guides robots along a curve wrapped all around the environment, forming a labyrinth. The robots sense this curve
The experiments Dr. Vardy has conducted so far take place in a simulator developed by his colleague, and former M.Sc student, Dr. David Churchill.
and follow it, allowing them to reach everywhere in that space,
These robots will be able to sense the labyrinth by driving around
and do so without hitting anyone else. The objective is to see if
on a large-screen television that presents the labyrinth as an
the robots can do object sorting tasks within the labyrinth by
image. This will facilitate experiments with different labyrinths.
pushing objects into clusters or pushing them towards exit points like holes on a pool table.
The next step is for a group of final-year electrical and computer engineering students to build small mobile robots
This algorithm solves several problems in multi-robot object
that manipulate red and green pucks on a flat surface to test
sorting. The first problem is to avoid collisions between robots.
the algorithm developed by Dr. Vardy in the real world.
The algorithm achieves this by keeping each robot aligned on a circular labyrinth that weaves throughout the environment.
“Working with real robots is quite challenging because there is always a disconnect between what you want them to do and how they actually perform in the real world,” said Dr. Vardy.
Term 8 Electrical and Computer Engineering students showcase their capstone project and winner of the IEEE night event, the DekaBot. From left to right: Danielle Reid, Andrew Troake, Megan Spencer, Cait Chapman, Dr. Andrew Vardy
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“Therefore, we have to count on a certain level of uncertainty.” What that means is there is always a chance of a robot getting stuck or behaving unexpectedly. One solution is to develop very sophisticated robots that model uncertainty. Another Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
direction is to restrict the robot's available actions so that they are less likely to get into trouble. This is the path taken in the labyrinth project. Conducting research in the midst of a global pandemic has presented another challenge for Dr. Vardy, who during lockdowns, set up a lab in his home office and conducted
This image shows a screenshot of the simulation used to
experiments on an air hockey table.
test the sorting algorithm. The larger blue circles are robots. The smaller red and green circles are the pucks being sorted. The labyrinth in grey guides the robots. This
“I never imagined I would be using an air hockey table as my primary research platform. One of my students, Mohammed
image was taken from the beginning of a simulation run.
Abdullhak, sent me his code and I tested it out on the robots in my home lab. I was extremely impressed that we were able to get excellent results with only a little bit of tweaking required. This work has since been published at IROS, one of the premier international robotics conferences. Mohammed and I are also hoping to publish his work on object sorting soon.” What excites Dr. Vardy most is taking ideas from abstract notions to reality. “The excitement comes from the idea itself, which is hopefully something no one has done before. It may be really challenging to get it to work, but seeing a set of robots execute a behaviour that previously existed only in your imagination is very rewarding.”
This image shows the end of a simulation run with the red and green pucks sorted into their designated areas.
Dr. Andrew Vardy is a professor jointly appointed to the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Memorial University. He completed degrees in electrical engineering (B.Eng, Memorial University, 1999), evolutionary and adaptive systems (M.Sc, University of Sussex, 2000), and computer science (Ph.D, Carleton University, 2005). His main research area is swarm robotics but he has also developed new techniques in visual robot navigation. He leads the Bio-Inspired Robotics (BOTS) group which is focused on developing swarms of robots that actively organize their environments. http://bots.cs.mun.ca
Renewable Energy Memorial electrical engineering professor researching ways to improve efficiency and reliability of Energy Systems DR. ASHRAF ALI KHAN
As the world switches from its reliance on fossil fuels, scientists
“We hope to reduce magnetic volume and use less copper wire
work to ensure that renewable energy sources are as efficient
reducing heat loss both through conduction and magnetism.
and reliable as possible.
We are also looking at new switching techniques to reduce
In Canada, significant wind and solar energy can be produced, but challenges arise in uploading this energy to the grid. Even if infrastructure exists, the process of integrating renewable energy is expensive and complex. Firstly, a large portion of the power produced from renewable sources is lost to heat in the conversion stage. Secondly, the power produced from renewable energy sources is inconsistent. Dr. Ashraf Khan, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering, is working on developing more efficient power converters and control techniques to fix both these problems. Reducing Heat Loss in Conversion “Currently, about 5-10 percent of photovoltaic (PV) power is lost in the conversion stage,” explained Dr. Khan, who has
switching loss.” Solving the Challenge of Inconsistent Power Dr. Khan is also working to correct the second problem of inconsistency by developing converters with advanced features to make power more consistent. “Improving reliability is the most challenging part of power electronics converters which must comply with stringent safety requirements of renewable energy systems,” explained Dr. Khan. “The intermittent nature of renewable power and the increasing number of non¬linear loads severely affects the grid power quality.” That means there are more sudden power surges, causing more short-circuits, and increasing wear and tear, and one small
more than eight years of practical experience in the field. “It is
short-circuit can cause a shut-down and destroy an entire
lost in wind too, but we are currently focusing on PV power
power electronics system. Through Dr. Khan’s research, he
converters and hope to improve their efficiency by 2-5 percent,
hopes to eliminate the short-circuit problem and improve the
making the PV power converters 98-99 percent efficient.”
lifetime of renewable energy systems.
Power electronic converters are the enabling technology for the
“I would like to develop advanced power electronics converters
interface of renewable energy sources, energy storage devices,
not only to integrate renewable power into the grid, but to also
loads and the electrical grid.
mitigate grid power quality issues. Using the control techniques
In the power conversion stage, power is lost in three ways: through metal conduction, through switches (high switching frequency), and through magnetic loss (inductors, transformers, filters). Dr. Khan hopes to improve all three.
we have developed, we can control the voltage going to the load
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"The ultimate goal of our research is to share our findings with Canadian power electronics companies, power utilities, power engineers and researchers." Dr. Ashraf Ali Khan
the power grid. As a result, the power losses across the line will be
Khan, who had success in this area when developing a power
decreased, transformer overloading will be prevented, and a more
converter for LG Electronics in South Korea.
efficient electrical grid will be obtained.” By the fall of 2022, two master’s and two Ph.D. students will
“We will build and implement various prototypes of new power converters until we have a prototype that is suitable for
join Dr. Khan’s research group to illustrate the shortcomings
industry. The ultimate goal of our research is to share our
and drawbacks of conventional converters and propose more
findings with Canadian power electronics companies, power
efficient alternatives.
utilities, power engineers and researchers.”
As they already have an experimental setup, their first task will be
Research Applicable to Electrical Vehicles
to design a scaled-down 10kW power converter and test their ideas in simulation. They will attach their hardware prototype to the grid using solar panels. Employing their switching technique, they will then compare their prototype with existing prototypes. “The new power converters will reduce the number of power
“What is most exciting about this research is that it is applicable for use in electric vehicles which sold 83 percent more in 2021 over 2020,” said Dr. Khan, who worked on power converters for electric vehicles, aerospace, and renewable energy systems for his Ph.D. and postdoctoral research. “Although researchers
processing stages and eliminate short-circuit issues and exceed
worldwide are trying to improve the existing power converters,
the performance of currently available converters in terms of
the ideas that I have proposed for the development of new
power density, cost, reliability, size, and efficiency,” said Dr.
power electronics converters are new and unique.”
Dr. Ashraf Khan is assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Memorial. He received a B.Eng (Electronics) from the National University of
Dr. Khan received the IEEE best paper award in
Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad,
2015, and best researcher awards from BK in
Pakistan in 2012, and a M.Eng combined PhD in
2015, 2016 and 2017. Dr. Khan has also received a
Energy Engineering (Power Electronics) from
prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering
Kyungpook National University, Korea in 2018.
Research Council (NSERC) postdoctoral research fellowship, as well as scholarships and awards
From 2018 to 2021, he worked as a postdoctoral
from NICT R&D Fund Pakistan, NUST, Kyungpook
fellow at UBC on power electronics technologies for
National University and BISE SWAT.
renewable energy systems. His research interests include high-efficiency grid-connected photovoltaic
He is the author or co-author of more than fifty
inverters, renewable energy systems, electric
technical papers published in various IEEE
vehicles and power factor correction circuits.
international conferences and IEEE journals.
Memorial, an aspiring entrepreneurial university Engineering professor helps students turn scientific research into successful businesses DR. CARLOS BAZAN Memorial University has had its share of entrepreneurial
“I help students work on a value proposition that the start-up
success stories. In the past decade alone, more than a dozen
can actually deliver,” he explained. “Without a compelling
successful start-ups have originated at the university.
value proposition, any business venture will most likely fail. A
But taking a research idea and turning it into a viable product that can be sold to consumers is not simple. A student usually can’t take a technology they developed and commercialize it right away; they have to translate it into something people will want to pay for. And they have to do that while observing all applicable regulations (intellectual property, legislative, health authority approvals). This is where Dr. Carlos Bazan, assistant professor (Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science) and Engineering Chair in Entrepreneurship, can help. Dr. Bazan works to answer two main research questions: 1. How can researchers turn university research outcomes into successful businesses? 2. How can the university help researchers take the leap from researcher to entrepreneur? Commercializing technological innovation In order to parlay basic or applied research outcomes into commercially viable products, Dr. Bazan, a former Fulbright Scholar, taps into his engineering/science/business background to help student entrepreneurs succeed at Memorial. If a young entrepreneur explains their vision, Dr. Bazan first uses what he knows about technology to help them find a solution (value proposition) for the problem and then translate it into a viable business model.
start-up needs more than intelligent cofounders with lots of funding to succeed. It requires a value proposition that can sustainably create, deliver, and capture value.” In order to translate academic research outcomes into successful businesses, Dr. Bazan uses a method he developed called ‘translational research & development.’ “I moved to St. John’s in 2013 to manage an ACOA AIF project,” he said. “It concerned a sensing system for oil-related contaminants, and we needed to develop an idea-to-launch approach to render the technology commercially viable as an alternative to existing methods for water quality assessment.” To do that successfully, Dr. Bazan realized he needed a new research methodology, so he went back to what he learned at San Diego State University while working on research related to translational medicine, which is the process of applying ideas, insights and discoveries generated through basic research to the treatment or prevention of human disease. “Translational medicine was conceived in response to concerns over the long time lag between scientific discoveries and their incorporation into health treatments, practices, and policies,” Dr. Bazan explained.
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science, and intellectual property management and provides an
Right now, Dr. Bazan is particularly interested in helping build
avenue for a more seamless transition from research to business.”
an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports all students
Since March 2017, Dr. Bazan has worked with twenty-three undergraduate students, twelve master’s students, eight Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
doctoral students, and eight post-doctoral fellows. “We help inspire our students, but they can now base their aspirations on companies like Verafin, Mysa, Colab, InspectAR, and BreatheSuite. They understand the possibility of doing something amazing and being successful on this rock in the middle of the ocean while making a difference for our province and its communities.” Building a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem In order to better motivate students to consider entrepreneurship as a career path, Dr. Bazan also conducts quantitative entrepreneurship research across Memorial as a whole to assess the health of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in and around the university. “An enabling technology transfer environment is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for research mobilization to happen,” he said, explaining how he devises mathematical models to understand the entrepreneurial intention of students, the entrepreneurial propensity of faculty members, and the entrepreneurial orientation of the university. “The goal is not just to learn, but also to intervene if necessary.
and has partnered with Dr. Jennifer Dyer in the Department of Gender Studies to understand gender differences in students’ entrepreneurial intentions at Memorial. “We’re very interested in having female-identifying students consider entrepreneurship; they usually participate less than male-identifying students, and we want to learn why and improve their participation if possible.” Dr. Bazan hopes that the local entrepreneurial successes in the province over the last few years will serve as encouragement and inspiration for students who are routinely underrepresented in entrepreneurship. “The last couple of years have been very encouraging because, despite the pandemic, our technology firms keep thriving,” said Dr. Bazan, who has worked with sixteen start-up companies. “There is a good news story almost every week: company X is hiring fifteen new employees, company Y raised tens of millions, and company Y sold for billions. Companies that originated at Memorial are growing and creating value for the province.” “It gives me great satisfaction to know that if I were to move on, I would leave Memorial University in a better position than I found it,” he said, adding he is grateful for the support given by the offices of the President, Vice-President (Research), Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, Dean of Business
For example, suppose that one of our studies informs us of a way
Administration, and the Memorial Centre for
to improve the university environment and support system to
Entrepreneurship and its former director, Florian Villaumé,
increase our students’ willingness to consider entrepreneurship a
who was instrumental in helping Dr. Bazan achieve his
valid career choice after graduation. For instance, if we find there
research goals. Dr. Bazan also received funding from ACOA,
is a need for more female mentors, we will provide them,” said
the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, Mitacs, the
Dr. Bazan, who is cross-appointed to the Faculties of
Harris Centre, and the National Research Council.
Engineering and Applied Science and Business Administration.
Dr. Carlos Bazan received his Ph.D. in Computational Science and his M.Sc. in Business Administration (Finance) from San Diego State University and Claremont Graduate University in San Diego, California. He also holds an M.Sc. in Numerical Methods from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, and an MBA and B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Catholic University of Asuncion in Paraguay.
Resilience Engineering: From Arctic Shipping to Health Care for Older Adults All in a day’s work for Memorial University engineering professor DR. DOUG SMITH
Navigating the healthcare system can be daunting, especially
traditional engineering approach, Dr. Smith spent a lot of
for seniors who may have up to a dozen professionals involved
time looking at the probability of accidents and reasoning
in their care. Family doctors, specialists, social workers,
about their causes and realized that accidents were complicated
occupational therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists; each of
processes. He then came across the FRAM method of
these health care professionals operate in different
assessing complex socio-technical systems.
organizations or departments and it can be difficult to integrate services so the patient receives comprehensive and coordinated care. This is through no fault of the medical providers who are so busy trying to care for their patients, there’s not always enough time to manage processes.
The Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM), developed by Danish researcher, Dr. Erik Hollnagal, is a mapping technique used to trace the functionality of complex systems (or operations). It is often difficult to discern what factors are responsible for an accident if you only focus on the
But fear not, a naval architect at Memorial is working on
accident itself. Hindsight bias can lead you to conclude that
making the journey through the health care maze friendly for all.
certain factors are responsible for the accident, but they may
What, you say; a naval architect? How could an expert in ship design and maritime safety be helping geriatricians manage health care systems? That is an interesting story.
also be responsible for successes – how would you know if you haven’t checked? The FRAM allows functionality to be traced for all outcomes – successes and failures – which helps provide
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a broader understanding of complex processes. Dr. Smith’s research examines the complex, socio-technical
Between 2015 and 2019 while completing his Ph.D., Dr.
systems in the context of industrial workplaces, which are
Doug Smith, now an assistant professor in the Department of
usually large departmentalized units that operate interactively
Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering, had been
to provide services to a wide range of clients in changing
researching the safety of Arctic shipping operations. Taking a
operational conditions.
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“Industrial workplaces are difficult to monitor,” said Dr. Smith. “So, I try to provide a way to make the complexity more comprehensible without over-simplifying things. If the
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
geriatric medicine system in New Brunswick,” said Dr. Smith. “It was easy to see how the approach could be transferred from shipping to health care applications, so we agreed to cooperate,
separate departments do not carefully communicate with each
and I went to New Brunswick to discuss the use of the FRAM
other, a disconnect can develop, leading to inefficient service
with their research team. We had success with that collaboration
which can be frustrating to all involved.”
and decided to continue. That’s what led to my current research
Only understanding individual parts of an operation can lead
in geriatric medicine here in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
to misconceptions, inefficiencies, miscommunications and Research Report
ineffective management recommendations. But, by using the FRAM method to map system functionality across departments, a perspective can be gained that better illustrates the connectedness of the operation and can be used as a basis for management discussions. Dr. Smith has extended the FRAM method to help with the assessment of variability in complex systems. Variability refers to the many different ways a system can be executed within the bounds of the FRAM model. The software he developed, called DynaFRAM, is an extension of the FRAM method and provides a unique way of displaying variability in FRAM models by understanding the many different forms of success and failure of the system. https://www.engr.mun.ca/~d.smith/dynafram.html “When I first started using the FRAM, I was looking at shipping in the Arctic, which is complicated,” he said, explaining ships embark on their journey without knowing exactly what conditions they will encounter. They are required to navigate weather and ice conditions, interpret forecasts to predict future conditions, and communicate with other traffic with whom they share the waters. Ship operators also have to consider their current and alternate routes, the possibility of
Figure 1 is a representation of the FRAM model created in the collaboration with researchers from UNB. This particular FRAM model is color coded and has boundaries drawn around the functions that are carried out in certain parts of the process (ie. admissions, assessment, synthesis, decision-making, potential re-admission/ successful transition). The biggest takeaway from this figure is that people often imagine systems to be simpler than they actually are. They may imagine the process will unfold in a sequential and orderly fashion – admission, assessment, synthesis, decision-making, then success/readmission. The process is much more complicated than that and the FRAM helps people visualize and trace what is happening.
ice damage or shoals in poorly charted areas, as well as their
Since then, Dr. Smith has formed a collaborative research
shipping schedule and organizational goals. The crew has to
group that includes Drs. McCloskey, Susan Mercer (a
follow regulations and operate as a team onboard, and the ship
geriatrician cross-appointed to the Faculty of Medicine), Brian
serves as both a workplace to those on-shift and a home to
Veitch (Engineering), and Debbie Kelly (Pharmacy) to work
those off-shift. All of these things need to be managed
together on this problem.
effectively in order for the shipping operation to have success. “Once you start to view the operation through this lens, you
“We, along with two Ph.D. students, one in engineering and one in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, are currently working
gain a more empathetic perspective for those involved when
to model the geriatric medicine system in Newfoundland and
things go wrong,” said Dr. Smith. “For me, that led to focusing
Labrador, which like most healthcare systems, is composed of
on building or redesigning systems that better support the
many health care professionals from different departments. By
workers who manage these difficult conditions in order to have
mapping this system across all departments, we hope to identify
success. It has shaped my approach to industrial safety.” Because Dr. Smith was the only researcher in Canada
system issues and suggest ways to improve performance, efficiency, cost, and patient experience.”
publishing papers in academic journals on this method at that
“A good FRAM map should help with this, by representing the
time, his work came to the attention of Dr. Rose McCloskey, a
many possible ways the system can operate. It should be able to
nursing researcher at the University of New Brunswick.
describe how the system provides care to all patients, whether
“Dr. McCloskey contacted my then-supervisor, Dr. Brian Veitch, about the possibility of using the FRAM method to assess the
they have dementia, cancer, falling issues, etc. This is what is referred to as variability in FRAM terms. If you were to track a
single patient through the system, not every function is likely
This multi-disciplinary view of systems can help with
used to provide care to them and the output of each function
management; Dr. Smith explained.
will be specific to the care they received. If you do this for many patients, you gain a better perspective on the variability that the system is required to accommodate,” said Dr. Smith.
“Nurses see things important to nurses; engineers see things important to engineers, social workers see things important to social workers… so we are trying to build a comprehensive understanding of the system. It is important that we work together as a multi-disciplinary team to achieve that.” And although researchers are not typically in a position to make decisions within the healthcare system, the team can make recommendations to health care managers and public officials. “Cost is always a factor,” said Dr. Smith, “but since one of the things we are examining is work processes, there is a
Figure 2 shows a patient’s journey through the FRAM model. The
possibility of realizing low-cost system improvements, such as
orange path displays the functions that were used during this
reorganizing workflows and removing communication
patient’s journey. The values of the outputs were also recorded for
break-downs to recommend lower cost options that may have
each active function during this patient’s journey; however, the
a positive impact. That’s what makes this work exciting.”
values of the outputs are not explicitly shown in this figure. If you now imagine another patient’s journey through this FRAM model, it is likely to be different – different functions (not all but some), different outputs of the functions, also the time it takes to execute functions. Collectively, this can serve as an explanation for why a patient had the experience or quality of care that they did. As you
“We have a chance to have a positive impact on the quality of health care in our province. The process of trying to find the best ways to manage a geriatric medicine system will be on-going, but we are hopeful that we can make some contributions to this problem in the next couple of years.”
collect examples of many patient journeys you will see a wide range of functional paths. This is the variability part of the FRAM.
Dr. Doug Smith (B.Eng, M.Eng, Ph.D. Memorial) is an assistant professor in the Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering with expertise in Arctic shipping and offshore structures, marine hydrodynamics, marine structural design and analysis, offshore and maritime safety and risk. His current research
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involves complex systems and human factors using the functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) and organizational resilience.
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To boldly go where no drone has gone before DR. GEORGE MANN
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a fancy term for drone, a pilotless remote-controlled aircraft originally developed by the military to deploy missiles. Today drones, which can be used to help in search and rescue missions, monitor weather, deliver
“We look at accessing remote outdoor areas where GPS is not reliably available or even indoor spaces such as large industrial operations like oil platforms,” explained Dr. Mann. “Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have enormous potential to
goods and create light shows, are the perfect answer to
revolutionize how drones can be deployed to access places that
exploration over rugged and inaccessible terrain.
are too dangerous or impossible for a human to access.
But how can a drone navigate safely if there is no global positioning satellite information available or if the GPS signal is not reliable enough to obtain an accurate estimate of the
Therefore, drone technology has a greater potential to be used in the oil and gas industry by providing a more efficient, fast, safe and cost-effective way to perform a variety of field activities.”
location? And how can the operator control where the drone
Just as a human recognizes a place based on certain features, a
should go if they cannot see where it is?
drone has to find out where it is with respect to a location on a
Dr. George Mann, professor of mechanical engineering, has been working for years to improve the autonomy of robots working under challenging environmental conditions. He, along with Drs. Ray Gosine and Thumeera Wanasinghe of electrical engineering and Oscar De Silva of mechanical engineering, are working to advance the automation of drones. This includes
map. This is known as localization. Once the drone knows where to go, researchers use aided navigation to make it as easy as possible for the drone to get to its destination, do what it has to do, and get back safely. If GPS is unreliable, this requires additional features for place recognition. “Indoor navigation can be aided while using external beacons
developing navigational methods for drones to change direction
(sensor network) for localization. Outdoor navigation systems
autonomously using complex trajectory control systems.
use on-board sensors, where the data from Light Detection and
“We want the drone to operate with the least amount of human intervention possible, to recognize its position with the minimum amount of information,” he explained. “Beacons track the drone’s movements and location. We develop trajectory control systems to assist in movement from A to B.
Ranging (LiDAR) and camera are combined to produce point cloud data for place recognition to help the drone recognize where it is and how far it has to travel,” explained Dr. Mann. “In the lab, we use microdrones readily available to the public, and attach powerful sensors we have developed to help its navigation.”
We are investigating how quickly and precisely a drone can
Outdoors, Dr. Mann and his team of ten full-time graduate,
move in on a particular trajectory.”
postdoctoral and work term researchers, use cameras, LIDAR
Dr. Mann is also developing a system whereby a vertical take-off and landing vehicle or VTOL can navigate autonomously while identifying safe landing zones.
(laser-based range measurement) and odometry to operate larger drones such as the DJI Matrice 600 employed by filmmakers and surveyors. Soon, Dr. Mann’s students will be able to fly their drones around St. John’s to collect data.
Members of the
“There is great excitement with outdoor experiments, but outdoors we have to deal with things like the wind; these drones are expensive and we have to be careful not to crash them as the budget does not allow for replacements,” he said, explaining that in more complicated experiments, they hire professional drone operators and safety nets to ensure the hardware makes it back in one piece. Expensive hardware is but one challenge for Dr. Mann, who first worked with Dr. Ray Gosine in electrical engineering to develop technology for autonomous ground vehicles used in underground mining. In his current research, sensors burn out and have to be replaced. They also have to go through many time-consuming iterations before they are successful in their sensor development. This means the endpoint of any particular experiment is never certain. Yet another challenge is computer code debugging. “Programming software presents equally challenging problems. We might write 1000 lines of a code and find an error. Debugging
can be quite time consuming. Then we have to go back and clean it up before we can advance into the next step,” he said. But Dr. Mann persists. Knowing he is training students to become highly qualified personnel in their field makes it worth it. One of his former students who works at the National Research Council in Ottawa is now collaborating with the group, and in the near future, they hope to carry out their first collaborative flight test at the NRC flight research centre using a full-scale VOTL type helicopter.
Intelligent Systems Lab Names from left to right, Mr. Eranga Fernando Ms. Sachithra Atapattu Mr. Nushen Seneviratne Dr. Thumeera Wanasinghe Mr. Mohmud Naguib Dr. Oscar De Silva Mr. Didula Dissanayake Mr. Kusal Tennakoon Ms. Narmada Balasooriya Mr. Ravindu Thalagala Mr. Sahan Gunawardena Mr. Salaheldin Bilila Dr. Mahmoud A.K. Gomaa
That, along with the fact that the teams’ work has been published in high-quality journals and gets cited by other professionals in the field, makes Dr. Mann proud. “When we see our work is cited by world leading researchers in this area, we feel proud about our success. Our work is valuable and will transform how unmanned aerial vehicles
Absentees: Prof. George K.l. Mann Prof. Raymond G. Gosine Mr. Benjamin Dowden Mr. Bennett Newhook
can operate in challenging and remote areas with or without the assistance of GPS.”
Dr. George Mann joined the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University in January 2002 as an assistant professor and also as the C-CORE Junior Chair in intelligent systems. He received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, his master’s degree in Computer
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Integrated Manufacturing from Loughborough University of Technology, UK, England and his doctoral degree in Intelligent Control from Memorial. After finishing his
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graduate work at Memorial, Dr. Mann joined C-CORE as a full-time research engineer in Intelligent Systems related to automation in underground mining. His current research is in the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISLAB) studying intelligent control, robotics and machine vision.
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Hydrogen is a promising solution to storing clean energy Memorial engineering researcher works on clean hydrogen production DR. KEVIN POPE
“The Hydrogen Strategy for Canada lays out an ambitious framework for actions that will cement hydrogen as a tool to achieve our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and position Canada as a global, industrial leader of clean renewable fuels. As one of the top 10 hydrogen producers in the world today, we are rich in the feedstocks that produce hydrogen. We are blessed with a strong energy sector, and the geographic assets that will propel Canada to be a major exporter of hydrogen and hydrogen technologies.” — The Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, 2020
Dr. Kevin Pope, associate professor and deputy department
Until we find a way of producing and storing large amounts of
head of mechanical engineering at Memorial University, hopes
clean energy that can be tapped into anytime, we cannot rely
to assist Canada in its goal of zero emissions by lessening our
on a grid powered solely by intermittent sources.
dependence on fossil fuels. He has been developing systems of clean energy production and storage for over a decade with the aim of providing green energy whenever it is needed.
Dr. Pope, an expert in thermo-fluids and renewable energy, has been working since 2009 to develop a way to efficiently store intermittent energy for use whenever it is needed. He has
In order for humans to survive, we need access to food, water
concluded a promising answer lies in hydrogen, the third most
and transportation. That is not guaranteed however, unless we
abundant chemical on the earth’s surface, found primarily in
also have access to a reliable supply of energy.
water, and to a lesser extent, organic materials.
The challenge lies in finding ways to store the energy so we can access it whenever it is needed. Although industry has been
“Unlike other fuels, such as fossil fuels, hydrogen must be extracted from larger molecules,” explained Dr. Pope, who
turning more towards wind and solar energy, that energy is
works with engineering colleagues, Drs. Greg Naterer and
intermittent, and is not always accessible.
Kelly Hawboldt and four master’s students to solve this
Dr. Kevin Pope (left) and Dilum Perera (right) with an experimental system for clean hydrogen production. The system uses chemical processes to create an environmentally sustainable fuel from water.
problem. “Currently, the vast majority of hydrogen is produced from steam methane reforming, refinery chemical off-gases, and coal gasification, all of which emit carbon dioxide and deplete finite fossil fuel reserves.” Dr. Pope has developed a new way of mitigating the polluting effects in industries which emit carbon dioxide and use fossil fuels. The method recovers waste heat to produce hydrogen. “Industries such as nuclear power plants produce a large
Here’s how it works. In the lab, Dr. Pope and his team use a method called the copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle to split water in hydrogen and oxygen using waste heat from industrial sources such as thermal power stations, manufacturing plants, or other heat sources. The cycle needs water and thermal energy (heat), and to a lesser extent electricity, in a cycle (similar to a loop) of three reactors. The water (H2O) is split into oxygen (O2) and
amount of waste heat when cooling reactor components,”
hydrogen (H2) using intermediate copper and chlorine
explained Dr. Pope, who collaborates with Canadian Nuclear
compounds. Two of the reactors (Hydrolysis and
Laboratories to investigate the best way of recovering this
Thermolysis) need to be kept at a high temperature, this is
waste heat by producing hydrogen.
where the waste heat (excess unused heat) or solar energy
The waste heat is used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen by a thermochemical process. The hydrogen can then be used as a clean fuel, typically in a fuel cell, but can also be used in a combustion engine. The output (exhaust) for both
(heat) can be used. The Electrolytic cell (3rd reactor) needs a relatively small amount of electricity to operate. The primary energy input is thermal energy (heat). The material input is water. The outputs are oxygen and hydrogen.
processes is water (H2O). Whereas the exhaust from burning
It is called the Cu-Cl cycle, because copper (Cu on the
fossil fuels is harmful to the environment and has significant
periodic table) and chlorine (Cl) are the elements involved in
quantities of pollution.
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water; while copper and chlorine are continuously re-used
geothermal, or with waste heat sources from nuclear power
within the cycle. The four elements form several different
generation or industrial processes.”
molecules (combination of elements) throughout the process.
The hydrogen can be stored, moved to different locations, used in a car instead of gasoline, for example, and then used as fuel
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
in a fuel cell or combustion engine, to generate power. The exhaust is only water when using hydrogen in a fuel cell or combustion engine.
Research Report
In the future, Dr. Pope hopes that thermo-chemical plants will be built alongside existing industrial plants or added into new designs so that waste energy can be captured to produce a clean energy by storing it as hydrogen. “The use of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier has the potential
The Cu-Cl cycle involves three steps; the water is split into two
to significantly reduce the environmental impact of
different compounds, next the oxygen is removed, followed by hydrogen, while all other compounds are recycled. The isolated
conventional energy sources,” said Dr. Pope. “Because the
hydrogen is a clean energy carrier; similar to a battery that
Cu-Cl thermochemical cycle requires only water and heat, to
harnesses power to be used whenever needed.
store clean energy as hydrogen, I can imagine thermo-chemical plants in the future being built alongside thermal power plants, solar fields, steel fabrication, mining operations and potentially
“It’s like producing a hydrogen battery that can deliver clean energy on demand,” said Dr. Pope. The research examines the balancing of mass transfer, fluid dynamics, heat transfer,
Dr. Pope sees this clean fuel being used in the transportation
chemical reaction kinetics and equilibrium conditions.
industry to power automobiles and other vehicles like ships
“Hydrogen can be a sustainable energy carrier to meet society’s needs, while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. It is
and trains and thus helping mitigate the damaging effects of carbon dioxide emissions produced in gasoline-burning engines.
potentially a major solution to climate change if the cycle can be coupled with a renewable heat source, such as solar or
off-shore facilities that have available waste heat.”
“Hydrogen offers a promising alternative to conventional techniques because it is a versatile, efficient and safe fuel and can be used to power automobiles and other transportation sectors.”
Dr. Kevin Pope, associate professor and deputy department head in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, obtained a BEng in Energy Systems Engineering (2008) and PhD (2012) in Mechanical Engineering at Ontario Tech University. His research is focused on energy systems engineering, including multiphase flow and heat transfer for thermochemical energy storage. Before joining Memorial University, he investigated sustainable energy systems for large urban areas.
Backseat driver sets a new course for AUVs Memorial researchers developing new algorithms to help detect underwater oil spills DR. NEIL BOSE
Oil spills, which are detrimental to marine life and the
and the broader Memorial University community. It is here
environment, are usually noticed on the water surface and can
that Dr. Bose and his team of students (two Ph.D. and one
be remediated once discovered. But what happens when oil is
master’s at Memorial and one Ph.D. student at the University
trapped under the water and is not readily visible?
of Tasmania in Australia) work to develop technology to
This is what happened during the Deepwater Horizon disaster
detect spills under the surface without displacing the oil.
in 2010, when 200 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf
The key, it turns out, is an algorithm or two. The research
of Mexico. Oil that had been leaking at a depth of 3,000
team uses an autonomous underwater vehicle or AUV known
metres was expected to come to the surface but, for reasons
as Explorer, which was purchased from International
that are still subject to scientific study, a large quantity also got
Submarine Engineering in British Columbia on behalf of
stuck at 1,000 metres below the surface, where it mixed with
Memorial back in 2006 by Dr. Bose. Using a lithium-ion
water and began spreading with the current.
battery that lasts up to ten hours, the Explorer can descend to
Ever since that incident, scientists have been working on ways to identify oil spills that are not visible on the surface and to find ways to track them, contain them, and prevent them from spreading. Dr. Neil Bose, vice-president (research) at Memorial University, is developing underwater robotic technology to autonomously map the boundaries of underwater oil spills or other pollutants in the water column. Forty minutes outside St. John’s on the shores of Conception Bay is the Holyrood Marine Base (HMB) which supports at-sea research and training priorities of the Marine Institute
a depth of three kilometres and weighs almost a tonne. “We use the AUV to monitor and delineate undissolvable marine pollutants,” explained Bose. “Even if oil is on the surface, it can get pushed down by waves and we can’t see what’s happening to it in the water column. Between October
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and November 2020, we conducted field experiments to start to establish an efficient system to search for and map the borders of an underwater oil spill in the ocean in real-time.”
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Intentionally releasing a serious pollutant such as oil into the ocean is not possible, so Dr. Bose and his team are developing a system using air bubbles to imitate the oil plumes. PA G E /33
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"Now we’re investigating Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
oil, but we could move to plastics and other pollutants in ocean environments." Dr. Neil Bose
The Memorial Explorer AUV being piloted at the surface prior to diving during a mission
Dr. Bo Thanyamanta conducts one of several pre-dive checks prior to launch
“Using air bubbles instead of oil was a eureka moment in our
“But in our case, we don’t know exactly where the oil is,”
research,” he said. “We release bubbles at a certain depth using
explained Dr. Bose. “So, instead of the AUV going back and
a microbubble pump from Nikuni America, and a piping
forth under the water in a lawn-mower path, we set it on a
system, assembled by Memorial’s Technical Services. The air
bumble-bee search pattern like a bee searching for pollen; this
droplets emulate oil droplets which can remain and disperse in
is more efficient than a blind backward and forward motion.”
the water column; sonar can then be used to track the droplets.”
This is where things get complicated. The operator on the
With the AUV, Dr. Bose and his team use two sets of adaptive
surface can’t see what’s happening under the surface. They can
sampling algorithms to take and process measurements from a
monitor tracking beacon signals but they are delayed by
Ping360 scanning sonar to map out the perimeter of the spill.
limitations of underwater communications. Slow signal relay is
To ensure they are prepared before they get to test in the ocean,
one of the biggest challenges of all AUV research and operations.
Dr. Bose and his team use computer simulations to model the
In the meantime, the AUV may have detected oil, but the surface
AUV, its sensors and behaviour. Once they have tested the
operator is none the wiser. That’s where the front-seat vs backseat
algorithm in simulation, the next step is to carry out the more
driver scenario comes into play. This is one of the paradigms of
expensive testing in Holyrood where the Explorer AUV is given a
the MOOS-IvP software design used by Dr. Bose and his team.
mission in a series of computer code mission statements prepared by the operator who is usually in a nearby boat or onshore.
Think of the mission set by the operator on the surface as the front-seat driver. Then think of the algorithm suggesting a
The code mission statements sit in what is known as the
new path as the backseat driver. Based upon what the AUV
Vehicle Control Computer. The human operator downloads
comes across under the surface, the backseat driver may suggest
the mission file with its instructions to the AUV, presses start
altering the pre-set course for the front-seat driver to follow in
mission and the vehicle dives.
order to map the spill.
If the operator wants the AUV to survey a particular area, they
But if the backseat driver sends decisions to the front seat
decide in advance what paths the vehicle will take. The vehicle
which the front-seat driver then fulfills, the operator on the
then carries out the mission and returns to the surface.
surface doesn’t know exactly what’s going on due to the delay
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in underwater communications, tracking information and the
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
and directly controls the vehicle motion, such as heading and
the operator could lose touch with the AUV for periods and it
depth,” said Dr. Bose. “Whereas the backseat driver makes
is not possible to over-ride or direct the mission in real-time.
independent decisions about the vehicle motions, sent as
It’s certainly not possible to relay camera signals to the surface
commands to the front seat driver, which the front seat driver
as the bandwidth is far too heavy.
may or may not follow.”
“It’s definitely challenging from an operational point of view,”
This and the delineation of patchy plumes made up of
said Dr. Bose. “We set limits so that if the AUV gets outside of
droplets, is what sets Dr. Bose’s research apart from others
a certain box, the mission aborts and the AUV returns to the
investigating the same field.
surface.”
Right now, the parameters set in Holyrood are relatively small,
Imagine parents driving a teenager to high school. The
but hopefully, by next August or summer 2023, the team will
backseat teenager decides to go shopping and tries to direct the
have permission to do testing in a much larger area in Baffin
parents off course to the mall rather than to school. The
Bay where a huge natural oil seep is twenty kilometres out
parents in the front seat say no; we’re sticking to the plan, drive
from shore and 1,000 metres deep.
to the school and the mission is complete. There may be an opportunity for some deviation, such as passing by a friend’s house to pick them up, or returning home for a forgotten notebook, but the parameters of the mission (leave home and go to school) are set in stone.
its own course based upon instructions from the backseat driver as long as that feedback is reasonable and does not suggest diving too deep or going outside the operational box.
Dr. Neil Bose, vice-president (research),
In May 2007, Dr. Bose moved to the
obtained both his B.Sc. in Naval Architecture
University of Tasmania to take on the
and Ocean Engineering (1978) and his Ph.D.
position of manager at the Australian
(1982) from the University of Glasgow. He also
Maritime Hydrodynamics Research
holds an honorary degree from the Nikola
Centre. He served as principal and
Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Bulgaria (2017).
professor of maritime hydrodynamics at the Australian Maritime College (AMC)
Dr. Bose first came to Memorial in May 1987
and from 2009 to 2011, he was director
as an assistant professor in the naval
of the AMC’s National Centre for Maritime
architectural engineering program. During his
Engineering and Hydrodynamics.
first stint at the university, Dr. Bose served as director of the Ocean Engineering Research
In 2017, he returned to Memorial to take
Centre, chair of the ocean and naval
on the role of vice-president (research).
architectural engineering program and, in 2003, was named a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Offshore and Underwater Vehicles Design in the Faculty of Engineering and
“The community is interested in the oil and we just got funding,” said Dr. Bose, explaining that they first need to do repair work on the Explorer, which is now fifteen years old, and suffered a small fire. “A connector disintegrated and needs replacement, so at the same time, with assistance from Fugro
In the same way, within certain parameters, the AUV can set
Applied Science.
“The front seat driver follows a set of pre-defined instructions
fact they can’t see what’s happening in real-time. Potentially,
Canada, we’ll upgrade the charging system.” “The really exciting thing is we’re not just focused on oil spills,” said Dr. Bose. “Now we’re investigating oil, but we could move to plastics and other pollutants in ocean environments.”
Bells and Whistles Memorial engineering researcher looks into better management of sensors and alarms DR. SALIM AHMED
“There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we
“Operators are bombarded with so many alarms, they can’t deal
suffer more often in apprehension than reality.” —Lucius
with them all,” he said. “They need a way to prioritize. There
Annaeus Seneca, Roman Stoic philosopher (c. 4 BC-AD 65)
are industrial guidelines on the maximum number of alarms
Ever take the battery out of your smoke alarm because it was a nuisance? Or, have you ever been on a hospital ward, where bells and alarms are sounding, yet staff seem unperturbed? If so, you are not alone. In many professions, such as fire fighting and policing, people have to investigate dozens or even hundreds of alarms on a regular basis, even though many may be just like your smoke detector freaking out over a piece of burnt toast.
an operator can handle over a certain period, however, the number of alarms often goes beyond the maximum limit by many folds. There are several well-known and often-cited historical incidents where operators have commented on the frustrations of multiple alarms sounding at once. Comment by one space controller in mission control after the Apollo 12 spacecraft was struck by lightning (Murray and Cox 1990). “The whole place just lit up. I mean, all the lights came on.
If we take that to the level of a huge chemical processing plant,
So instead of being able to tell you what went wrong, the lights
like an oil refinery, the operator in charge may have to monitor
were absolutely no help at all.”
more than 1,000 alarms. If even one to two percent of those alarms sound at once, that is far too many for the operator to handle. Yet, these numbers are common in chemical process industries, and an operator is supposed to respond to each alarm even though they know many will not require
Comment by one operator at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to the official inquiry following the 1979 accident (Kemeny 1979). “I would have liked to have thrown away the alarm panel. It wasn’t giving us any useful information.”
immediate attention.
How did we get to this point?
Life would be easier for these individuals if there were a way to
In the past, every alarm had a hardware system attached to it,
determine if an alarm is legitimate and worth responding to. That is the situation Dr. Salim Ahmed, associate professor in process engineering and acting director for the Centre for Risk Integrity and Safety Engineering (C-RISE), has been working on for a decade to improve.
but today with digital systems, an alarm can be set up by simply checking a box. That’s how the number of potential alarms in a
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chemical plant can be in the thousands. Because there are so many alarms to monitor, operators with expert knowledge may know when an alarm is false and may sometimes ignore it to deal with more serious alarms. This is known as shelving. PA G E /37
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Graduate student Abdula Abulaban and lab technician Kelly Leshane are working on the fault finding control system to configure alarms
Let’s go back to if you had to monitor 1000 alarms - if one alarm sounds, is it serious enough to have to shut down the chemical
Because only adding more sensors and alarms leads to alarm flooding, Dr. Ahmed hopes to help operators by developing an event-based alarm system. Working collaboratively with Drs. Syed Imtiaz and Faisal Khan and supported by a Discovery Grant from NSERC, Dr. Ahmed’s system has three features – it is predictive, early and risk-based. Suppose two alarms sound at once; how does an operator prioritize? Right now, they often can’t, but if they know one is a high-risk alarm, they react to that one first. “They identify a fault and its root cause,” said Dr. Ahmed. “We
plant? Probably not; there’s a lot of redundancy. We want to help the operator - not overburden them with something false. We need to think of different ways to analyze alarms.” Because Dr. Ahmed cannot experiment in a real chemical plant, he uses computer simulation with mathematical models to represent the plant. This is known as a digital twin. “We have a normal system set up in the lab, then we create a digital twin of the lab set up on the computer. We can build a model and operate it under different conditions, whereas, in a real plant, you cannot create an abnormal scenario to observe and study the process.”
bring quantitative risk into the equation. If we quantify the risk, we can prioritize,” he said. “Instead of only looking at what the probability is of this thing happening and the probability of that thing happening, we look at consequences as well. For example, the probability of a plane crashing into a house is low compared to the probability of a car crashing into a house. However, the consequence of a plane crash may have much higher consequences. Similarly in a chemical plant, if you have one reactor operating at 500 degrees centigrade and another reactor operating at 25 degrees centigrade, if there’s an explosion, the consequences will be much more serious with the hotter reactor. Our risk-based approach takes into consideration not only probability, but the consequences of a certain thing happening.” Dr. Ahmed’s research team includes seven to eight students who focus on specific elements.
Figure: Control panel showing alarms (marked red)
For example, the students can put a simple heater in a tank
The lab set-up Dr. Ahmed’s team has developed is not
where the liquid is heated and fed to another unit. In a simple
restricted to investigating one process, rather it is equipped to
system, the students can introduce a fault such as making a
find malfunction in a multitude of processes.
sensor give an incorrect temperature reading that says the tank is not hot enough. In response, the system keeps adding heat even though the water is already boiling. The students can then identify the fault and see how can the algorithm identifies the fault. This is how they analyze the alarm and find the root cause. “Finding the root cause or root variable is the most challenging part,” said Dr. Ahmed. “For example, in a house fire, an alarm sounds, but you still don’t know the origin of the fire. You can find that out, but often, by the time you do, the house is gone. A fire is a late stage of an industrial accident. One needs to identify the root cause of the fire, for example, spillage of a flammable substance or malfunction of an electrical circuit. Early identification of a root cause before it leads to a failure is
For example, Dr. Ahmed’s students also experiment with flow rates and the level of liquid in a water tank with alarms indicating if the tank may overflow. “Right now, the way the system works is that people tend to put alarms on every variable, an alarm to indicate if the output flow from the tank is too low and another alarm to indicate whether the output is too high,” said Dr. Ahmed. “The same is done for the inflow. Then there’s an alarm for the level, one to show if the water level is too high; another to show if it’s too low. That variable-based system adds up to a lot of alarms.” “What we do is look at everything together. If the outlet is high and the inlet is high and the controller is doing its job, then all
most effective to prevent accidents. That’s why we call it an
is well; the pump flow is OK and there is no need for alarm,” he
early warning system. Adding more sensors is not going to
said. “There is no need for several alarms to indicate low- and
help, but maybe different types of indicators can provide
high-water levels and pump function. What we do is simplify
different information.”
that through the modeling process; rather than many alarms
“We put in temperature sensors. However, instead of looking only at the temperature sensor, we look at other variables and predict possible abnormal situations. In other words, instead of looking at one variable, we look at the event; we want to convert a variable-based alarm system to an event-based alarm system.”
indicating things like low water level or high level, operators will just have one alarm indicating potential overflow.” Drs. Ahmed, Imtiaz and Khan plan to continue to research and investigate this problem until they find suitable solutions. “We are all looking at different parts of the same problem, but we’re all working toward the same outcome.”
Dr. Salim Ahmed is currently an associate professor and serving as deputy head in the Department of Process Engineering, and acting director for the Centre for Risk, Integrity and Safety Engineering (C-RISE) at Memorial. With expertise in process control, process modelling and process safety, Dr. Ahmed has contributed to research by supervising graduate and undergraduate students, publishing in well-reputed journals and establishing new research programs. Dr. Ahmed received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), and Ph.D. in Process Control from the University
Research Stories
of Alberta. He has developed innovative approaches for warning system design using probabilistic modelling and fault detection methods using machine learning techniques. Dr. Ahmed serves as
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Sustainable Mining by Drilling Novel Mining Technique by Memorial Researcher Revolutionizing Industry DR. STEPHEN BUTT
In 2015 Anaconda Mining on Newfoundland and Labrador’s
Enter Dr. Steve Butt, professor of process engineering and
Baie Verte Peninsula was faced with a problem.
principal investigator for Memorial’s Drilling Technology
They had a series of discontinuous narrow gold veins in their
Laboratory.
Romeo and Juliet deposit that dipped so steeply into the rock,
Dr. Butt, already known in the industry for the development
they couldn’t extract the gold economically using traditional
of Vibration Assisted Rotary Drilling (VARD) technology,
methods.
began investigating potential new methods to mine these
Why? Because the cost of recovering the gold would have been more than the value of the ore in the marketplace using either conventional surface or underground mining methods. They didn’t want to leave the valuable gold in the ground. But how to get it to market in an economically viable way?
deposits in 2015. Fast forward six years. Dr. Butt along with more than twenty-five graduate students, postdocs, and project engineers, in collaboration with Anaconda, have developed something called Sustainable Mining by Drilling (SMD). “SMD not only has the potential to mine these deposits with lower costs per tonne of ore produced,” explained Dr. Butt, “but also with less energy and greenhouse gas emissions per tonne, and with a reduced mining footprint compared to conventional underground mining methods.” But let’s back up a little. Conventional narrow vein gold mining involves miners going underground where they are exposed to hazards associated with excavation and blasting. Many safety requirements have to be put in place for maintaining stable underground workings and good air quality. Dr. Butt who had been working on research in drilling engineering and technology
Closeup of LDS drilling experiment.
since coming to Memorial in 2006, began looking at safer mining techniques that would bypass many of these hazards
and safety issues. What he came up with is mining by drilling.
ore body and steer small diameter (three-inch) pilot holes
Initial concepts involved drilling large diameter holes with no
through the orebody. Larger diameter drilling (up to three
directionality, however, this limited mining to vertical veins
meters in diameter) then follows the pilot holes to mine the
and not suited for many narrow vein deposits.
ore which is recovered as drill cuttings, skipping the
One day in September 2017, Dr. Butt was standing in Anaconda’s open pit at Pine Cove with Allan Cramm, General Manager of Anaconda Mining’s Pine Cove Operation at the time, when they noticed curved blast holes left behind in the
conventional drilling and blasting step of conventional mining. The larger diameter hole is backfilled with mine tailings to stabilize the opening and allow mining of adjacent ore. “The extensive interest in SMD from mining companies
wall of the pit. That got them thinking about potentially using
around the world made us realize that SMD had much greater
a pilot hole to follow the vein and then a larger hole afterwards
potential than we initially thought,” said Dr. Butt. SMD was
to follow the pilot. “We could change the direction or make the hole shallower or
highlighted in a Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) article entitled “The Golden Key” in August 2019.
steeper as needed,” said Dr. Butt. “That was a lightbulb moment
So novel was the SMD method that it was one of three finalists
when we realized directional drilling could be used in mining.”
for the 2019 Disrupt Mining competition for a $1M
They first called it narrow vein mining, but later named it Sustainable Mining by Drilling or SMD. The SMD method
investment in transformative mining technology “A new technology company, Novamera, a spinoff of Anaconda
Dr. Butt and his team developed with Anaconda uses
Mining, was co-founded by Allan Cramm in 2020 to
subsurface ground penetrating RADAR imaging to map the
commercialize the SMD technology,” explained Dr. Butt,
Drilling team monitoring LDS drilling experiment.
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adding he and his team supported the company in field trials of first-generation SMD technology between July and December 2021. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
“The SMD concept is ingenious,” said Mr. Cramm. “It combines existing technologies from different industries to develop something entirely new. It will revolutionize the industry.” Dr. Butt agrees. “SMD has the potential to be transformative
Research Report
in the mining industry; to fundamentally change the way that
Research team getting ready for drilling experiments using Large Drilling Simulator (LDS) shown in background.
sustainable mining develops in the long term,” he said. “There
Left to right: Michael Marsh (Project Engineer), Salum
are technology and research and development activities
Mafazy (Graduate Student), Matthew Edwards and Noah
worldwide to develop better mining methods and some by drilling the orebody, but none use the combination of
Bruce (Co-op Students), Shafaet Jamil (Graduate Student) and Dr. Abdelsalam Abugharara (Postdoctoral Fellow).
subsurface imaging to steer a pilot hole followed by larger diameter drilling that we use.” The SMD research activities have generated about $2 million of research funding at Memorial University consisting of two major research contracts, two major MITACS Accelerate
researchers just completed a proof-of-concept trial at Anaconda’s Romeo and Juliet site in late 2021. “We are delighted with the results and we’re actively working on
awards with a total of fifty HQP internship units, and several
refinements based on this recent field trial,” said Mr. Cramm,
other smaller awards leveraging the larger awards.
adding the company was host to representatives from some of
Several of the new technologies are in the process of patenting and key people have been credited with inventorship. The SMD project is ongoing with Novamera (nova-New and
the largest mineral producers in the world at its test site. “Without exception, every single person to visit the project could quickly grasp the opportunity for SMD to solve many of the challenges facing mineral producers around the world,
amera worm) Inc. Novamera continues to attract investment
related to economics, environment and social responsibilities.
and interest from around the world. The company and its
That is thanks to Dr. Butt and the team at Memorial.”
Dr. Stephen Butt, B.Eng., M.Sc. (Memorial), Ph.D. (Queen's), P.Eng., professor cross-appointed to the Department of Earth Sciences, has been a faculty member at Memorial University since 2006. Previous to joining Memorial, Dr. Butt spent a decade at Dalhousie University engaged with research and technology development for mining and petroleum engineering focused on optimization and reducing environmental footprints. With expertise in petroleum and mining engineering; drilling and geomechanics, his research interests include technology development, optimization and commercialization; drilling penetration mechanisms, drill string dynamics and well control; near wellbore geomechanics and stability; salt rheology and experimental characterization; mining ground control and subsidence.
Demand for semiconductors explodes during global pandemic and Memorial engineering professor answers the call to help thanks to equipment provided by NSERC, CFI and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Facility Spotlight
Memorial’s New MicroPrecision Mechatronics Lab ( PML)
DR. MOHAMMAD AL JANAIDEH
Ever since the introduction of the first mobile phone in the
post-doctoral fellow Yazan Rwashdeh, are developing new
1980s, the world’s top electronics companies have been
motion control systems that can enhance the performance of
competing to make smaller, faster and more powerful devices.
wafer scanners. They are able to do this thanks to three
The race to advance cell phone design lies within the
Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) awards and from the
modification and production of microprocessors, with tiny
Canada Foundation of Innovation’s (CFI) infrastructure and
integrated circuits (ICs) that allow the phone to function.
equipment competition.
The demand for these microprocessors, which are also known
The RTI awards, which are part of NSERC’s annual
as semiconductor chips, is so great that industry cannot keep
competition for purchasing, provide funding for instruments
up. The global pandemic which has seen many people working
and equipment to be used towards new research capabilities.
from home has created a global chip shortage. In order to produce enough chips to supply millions of customers, the industry has called on engineers to help solve the problem by streamlining the creation process. Dr. Mohammad Al Janaideh, assistant professor in mechanical engineering at Memorial, has been answering the industry’s call by helping develop more efficient machines. To be more precise, he and his team, comprised of undergrad student, Kaitlyn Kuchinka; master’s student, Michael Joeseph Pumphrey, Ph.D. student, Mohammad Saaideh, and
“I am honoured to have been successful in these competitions for three consecutive years,” said Dr. Al Janaideh. “With this money, we have been able to purchase almost $450,000 worth of new equipment to establish Memorial’s New MicroPrecision Mechatronics Lab ( PML). Not only that, but Dr. Al Janaideh was also successful in
Facility Spotlight Research Report
securing a 2021 CFI JELF award worth almost $300,000 and more than $300,000 from the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Department of Industry, Energy and Technology (IET) for research tools in advanced measurement and PA G E /43
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characterization for microstructures and microsystems research.
wafer motion stages with smart - piezoceramic - materials to
https://gazette.mun.ca/research/forefront-of-innovation/
reduce motion errors, and design new motion profiles to
“Our research on wafer scanners wouldn’t be possible if not for Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
this funding. Because wafer scanners are needed to make smart devices, it is a priority for companies like Sharp, Intel, and Samsung to source and purchase the most efficient wafer scanner machines,” said Dr. Al Janaideh who has previous experience as senior mechatronics and control engineer at
reduce the vibrations for high precision motion applications in wafer scanners,” he explained, adding these motion systems and control algorithms will enhance the rate of production and the efficiency of the fabricated integrated components in the devices the machine produces. “Size is always an issue,” explained Dr. Al Janaideh, who has
ASML in the United States. ASML is a Dutch company with
more than ninety publications in the research area of
two main branches in the United States. They, along with
mechatronics and controls. “We look at how we can develop
Nikon in Japan, are the two main suppliers of wafer scanners
the motion control systems within these machines to reduce
in the world.
the positioning errors during the fabrication. This allows the
Wafer Scanners
addition of more electronic components within the microprocessor, which, in turn, will result in the fabrication of
Dr. Al Janaideh describes wafer scanners as room-sized
faster, smarter, and lighter microprocessors. And thus, faster,
machines that cost upwards of $150 million and house a UV
smarter and lighter smartphones.”
light source, a lens, and wafers, which are small silicon sheets. The integrated circuits needed for microprocessors to work sit on these wafers inside the wafer scanner machines. “Microprocessors are the brains of electronic devices,” explained Dr. Al Janaideh. “All smartphones and personal computers require these microprocessors. Integrated circuits, the main element in microprocessors, are created using lithography or 3-D printing with light. Without the lithography and integrated circuits inside the wafer scanners, there would be no microprocessors, and without microprocessors, there would be no smartphones.” “We use the 3-D Laser Doppler Vibrometer to design new electromagnetic systems to provide higher forces, develop
And, since the world demand for smartphones and tablets is not abating, this research is huge for Dr. Al Janaideh, his students, Memorial University and the entire industry. “The proposed new electromagnetic systems can provide higher force under different operating conditions, which is essential to have perfect motion control of the wafer scanner systems. This will also lead to less time during the microprocessor fabrication allowing a greater number of wafers to be fabricated per hour.” Dr. Al Janaideh began this research in 2018 and he and his team are currently in the design stage. For the new electromagnetic actuators, they have a prototype in the lab, 20 cm by 20 cm by 15
PhD Student Mohmmad Al-Saaideh and M. Eng. student Michael Pumphrey working of the design of an electromagnetic motion system at the Micro-Precision Mechatronics laboratory
cm (height). Building the system, they are able to use a 3-D
research theme spurred by industry need. It’s combining
printer to fabricate some parts, but they still need to buy things
mechanical, electrical, and control engineering to develop
like sensors, controllers and electronic accessories.
wafer scanners with better performance.”
“The most challenging part is building the complete system in
The team is now working to understand the challenges of the
our new Micro-Precision Mechatronics Lab ( PML),”
new motion systems, for example, health monitoring and
explained Dr. Al Janaideh. “Since we are building a new design
control design. The primary results presented in four journals
that is not available for purchase anywhere, we have to source
and at eight conferences have generated positive reviewer
all the individual components. First, we contact different
comments and the team currently has more than ten
suppliers in the United States who provide the most suitable
publications under review. The next step is to complete the
magnetic materials. But before they can deliver, the materials
design of the control systems with a health monitoring system
require different treatments such as heating and annealing to
before contacting industry. Dr. Al Janaideh and his team
make the material more workable.”
expect to complete this stage of research by the end of 2022 or
While Dr. Al Janaideh waits to receive what is required to build the prototype, he continues to collaborate with ASML in order to enhance these motion profiles within the wafer machines. 100% Designed at Memorial “When we use actuators for motion control in wafer scanner
early 2023. “By enhancing the lithography process to make smaller microprocessors, we will advance communications by allowing faster, lighter, smarter phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. With our research, Canada may become known as a supplier for the advanced mechatronic motion systems that
machines, we have inputs called motion profiles that follow
enhance the precision and the productivity of the semi-
the ASML standard. The students are highly motivated to
conductor machines, a novel field in the area of advanced
collaborate with the industry. Once we started to get
manufacturing and industry 4.0 for our country.”
measurements, the students were so excited because they had succeeded in making the process faster, that sometimes, they would send me information at 11 pm from the lab; that’s how exciting this research is for them. Not only is it one hundred per cent designed at Memorial, but it’s a completely new
“Without the funding from the NSERC Discovery Grant (DG), three NSERC RTI awards, CFI JELF as well as support from IET and Memorial, we would not have the new Micro-Precision Mechatronics Lab ( PML) and would not be in the position to do the work we do,” added Dr. Al Janaideh.
Dr. Mohammad Al Janaideh is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering with expertise in instrumentation, controls and automation, mechatronics and Intelligent Systems. He received his MASc. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering with a concentration in controls and mechatronics from Concordia University, Montreal, in 2005 and 2010, respectively. Between 2010 and 2012, he held research and teaching positions at the Universities of Bologna, Jordan and Concordia as well as the Institute of Mathematics at the Czech Academy of Sciences, and before joining Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dr. Al
Research Stories
Janaideh worked as a senior Mechatronics Engineer at ASML in the Research United States.
Report
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ANNUAL RESEARCH DAY 2021 Virtual celebrations showcase groundbreaking FEAS research Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Every year, the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University hosts a Research Day which encourages
The RIS acts as an intelligent mirror, improving signal quality and connectivity. RISs have other unique features, such as providing relatively high energy efficiency, and they are easy to deploy in diverse environments at a low cost, allowing integration into different application scenarios.
collaboration with like-minded researchers in other disciplines
Ms. Faisal is concentrating on optimizing the reflection
and explores research funding opportunities. Despite continued
coefficients of the RIS using deep reinforcement learning (DRL)
COVID-19 restrictions on staff and students, the 2021 Research
to improve the communication system performance. DRL has
Week was a resounding success with the Annual Research Day
emerged as a powerful approach to optimize the RIS phase shifts
videos receiving more than 1500 views within the first month.
in wireless communication systems. It allows building efficient
For many engineering students, the highlight of Research Week is the contest that determines who can best describe their research in three minutes. In pre-COVID days, research posters were displayed in the corridors of the engineering building with students and professors mingling with members of the public
algorithm designs by learning, interacting, and observing rewards from the communication environment, thus, finding solutions to complex optimization problems. “Winning this contest makes me feel grateful to contribute to science and wireless communications. I would like to thank my
to learn about novel student research. Since last year, the
supervisors, Dr. Octavia Dobre and Dr. Telex Ngatched, as well
Engineering Research Office has pivoted to online video
as my mentor, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Nahhal, for their continuous
presentations. This has proven to be one of the best things to
support and efforts to develop this work.”
come out of the pandemic because student research can now be viewed by anyone anywhere in the world at any time
Tom Browne Second place went to Tom Browne, Ph.D. candidate in Ocean and Naval
VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS
Architectural Engineering, who presented a method
Alice Faisal
for evaluating operational costs incurred while
This year, master’s student Alice Faisal won the contest with her video entitled Deep Reinforcement Learning for Optimizing RIS-Assisted HD-FD Wireless Systems.
operating under Arctic maritime regulations. His research compared optimal routes for a ship operating under two different regulatory guidelines - AIRSS and POLARIS - while navigating the Northwest Passage between Lancaster Sound and Tuktoyaktuk. “My research is focused on managing safe and efficient Arctic shipping operations,” he said. “Ships operating in the Arctic
Research Week
https://youtu.be/MVHdc0GC9xE In the video, Ms. Faisal explained her research which involves a wireless system capable of handling the demands of future wireless communications systems. Once the Internet-of-things (IoT) becomes commonplace, 5G networks and whatever comes after, will be expected to connect sensors, tablets and cameras in a continuous network. “My research focuses on optimizing the Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology using deep learning. The recent advent of RISs helps smart radio environments help overcome large power consumption and the probabilistic nature of electromagnetic (EM) wave transmission,” said Ms. Faisal.
pose several different risks. I am investigating ways in which scientific evidence can be used to better manage risk, while also enabling efficient and economic shipping operations. Safe Arctic ship operations protect the ship and those on board, the environment, Arctic communities, and other Arctic stakeholders.” Mr. Browne enjoyed the challenge of describing this technical research in three minutes. “Being acknowledged in this contest encourages me to continue developing strong research communication skills,” he said, adding he received many congratulations from his colleagues. https://youtu.be/gcwocmwmWLw
Dr. Hodjat Shiri: Offshore Construction Sylvester Aboagye, Ph.D. candidate with a master’s
Challenges in Very Shallow Arctic Regions https://youtu.be/9VjZtzdPnWI
in Electrical Engineering/
Dr. Sohrab Zendehboudi: Sustainable energy
Communications, won
and environmental remediation in Canada:
third place for his video
Challenges and future research directions
illustrating research into
https://youtu.be/lun2JukOEJg
how to overcome line-of-sight blockage issues in indoor visible light communication systems using Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRS). "You can think of visible light communication (VLC) as a kind of home WiFi connection that uses light sources to transmit data,” said Mr. Aboagye. “However, there is no data transmission when the direct path between your device and the light source is blocked. In this research, we propose using intelligent reflecting mirrors to solve this blockage problem so that you can enjoy an uninterrupted internet connection.” “It is a great honor to be among the winners for this competition,”
ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS The Engineering Research Office introduced a new series in 2021 where faculty experts share their advice. The first lecture in the series was presented by Dr. Octavia Dobre. She provided an overview of the publication process and provided useful tips to get through the submission and review process successfully. She described the different types of publications and steps required to go through the publications process. Some of the advice she provided included considering the timeliness of your research, being careful of plagiarism and using text similarity solutions, ensuring the references are relevant
he said, thanking his supervisors, Prof. Telex Ngatched and Prof.
and styled to your publisher’s preference, and asking your peers to
Octavia Dobre, as well as Dr. Richard Ndjiongue.
scrutinize your manuscript prior to submission.
https://youtu.be/e3XvZEyGJAw Honorable mentions
On Nov. 24, the second session included a panel of editors that shared their experiences on what makes a paper impactful. Drs. Bruce Quinton, Cheng Li, Greg Naterer, Helen Zhang and Salim Ahmed
Honourable mentions went to Yuhui Song and
shared their insights on how to write impactful papers. The
Ahmed Elruby.
experienced panelists provided advice on the differences and
Yuhui Song, a third-year Ph.D. student in ECE engineering, submitted a video entitled Tensor Based Sparse Bayesian Learning with Intra-Dimension Correlation. Tensor is a powerful data representation that breaks down data into a core and set of matrices. https://youtu.be/QeN2debteHY
Research Week
Sylvester Aboagye
similarities between publication standards in their respective fields. Some of the advice shared included developing an outline before you begin writing, having clear research objectives, conducting thorough literature reviews, picking the right publication venues and always address any reviewer comments directly and clearly. https://youtu.be/otjUYee0cQY
Ahmed Elruby, a post-doctoral fellow in naval and architectural engineering, works with Drs. Bruce Quinton and steel in the Kulluk, an Arctic drilling barge that served in the
NETWORKING SESSIONS
Arctic for almost forty years. https://youtu.be/pLDRUer3YT4
A virtual networking event was held for researchers from FEAS
David Molyneux on the characterization and degradation of
and the College of the North Atlantic to share their research
LUNCH & LEARNS As part of Memorial’s Research Week, the Engineering Research Office hosted three live Lunch & Learn sessions.
interests and form inter-institutional teams. Researchers provided short elevator-style pitches of their research interests and described what their ideal collaborator looks like. A second networking session, Dynamic Research: Topics and Tools for Interdisciplinary Excellence, was jointly hosted by the Faculties
Dr. Ashutosh Sutra Dhar: Integrity of Buried
of Engineering and Applied Science, Education and the School of
Water Mains and Energy Pipelines
Human Kinetics and Recreation, to provide an opportunity to
https://youtu.be/Sr6RQCOiKXc
form unconventional research teams to tackle interdisciplinary
Research Week Research Report
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Reflections at a Time of Industry Transition by DR. RAY GOSINE
by DR. GREG NATERER
Dean, Faculty of Engineering and
Dean, Faculty of Engineering and
Applied Science 2003–2008
Applied Science 2012–2022
Associate Vice President Research –
Vice President Academic and Research –
Memorial University of Newfoundland
University of Prince Edward Island
Since the Faculty of Applied Science was established at
offshore clean energy technology and innovation by pursuing
Memorial University almost 75 years ago, research carried out
strategic technologies beyond those solely focussed on O&G.
by engineering faculty, staff and students has played a major
They will allow NL and Canadian companies to connect with
role in supporting economic and social development in
global offshore energy industries and their deep supply chains.
Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) through innovations
Such projects will facilitate proof of concept testing of
related to both legacy and emerging industry sectors in the
Canadian clean technologies such as offshore wind energy to
province. One of the most significant issues facing the world
hydrogen conversion, and also create supply chain
today is climate change. The opportunities and challenges
opportunities for clean technology products and services.
arising for NL are enormous as the issue of energy transition is addressed. The role of engineering education and research in NL remain as important as ever as NL navigates this energy transition and its impact on the economy. Where does the NL oil and gas (O&G) industry fit into a
These projects also afford NL opportunities to participate in world-class energy projects that will employ emerging digitalization technologies. Having such projects in the region will, in turn, have tremendous secondary benefits for a growing NL tech sector that is focussing on technology
world that is experiencing a transition to cleaner energy
innovations for a diverse range of industry sectors and is
systems? It is important to understand that the NL economy,
capturing global market opportunities across those sectors.
and hence entities such as Memorial University that are
Capitalizing on these future opportunities is key to
supported by provincial investments, are inextricably linked to
diversifying the NL economy. Research in the Faculty of
offshore O&G revenues (i.e., royalties and taxes), employment,
Engineering and Applied Science is a key enabler of the
and the broader economic contributions that the province
innovation that is required to compete globally.
needs. This industry is a key base from which diversification can occur and make a transition to a more diverse and greener economy viable. A broad range of engineering research will make it possible for the province to participate in new energy solutions, including making substantial improvements in the environmental performance of the offshore oil and gas (O&G) industry and leveraging research into other offshore energy and resource development opportunities.
The obligations on the owners of offshore O&G projects with respect to research, development, education and training (RDE&T) investments in NL are significant. There is a unique opportunity for this spending to be directed toward RDE&T activities that better position NL on the leading edge of new energy solutions. For example, this could include RDE&T activities related to current engineering research activities at Memorial such as lower carbon energy production,
Consider future projects such as Bay du Nord. Such projects
technologies for carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS),
provide opportunities to establish Canada as a world leader in
wind energy, hydrogen and biofuels.
Even under the most aggressive energy transition scenarios,
Memorial in these areas will help create and sustain a niche for
there will still be a need for significant investment in new
offshore energy innovation in NL.
O&G production to meet future demands for energy. In the global net-zero objectives, the O&G producers with the lowest carbon emissions intensity, coupled with the most efficient operations, will have a competitive advantage to provide the O&G resources that will be needed globally by 2050. In meeting future O&G demand, Canadian O&G production must utilize innovative technologies and approaches that minimize negative impacts on the environment and that facilitate Canada’s ability to meet its emissions targets. Research and innovation is critically needed to achieve Canada’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050. NL needs a more diversified economy with a sustainable, renewable energy-based component that continues to grow over the coming decades. An energy transition for NL means further reduction of emissions from offshore O&G production by developing lower emission and lower carbonintensive options. Addressing the transition challenge requires new technologies and approaches to transportation and energy storage that are still evolving and need to be scaled up to be able to meet future demand. Engineering research capacity at
As former deans of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, we have seen how our strong partnerships with the O&G industry have benefited our students. Our graduates have an extraordinary ability and desire to develop innovative solutions. Memorial's engineering programs were ranked #1 among comprehensive universities in Canada in 2021 (Times Higher Education) in terms of industry partnerships. Co-operative education has played a significant role in preparing students for this success after graduation. A successful energy transition will require more talented young graduates from our engineering programs to drive innovations within the O&G industry towards cleaner technologies and remain optimistic about their future opportunities in NL, including opportunities that are not directly related to careers
Reflections at a Time of Industry Transition
in the energy economy. Research in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science will continue to address the needs of our legacy industries as well as new and emerging sectors of the
Research Report
economy. The applications of such research and development across our economy will help NL successfully navigate the energy transition from a position of economic strength. PA G E /49
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
In Memorium
Dr. Tahir Husain Dr. Tahir Husain, Professor of Environmental Engineering in
When the Gulf War started and eleven million barrels of oil
the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial,
spilled in the Persian Gulf, Dr. Husain was called upon to
obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Water Resources and
apply his expertise to deal with oil well fires, air quality and
Environment) at the University of British Columbia in 1979.
pollution control.
Dr. Husain’s studies took him all over the world. In 1975, he
“During the Gulf War, he was invited by the United Nations to
completed a UNESCO Postgraduate Certificate in Water
help advise and handle the oil well fires and pollution from the
Resources Management at the Research Institute for Water
oil spills,” said friend and colleague, Dr. Bing Chen. “He
Resources Development (VITUKI) in Budapest, Hungary; in
published a book and several papers which significantly
1972, his master’s in Systems Engineering and Management at
contributed to air pollution control and oil spill technologies.”
the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok; and in 1969, his bachelor’s (Hons.) in Civil Engineering at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, UP, India. Since he joined Memorial University in 1995, Dr. Husain’s research output was unrivalled with worldwide collaborations from Saudi Arabia to Australia. One glance at his resume shows how prolific Dr. Husain was as a researcher; he was principal investigator on more than 70 research projects, presented at 157 conferences and was published in 140 journals and five magazines including International Oil & Gas Engineer and Enviro-News. He also authored 65 technical reports ranging in topics from Water Filtration Technology and Pulp and Paper Mill Waste Management to using Activated Carbon from Fly Ash for Pollution Control. Internationally, Dr. Husain is perhaps best known for his work on environmental modelling and management. Previous to joining Memorial, he worked as a supervisor and senior research engineer (in North America, this would be equivalent to a professor) in the Water Resources and Environment Division of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia from 1979 to 1995.
That book, Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives, published in March 1995 in the UK by Pergamon Press, ran 293 pages and led Dr. Husain to the Harvard School of Public Health, as a visiting scientist from 1995 to 1996. It was during his year at Harvard that Dr. Husain accepted a position at Memorial as chair of the environmental engineering program and continued his innovative research from air pollution control to water and wastewater treatment. He remained at Memorial for the rest of his career. Not only was Dr. Husain a prolific researcher, he was also a popular teacher, explained Dr. Chen, who is chair, professor, associate dean of graduate studies (acting) and former head of the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory where he worked closely with Dr. Husain for almost sixteen years. “Tahir did a lot of work in risk analysis, turning research into teaching and making sure his stories got in touch with the most frontier in the field,” said Dr. Chen. “His grad course, environmental risk assessment (ENGI 9609), was one of the most popular courses in the faculty, designed and taught by
DR. TAHIR HUSAIN
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
" Dr. Husain’s greatest achievement, in my view, is changing people’s lives; I am one of them..."
Feature Research Report 2021
Dr. Faisal Khan
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Tahir, he usually had more than 60, sometimes up to 100
people and that kept him young - at the age of seventy-three,
students. Students from various disciplines across the campus
he looked sixty. His students were part of his family and every
wanted to do his course,” said Dr. Chen, explaining that so
day was an exciting day for him.”
many registered, sometimes the course had to be offered in two sessions.
At the time of his death, Dr. Husain was collaborating with Drs. Chen and Zhang and researchers from the University of
“That indicates his excellent teachings. Students loved him; he
Toronto, the Dalhousie University, the University of British
was always there for his students, not only academically, but
Columbia, the University Northern British Columbia, and
for their personal lives. He was a wise man; he understood
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
how students were feeling, especially those from overseas.
Organisation in Australia on a project that was part of
Because of his international experience, he had a good
Canada’s $1.5 billion Ocean Protection Plan.
understanding of the challenges faced by international students away from their homes. His office was always wide open to his students.”
This four-year project is part of the Multi-Partner Research Initiative (MPRI) funded in 2018 by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to improve marine oil spill response. Dr.
Dr. Faisal Khan, former Canada Research Chair (Tier I)
Husain’s team was investigating a more efficient method for
professor, former associate dean of graduate studies and
separating contaminants from water. He was specifically
director, Centre for Risk, Integrity and Safety Engineering
looking at oil spills and had come up with a way of using
(C-RISE), concurs.
activated carbon and other engineered nanomaterial to remove
“Dr. Husain’s greatest achievement, in my view, is changing people’s lives; I am one of them,” said Dr. Khan, explaining how Dr. Husain reached out to him in 2000 and invited him as a visiting research professor to work on soil remediation. “I
oil from seawater after skimming so that the oily water could be cleaned to an acceptable level for discharge at sea without having to transfer onshore for treatment. “Dr. Husain was about to generate promising adsorbents to aid
wouldn’t be what I am today if not for Dr. Husain who
oil-water separation; he had modified fly ash from local pulp
trusted me and brought me here and gave me the drive to
and paper mills to make the adsorbents,” said Dr. Zhang,
succeed. And I am not the only example.”
explaining how converting local waste into useful products
Dr. Helen Zhang, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Coastal Environmental Engineering and lab colleague for
greatly reduce costs. “He also used fly ash-based adsorbents to remove impurities from drinking water in small communities.”
twelve years explained how encouraging Dr. Husain was to her
Dr. Zhang explained how, even at 73, Dr. Husain was a font of
in 2010 right after she began her position as an assistant
research ideas. “His passing is such a big loss, you can’t
professor at Memorial working on-site remediation and
imagine. Even in early January, he said: ‘I have a new idea; we
biotechnologies.
may work together on a proposal.’ He still had a lot of dreams.”
“When I joined the faculty, he encouraged me; whenever he
“Dr. Husain and I just co-authored a paper in Environmental
had the chance, he would drop by my office and suggest I
International and I believe he co-authored several more papers
apply for funding and awards. He always said, Helen, why
to be published in 2022,” said Dr. Zhang, explaining that she,
don’t you try this. Not only will you be an excellent researcher,
Dr. Chen and other colleagues will also continue to work on
but you can be a great research leader. He made so many good
Dr. Husain’s remaining projects and patent application. “He’s
things happen. We were more than colleagues; he was also my
still contributing to the world of science after his death. We
friend and mentor.”
will work together to showcase the legacy of Dr. Husain.”
“He was so curious with a huge desire to do good in the world,”
Besides working as a professor of Environmental Engineering,
she said. “Every day he focused on research and education; he
at Memorial since August 1995, Dr. Husain also worked as
was so loved by his colleagues and students.”
Associate Dean (Research), (January 2014-April 2017) and
“I think he got his inspiration from working with young people,” said Dr. Khan, who published more than fifty articles with Dr. Husain. “He dedicated his life to mentoring young
Director, Executive MBA Program in Oil and Gas, Faculty of Business Administration (2009-2010) and Chair, Civil
In Memorium Section header Research Research Report Report
Engineering (2005-2007).
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Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Awards and Accomplishments FACULTY
STUDENTS
Baiyu Zhang
Amin Etminan
Fellow, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
Editor’s Choice Article in Featured Issue, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering
Bing Chen Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada
Hamed Azimi
Elected Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies
UArctic Chair in Marine and Coastal Environmental Engineering
Javad Kamyabi Wally Read Best Student Paper Award
Cheng Li Dean’s Award for Research Excellence
Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Best Paper Award, 12th IEEE Annual Information Technology,
Greg Naterer
Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference
Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Weiyun Lin Octavia Dobre Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering
National Young Professional Engineer Award, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
Elected Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts Xiaoyu Dong Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad Xinwei Chen Best Student Poster Paper Competition Finalist, Marine Technology Society /IEEE Global Oceans Conference Zijun Gong David Dunsinger Award for Research Excellence Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad
A miscellaneous selection of awards
Research Service CIVIL ENGINEERING Ashutosh Dhar
Member, Editorial Board: Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology
Baiyu Zhang
Section Chair, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Civil, Industrial, and Systems Engineering
Atlantic Region Director, Canadian Association on Water Quality
Chair, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, NL Section
Associate Editor, Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering
Bing Chen
Editor-in-Chief, Environmental Systems Research
Associate Editor, Canadian Water Resources Journal
Associate Editor, Journal of Environmental Informatics Letters
Bipul Hawlader
Associate Editor, Canadian Geotechnical Journal
Hodjat Shiri
Associate Editor, American Society of Civil Engineer’s Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Ashraf Khan
Guest Editor, Energies Journal
Andrew Vardy
Associate Editor, IEEE International Conference on Robots and Systems
Cheng Li
Member, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Computer Science
Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Communications
Associate Editor, IEEE Internet-of-Things Journal
Associate Editor, IEEE Network Magazine
Associate Editor, IEEE System Journal
Eric Gill
Member, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Octavia Dobre
Chair, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
Member, Advisory Board: IEEE Communications Letters
Associate Editor, IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials
Associate Editor, IEEE Systems
Lihong Zhang
Topic Editor, Sensors Journal
Mohsin Jamil
Associate Editor, IEEE Access
Associate Editor, Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sarah Power
Member, NSERC Scholarships and Fellowships Selection Committee: Chemical, Biomedical, and Materials Science Engineering
Associate Editor, Biomedical Engineering Online
Stephen Czarnuch Scientific Reviewer, CIHR Health Research Training Platform Weimin Huang
Section Chair, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Area Editor, IEEE Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Member, Editorial Board, Remote Sensing Journal
Associate Editor, IEEE Access
A miscellaneous selection of research service
Research Service Research Report
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Graduate student Salum Mafazy measuring rock core specimens as part of material property characterization
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report 2021
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Baafour Nyantekyi-Kwakye
Reviewer, Energies Journal
Reviewer, Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics
Reviewer, SN Applied Sciences
George Mann
Member, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Mechanical Engineering
Mohammad Al-Janideh
Technical Editor, IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics
Ting Zou
Review Editor, Ocean Observation: Frontiers in Marine Science
Xili Duan
Member, NSERC Scholarships and Fellowships Selection Committee: Mechanical Engineering
OCEAN AND NAVAL ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING Bruce Quinton
Member, Editorial Board: Ships and Offshore Journal
David Molyneux Co-Editor, Journal of Ocean Technology Doug Smith
Reviewer, Sustainability Journal
Wei Qiu
Member, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Mechanical Engineering
PROCESS ENGINEERING Kelly Hawboldt
Chair, NSERC Research Tools and Instrumentation Selection Committee: Materials and Chemical Engineering
Member, Banting Scholarship Review Committee
Member, Ocean Frontier Institute Scientific Advisory Board
Member, Multi-Materials Stewardship Board
Lesley James
Member, NSERC Discovery grants evaluation group: Materials and Chemical Engineering
Salim Ahmed
Associate Editor, Control Engineering Practice
Stephen Butt
Member, NSERC Alliance Review Committee
A miscellaneous selection of research service
Faculty by the numbers FUNDING BREAKDOWN Federal $7,505,097.18
$1,272,261.83 Industry
Provincial $731,020.37 Mitacs $614,262.51 Other $521,555.56
Total funding $10,644,197.45
OUR RESEARCH
150
new grant applications
242 active grants
Faculty by the Numbers
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
21
$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$
Funding information provided as reported in CIAP fact-book 2021
new entrepreneurial funds (e-accelerate, Lab2Market, Business Strategy Internship)
Research Report
PA G E /57
PA G E /58
OUR RESEARCHERS
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
8
OUR PUBLICATIONS
424
researchers for FEAS recognized on the World’s Top 2% Scientist List
publications
OUR PEOPLE
82
Faculty Members
37
Post-Doctoral Fellows
13
Laboratory Technologists
593
483 110
Research Staff
new graduate students
male female
17
541 52
full-time
part-time
OUR PUBLICATIONS
48.1 % 62 %
publications in top 10% journals percentile
publications open access
PUBLICATIONS BY SUBJECT AREA
7.6
3.2
Chemical Engineering
3.7
Materials Science
8.6
Other
6.1
Earth and Planetary Science
Chemistry
4.4
Physics and Astronomy
8.5
Environmental Science
6.4
Mathematics
8.5
11.1
Energy
Computer Science
Faculty by the Numbers Research Report
32.0
Engineering PA G E /59
PA G E /60
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Publications ENERGY Advanced Exergy Analysis of an Acid Gas Removal Plant to Explore Operation Improvement Potential toward Cleaner Production. Mohamadi-Baghmolaei, M.; Hajizadeh, A.; Zendehboudi, S.; Duan, X.; Shiri, H.
Energy & Fuels 2021, 35 (11), 9570–9588. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.1c00590.
Comparison between Alternative Droop Control Strategy, Modified Droop Method and Control Algorithm Technique for Parallel-Connected Converters. M. Shebani, M.; T. Iqbal, M.; E. Quaicoe, J.
AIMS Electronics and Electrical Engineering 2021, 5 (1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3934/electreng.2021001. Deep-Learning-Based Optimization for a Low-Frequency Piezoelectric MEMS Energy Harvester. Chimeh, H. E.; Nabavi, S.; Janaideh, M. A.; Zhang, L. IEEE Sensors Journal 2021, 21 (19), 21330–21341. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2021.3102537. Exergo‐Economic Assessment by a Specific Exergy Costing Method for an Experimental Thermochemical Hydrogen Production System. Farsi, A.; Dincer, I.; Naterer, G. F.
International Journal of Energy Research 2021, 45 (12), Graduate student Pritom Chakraborty investigating the failure mechanics of ice blocks.
17358–17377.
https://doi.org/10.1002/er.6688. Human Centric Digital Transformation and Operator 4.0
An Empirical Model for the Drilling Performance Predic-
for the Oil and Gas Industry.
tion for Roller-Cone Drill Bits.
Wanasinghe, T. R.; Trinh, T.; Nguyen, T.; Gosine, R. G.; James, L.
de Moura, J.; Xiao, Y.; Yang, J.; Butt, S. D.
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 2021, 204, 108791.
A.; Warrian, P. J.
IEEE Access 2021, 9, 113270–113291.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2021.108791.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3103680.
Characteristics of Torrefied Fuel Pellets Obtained from
Numerical Study on Melting of Phase Change Material in
Co-Pelletization of Agriculture Residues with Pyrolysis Oil.
an Enclosure Subject to Neumann Boundary Condition in
Sarker, T. R.; Azargohar, R.; Dalai, A. K.; Meda, V.
the Presence of Rayleigh-Bénard Convection.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2021.106139.
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 2021, 171, 121103.
Biomass and Bioenergy 2021, 150, 106139.
Parsazadeh, M.; Malik, M.; Duan, X.; McDonald, A.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121103. Chemical Methods for Hydrolyzing Dairy Manure Fiber: A Concise Review.
Predicting Cost of Dairy Farm-Based Biogas Plants: A
Saady, N. M. C.; Rezaeitavabe, F.; Ruiz Espinoza, J. E.
North American Perspective.
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14196159.
Journal of Energy Systems 2021, 5 (4), 365–375.
Energies 2021, 14 (19), 6159.
Mashhadi ,̇ A. S.; Saady, N.; Bazan, C.
https://doi.org/10.30521/jes.980467.
Thermal Transport at 6H-SiC/Graphene Buffer Layer/ GaN Heterogeneous Interface. Yang, B.; Yang, H.; Li, T.; Yang, J.; Yang, P.
Applied Surface Science 2021, 536, 147828. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.147828.
OCEAN TECHNOLOGY A Backseat Control Architecture for a Slocum Glider. Wang, Y.; Bulger, C.; Thanyamanta, W.; Bose, N.
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 2021, 9 (5), 532. Proof rings fume hood for materials testing in souring environment
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9050532. A Probabilistic Method for Long-Term Estimation of Ice
Recent Development in Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen
Loads on Ship Hull.
Production through Water Electrolysis. Anwar, S.; Khan,
Li, F.; Suominen, M.; Lu, L.; Kujala, P.; Taylor, R.
F.; Zhang, Y.; Djire, A.
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2021, 46 (63),
Structural Safety 2021, 93, 102130.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strusafe.2021.102130.
32284–32317.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.06.191.
An Improved Higher-Order Moving Particle Semi-Implicit Method for Simulations of Two-Dimensional Hydroelastic
Switching-Cell Buck–Boost AC–AC Converter with Com-
Slamming.
mon-Ground and Noninverting/Inverting Operations.
Zha, R.; Peng, H.; Qiu, W.
Ahmed, H. F.; Moursi, M. S. E.; Zahawi, B.; Hosani, K. A.; Khan, A. A.
IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 2021, 36 (12), 13944–13957.
Physics of Fluids 2021, 33 (3), 037104. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0033491.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2021.3087811. M.Eng. student Darren Anderson setting up a fibre optic sensor to capture strain measurement data
Publications Research Report
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Full-Scale SPH Simulations of Ship-Wave Impact Generated Sea Spray. Mintu, S.; Molyneux, D.; Colbourne, B. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Research Report
Ocean Engineering 2021, 241, 110077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.110077. Is On-Board Noise Putting Fish Harvesters’ Hearing at Risk? A Study of Noise Exposures in Small-Scale Fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador. Burella, G.; Moro, L.; Neis, B.
Safety Science 2021, 140, 105325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105325. Identifying Route Selection Strategies in Offshore Emergency Situations Using Decision Trees. Musharraf, M.; Smith, J.; Khan, F.; Veitch, B.
Reliability Engineering & System Safety 2020, 194, 106179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2018.06.007. Marine Icing Sensor with Phase Discrimination.
Research assistant Patrick Maloney demonstrating the use
Elzaidi, A.; Masek, V.; Bruneau, S.
of a Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS is designed to
Sensors 2021, 21 (2), 612.
help seafarers with simulated marine ice management
https://doi.org/10.3390/s21020612.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY Age-Optimal Information Gathering in Linear Underwater Networks: A Learning Approach. Al-Habob, A. A.; Dobre, O. A.; Poor, H. V.
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology 2021, 70 (12), 13129–13138.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2021.3117536. An Adaptive Asynchronous Wake-up Scheme for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks Using Deep Reinforcement Learning. Remote sensing group members. PhD student Zhiding Yang, PhD student Xin Qiao, M.Eng. student Hangyu Lyu, Prof. Weimin Huang, M.A.Sc. student
Su, R.; Gong, Z.; Zhang, D.; Li, C.; Chen, Y.; Venkatesan, R.
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology 2021, 70 (2), 1851–1865. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2021.3055065.
Yaomin Xue, co-op student Amr Kabel
Automatic Super-Surface Removal in Complex 3D Indoor Environments Using Iterative Region-Based RANSAC. Ebrahimi, A.; Czarnuch, S.
Sensors 2021, 21 (11), 3724. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113724.
Data-Aided Doppler Compensation for High-Speed
Neural Network Predictive Control of Vibrations in Tall
Railway Communications over mmWave Bands.
Structure: An Experimental Controlled Vision.
Gong, Z.; Li, C.; Jiang, F.; Win, M. Z.
Jamil, M.; Khan, M. N.; Rind, S. J.; Awais, Q.; Uzair, M.
520–534.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2020.106940.
IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2021, 20 (1),
Computers & Electrical Engineering 2021, 89, 106940.
https://doi.org/10.1109/twc.2020.3026158. Observability-Constrained VINS for MAVs Using Deadlock Prediction and Recovery for Distributed
Interacting Multiple Model Algorithm.
Collision Avoidance with Buffered Voronoi Cells.
Gomaa, M. A. K.; De Silva, O.; Mann, G. K. I.; Gosine, R. G.
Abdullhak M.; Vardy, A. 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2021, 429-436.
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems 2020, 57 (3), 1–1. https://doi.org/10.1109/taes.2020.3043534.
https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS51168.2021.9636609. Output-Feedback Control of Precision Motion Systems Deep Reinforcement Learning for Optimizing RIS-
with Uncertain Nonlinearities.
Assisted HD-FD Wireless Systems.
Janaideh, M. A.; Boker, A. M.; Rakotondrabe, M.
Faisal, A.; Al-Nahhal, I.; Dobre, O. A.; Ngatched, T. M. N.
IEEE Communications Letters 2021, 25 (12), 3893–3897.
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 2021, 153, 107483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2020.107483.
https://doi.org/10.1109/lcomm.2021.3117929. Ship‐Iceberg Discrimination from Sentinel‐1 Synthetic Graduate student Alice Faisal and post-doctoral research Dr. Ibrahim Al-Nahhal setting up the RIS-Assited HD-FD wireless system.
Aperture Radar Data Using Parallel Convolutional Neural Network. Song, L.; Peters, D. K.; Huang, W.; Power, D.
Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience 2021, 33 (17). https://doi.org/10.1002/cpe.6297.
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE A Cross-Comparison of Biosurfactants as Marine Oil Spill Dispersants: Governing Factors, Synergetic Effects and Fates. Cai, Q.; Zhu, Z.; Chen, B.; Lee, K.; Nedwed, T. J.; Greer, C.; Zhang, B. Journal of Hazardous Materials 2021, 416, 126122.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126122. High-Frequency Radar Cross Section of the Ocean Surface with Arbitrary Roughness Scales: A Generalized Functions Approach. Silva, T. M.; Huang, W.; Gill, E. W.
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 2021, 69 (3), 1643–1657.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2020.3026330.
An Emergency Response System by Dynamic Simulation and Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization and Application for a Marine Oil Spill Accident. Ye, X.; Chen, B.; Lee, K.; Storesund, R.; Li, P.; Kang, Q.; Zhang, B. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021, 297, 126591.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126591.
Publications Research Report
PA G E /63
PA G E /64
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Axial Pullout Behavior of Buried Medium-Density
Finite Element Modelling of Shear Critical Glass Fibre-
Polyethylene Gas Distribution Pipes.
Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Reinforced Concrete Beams.
Reza, A.; Dhar, A. S.
Alam, M. S.; Hussein, A.
https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)gm.1943-5622.0002101.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02286203.2019.1655702.
International Journal of Geomechanics 2021, 21 (7).
International Journal of Modelling and Simulation 2019, 41 (1), 1–13.
Impacts of Frazil Ice on the Effectiveness of Oil Dispersion Graduate student Auchib Reza in the
Research Report
Soil-Pipe Interaction Research Laboratory
and Migration of Dispersed Oil. Song, X.; Chen, B.; Liu, B.; Lye, L. M.; Ye, X.; Nyantekyi-Kwakye, B.; Zhang, B.
Environmental Science & Technology 2021, 56 (2), 835–844. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04014. Impact Resistance of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete in Cold Temperatures. Zaki, R. A.; AbdelAleem, B. H.; Hassan, A. A. A.; Colbourne, B. Cement and Concrete Composites 2021, 122, 104116.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2021.104116. Low Cost Activated Carbon for Removal of NOM and DBPs: Optimization and Comparison. Tafvizi, H.; Chowdhury, S.; Husain, T.
Water 2021, 13 (16), 2244. Deep Forest Classifier for Wetland Mapping Using the Combination of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Data. Jamali, A.; Mahdianpari, M.; Brisco, B.; Granger, J.; Mohammadimanesh, F.; Salehi, B.
GIScience & Remote Sensing 2021, 58 (7), 1072–1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2021.1965399. Effect of Damage Progression on the Plastic Capacity of a Subsea Pipeline. Davaripour, F.; Quinton, B. W. T.; Pike, K. Ocean Engineering 2021, 234, 109118.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109118. Enhancement of Photocatalytic Activity of TiO2 by Immobilization on Activated Carbon for Degradation of Aquatic Naphthalene under Sunlight Irradiation. Zeng, G.; You, H.; Du, M.; Zhang, Y.; Ding, Y.; Xu, C.; Liu, B.; Chen, B.; Pan, X.
Chemical Engineering Journal 2021, 412, 128498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.128498.
https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162244. Monotonic and Cyclic Behaviour of Sand in Direct Simple Shear Test Conditions Considering Low Stresses. Al Tarhouni, M. A.; Hawlader, B.
Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 2021, 150, 106931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2021.106931. Study of Surface Heterogeneity and Nitrogen Functionalizing of Biochars: Molecular Modeling Approach. Bamdad, H.; Papari, S.; MacQuarrie, S.; Hawboldt, K. Carbon 2021, 171, 161–170.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2020.08.062. The Influence of Pipeline-Backfill-Trench Interaction on the Lateral Soil Resistance: A Numerical Investigation. Dong, X.; Shiri, H.; Zhang, W.; Randolph, M. F. Computers and Geotechnics 2021, 137, 104307.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2021.104307.
OTHER/EMERGING AREAS OF IMPORTANCE
Estimating the Volume of Frozen Water Droplets on a Cold
A Deep Learning Model for Process Fault Prognosis.
Madi, E.; Pope, K.; Huang, W.
Arunthavanathan, R.; Khan, F.; Ahmed, S.; Imtiaz, S.
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 2021, 154, 467–479.
Surface during the Phase Change with Thermal Image Processing. Measurement 2021, 183, 109907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2021.109907.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2021.08.022. Film Thickness and Pressure Drop for Gas-Liquid Taylor Flow in Microchannels. Etminan, A.; Muzychka, Y. S.; Pope, K. Journal of Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer (JFFHMT) 2021, 8 (1), 59–70. https://doi.org/10.11159/jffhmt.2021.008. Investigating Hierarchical and Ensemble Classification Approaches to Mitigate the Negative Effect of Varying Stress State on EEG-Based Detection of Mental Workload Level - and Vice Versa. Bagheri, M.; Power, S. D.
Brain-Computer Interfaces 2021, 8 (1-2), 26–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/2326263x.2021.1948756. Model Development for Shear Sonic Velocity Using Geophysical Log Data: Sensitivity Analysis and Statistical Assessment. Graduate student Vahid Salehi working on the development of a dynamic functional resonance analysis method tool.
Miah, M. I.; Ahmed, S.; Zendehboudi, S.
Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 2021, 88, 103778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2020.103778.
A Dynamic Version of the FRAM for Capturing Variability in Complex Operations. Salehi, V.; Smith, D.; Veitch, B.; Hanson, N. MethodsX 2021, 8, 101333.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2021.101333. A Novel Approach for Porcupine Crab Identification and Processing Based on Point Cloud Segmentation. H. Wu, T. Zou, H. Burke, S. King and B. Burke. 2021 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), 2021, 1101-1108. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICAR53236.2021.9659461.
Publications Research Report
Applied Finite Element Procedure for Morphing Wing Design. Nakhla, S.; Elruby, A. Y.
Applied Composite Materials 2021, 28 (4), 1193–1220.
Designing a wing made of bistable composites with the use of finite element modeling.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-021-09886-y.
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Sputtering of Surfaces by Ion Irradiation: A Comparison of Graduate student Yiqi Cao investigating the use of chemical dispersants for tackling marine oil spills. Photo taken from a high-speed Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
camera shows chemically dispersed oil in the seawater.
Molecular Dynamics and Binary Collision Approximation Models to Laboratory Measurements. Morrissey, L. S.; Tucker, O. J.; Killen, R. M.; Nakhla, S.; Savin, D. W. Journal of Applied Physics 2021, 130 (1), 013302. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0051073. Substructural Damage Detection Using Frequency
Research Report
Response Function Based Inverse Dynamic Substructuring. Jalali, M. H.; Rideout, D. G.
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 2022, 163, 108166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2021.108166. Waveguide Mach-Zehnder Interferometer for Temperature and Concentration Sensing. Zhang, D.; Men, L.; Chen, Q.
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 2021, 27 (4), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTQE.2021.3050956.
Exchange student Bob Tulp conducting abrasion of concrete from ice interaction experiments
Partners We would like to extend our gratitude to our Federal and Provincial Government, and Industry partners. The meaningful work within our faculty would not be possible without your support, participation and close collaboration.
12726726 Canada Inc. Actua Canada Advanced Cert Canada Inc. Airntell Aerospace Inc.
Energy Research & Innovation Newfoundland & Labrador Energy, Matter & Enivronmental Consultants Inc.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research
Ambassade de France
Environment and Climate Change Canada
American Bureau of Shipping
Equinor
Andes VR
Exxon Mobil Canada Ltd.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro
Association of Public Safety
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
Newfoundland Aquaculture
Communications Officials Canada
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture
Industry Association
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
FortisBC Energy Inc.
Novamera Inc.
Atterix
Genome Alberta
Nunavut Fisheries Association
BAE Systems Technology Solutions
Genome Canada
Ocean Frontier Institute
Bombardier Inc.
Government of Newfoundland
Orcinus Technologies Inc.
Canada First Research Excellence Fund Canada Foundation for Innovation Canada Research Chairs
and Labrador Hibernia Management & Development Company Ltd.
Petro-Canada Exploration Inc. Power HV Inc. Praxes Medical Group
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Huawei Technologies Canada Co., Ltd.
Provincial Aerospace Ltd.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Hurd Solutions Inc.
qualiTEAS Inc.
Canadian Microelectronics
Husky Energy
SaskEnergy
Canadian Space Agency
INTECSEA Canada
Sexton Lumber Co. Ltd.
CanaGas Inc.
Kværner
Standards Council of Canada
C-CORE
Lloyd's Register Educational Trust
Suncor Energy Inc.
Chevron Canada Ltd.
M. A. Procense
TechnipFMC
City of St.Johns
Manitoba Hydro
Town of Pouch Cove
CNERGreen
Marine Institute
Transport Canada
Conservation Corps Newfoundland
Memorial Centre For Entrepreneurship
VARD Marine Inc.
Mitacs
Verafin
Defence Research and Development Canada
and Labrador
Nalcor Energy
Virtual Marine Technology Inc.
Department of National Defence
National Research Council – Institute
Wood Group Canada Inc.
Dominis Engineering
for Aerospace Research
Partners Research Report
WSP Canada Inc.
D-TA Systems Inc.
National Research Council of Canada
Yashiltech
Eastern Health
Natural Resources Canada
Zol Dynamics Inc.
Emera PA G E /67
PA G E /68
Faculty of Faculty of Engineering Engineering and Applied and Applied Science Science
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Research Report St. John's, NL
A1B 3XS
Partners Research Report 2021
Navigation across the Arctic Ocean: Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker "Henry Larsen" moored at St. John's harbour's South pier prior to on-board experimental activities.
