GR ADUATE STUDIES
CREATE (ing) Opportunities
New NSERC initiative opens new possibilities for engineering research—and student careers
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oung engineering researchers will soon be addressing sustainability issues in the far north. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council recently announced that it will provide $1.65 million to fund the new Sustainable Engineering in Remote Areas (SERA) program over six years through its Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program. “I am extremely happy and excited about the grant,” says Civil Engineering professor Mark Green. “The CREATE program is particularly interesting because it encourages doing more in graduate education than is traditionally done. It’s also a great platform for encouraging coordinated research over a sustained period.” The SERA program, which Green designed, is “an excellent opportunity to support important research in sustainability and enhance educational opportunities for graduate students, including Aboriginal students,” he says. The program will provide specialized seminars in Aboriginal culture and the cross-cultural aspects of engineering projects in Aboriginal territories. “We are
PhD candidate Valerio Russo 14 THE COMPLETE ENGINEER
PhD candidate Elodie Lugez currently developing new educational modules on Aboriginal culture, sustainability, and business skills to be offered to students next year,” Green says. “At the same time we are recruiting MSc and PhD students to join the team to start the research topics.” Research projects will either be in renewable energy or sustainable building. Students will investigate topics such as the effects of snow on solar panels, innovative materials for wind turbines, lightweight building systems, and new and sustainable materials for housing. The projects will also encourage partnerships with Aboriginal communities and industry, Green says, as well as collaborations with the Aboriginal Access to Engineering (AAE) initiative at Queen’s to extend the objectives of the AAE to the graduate/research level. The Human Mobility Research Centre (HMRC), a collaboration between
Queen’s and the Kingston General Hospital, was among the first CREATE awardees in 2009. The centre received $1.65 million to give graduates in the Bone and Joint Health Technologies program a head start in their careers by providing a unique opportunity to work with colleagues, enhance translational research skills, and transition from the lab to the workforce. Mechanical and Materials Engineering professor Tim Bryant says the CREATE grant allows students to learn professional skills that are not part of their normal academic training. This includes understanding health policies, learning best practices for working with the media, and looking at business models for commercialization. “Students might explore, for instance, ‘How would my research results be used if a commercialization person wanted to move ahead with this?’ So they know how that would impact their work, and can build this in from the start.” The CREATE program has allowed the HMRC to foster existing integrated research teams and expand them into new areas. “It’s also provided the resources for new teams, which has had the biggest impact,” says Bryant. One new team, for example, is looking at biomechanical modelling of pediatric knees. “Existing research was based on analysis of adult knees,” says Bryant. “So a physiotherapy colleague teamed up with a researcher in biomechanical modelling and a clinician in orthopedic surgery to work on predicting joint loading in the pediatric population. In the future, this will dictate alternative prevention and treatment strategies.” Students who participate in this program have a big advantage, Bryant
