Bits and bytes

Working on the big questions about tiny things

As an undergraduate in engineering physics at Queen’s, Dr. Mark Chen, Sci’89, heard his professors talk with excitement about the proposed Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) project, a giant particle detector buried two kilometres underground in an active nickel mine that would take almost a decade to build. In 2000, Dr. Mark Chen after earning a PhD in physics at the California Institute of Technology and teaching at Princeton University, Dr. Chen was invited by the leader of the SNO project, Queen’s Professor Dr. Arthur (Art) McDonald, to return to the university and help solve a 30-year-old mystery about why some solar neutrinos apparently disappear on their journey from the sun to Earth.

“Art brought me back to Canada to join the SNO team and help understand the neutrino observatory’s data. I was eager to do it and fully participated in the data analysis. We were all amazed that the detector worked so well and the results were so clear. We had the answer to a decades-old puzzle and showed that the missing neutrinos changed to other flavours,” says Dr. Chen, a professor in the Queen’s Department of Physics and the Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair in Particle Astrophysics.

On October 6, Queen’s Professor Emeritus Dr. McDonald was named co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments at SNO proving that neutrinos transform into other neutrino types, or flavours, while travelling from the sun to Earth and demonstrating that neutrinos have mass. “This is a tremendous honour and recognition of a major scientific accomplishment in terms of the overall significance of the SNO project and the leadership shown by Art to make this discovery happen,” says Dr. Chen.

Dr. Chen regards the construction of the SNO detector—a 12-metre-diameter acrylic sphere holding more than 1,000 tonnes of heavy water, buried in a 10-storey cathedral-sized cavity deep inside the mine— as an amazing feat. “A tremendous amount of engineering was involved in both the SNO and SNO+ projects, with multiple disciplines working together to achieve one common objective. I’m lucky to have the engineering training I received as an undergraduate at Queen’s, and it’s truly satisfying to be involved with all the different aspects,” he says.

Dr. Chen succeeded Dr. McDonald as Gray Chair and as leader of the SNO+ project (the upgrade of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory), the world’s most sensitive instrument for detecting neutrinos. “Art has been an excellent mentor for me for many years, and I’m honoured to be following in his footsteps to push this research forward. There is much more to be done, and it’s our objective through the SNO+ and all the projects at SNOLAB to expand our knowledge of all the fundamental constituents of the Dr. Art McDonald universe,” he says.

Davies appointed to MME

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science welcomes Claire Davies as a new assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.

Davies returns to Kingston after postdoctoral work in the Department of Surgery at the University of Auckland, and five years as a seniorlecturer in mechanical engineering there. She earned her PhD in systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo, her MSc in biomedical engineering from the University of Calgary, and her BSc in materials and metallurgical engineering at Queen’s.

“My primary research goal focuses on increasing independence of people with disabilities,” writes Davies on her personal webpage. “Understanding the perceptual and physical responses of all the senses, primarily vision, haptics and sound, has given me insight into how design of devices should be undertaken to create human-machine interfaces that are easily navigated and accepted. After spending several years designing to meet the needs of specific clients, I have realised the need for universal design. Universal design is becoming increasingly popular such that devices should be easy to use by all people without the need for adaptation.”

Queen’s Mechanical and Materials Engineering professor and researcher Ugo Piomelli has been elected to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).

“It’s a great honour to be part of such a learned society,” says Dr. Piomelli. “It’s good, not just for myself, but also for the department and for the university. Having this type of distinction in your faculty says something about the type of leadingedge research that is going on here.” Piomelli is a world expert in the area of fluid dynamics. He has made fundamental contributions to the field by developing numerical models for predicting turbulent flows, and by successfully applying them to understand the physics of turbulence. The models he developed are commonly used by the industrial and research communities; in aerospace, mechanical and environmental engineering; and in geophysics and meteorology. The RSC is Canada’s national academy and exists to promote Canadian research and scholarly accomplishment in both official languages, to recognize academic and artistic excellence, and to advise governments, non-governmental organizations and Canadians on matters of public interest. Election to RSC fellowship is the highest accolade available to scientists, artists and scholars in Canada.

The induction ceremony is scheduled for November 27 in Victoria.

Barz earns research award

Professor Dominik Barz of the Department of Chemical Engineering has received an award from the Ontario government’s Early Researcher Awards program valued at $140,000 for the development of a rechargeable battery.

“We proposed the development of a novel type of rechargeable micro battery with a wide range of applications,” explains Dr. Barz. “A single micro battery can be used for portable medical diagnostic systems benefiting Ontario’s health care system. Large numbers of micro batteries can be bundled into stacks with high energy contents despite their small volumes. These stacks could solve the battery bottleneck for electric cars or they can serve in combination with regenerative energy sources as power supply in remote areas of Ontario. We will use a combined experimental and computational approach to develop these batteries.”

Daugulis wins OPEA

Queen’s Chemical Engineering Professor Andrew Daugulis has been awarded the Engineering Medal for Research and Development by Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO).

“It’s a great honour because I was nominated by peers: other engineers in the discipline,” says Dr. Daugulis. “The fact that it’s not just a science research and development award, but an engineering research and development award is particularly gratifying.”

The award honours Daugulis for his more than 30 years of work in biochemical engineering. His research has led to technology platforms allowing microbiological systems to be operated in toxic environments, leading to the development of sustainable biological processes to replace long-used chemical ones. His work has contributed, for example, to the development of renewable biofuels, neutraceuticals and bioremediation applications.

According to PEO, the Engineering Medal “recognizes professional engineers who have improved our quality of life through the ingenious application of their engineering skills.”

Building for the future New engineering facility features in plans for PEC revitalization

For the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, plans to renovate and repurpose the former Queen’s Physical Education Centre (PEC) hold great promise.

If current plans come to fruition, the building, located in the heart of campus, will be home to a new, state-of-the-art facility that will further establish the faculty as one of the best in the country.

Planning began last summer for renovations to the building, which is expected to become a hub for student health and wellness, student innovation, and student learning.

“The redeveloped building will be an enhancement to both the quality of our student experience and the quality of our research and educational facilities,” says Principal and Vice-Chancellor Daniel Woolf. “When completed, it will be a prominent symbol of Queen’s commitments both to student life and learning and to advanced research.”

Located at 67 Union St., the PEC building was decommissioned in 2009. In 2012, the three gyms in the building were renovated and reopened to provide increased recreational opportunities for students, and centralized exam space. A recent structural assessment of the building by an external consultant found that it is in excellent shape and, if renovated, could provide a considerable amount of additional space—up to 160,000 square feet—at a relatively low cost per square foot, compared to a newly constructed building.

“The building provides a wonderful opportunity to utilize and revitalize valuable space that is not currently being used,” says Alan Harrison, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic). “Given the university’s current financial situation, strong support will be needed to fund the project, and we are hopeful that this use of existing space will allow us to realize our goals sooner than if we were to construct a new building.”

More information about the project will be made available as plans progress.