Hoda ElMaraghy, an internationally renowned researcher and trailblazer for female engineers, has been appointed to the rank of Distinguished University Professor.

As a recent appointee to the Order of Ontario and Canadian Academy of Engineering, Dr. ElMaraghy has been hailed for her pioneering research in manufacturing systems engineering. Her research on flexible manufacturing has helped manufacturers around the world adapt and respond to market changes by allowing companies to produce different products with the same flexible manufacturing system.

“Dr. ElMaraghy has had a remarkable internationally recognized career with many positive impacts for industry and for students,” said UWindsor president Alan Wildeman. “It was a privilege to bestow this honour upon her.”

ElMaraghy was formally recognized at UWindsor’s 2016 Fall Convocation on October 15.

The Canada Research Chair in Manufacturing Systems and founder and director of the university’s Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Centre joins the ranks of 38 distinguished UWindsor professors, seven of whom are engineers. Senate’s Special Appointments Committee began bestowing the honour in 1986 to recognize distinguished achievements in teaching and wide national or international reputation for scholarship, creative or professional accomplishment.

“It is a great recognition and a distinctive honor of which I am very proud,” said ElMaraghy, a native of Egypt who became the first Canadian woman to earn a doctorate in mechanical engineering. “It is particularly gratifying to be recognized by distinguished colleagues and eminent international scholars.”

In 1994, UWindsor appointed ElMaraghy dean of engineering, making her the first woman in Canada to receive the title. In addition to her Canadian Academy of Engineering fellowship, ElMaraghy is a fellow of the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the International Academy for Production Engineering, as well as a senior member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

A fundraising drive aims to help a UWindsor staff member whose five-year-old son is undergoing treatment for leukemia.

Alisa Giroux-Souilliere, social media coordinator in the Office of Public Affairs and Communications, and her husband Scott Souilliere have seen interruptions in their employment while they care for their son, Bentley. In addition, they have had to travel to London for the intensive treatment protocol, expected to last three years.

Now their family and friends are organizing to help lighten the load. A GoFundMe site seeking contributions has already raised more than $7,000, money which will allow the family offset the strain on its finances.

A benefit dinner, entitled “Bentley’s Road to Wellness,” is scheduled for October 23 at the restaurant MotorBurger.

Click here to make a donation online.

Do you know an individual who deserves recognition? The Employee Recognition Committee encourages the campus community to nominate an individual for the Impact Award.

The Impact Award has been designed to recognize individuals or teams who have developed, revised or implemented a system, tool, process, initiative or program that had a positive impact within their departments or across the University.

To be considered for the award, the nominee must have made an impact in at least one of the following ways:

• enhanced service delivery;
• created efficiencies;
• enhanced productivity;
• supported sustainability efforts;
• enhanced the work environment or the student experience;
• decreased organizational risks; or
• supported campus beautification efforts.

The Impact Award is part of the Employee Recognition Awards Program co-ordinated by the Department of Human Resources. Other awards open for nominations include: Service Excellence Awards, Excellence in Leadership Award, “U” Make A Difference Award, UWindsor Spirit Award and Excellence in Health & Safety Award.

The deadline for nominations is November 18. Find details, including award criteria, nomination forms and tips for completing a nomination on the Department of Human Resources Recognition website.

Artist Andreas Rutkaukas will discuss his three-year experience taking photos along the nearly 9,000 km border between Canada and the United States in a free public presentation at the Cross Border Institute on Thursday, October 20.

Rutkaukas says his approach focuses on the cause and effect of a range of technologies on the perception, development and exploitation of landscapes.

“Once referred to as ‘undefended,’ my project Borderline undertakes a survey of this landscape monitored by subtle technologies, including improvised barriers, gates, x-ray scanners, and other forms of surveillance,” he says. “Humans are discouraged from lingering in this territory, which is vast and arguably impossible to control.”

A question-and-answer session will follow his presentation, which starts at 5 p.m. in room 239, Joyce Entrepreneurship Centre. Find more info at www.cbinstitute.ca/events.

Independent filmmaker Terra Long will take questions from the audience after a free public screening of some of her works Thursday, October 20, on the UWindsor campus.

Currently filmmaker in residence at Momentum Film and Video Collective, Long creates tapestry-like works that draw on natural history, deep time, and the space between the real and the imaginary.

Films to be shown include dinosaurs (2013), Push/Pull/Recover (2014), Notes from the Anthropocene (2014), and 350 MYA (2016). The screening starts at 7 p.m. in room 115, LeBel Building.