A team of Windsor Engineering students is having a blast as it prepares for the University’s first-ever entry in an international rocketry competition.

“It’s loud, it involves explosions — it’s rocket science!” says Liza DiCecco. “What’s not to love?”

The fourth-year materials option mechanical engineering student is one of nine senior students completing a 2.4-metre rocket as their capstone project. In June, they will travel to the New Mexico desert to test their skills alongside more than 100 teams from a dozen countries in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition.

Their entry will be up against 50 other teams in the same category, carrying a payload of four kilograms to an altitude of 10,000 feet (more than three kilometres).

Team captain Patrick Pomerleau-Perron recalls launching rockets with his father, fostering a passion that led him to the aerospace option in mechanical engineering.

“The thrill that you feel when you see your rocket go up is indescribable,” he says. “Now for the first time in my life, I am getting to apply my knowledge of engineering to my love of rockets.”

The team’s entry will be judged on its design as well as its performance and the ability of the students to explain and justify their decision-making. While the rocket will carry instrumentation to record the flight altitude, velocity, acceleration and more, Pomerleau-Perron says the team has opted not to add too many extra elements.

“We’re keeping it simple this year,” he says. “It’s our first competition and we’re hoping that future teams will build and expand on what we’ve done.”

The team has established a club to engage students in other disciplines and earlier in their university careers: “We have been laying down the foundation,” DiCecco says.

Shannon Bosilac is the team member responsible for promotions and sponsorship. She says the team wants to represent the University and the community well — and has even named its rocket the Ambassador.

“We will be showing our Lancer pride,” she says. “We’ll be wearing the Windsor name and colours.”

That pride goes both ways, and the students have been selling supporters embroidered patches bearing a full-colour representation of a rocket in the sky over the campus.

Fundraising is important, as team members must cover their travel and accommodation expenses, as well as the costs of back-up components for their rocket.

“It takes a lot of support to get something like this off the ground,” Bosilac puns.

She notes that the rocket has space for decals and ads to thank sponsors, and invites anyone interested to contact her. Learn more on the UWindsor Rocketry Facebook page.

See an album of images from the Science Rendezvous outreach event on the UWindsor Facebook page.

University of Windsor researchers are among a team of scientists that have captured the mysterious narwhal on video using its tusk to stun a fish before feasting.

According to World Wildlife Fund Canada, the purpose of a narwhal’s tusk has been subject to speculation by scientists and there has been no definitive recorded scientific evidence of its use.

Two drones flying over the ocean in Tremblay Sound, Nunavut, captured footage no scientists had ever seen before — narwhals using their long tusks to stun Arctic cod by hitting them.

“Documenting such novel behavior of a complex and difficult to study species that inhabits such a challenging environment is absolutely incredible,” said University of Windsor professor Nigel Hussey in a statement. “These data prove the value of direct observation to understand animal behavior and ecology, but also highlight the important role of technology in modern science.”

Dr. Hussey said combining observations of animal behaviour from traditional knowledge, unmanned vehicles and statistical modelling of tracking data provides researchers with a comprehensive toolbox to better manage the iconic aquatic species.

While scientists believe the primary function of the tusk is likely related to sexual selection, the World Wildlife Fund Canada says this discovery provides new insights into the function of the tusk and raises new questions about the species.

The innovative video was captured by Canadian scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the University of Windsor, World Wildlife Fund Canada, the Vancouver Aquarium and videographers from Arctic Bear Productions.

Calling it “an extremely ambitious feat” of scholarship, the American Association for the History of Medicine has honoured a book co-authored by UWindsor history professor Steven Palmer.

Dr. Palmer, Canada Research Chair in History of International Health from 2006 to 2016, and co-author Marcos Cueto of the Instituto de Estudios Persuanos in Lima, Peru, received the 2017 George Rosen Prize for their book Medicine and Public Health in Latin America: A History.

The prize recognizes an outstanding book, article, essay, edited volume, museum exhibition, film or other significant contribution to the history of public health or social medicine.

In announcing the selection, committee chair David Barnes predicted that the book will have a transformative effect on the historical understanding of public health in Latin America, and will establish a new template for the study of the global South more generally.

“Cueto and Palmer have pulled off an extremely ambitious feat in critically synthesizing a vast array of secondary (and some primary) sources covering more than five hundred years and more than forty countries,” he wrote. “In particular, their foundational concepts ‘health in adversity’ and ‘culture of survival’ will stand as models for scholars in a variety of related fields.”

Palmer says the two endeavoured to synthesize work in individual countries and bring it to the emerging global history of medicine, making this “high-profile prize from the world’s premier association a perfect cap to that project.”

Corey Bellemore, a two-time winner of the Olympic Shield as the University’s athlete of the year, is one of four former Lancers who will represent Canada on its 2017 Francophone Games track and field team.

Bellemore, an all-Canadian in cross-country and national medalist in track events, joins distance runner Alex Ullman, the 2014 OUA track MVP; DeMarco Award winner Nick Falk; and long jumper Arren Young among the 56 competitors confirmed by Athletics Canada.

Team Canada named Lancers associate head coach Brett Lumley to its staff for the meet, July 21 to 30 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Small class sizes are one of the best features of the Odette School of Business, recruitment and retention co-ordinator Nadia Hachem told a local radio audience Sunday.

She and first-year business student Abdul Abu Libda appeared on the CKLW program “Experts on Call” to discuss the educational opportunities available through the UWindsor business school.

“I was doing a presentation to a class here and arrived early to find the prof greeting everybody in the class by name,” Hachem told listeners. “There is that kind of attention that you wouldn’t get in a large classroom at a large university.”

The radio appearance is a first for Hachem and the first in a series for the school. She says it is part of a focus on marketing Odette to the local catchment area.

“Experts on Call seemed like a good fit to highlight the hidden treasure in our own backyard,” Hachem says. “We’ll probably do it three times a year.”

The radio station, which airs at AM800, has posted the segment to its website; hear it here.

UWindsor students, alumni, faculty and staff are eligible for a special discounted rate for tickets to the Memorial Cup tournament, May 19 to 28 at the WFCU Centre.

The tournament, the championship of the Canadian Hockey League, will see the Windsor Spitfires face off against the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds.

A limited number of yellow-zone seats are available for round-robin games at the discounted rate of $50 plus tax; the regular price is $75 and $90. To claim yours, enter the promo code “Lancers” on the ticket purchase website.

The Women’s Campus Safety Grant Committee is accepting applications for the funding of projects that promote safety for women on campus. The committee invites creative, innovative proposals from members of the university community, including individuals or groups, faculty, staff and student organizations.

The Women’s Campus Safety Grant Committee is a presidential standing committee established to address women’s safety issues on campus, and to establish, promote and improve facilities, programs and services. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has provided an annual grant since 1991; it currently allocates $64,000 to the University of Windsor.

In accordance with the parameters set by the ministry, submissions are required to support one of the following broad categories or objectives:

• Awareness or education (e.g., workshops, websites, awareness campaigns)
• Student services and supports (e.g., WalkSafe programs, sexual assault prevention initiatives, volunteer training, resource materials)
• Facilities and equipment (e.g., lighting, mirrors, security cameras, emergency phones)

Applications for funding requests are accepted on an ongoing basis from the Office of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility. Apply at:

• www.uwindsor.ca/ohrea/ohreaforms,
• www.uwindsor.ca/ohrea/womenssafety,
• by e-mail to ohrea@uwindsor.ca,
• or by calling 519-253-3000, ext. 2056.

The deadline for the next round of submissions is May 31, 2017. Funded projects must be completed and invoices paid by March 15, 2018.

Being together is a fundamental quality of the practice of Christianity, says an Episcopal priest who will address the topic in a free public presentation Wednesday, May 17, at Canterbury College.

Rev. Lizette Larson-Miller is Huron-Lawson Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Huron University College, an affiliate of Western University. Her lecture, entitled “In the Same Place: Geographical Locality as Contribution to Christian Unity in Prayer,” will explore ecumenism 500 years into the reformations of the church in the West.

It is set for 7 p.m. in the second-floor great room at 2500 University Avenue West.