Renewable energy workshops designed and led by UWindsor engineering professors are gaining steam nationwide.

Professor Rupp Carriveau, who helps lead the international Offshore Energy and Storage Society and directs UWindsor’s Environmental Energy Institute and Turbulence and Energy Lab, said UWindsor’s latest renewable energy workshop on January 29 will focus on offshore systems in Canada.

“We want to start a conversation to evaluate the potential for a thriving offshore renewable energy sector in Canada and Canada’s role in the global market,” he said. “We want to see what the opportunities and obstacles are for us as a country so we’re ready and not caught flat-footed.”

Dr. Carriveau, alongside content specialist Lindsay Miller-Branovacki, will start by reviewing examples from Europe and the developing U.S. offshore wind sector before discussing regulatory and economic policy alongside evolving technology trends.

Carriveau said the Canadian offshore market has remained untapped due to a previous abundance of terrestrial resources and a relatively low energy demand. He believes Canadian offshore wind could be positioned to supply a growing U.S. demand. Policy makers, developers, community stakeholders and system operators are expected to join the workshop.

This event builds on the recent success of the Environmental Energy Institute’s workshop series on novel renewable energy financing mechanisms. The most recent in the national series was offered in conjunction with the Canadian Solar Industries Association and matched renewable energy developers with potential corporate consumers interested in direct purchase of sustainable energy.

In partnership with the Canadian Wind Energy Association, Carriveau and Dr. Miller-Branovacki will hold the event the day before the association’s Operations and Maintenance Summit 2018. The workshop takes place between 4 and 7 p.m. at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale at 6750 Mississauga Road in Mississauga, Ontario.

Registration costs $100 before January 21 and $150 afterwards. To register, visit osessociety.com/offshore-canada-2018.

Kristie Pearce

The University of Windsor’s Christian Trudeau says he’s honored to be featured in an upcoming special journal issue commemorating Nobel Prize-winning economist Lloyd Shapley.

The issue, scheduled to be published early this year in Games and Economics Behavior, will contain original research articles related to the many contributions Dr. Shapley made during his career.

“I had never met Dr. Shapley personally but I’ve read tons of his work,” Dr. Trudeau said. “To be associated, even as far as this to what he’s done, is a great honour.”

Shapley won the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Sciences with Alvin E. Roth for his contributions in the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. He died in March 2016 at the age of 92.

When Trudeau learned of the memoriam issue, he was elated to find he had a nearly finished paper fitting all the criteria.

The paper relates the two classic sharing problems, the assignment and bankruptcy problems, and is titled From the bankruptcy problem and its Concede-and-Divide solution to the assignment problem and its Fair Division solution. The assignment problem attempts to efficiently match buyers with sellers. The bankruptcy problem looks at sharing an endowment among people who have claims for it, with the sum of the claims totalling more than the endowment.

“The assignment problem was first proposed by Shapley in the ‘60s and I’m showing a mathematical equivalence between the two models which allows us to go a bit deeper and propose some interesting mechanisms,” Trudeau said.

An example of the assignment problem can be seen in the residential housing market. Trudeau considers a scenario where housing prices are set outside of the market, by the government, for example.

In his paper, Trudeau shows that setting the price at which the unit will be sold and sharing the surplus that the buyer and seller generate by trading with each other is mathematically equivalent to settling a bankruptcy or inheritance problem: the endowment being the surplus generated by the trade, and the claims being the surplus agents can obtain with other trading partners.

Trudeau is the first to point out this link and uses it to show that a method to choose prices in the assignment problem is equivalent to the well-studied concede-and-divide method for the bankruptcy problem.

“The prices proposed for the assignment problem now have a much simpler interpretation,” Trudeau said. “After compensating the buyer and seller for their market power, we split equally what remains of the gain to trade with each other.”

A date has not yet been set for the journal’s publication, but Trudeau’s article can be read on Leddy Library’s online library catalogue.

“Professor Shapley has changed the way we approach many economics problems, and I’m happy to be among the many still working on the questions he was the first to look at,” Trudeau said.

University of Windsor faculty members with research or creative projects in the arts, humanities, or in the theoretical, historical, or philosophical aspects of the social sciences are encouraged to apply for a 2018-2019 Humanities Research Group Fellowship. The application deadline is February 9.

Director Kim Nelson says the fellowship is designed to provide faculty with the time necessary to complete major research or creative projects and to prepare the results for publication, presentation, or performance.

“HRG fellowships award a one term release from teaching, giving the fellow an opportunity engage in full-time research,” said Nelson. “Any full-time faculty member of any rank is eligible to apply.”

For application details, visit http://www1.uwindsor.ca/hrg/hrg/university-of-windsor-fellowship.

It can be difficult for graduate students to fit time in their schedules to write a thesis, dissertation, or other large project, but the Leddy Library offers help. Its Write Now! sessions will make the daunting task seem a lot more manageable by bringing together grad students each week to break the habit of procrastination and get their work done.

The library will host the sessions in its fourth-floor staff lounge from 2 to 4 p.m. each Thursday, starting January 18.

“Coming to these sessions and writing among other like-minded individuals can enable you to use accountability to benefit your writing,” says information service librarian Helen Power. “It’s a great motivator that will help you stay focused — at least for two hours out of the week.”

She says there is no registration is required; all participants need to bring are their writing utensils, research, snacks, and brilliant brains. Learn more on the Leddy website.

Expressions of Interest are now being accepted for the 2018 Strategic Mandate Agreement Fund. The $1.5 million fund supports investments that help the University to meet its commitments under the 2017-2020 agreement with the Province of Ontario, which outlines negotiated enrolment targets and metrics that will be used to measure institutional outcomes on the student experience; innovation in teaching and learning excellence; access and equity; research excellence and impact; and innovation, economic development, and community engagement.

This year, two streams of applications will be considered. Stream 1 funds will be allocated to address staffing shortfalls identified by accrediting bodies of accredited programs in fields such as social work and psychology, and potentially in other programs with comparable needs formally identified through accreditation reviews. Stream 2 will allocate funds to academic and administrative units for projects that provide increased support for student mental health and for sexual assault prevention programming.

The full call for expressions of interest and details of the program can be found on the fund’s website. Interested units are asked to file an Expression of Interest using the template found on the Provost’s webpage.

Expressions of Interest will be accepted up to January 31. Successful proponents will be invited to provide a more detailed proposal before March 1. Final decisions will be communicated by March 31. All projects should be approved by deans prior to submission.

A mini-triathlon at the St. Denis Centre on February 4 will raise monies for the local office of Heart and Stroke, which supports advocacy, education, and the funding of research surrounding heart disease and stroke.

Tri for Life will consist of three activities: a lap swim in the 25-yard pool, cycling on stationary bikes, and a run around the 200-metre indoor track. Each part will be timed for 15 minutes; the entire event is 45 minutes long.

Participants may register as individuals or teams of three — each person to complete one of the three legs. Registration is $15 per individual or $40 for a three-person team. Sign up online.

For more information, email triforlife.uwin@gmail.com.

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

The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development provides a grant of $64,000 to further support efforts in addressing sexual violence and making the campus safer.

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

• Awareness and education (e.g., workshops, websites, awareness campaigns)
• Student services and supports (e.g., Campus-Walk safe 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 at: www.uwindsor.ca/ohrea/37/womens-campus-safety-grant-committee; email ohrea@uwindsor.ca; or phone 519-253-3000, ext. 2056.

The deadline for the next round of submissions is January 31. Funded projects must be completed and invoices paid by March 15, 2019.