University of Windsor engineering students clinched three of four scholarships offered province-wide by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

In partnership with The Personal Insurance Company, the society annually awards two undergraduate and two graduate students enrolled in engineering programs across Ontario.

UWindsor’s Chrissy Ure and Rania Toufeili, both environmental engineering MASc students and Adib Shamsuddin, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student in the automotive stream, will each receive a $2,500 scholarship towards their engineering education.

The three were recognized for their academic excellence and volunteer activities on campus and in the community.

Ure is a 2017 Outstanding Scholar and Golden Key Society Member, which is bestowed university-wide upon students in the top 15 per cent of their class. She’s received numerous accolades, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) prestigious Canada Graduate Scholarship and Undergraduate Student Research Award Scholarship; Mitacs Globalink Research Award; and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship. Ure is a member of the Windsor Engineering Student Society who assists with the engineering outreach team and the university’s student mentoring program. Some of her volunteer activities include volunteering for local initiatives that encourage young women to explore STEM careers, including Build a Dream, Science Rendezvous, Lancer Engineering Camp and Go ENG Girl.

Toufeili graduated from the civil engineering program in 2017 with great distinction. The Golden Key Society Member serves as a university environmental engineering graduate representative, speaks and assists at engineering outreach events and co-founded Windsor’s Women in Engineering Club with Ure, amongst many other extracurricular activities. Outside of campus, she volunteers with Autism Ontario and appears on Cogeco TV’s Let’s Talk: Do you want to be an engineer? Toufeili received a 2017-2018 Ontario Graduate Scholarship, a University of Windsor 50^th Anniversary Scholarship and an Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education Scholarship.

Shamsuddin is an Outstanding Scholar and recipient of several awards for his high academic standing, including the Tonnie Kovinksky Memorial Scholarship; Ontario Power Generation University Engineering Award; and Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education Entrance Scholarship. Some of his extracurricular activities include his work as co-chair of UWindsor’s orientation committee, assisting with Engineers Without Borders Fair Trade Week, leading tours at Canada South Science City and volunteering at Windsor Regional Hospital and with the Windsor Public Library Children’s Program.

A formal presentation was made during the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) Annual General Meeting on May 8, 2018, in Oakville. 

“We are pleased to provide The Personal Scholarship to these dedicated and very talented students,” said OSPE’s president and chair, Jonathan Hack. “In co-operation with The Personal Insurance Company, OSPE has been able to offer these scholarships to students with high academic standing who demonstrate leadership at their university and also in the community.” 

OSPE represents the engineering community of Ontario including professional engineers, engineering graduates and students.

By Kristie Pearce

Physics professor Chitra Rangan will represent Canada at the inaugural celebration of the International Day of Light (IDL), May 16 at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France.

The global initiative provides an annual appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development.

UNESCO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, has chosen May 16 as the day each year that the worldwide community will participate in activities demonstrating how science, technology, art, and culture can help achieve the goals of UNESCO.

“I was the Canadian co-ordinator for the International Year of Light in 2015, and now that the UN has created an annual day to celebrate light, it is a true honour to represent Canada for this inaugural celebration,” says Dr. Rangan.

The International Day of Light will reach an audience of millions of scientists, industry leaders and members of the public worldwide with a day of Nobel laureate lectures, art exhibits and more.

“We are proud to have Dr. Rangan represent UWindsor at this important global event and it sets us up for impressive future research partnerships,” says Chris Houser, dean of science.

Rangan is the chair of the steering committee for IDL-Canada and her trip is sponsored by the University of Windsor's Faculty of Science and the Office of the Vice-President for Research and Innovation.

May 16 is the anniversary of the first successful operation of a laser in 1960. Hundreds of events around the world will be held by local organizers. UWindsor’s Department of Physics will host a Science on Tap: Light and Libations event on May 24 at the Walkerville Brewery.

Sara Elliott

Retired sports executive and UWindsor alumnus Richard Peddie (BComm 1970, honorary LLD 2001) is the 2018 honoree of the annual Negev dinner, held by the Jewish National Fund of Windsor in support of development in Israel.

Peddie served as CEO Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for 14 years, during which time the company launched the Toronto FC soccer franchise and built the Air Canada Centre and BMO Field. He founded and remains active in the Richard Peddie Leadership Initiative at the Odette School of Business.

The dinner is set for June 12 at the Ciociaro Club, 3745 North Talbot Road. Find more details on the event, tickets and sponsorships, and the benefit project, on the fund’s website.

Lancer football players Drew Desjarlais and Evan Martin will represent the Blue and Gold in the 2018 East-West Bowl, May 12 in Quebec City.

The annual match-up features U Sports athletes heading into their Canadian Football League draft year.

The University of Windsor contingent will play on the west team, Desjarlais at offensive lineman and Martin at defensive back.

The game will kick off at 12:30 p.m. in the Université Laval stadium. Livestreaming details will be confirmed at a later date. Find more info at goLancers.ca.

Family, friends and colleagues gathered on May 2 to honour Laverne Jacobs as the 2018 recipient of the Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award.  An award reception was held in Assumption Hall’s Freed-Orman Commons.

Dr. Jacobs was nominated by Faculty of Law dean Christopher Waters who spoke to her impressive record of scholarly work on the rights of disabled persons, mentorship and innovative strategies, and activities for creating a climate of equity and diversity on campus and in the community. 

The Award was established by WUFA’s Status of Women, Diversity and Equity Action Committee in memory of Dr. Mary Lou Dietz, to honour members who demonstrate the spirit of leadership through their contributions in creating an equitable culture on campus.

An event Thursday will provide opportunities for connections between industry, faculty, and graduate students in chemistry and biochemistry.

ChemiConn, May 10 at the Fogolar Furlan Club, is intended to promote positive interaction between companies, funding bodies, and the University of Windsor, says master’s student Nadia Stephaniuk, logistics team leader on the organizing committee.

“ChemiConn is a very beneficial networking event, particularly for graduate students who are nearing the end of their studies, as it enables them to showcase their technical and analytical skills in a professional environment,” she says.

The conference will feature presentations by UWindsor researchers as well as industry representatives, and runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1800 North Service Road. Find a full program and registration details on the ChemiConn website.

The Campus Bookstore is offering savings on a “vintage-look” sweatshirt showing some Lancer love.

Embroidered with a script “Windsor Lancers” and the varsity shield, the hoodies come in choice of two colours — maroon or navy — and a range of sizes. Normally $48.95, available now for just $36.75.

Pick up one (or more!) from the store, located on the lower level of the CAW Student Centre.

The School of Creative Arts Armouries Building will play host to a unique exhibition May 18 — the Videostore video art festival.

Organizers are currently inviting submissions for the event, which is open to all participants, who must:

• provide their own projector, monitor, and any other necessary installation equipment; and
• be present to install their work that afternoon and remove it following an evening reception.

To register, email a statement of intent, including a description of the work, an image of the work for promotion, and a short bio to left.contemporary@gmail.comwith the subject heading “Videostore” by Tuesday, May 15.

Emerging leaders from universities around the globe recently took part in a virtual competition to demonstrate their ideas, skills and knowledge in advancing health sector supply chain innovation.

The Supply Chain Advancement Network in Health (SCAN Health), hosted by the Odette School of Business, encouraged cross-disciplinary teams from business and health sciences to collaborate to build leadership capacity in health sector supply chain.  Teams from Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada had access to a panel of internationally renowned leaders and experts in health system supply chain and logistics strategy in order to prepare their case.

The team from Erasmus University Rotterdam tied for first place with Brock University, followed by Dalhousie University, which took third.

In addition to prizes donated by TECSYS Inc., winners also received an invitation to the annual SCAN Health Global Networking Event in Calgary on June 5. Participants will have opportunity to engage with global leaders from industry, health systems, government and academia to examine key dimensions of supply chain infrastructure in improving health system sustainability, population health and economic growth.

SCAN Health is an international knowledge translation organization funded by the Government of Canada, Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), and hosted by the University of Windsor’s Odette School of Business. The organization spans five countries -- Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada -- and has more than 100 partners from industry, healthcare, government and academia.  SCAN Health’s goal is to adopt practices that offer traceability of products and care processes from bench to bedside to patient outcomes.