UWindsor researchers are helping the Town of LaSalle deal with flooding by installing high-tech equipment along the Detroit River shoreline to monitor water levels and wave action.

Solar-powered sensors were installed Wednesday near UWindsor’s Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre adjacent to Gil Maure Park. Purchased with federal funding from the $17 million dollar investment in the Real-Time Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network (RAEON) led by the University of Windsor, with additional emergency research funding through the Co-operative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) at the University of Michigan and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the sensors collect data on what’s going on in the river, sending updates every five minutes.

Researchers and municipal employees can access the information using their smartphones, and will soon get automatic alerts when water levels surge.

“This is unique,” said UWindsor professor Trevor Pitcher. “It’s real-time information on all sorts of parameters that will be important for engineers in the town to assess their storm water systems so they can mitigate some of these issues related to flooding.”

Dr. Pitcher said he can envision the technology becoming the norm across Canada as cities deal with rising water levels associated with climate change.

All along shorelines in Windsor and throughout Essex County, docks, marinas, and waterfront roads and parks have been closed due to flooding. Pitcher said, in LaSalle, water levels along the shoreline are almost a metre higher than normal.

Wake from passing boats exacerbates the flooding by causing water to flow up onto waterfront properties, threatening homes. Municipalities like LaSalle and Windsor in recent days have sought to ban boats from motoring within 30 metres of shore.

LaSalle Mayor Marc Bondy said the new monitoring system is an example of the mutually beneficial relationship his town has with the University of Windsor. The town donated the land where Pitcher’s research centre is located.

“Dr. Pitcher and the relationship with the University is a great asset to us,” he said. “We’re thankful for this monitoring equipment.”

The sensors were assembled by LimnoTech, an environmental engineering and science firm based out of Ann Arbor, Mich., which provides expertise for RAEON. The sensors are housed in weather-proof metal jackets about the size of a tissue box mounted to brackets that extend over the water.

They are among $54,000 US worth of equipment installed in the Detroit River off LaSalle’s shore Wednesday. They are part of RAEON’s growing network of instruments across the Great Lakes, including five buoys in western Lake Erie that contribute to research on harmful algal blooms.

Aaron Fisk, a professor at UWindsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) and science director of RAEON, captained the Research Vessel Haffner out into the channel between LaSalle and Fighting Island Wednesday with Pitcher and other researchers on board.

They deployed two bright yellow buoys, outfitted with solar panels and sensors to measure water temperature and wind, in the channel between LaSalle and Fighting Island. RAEON researchers attached extra sensors to the buoys to assess water quality. Those extra sensors measure turbidity (suspended particles affecting the clarity of water), chlorophyll (an indicator of algae populations), and dissolved oxygen (tiny bubbles of oxygen available to aquatic organisms for respiration).

The information the buoys will gather is unique and important to understanding changing ecosystems in the Great Lake, Dr. Fisk said.

─ Sarah Sacheli

Two UWindsor students hope to break language barriers by matching non-English speakers with services that speak their language when using their start-up, Lingo.

Vinay Thapliyal and Sumbal Chaudhry have created a business to match non-English speakers with local service providers who speak the same language. The two started their company with the help of the RBC EPIC Founders program that helps founders launch successful start-ups while working over 12 weeks to expand their entrepreneurship.

“This year I became the first law student to become the ambassador of EPICentre and through my role, I learned about the amazing programs that they offered here,” Thapliyal says.

Both share a passion for entrepreneurialism and wanted to build a company that made a difference.

“We hope to validate our business idea to see if whether or not it is feasible, scalable, launchable and we really hope to grow Lingo and make a difference,” Chaudhry says.

This is the third in a series of articles introducing this summer’s participants leading up to a showcase of their prototypes in August at the EPICentre. Learn more on the centre’s website.

—Dana Roe

Windsor’s population drawn from around the world is a promising place to learn about other cultures, says Zeng Li.

Recently completed his studies in the English Language Improvement Program, he plans to begin pursuit of a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering in the fall, and appreciates seeing people from diverse communities reflected in his classes.

“You can see Chinese students, Indian, African, and students from mid-east countries,” says Li, a native of China himself. “People can live and work in harmony. It’s amazing; I love it.”

He says the Centre for English Language Development has improved his English skills, but offers much more.

“I came to Canada to broaden my world,” says Li. “It’s not just a language program.

“My instructor always assigns homework and allows us to discuss in class. Everyone can share their ideas. It sharpens their speaking skills and my critical thinking skills.”

The Centre for English Language Development will celebrate international language students and their contributions to campus and community on World Student Day, Friday, July 26.

UWindsor faculty, staff, and students are invited to join in free activities, entertainment, and a lunch in the David A. Wilson Commons from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Shot putter Sarah Mitton, a Lancer alumna, won Canada’s first gold medal of the 2019 Summer Universiade on Thursday, with a final throw of 18.31 metres — almost 50 cm longer than her nearest competitor.

Mitton said she was overwhelmed watching the Maple Leaf raised as she stood atop the podium.

“It’s my first international medal, let alone to come out on top,” she said. “It was a really proud moment — my coach and I have been working so hard, and it has been very up and down.”

Read the full story on the website of U Sports.

Mitton is one of four UWindsor products competing for Canada in Napoli, Italy. Her Lancer track teammate Rachel Wolfs finished 12th in the women’s pole vault.

Canada’s men’s volleyball team, featuring middle blocker John Moate and outside hitter Pierce Johnson, ended the tournament with a 3-2 victory Saturday over Brazil to finish 11th overall. Athletic therapist Natalie Paladino and coach James Gravelle served on the team staff.

Our dependence on technical systems that can be affected by electric currents and energy particles high in the atmosphere puts us at risk from geomagnetic storms, says economics professor Michael Batu.

“We might think of space as a silent, empty void and the sun as only a distant source of light and heat. This is not necessarily true,” he wrote in an article published Thursday in the Conversation. The Conversation is an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community, delivered direct to the public. “The sun and the Earth are connected in more complex, intimate and sometimes dangerous ways.”

In analyzing the economic impacts of space weather, Dr. Batu and his former graduate student Zichun Zhao found that the gross domestic products of member countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development decreased as solar activity increased.

Read the entire piece, “Solar weather has real, material effects on Earth,” in the Conversation.

The University of Windsor is deeply saddened by the death of alumna Hodan Nalayeh, a 1998 BA graduate in Communication Studies.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Hodan’s family in this time of loss.

—Douglas Kneale, interim President and Vice-Chancellor