Ceremony recognizes engineering faculty and staff

Several engineering faculty and staff members were honoured for their commitment to innovation, teaching and service at a ceremony on June 13.

Dr. Mehrdad Saif, the dean of engineering, handed out four awards for outstanding faculty and staff performances in research, teaching and service at the engineering faculty’s 2017 Medals of Excellence Ceremony held in the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation.

Linda Breschuk received the staff service award for being “the silent hero and strength behind the scenes for undergraduate support.”

Breschuk, the secretary to the associate dean, academic, completed 41 years of service earlier this month.

“She is one of the most hard-working individuals in the Faculty of Engineering and deals with faculty, students and staff with sincerity, honesty and professionalism,” a nominator wrote.

In addition to supporting undergraduate students, Breschuk facilitates the make-up and supplemental exam process and helps run the Iron Ring ceremony — an event where iron rings are given to graduating engineering students.

Dr. Edwin Tam, engineering’s assistant dean of student affairs for the last decade, received the faculty service award.

“Under his guidance, recruitment and outreach in Windsor, Essex County and beyond has grown by leaps and bounds,” Dean Saif said.

Dr. Tam shepherded the faculty’s YSTOP initiative into an ongoing, successful outreach program with the assistance of Mike Konstantino, Shelly Scurr and a number of dedicated undergraduate and graduate students. The outreach program encourages children and high schoolers to consider STEM-related post-secondary education through events like GoEng Girl, Girl Guide Badge Day, Massey Day and high school visits to campus as well as the modules and activities delivered to secondary school science classes.

Tam has taught a number of courses in sustainability and has served on a number of university committees. He also received the Daimler Chrysler Canada 3E fellowship for developing engineering related curriculum.

Dr. Ming Zheng was honoured for his innovative research in clean combustion engine technologies. Zheng was recently named an NSERC/Ford Industrial Research Chair in Clean Combustion Engine Innovations and was a Canada Research Chair in Clean Diesel Engine Technologies from 2003-2013.

In 2015, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) named Dr.  Zheng an SAE Fellow in recognition of his achievements in engineering and leadership. Zheng joined the university 15 years ago and led the team that established the Clean Combustion Engine Laboratory. His research centre at UWindsor has won recognition world-wide for innovations in clean and efficient combustion engines and raised more than $12 million from industry and governmental sources. The lab houses more than $10 million worth of research equipment, half contributed by industry.

Dr. Mike Wang, professor in the Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering Department, received the teaching award for his dedication to students and wide-ranging teaching abilities. His graduate courses, including Industrial Experimentation and Applied Statistics, are always in high demand.  

“Whenever there was a need to have someone cover a course for whatever reason, Mike was one who always stepped up to the plate,” Dr. Saif said.

Dr. Wang joined the University of Windsor in 1999.  He’s a recipient of the Dudley Best Paper Award from the International Journal of Production Research and the Shingo International Manufacturing Excellence Paper Award.

Dr. Wang has also served on numerous committees both within and outside of the university and has been the Associate Editor of the Journal of Manufacturing Systems within the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Dr. Douglas Kneale, university provost and vice-president, academic, joined Dean Saif in congratulating the recipients, who were chosen from nominations submitted by department heads and colleagues. This is the third annual engineering Medals of Excellence Ceremony.

View photos from the ceremony on the UWindsor Engineering Facebook page.