Fostering innovation and student support

Joe Liburdi BAsc ’67, says materials engineering helped him hone his multi-disciplinary skills.Joe Liburdi BAsc ’67, says the University of Windsor’s challenging materials engineering program helped him hone his multi-disciplinary skills, acquire his technical confidence and establish Liburdi Engineering Limited as an innovative technology leader.

As an engineering student at the University of Windsor, Joe Liburdi honed his multi-disciplinary skills and acquired his technical confidence. Now, as the president of his own global enterprise, Liburdi wants to ensure future students have the opportunity to follow in his footsteps.

“The University of Windsor’s challenging multi-disciplinary materials program and one-on-one attention with my professors gave me the tools I needed to establish Liburdi Engineering Limited as an innovative technology leader in global markets,” says Liburdi BAsc ’67, who produces advanced welding and coating systems for turbine, aerospace and power generation components.

“They challenged me to always be the best.”

A philanthropist at heart, Liburdi has given back to numerous charities in his community. The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Windsor is among the proud beneficiaries of his generous support. In 1997, he established the Carlo and Domenica Liburdi Memorial Award, a scholarship endowment in memory of his parents, supporting dozens of engineering students since its inception. Liburdi plans to build upon this support by expanding his scholarship program and equipping teaching labs with the newest technology, in hopes of igniting the same passion in aspiring engineering students who are walking in his footsteps.

Liburdi started his career at Westinghouse Canada. Eventually working his way up to become the company’s manager of metallurgy, he led the development, manufacture and service of gas and steam turbines. Twelve years later, in 1979, he established Liburdi Engineering Limited, an international supplier of automated welding equipment and unique rejuvenation and repair of expensive turbine components. 

Based in Dundas, Ont., the company provides services to OEMs, major gas turbine operators and overhaul facilities globally and has since expanded operations in the United States, China,

Russia and Abu Dhabi. Liburdi was inducted as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) in 2018. In the last five years, Liburdi Engineering Limited has filed 12 patents. The team has pioneered the development of life assessment techniques, HIP rejuvenation of superalloys, automated welding of turbine blades, powder metallurgy joining processes, erosion resistant PVD coatings and green slurry coatings for internal/external oxidation protection.

This article is featured in the 2019 issue of Windsor Engineering (WE).