A lot of business gets done on the squash court, says Bharat Maheshwari.

A professor of management science and director of the MBA program at the Odette School of Business, he cites the connections the sport offers as a reason the school has signed on to sponsor a showcase of some of its top competitors next week in Windsor.

“Squash and golf are the two major corporate games,” says Dr. Maheshwari. “You make great friendships and generate the trust that is necessary to every business transaction.”

He notes the city already boasts leagues that attract students from the University in several professional disciplines: law and medicine as well as business.

“About 60 to 70 professors, staff members, and students I know from all faculties are avid squash players,” Maheshwari says.

In addition to financial support, the school is a source of student volunteers promoting the week’s events.

“They are seeing first-hand the trials and tribulations of putting a together world-class event,” he says. “So there is experiential learning around the business of sport, which is a big component of the entertainment industry.”

Maheshwari calls the sponsorship a perfect opportunity for the business faculty, showing support for a local project that will help raise the city’s profile internationally.

“We are proud to be associated with this initiative, which will put Windsor on the map in a new way, while strengthening the ties of the Odette School of Business with partners across the community and around the world.”

Four tournaments will run concurrently, Aug. 15 to 21 at the Devonshire Mall and the Windsor Squash and Fitness Club — the inaugural Jahangir Khan Windsor Cup Men’s Invitational and three under the aegis of the Professional Squash Association: the $6,000 JK Windsor Open Women’s Challenger, and $3,000 women’s and men’s satellite events.

Find more information and purchase tickets here.

In her new book, Corporate Governance and Economic Development: Identifying Critical Institutional Reforms, political science professor Anna Lanoszka explores the links between different corporate governance systems and their impact on economic development.

“While some argue that corporations are simply economic devices established to make profit, others see corporations as social entities with responsibilities to communities around them,” she writes in the introduction to the book, her third. “These two polarized positions lead to divergent answers to questions about corporate liability and the role and purpose of corporate operations.”

Dr. Lanoszka draws on detailed cases from the United Kingdom, United States, China, India, Poland, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa to take an international and comparative approach to understanding the relationship between countries’ regulatory frameworks and economic development.

Who should have the ultimate decision-making power in the corporate structure? For whose benefit should corporation primarily operate?

“These inquiries capture the long-standing dilemma whether it is shareholders and their interests that trump the interests of stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, tax-collecting governments, or if it is the other way around,” Lanoszka argues.

Published by Routledge, the text promises to be valuable for students and researchers of economic development, corporate governance, international political economy, and economic and business history.

Learn more on the publisher’s website.

A visit from South Korean students will contribute to global advancements in self-driving automobile technology, says a UWindsor engineering professor.

Eunsik Kim is one of four professors — three in engineering and one in computer science — hosting students in his lab from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, the largest women’s university in the world. Master’s students Haein Jeon and Jiyeong Kang, and doctoral student Yujin Park are here as a part of a $460,000 in research projects funded by South Korea’s Ministry of Science. Two other students will arrive in October, with each of the five students staying for six months.

“The global competition to develop advanced connected and autonomous vehicles technology globally is intense,” said Dr. Kim. “The demand for highly qualified personnel in this industry is expected to grow as the sales of autonomous cars increase.”

Kim, fellow engineering professors Chris Lee and Yong Hoon Kim, and computer science professor Sherif Saad, are conducting three-part research to develop an algorithm to improve the performance of self-driving vehicles in traffic with a mix of autonomous and human-driven vehicles.

The goal of the first part of the research project is to develop an algorithm to predict drivers’ mental workload while driving. Using a driving simulator, researchers will collect behavior data and physiological data such as variations in heart rates, brainwaves, eye tracking, and skin response.

The goal of the second part of the project is to develop an algorithm to improve the overall riding comfort of passengers in connected and autonomous vehicles. This could prevent carsickness and make riding in such vehicles more enjoyable.

The third goal is to study how to use artificial intelligence to prevent malicious cyberattacks on the connected systems, improving the safety and security of these vehicles.

With the visiting Korean students all graduates in statistics. Kim said they will bring new perspectives to the labs they are joining. “From that standpoint, this project is good experience for our students, too.”

Kim said it is important to welcome graduate students from a women’s university because “women are under-represented in engineering.”

The students said they were excited to be in Canada, the first time in the country for all of them. They said they will hone their skills in English as well as research.

The South Korean government is spending about $4.1 million on projects in which its scholars collaborate with researchers in the United States, Canada, and China. The University of Windsor is the only one in Canada awarded funding.

—Sarah Sacheli

WE-Spark Health Institute will host its first in-person health research conference over two days in November — an opportunity for the health research community to learn from experts and to present, share, and discuss health research projects.

All health researchers, clinicians, students, and trainees are welcome to attend. Organizers invited people at all stages of their careers and training to submit abstracts for poster or oral presentations.

• Students $75; Early Bird $50
• General admission $200; Early Bird $150

Early Bird rates are available until Aug. 31.

The event will be held Nov. 11 and 12 at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts, 201 Riverside Drive West.

Click here for more information and to register.

WE-Spark Health Institute is a partnership among the University of Windsor, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, St. Clair College, and Windsor Regional Hospital designed to take healthcare to the next level through research.