Having full access to one of the top materials sciences facilities in Canada is akin to visiting an unlimited scientific smorgasbord for Javad Samei.

“It’s like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet,” the PhD candidate in materials engineering enthused yesterday after the university signed a collaborative research agreement that will allow its students and faculty to use the CanmetMATERIALS laboratory in Hamilton, ON.

Located at the McMaster Innovation Park, the 145,000-square-foot, 157-room Natural Resources Canada facility provides key support to industries that manufacture mineral and metal products in southwestern Ontario and across the country. Its research activities are aimed at finding materials-based solutions for Canada’s energy, transportation and metal manufacturing sectors, which support industries that employ more than 450,000 Canadians.

Engineering professor Daniel Green, a Canada Research Chair in Development and Optimization of Metal Forming Processes, is one of a handful of UWindsor faculty members already collaborating with the facility and whose graduate students will have increased access to it thanks to the new agreement.

“More interaction and more toys to play with,” Dr. Green responded when asked about the facility’s benefits for his students. “We’ll be able to do more in-depth analysis that we just can’t do here because we don’t have access to that equipment.”

Green added that signing the agreement and having access to the facility will be an excellent incentive for attracting more top-quality graduate students to UWindsor.

Iman Sarraf, who like Samei is working on a PhD in Green’s lab, investigates fractures and the onset of failures in sheet metal used to make auto body parts in hopes of finding better ways to prevent them. He’s extremely excited about yesterday’s announcement.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “It’s like paradise there. They have great facilities, with advanced and specialized microscopes, as well as a computational facility that we’ll be able to use for our projects.”

Michael Siu, the university’s new Vice President, Research, said a number of faculty members are already collaborating with the lab, but this new agreement will enhance and intensify those activities, leading to the training of the next generation of highly qualified personnel.

On hand to officially sign the agreement yesterday during a ceremony at the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation were Essex MP Jeff Watson, Natural Resources Associate Deputy Minister Karen Ellis and President Alan Wildeman, who said he’s delighted that UWindsor researchers will be able to use the facility.

“Materials science is going to revolutionize the world and be at the vanguard of engineering for a long time,” Dr. Wildeman said.

Similar agreements have also been signed with other post-secondary institutions, including McMaster University, the University of Alberta and the University of Waterloo. These agreements are increasing innovation in various areas, including the energy sector.