How does a building manager decide which energy retrofit is the most economical and least impactful on occupants and the environment?

Rania Toufeili has the answer. A master’s student of environmental engineering, she has designed an asset management decision support tool that can assist building managers in selecting the preferred technically feasible energy retrofit. The support tool landed her second place at the Canadian Network of Asset Managers student research symposium held May 6 to 9 in Kelowna, B.C.

“Building energy retrofits are a very effective way to decrease the energy consumption of a building and in turn decrease global greenhouse gas emissions,” Toufeili says.

Her tool combines multi-criteria decision making with life cycle thinking to develop a more comprehensive and expansive retrofit evaluation method than others on the market. The evaluation considers the energy retrofit’s environmental, economic, social, and technical performance by using a set of relevant key performance indicators.

Toufeili was selected from approximately 30 student applicants and nine student symposium presenters studying topics connected to asset management.

She graduated from the civil engineering program in 2017 with great distinction and completed the Outstanding Scholars program. Toufeili is the recipient of numerous awards, including, most recently, the 2018/2019 NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s Program award. She speaks and assists at engineering outreach events and co-founded Windsor’s Women in Engineering Club.

—Kristie Pearce

Give yourself a treat Saturday afternoon — come out to a free concert by Trio Abelia: oboist Geralyn Giovannetti, hornist Denise Root-Pierce, and University of Windsor professor emeritus David Palmer on piano.

“This trio has been together since 2010,” says Palmer. “We get together a couple of times a year to play — and have fun!”

Giovannetti taught at UWindsor’s School of Music in the late 1980s before moving on to Brigham Young University in Utah.

Root-Pierce teaches at Eastern Michigan University and occasionally plays for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.

The program will feature compositions by Frederic Duvernoy, Robert Kahn, Alyssa Morris, and Ferdinand Rebay. It begins at 2 p.m. May 18 in the Performance Hall, SoCA Armouries, 37 University Ave. E.

—Susan McKee

An event Thursday will provide opportunities for connections between industry, faculty, and graduate students in chemistry and biochemistry.

ChemiConn, May 16 at the Alan Wildeman School of Creative Arts, is intended to promote positive interaction between companies, professors, graduate students, and the University Windsor.

The conference will feature a presentation of UWindsor research capabilities, presentations by industry representatives, mock interviews for graduate students looking to pursue a career after graduation, and a panel discussion with industry representatives.

The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 360 Freedom Way, with an optional tour of facilities in the Essex Centre of Research (CORe) to follow. Registration is free; a full program is available on the event website.

Attending the Enactus Canada National Exposition, May 7 to 9 in Vancouver, was a rewarding experience in more ways than one, says Darby Roland, a student at the Odette School of Business and incoming co-president of Enactus Windsor, a student entrepreneur club that creates and operates community social enterprises.

“It gave me the opportunity to network with students, academics, and industry leaders from across the country,” says Roland. The Odette School of Business has championed, sponsored, and mentored Enactus Windsor since 2005.

At the national exhibition, Enactus Windsor projects took top honours in two categories, and were national runners-up in three more, resulting in total cash awards of $16,000 to be re-invested in its projects. Odette student Joey Corio also received a $2,500 bursary for his role as co-project manager for Youthrive.

Youthrive, an online financial literacy curriculum for elementary and secondary school students, claimed a prize for projects that use digital technology to solve social problems. Sponsored by credit card company Capital One Canada, the “Digital for Good” award is aimed at improving livelihoods and financial health of Canadians.

The Youthrive program has engaged more than 650 young people in entrepreneurship, creating 185 eco-friendly youth-led businesses that have generated nearly $30,000 in revenue in just the past year.

A component of the Liberty Project that includes a series of workshops in local schools focusing on issues like mental health, self-esteem, human rights, and violence against all genders and communities, claimed the “Youth Mental Health Project Accelerator” award sponsored by the insurance provider the Co-operators.

The company’s vice-president for sustainability and citizenship, Barbara Turley-McIntyre, says it is proud to partner with Enactus for its first prize on mental health.

“The winning teams are destined to make a lasting impact in their communities, and we want to ensure they have the support to extend their reach as far as possible,” she says.

Youthrive was also named national runner-up for the Scotiabank Youth Empowerment Challenge and second runner-up for the RBC Future Launch Project Accelerator; the Liberty Project was a national runner-up in the CWB Financial Education Challenge.

Faculty advisor Trevor McFadyen, a professor of management at the Odette School of Business and a John Dobson Enactus Fellow, praises the student organization as an experiential learning opportunity.

“Enactus Windsor helps students ideate, create, and operationalize community projects dedicated to improving quality of life in the Windsor-Essex region,” he says. “Over the last few years, our students have helped primary and secondary youth develop entrepreneurial skills, provided mentoring to victims of abuse and addiction, promoted integration of environmental stewardship in business practices, and created opportunities for new Canadians to fully participate in their new society and economy.”

Friends and colleagues of UWindsor professor Lionel Walsh will gather June 13 to show appreciation for his years of service as the University’s assistant vice-president for North American recruitment.

Prof. Walsh will return to the School of Dramatic Art on July 1, after more than four years in student recruitment.

The June 13 drop-in reception will feature fellowship and refreshments from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Welcome Centre lobby. Direct any questions to Wendy Bedard or Krista Schneider.