News and Events

Mechanical engineering students took a break from their books Friday to compete against their peers in a gravity car competition. More than 50 students took part in the friendly competition hosted for the first time by the university’s Master of Engineering Auto Student Advisory Council.

“This competition is an opportunity for students to showcase their design skills and their knowledge of fundamental engineering concepts such as aerodynamics,” said Tracy Beemer, program administrator for the MEng Automotive program.

The engineering faculty welcomed several new staff and faculty members whose diverse backgrounds and expertise will enhance engineering innovation and education. The new faculty positions are part of the University of Windsor's recent decision to add up to 50 new faculty positions across campus.

Dr. Shahpour Alirezaee has joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as an assistant professor (limited term). Dr. Alirezaee's research interests include control systems and automation; instrumentation and process control; PLC, SCADA and DCS Systems; mechatronics and robotics; data communication; discrete-time signal processing; image processing and machine vision; pattern recognition; FPGA system design and adHoc and wireless sensor networks.

An injection of nearly $2 million in federal funds will aid University of Windsor researchers like Daniel Green, who is helping automakers incorporate lightweight sheet materials into their vehicles.

The automotive sector is turning to lightweight materials as an alternative to steel to improve fuel efficiency. However, lower-density metals tend to have limited formability, says Dr. Green, an associate professor who specializes in materials engineering.

“Innovative forming processes need to be developed and optimized for the production of automotive parts,” he said. “With high-speed forming, we can get 100 per cent more formability than we can with conventional stamping.”

Green is one of 14 UWindsor engineering professors who was awarded funding through the 2017 Discovery Grants Program — an annual competition run by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to advance research in Canadian universities.

A team of engineering students has designed a cost-effective and sustainable erosion control structure that will help protect a children’s camp based at the riverbank of the Saugeen River in Walkerton, Ontario. 

“The outer banks of river bends are often subjected to erosion due to the force of the flowing water, which sweep sediments downstream,” said Karla Gorospe, a civil engineering MASc candidate, who worked on the student capstone project. “To minimize the erosive effects of the flowing water at Camp Cherith, we designed a hybrid system that includes a series of rock structures called bendway weirs and woody plants. While the bendway weirs help in redirecting the flow away from the bank, the woody plants and tree cuttings stabilize the soils.”

Camp Cherith, a Christian camp for children and youth, approached the university in fall 2016 to seek help with its erosion problem, which has resulted in significant property loss and affected regular camp activities.