Civil and Environmental Engineering

UWindsor helps lead international offshore energy & storage research initiative

Over half the planet’s population lives with 50 miles of a coastline, says Rupp Carriveau, professor of civil and environmental engineering.

The incumbent opportunities for energy generation sparked the creation of the Offshore Energy and Storage Society, which held its fourth annual conference July 12 to 14 in Massachusetts.

The event gathered researchers from 10 countries to examine offshore energy generation and storage technology, environmental integration and expanding global markets.

“The people that are demanding the energy should have the energy generated close to them so you don’t have to transmit far,” Dr. Carriveau says. “Transmission is costly; it’s not efficient.”

Adjunct professor to head ozone research association

A UWindsor adjunct professor who helped Windsor produce some of the best-tasting water in the province will be the first Canadian president of an international scientific organization dedicated to ozone research.

On January 1, 2018, Saad Y. Jasim will begin a two-year term as president-elect of the International Ozone Association, thereafter taking up his two-year term as president. The association formed in 1973 to research and promote technologies on ozone and related compounds.

Students display the latest engineering innovations

A team of students who designed a system to help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings are particularly excited about one aspect of their project: the difference it can make in the lives of users.

“It could help people in the real world,” says Hejir Rashidzadeh, one of three fourth-year students of electrical and computer engineering behind the “Intelligent Blind Man Aid,” which combines a camera and ultrasonic sensors with a voice command system.

The team set up an obstacle course to allow blindfolded guests try the experience for themselves, as part of Capstone Design Demonstration Day, Friday in the lobby of the Centre for Engineering Innovation. It was one of dozens of displays by groups of students in various engineering disciplines: electrical and computer; civil and environmental; and mechanical, automotive and materials.

Civil engineering grads give back in celebration of 50th anniversary

Dr. Rupp Carriveau talks about his underwater energy storage research with graduates from the Class of 1967 in UWindsor's Turbulence and Energy Lab.

Henry Regts (BASc 1967) says he owes a lot to the University of Windsor.

Admitted as a mature student to the civil engineering program, Regts said the education he received prepared him for a successful career in the profession. He helped to bring together several fellow graduates of the Class of 1967 Wednesday for a tour of the Centre for Engineering Innovation.

“It’s Canada’s 150th year and our 50th year,” he said. “We’ve only had one reunion in that time and to me it was a big deal graduating in 1967. You’ve got to celebrate these things.”

Dean Saif inducted as an engineering fellow

His lasting contributions to engineering education and research in health, automotive, and aerospace industries earned UWindsor dean of engineering Mehrdad Saif induction as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Saif was one of 52 new fellows inducted at a ceremony June 26 in Ottawa during the academy’s annual general meeting. His citation noted more than 250 publications, discoveries incorporated into vehicles from the Chevrolet Malibu to the Cadillac Northstar, and innovative interdisciplinary academic programs including the UWindsor master’s program in engineering management (MEM).

Dean opens door of discovery to aspiring engineer

It’s not often the dean of engineering receives hand-written letters, let alone one printed in pencil describing robots that catch and clean up after litterbugs.

Dean Mehrdad Saif was pleasantly surprised when he received a letter from Masha Dmitrenko, a Grade 4 student at John Campbell Public School. Dmitrenko wanted to know what she should do to become an engineer.

“What is the hardest part of engineering? What is the coolest part of engineering? I always wanted be an engineer. I have a question: can you make art robots?” the eight-year-old asked in her letter.

High schoolers apply science to model bridge challenge

Triangles are the sturdiest shape, says Dunya Assaf. That’s why she and her teammates chose it as the basis for their design of a model bridge.

“We’re trying to make it as sturdy and as long as possible,” said Assaf, a Grade 11 student at Vincent Massey Secondary School. “We made a base for the car to travel across and we’re incorporating triangles so it has a more stable surface.”

She and about 130 physics classmates came to the Centre for Engineering Innovation on Thursday to take part in a competition judged by representatives of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

Civil engineering class of ‘77 reunites on university campus

Forty years after leaving campus as new graduates, civil engineering classmates of ‘77 returned to the University of Windsor to reunite and reflect on where it all began.

“It’s just touching to have that connection again,” said UWindsor alumnus Stan Taylor, who organized the get-together.

Taylor, Max Fantuz, Paul Eyraud, Ray Chevalier, Dan Piescic, Spyros Govas and Brian Boyle met with handshakes and embraces at the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation (CEI) on April 22, 2017. During a tour of CEI led by current civil and environmental engineering faculty, the group of mostly retirees was pleasantly surprised to find Dr. Murray Temple and Dr. Jatinder Bewtra, two of their former professors, waiting for them in one of the labs.

UWindsor alumnus receives Professional of the Year nomination

The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce has nominated a UWindsor alumnus for its Professional of the Year Award, making him one of only a handful of engineers to receive the honour.

Sean McCann, a professional geological and civil engineer with 28-years of experience under his belt, said it’s not common for engineers to receive nominations in this category even though they play such an integral role in our society.  Only two engineers have won this award in the 27 years the chamber has hosted the event.

“Anything we sit on, touch, look at, go to work in, fly in — an engineer has touched it many times over,” said McCann, who was named Windsor-Essex County’s Engineer of the Year in 2016.