Research and Creative Activity

UWindsor rocketry team soars to triumph

University of Windsor rocketry teamUniversity of Windsor rocketry team members Daniel Accettola, Mathew Estrela, Ian Powell, Gianluca Romanzin and Nick Pinkney at Launch Canada 2025 in Timmins, Ont. (Courtesy Mark Gryn)

By Lindsay Charlton

Go for launch.

In Timmins, Ont., the University of Windsor Rocketry team, along with student teams from across the country, designed, built and launched high-power rockets in the 2025 Launch Canada competition last month.

The national aerospace engineering challenge tested teams’ innovation, accuracy, teamwork and strength under real-world conditions as they launched their designs.

Windsor Law connects art and AI policy at 2025 We Robot conference

Kristen ThomasenKristen Thomasen, Chair in Law, Robotics, & Society at Windsor Law, was the conference chair for 2025 We Robot [ANGELA KHARBOUTLI/University of Windsor]

By Sara Elliott

Windsor Law hosted the 2025 We Robot interdisciplinary conference, drawing more than 100 scholars and practitioners from around the world for lively discussions on the legal and policy implications of robotics and artificial intelligence. 

Among the panels and workshops, one creative project stood out—an original zine titled Resisting Techno Fascism. 

Finding closure: UWindsor researcher offers a new measure

Chantal Boucher, psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Windsor,Chantal Boucher, psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Windsor.

By Lindsay Charlton

What does it mean to have closure? How can closure be measured? 

It is something mentioned often in popular media, the idea of getting closure. Sitcom fans might remember the scene from Friends when Rachel leaves a message for Ross letting him know she’s over him, saying, “Now that, my friend, is what we call closure.”  

It’s a term we hear everywhere, but what it really means — and how to measure it — isn’t as clear. 

UWindsor engineering student and transportation engineering students’ club earn national honours

Saba Ikhlaq accepting the John Vardon Memorial Transportation Scholarship for excellence in a master’s-level transportation programSaba Ikhlaq accepting the John Vardon Memorial Transportation Scholarship for excellence in a master’s-level transportation program at the 2025 Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Canada annual conference in Halifax, N.S. (Courtesy Saba Ikhlaq)

By Lindsay Charlton

When Saba Ikhlaq heard the University of Windsor recognized not once, but twice at a national conference this summer, she felt a deep sense of pride.

The graduate student pursuing her master of applied science in engineering travelled to Halifax, N.S., this summer for the 2025 Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Canada conference. The national gathering of transportation professionals awarded her the prestigious John Vardon Memorial Transportation Scholarship for excellence in a master’s-level transportation program.

New digital archive shines light on Windsor-Essex Queer history

Archivist and librarian Sarah Glassford and educator Walter Cassidy Archivist and librarian Sarah Glassford and educator Walter Cassidy with items from the physical collection of Queer Life in Windsor and Essex County: A Living History at the University of Windsor’s Leddy Library on Tuesday, Aug 5, 2025. (PETER MARVAL/The University of Windsor)

By Lindsay Charlton

“Once we have knowledge of history, there is that concept of belonging and empathy,” says Walter Cassidy (B.Ed. 2000). 

That belief has driven Cassidy’s work as an educator and advocate and inspired his efforts to uncover and preserve the stories of 2SLGBTQIA+ people in Windsor-Essex.  

UWindsor professor named to prestigious American Cinema Editors

Nick Hector, professor in the Department of Communication, Media and FilmNick Hector, professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film, has been named to the American Cinema Editors. (KYLE ARCHIBALD/The University of Windsor)

A University of Windsor professor has been named to the American Cinema Editors (ACE), the most prestigious professional honours society for film editors, becoming the first Canadian educator to receive the distinction. 

Nick Hector, an associate professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film, has been working as a documentary filmmaker and editor for more than 40 years, having worked on more than 170 films worldwide.  

UWindsor students co-author scientific paper after immersive Paris field course

Dan Mennill gives lecture on field course in ParisStudents doing hands-on learning during study abroad field course in Paris. Prof. Dan Mennill is leading a lecture on bioacoustics in urban green spaces. (DAN MENNILL/University of Windsor)

By Sara Elliott

“The field course was a pivotal point in my academic journey because if not for my study abroad experience, I genuinely would not be in this lab and I wouldn’t be doing my master’s in this area of study,” says Natalie Emerick (BSc 2025).   

In 2023, Emerick and 13 other University of Windsor undergraduate science students accompanied professors Dan Mennill and Stéphanie Doucet to Paris for a field study course.  

Can robots negotiate better than humans?

Rupp CarriveauUniversity of Windsor engineering professor Rupp Carriveau is leading a $250,000 research project exploring how negotiation software—infused with Indigenous wisdom—could revolutionize everything from energy sales to international treaties. (ANGELA KHARBOUTLI/University of Windsor)

By Sarah Hébert

Negotiations—whether in sales, contracts or international treaties—have historically been limited by time, energy, and human bias. But what if software could execute multiple negotiations in seconds, without prioritizing one party’s interests over another’s?  

That’s the question Rupp Carriveau is tackling in his latest study, “Robots Negotiating for Power and for Peace,” which recently secured $250,000 in New Frontiers in Research Funding

Student Innovation Shines at Capstone Demo Day

Students in a labStudents hard at work in the Faculty of Engineering. [University of Windsor]

By Sara Elliott

Feats of engineering excellence will transform the main floor of the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering on July 25, 2025, during Capstone Design Demonstration Day. 

That is the day when the fourth-year engineering undergraduate students showcase their knowledge, technical skills and expertise in the form of their capstone design projects.  

UWindsor alumni and faculty lead Emancipation Day screening of 12 Years a Slave

Still from 12 Years a Slave FilmA still from the film, 12 Years a Slave, that will be screened along with a post-film panel discussion at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum on Wednesday, July 30. (Source: Searchlight Pictures)

University of Windsor faculty and alumni will participate in a special Emancipation Day screening and post-film panel discussion of 12 Years a Slave in Amherstburg this month. 

Hosted by the Windsor Film Society in partnership with the Amherstburg Freedom Museum, the event will take place at Hole in the Wall, a local cultural space above River Bookshop.