Mechanical Engineering Graduate Conference

Industry and government representatives joined graduate students and faculty from the Schulich School of Engineering for the 2014 Mechanical Engineering Graduate Conference last week, to showcase ongoing research projects and start potential future industry collaborations. 

More than 100 attendees also heard from two keynote speakers, Martin Chamberlain, assistant deputy minister in the Resource Development Policy Division, who presented the provincial government’s perspective on energy-related R&D and Dan Balaban, CEO and president of Greengate Power Corporation, talked about industry’s views on energy-related research.

A showcase of research
More than 50 graduate students presented their work across a wide range of topics, including corrosion control and pipeline safety, solar collector and PV panel design, oil drill technology and wind forecasting/mapping and atmosphere flow modelling.

“It’s a great opportunity for starting MSc and PhD students to practice among their peers,” says Phil Egberts, assistant professor in the mechanical engineering department.

“The reason I like this conference is the fact that it is informal and I can see what my peers are doing,” says Zahra Hosseini, a PhD candidate who presented her paper: Experimental investigation of the three-dimensional instabilities in the wake of a wall-mounted pyramid.  “Moreover,” she says, “I can present among people who work on a similar field as I do.”

Conference growing
The conference, an annual event in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, is growing every year with both more abstracts and presentations being submitted and more people attending.  It gives a thorough overview of the current state of research in the department and provides a showcase to the Alberta energy industry about potential opportunities for collaboration with researchers in the department. 

“The conference is an opportunity for students and faculty to showcase their research capabilities and also to practice public presentations,” says Arman Hemmati, a PhD candidate and conference chair. “It helps students to take the leadership role and organize a large-scale academic event.”

Award Winners: (2014 MEGC Scholarships) 

Best Paper:

• Kirspin Davis, “Extending Model Predictive Control and Planning in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Achieve Aggressive Maneuvering and Semi-Autonomy in Confined Environments”

Runner-ups (in no particular order):

• Youssef Al-Ammari, “Effect of Micro Dimpled Joint Surfaces on the Stiffness and Damping Properties”
• Stephen Cull, “A Solid-Fluid Mixture Model for Bone Growth and Remodeling”
• Phillip Du Plessix, “An Investigation into the Merits of Generalized Phase Averaging with Application to a Normal Flat Plate Wake”
• Meraj Mohebi, “The Near Wake of Inclined Thin Flat Plates and Related Bodies over Large Range of Reynolds Number”

• Nathan Neeteson, “Pressure Field Extraction from Lagrangian Particle Tracking Data using a Voronoi Tessellation Based Algorithm”
• Ivan Vinicio Olea Uribe, “Stochastic Simulation of Polydisperse Turbulent Flows in Horizontal Pipes”
• Chaneel Park, “I Vibration Assisted Nano Mechanical Machining using AFM Probe”
• Allen Sandwell, “Design of a Sub-Newton Force Sensor System using Optical Principles and Mechanical Amplification”
• Christopher Stobart, “Design and Testing of a Haptic Interface for Human Factors Research of Ultra-mobile Devices”
• Jamie Wong, “On the Influence of Propulsor Kinematics on Thrust Production and Lift Augmentation in Natural Swimming”