Competing in their first international competition, UBC Rocket hardly expected to take home a first place prize. One of 15 competing Canadian schools, UBC Rocket recently took part in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition which ran from June 20 to 24 in New Mexico, USA.

The flagship event of the Spaceport America Cup, the competition challenges teams to design and build rockets. Teams are judged based on rocket innovation and functionality, as well as flight performance and other criteria depending on the event category. UBC Rocket received first place for their performance in the “10K – All Propulsion Types” category, wherein teams compete to launch their rockets to exactly 10,000 feet. Using a solid propulsion system, UBC Rocket was able to control the launch of their rocket to 10,053 feet, earning them first place over 50 other teams.

Construction of the team’s rocket, named Cypress after our local Cypress Mountain, began just over a year ago. Despite their relatively new status at UBC, the team has quickly grown to include over 55 active members, from four different faculties and seven engineering disciplines. The team hopes to repeat their success next year, and has set up a Crowdfundraising page to help recover the costs of this year’s competition and support future efforts. You can find their Crowdfundraising page here: UBC Rocket Goes to Competition

The team was also recently featured on CBC News, which interviewed Joren Jackson on the The Early Edition. You can hear Jackson’s interview, and watch Cypress’ launch here: UBC Amateur Rocket Team Beats Out Caltech and MIT

New research by UBC’s Clean Energy Research Centre has made the cover of Wiley’s most recent issue of Advanced Materials Interfaces. The article, which was co-written by Beniamin Zahiri, Pradeep Kumar Sow, Chun Haow Kung and Walter Mérida, discusses fast and reversible control over surface wetting properties–from superhydrophobic (water-repellant) to superhydrophilic (water-attractive) using a small voltage that could be supplied by conventional batteries. The elegance of the approach lies in the simplicity, preciseness and reversibility of the wetting manipulation. The smart material offers the flexibility and versatility to be applied in a number of applications, such as self-cleaning surfaces, smart filtration and microfluidic devices.
 

In nature, there are three different types of surface interactions with water: self-cleaning (e.g. lotus leaf), high adhesiveness (e.g. gecko foot) and water absorbing (e.g. peat moss). Scientists have found that such variation arises from the nanoscale features of these surfaces. Over the past decade, engineers and scientists in the field of biomimetics have developed self-cleaning glasses, water-repellent fabrics and oil-water separators for ocean cleanup. Dr. Mérida’s team has now created a smart surface using the inexpensive and controllable process of electrodeposition. The team found that by coating a surface with a thin (< 5 nanometer) layer of copper oxide and applying a low voltage (< 1.5 V, which can be provided by a standard battery), the thin oxide could be transformed into pure metallic copper, and the way the surface interacts with water could therefore be altered. During the transformation, the surface transitioned from lotus-type, to gecko foot-type, to the fully absorbent peat moss-type. This is the greatest range of transition that has ever been observed for a metal/metal oxide surface, and the rate and extent of the transition can be fully controlled.

These results have enabled a new field of research focused on smart surfaces using metal oxides and nanoscale geometries. The team’s research shows that a small water droplet can be manipulated to collect solid particles on the surface and deliver them to a specific location by applying voltage. Such precise manipulation is important for biomedical applications where finite numbers of solid particles need to be mixed. The concepts illustrated by this work are also useful in the field of microfluidics, where control over the flow rate on a small scale can be achieved by changing the wetting properties of the flow channels.

The full article can be found here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/admi.201700121/full

PhD candidate Gary Yan and his supervisor Carl Ollivier-Gooch recently received third place for their submission to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)’s Aviation 2017 Student Paper Competition in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the study and profession of aerospace.

Yan presented his paper at Aviation 2017, a forum that aims to bring the aviation industry together to address both present and future industry challenges and to act as a venue for researchers to present on aircraft design, air traffic management and operations, and aviation technologies among other subjects. Their paper, “Applications of the Unsteady Error Transport Equation on Unstructured Meshes” is a numerical study of using the error transport equation to obtain higher order accurate discretization error estimates and corrected solutions is performed for unsteady compressible flow.

You can read Yan and Ollivier-Gooch’s paper here: Applications of the Unsteady Error Transport Equation on Unstructured Meshes

Patrick Pan receives the 2017 Wood Award first place prize from Prof. David DeVallance, President of the Forest Products Society.

Patrick Pan, a Master of Applied Science student in the Renewable Resources Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was presented with the 2017 Wood Award first place prize by the Forest Products Society at their 71st Annual Convention in Starkville, Mississippi, which ran from June 26-28, 2017. The award, which includes a presentation plaque and a US$1000 cash prize, was given for Patrick’s paper “Wood Grain Direction Measurement From Spatial Reflection”. Patrick is the third student from the Renewable Resources Lab to win this prestigious award, or fourth if also counting his supervisor, Prof. Gary Schajer, who also won the award while a student in 1981.

Patrick comes from Huzhou, China. He completed his undergraduate study at Ningbo University, China, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. In his senior year, Patrick received a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council to study at the University of California, San Diego for a one-year exchange program. Patrick is presently completing his MASc degree research at UBC and plans to go on to work in industry as an Engineer.

Submitted by the UBC Formula SAE team.

In May, the Formula UBC Racing team participated in the Formula SAE Michigan competition. The team secured 23rd place overall out of 120 teams.

The design goals for the 2017 competing race car included a drastic weight reduction which lead to a full redesign of the car’s primary sub-systems. Changes included a smaller chassis and a switch from 13” to 10” wheels. An incredible 70 lbs was removed from the previous year’s design resulting in a final weight of 447 lbs (without the driver). An example of the weight-cutting technologies implemented to aid in this aggressive weight target was the development of carbon fiber suspension components, which required extensive physical testing to validate strength.

Formula SAE competitions are comprised of both static and dynamic events. The static events include the engineering design presentation, the business presentation, and the cost event, in which the team placed 18th, 65th, and 91st, respectively. Dynamic results were as follows: 15th in acceleration, 22nd for skid pads, 23rd in autocross, and 30th for endurance. The team also placed 1st for their engineering drawings, which awarded them the Three View Drawing Excellence award for the second year in a row.

Due to a lack of time for suspension adjustments and practice, drivers had difficulty completing their autocross runs cleanly and with competitive times. Nearing the end of the event, the second driver took a more conservative driving style and ran a fast lap earning the team 23rd in the autocross event.

The team started the endurance race strong due to diligent preparation and tuning that took place before the event. Unfortunately, however, due to an overheating engine, it became necessary for the driver to slow down to preserve engine life. After 11km of racing and a successful driver change, the front brake rotors shattered due to the second driver’s continuous hard braking. The driver pushed through the race with only the rear brakes while still managing to finish 30th overall.

In the end, Formula UBC secured 23rd place at the Formula SAE competition in Michigan. The success was attributed to the innovative design concepts and quick problem-solving skills exhibited by the drivers and team members. The team plans to address the issues faced during the endurance race to reach their goal of finishing top 20 at next year’s Michigan competition.

The team would like to thank all the sponsors and supporters for such a successful year. The project could not be possible without them.

We are excited to announce that Glenn Jolly, Technician and Electronics Shop Supervisor, has been named a 2017 recipient of the President’s Staff Award!

This award recognizes the personal achievements and contributions that our staff make to UBC, and to the vision and goals of the university.

Glenn’s practical electronic and technical knowledge, and his every-day mentorship and advice to colleagues, undergraduate and graduate students alike, has had a transformative influence on the department.

Glenn is the unsung hero behind many undergraduate laboratories, graduate research projects, and in the delivery of outstanding education programs. His genuine passion for his work has created an outstanding learning experience of countless undergraduate student and graduate students in Mechanical Engineering.

Glenn regularly contributes to technical content in undergraduate curriculum and has had a hand in instrumentation aspects of most of the custom-built teaching lab apparatus in the department.

As an electronics and instrumentation shop technician, Glenn has established himself as the go-to instrumentation expert, not only with students, but also with professors outside of Mechanical Engineering.

Glenn’s expertise, developed from many years of practice, has helped countless graduate students and professors in successful research projects. He is a mentor to junior colleagues in the shop, and is the force behind undergraduate labs that earned Mechanical Engineering its reputation for excellence in teaching.*

The Mechanical Engineering Department is now accepting student group funding applications. To download the application package, click here. The application deadline is October 10th at 11:59pm.

Please note that groups/teams must submit both an electronic and a hard copy to the MECH Student Services Office (CEME 2205). Late applications will not be accepted; however, hard copies will be accepted after the deadline so long as the electronic copies are sent to students@mech.ubc.ca on time.

To submit an application or if you have any questions, contact MECH Student Services at students@mech.ubc.ca.

Veemos are coming to UBC! An enclosed, electric-assisted, human-powered bicycle that aims to replace automobiles on campus, Veemos are an innovative way to travel sustainably. VeloMetro is launching a Veemo pilot fleet on the UBC campus in fall of 2017.

Mechanical Engineering is proud to recognize two of VeloMetro’s founders as graduates.

Kody Baker, CEO and co-founder, completed his BASc in Mechanical Engineering in 2001. Kody is an experienced technology manager and entrepreneur with a strong vision for technology trends. With a broad range of deep experience in engineering, project management, and manufacturing within several cleantech and high-tech companies, he has brought products to market such as electric vehicles, biomass energy systems, and process control systems. Kody is also a certified professional engineer.

Jonathan Faille, CTO and co-founder received his MENG in Mechanical Engineering in 2012. His degree centered on mechatronics; the marriage of mechanical and electrical engineering. He also holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Engineering from The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden and a Mechanical Engineering degree from McGill University.

To learn more about Veemo, VeloMetro and the team behind this unique innovation, visit their website. Interested in Kody’s work? Read more about his career path and his experience at UBC here: Kody Baker Alumni Profile

Story adapted from: APSC News

The Department of Mechanical Engineering Distinguished Colloquium Series is pleased to present Sheila Tobias, author of Overcoming Math Anxiety and They’re Not Dumb, They’re Different. Please join us in KAIS 2020 on Thursday, October 12 from 12:00-1:00 pm, for her lecture on exposing non-engineering majors to “what engineers do and how they think about what they do.”

Faculty from all departments are encouraged to attend.

Interested in the art of engineering but don’t have the tech background? Need to fulfill a science requirement but want something that still allows you to think through social issues? APSC 366 was designed for you.

Join four Engineering faculty members from a range of disciplines in exploring engineering practice, technologies, and products, and their connections to social, legal, and environmental realms. Learn the answers to questions like: How can we modify carbon to reduce climate change? Why do cell phones explode? What happens if your hip replacement gets recalled? How much energy is in a litre of gasoline, and what does it mean for the range of your car?

Open to upper year students in Arts, Education, and the Sauder School of Business, this course is structured as four modules, each focused on a particular technology: carbon capture, smartphones, hip replacement, and engines. Assessment will consist of a test and assignment for each module, plus a final project (no final exam).

Beginning January 2018, this course will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00-3:30 pm.

Don’t miss out. Register now!

Elizabeth Croft and student making adjustments to “Charlie”.

Following the release of the new Blade Runner movie, MECH professor and Director of the the Collaborative Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab (CARIS), Elizabeth Croft gave a short interview with CBC on the future of robotics. In her interview, Croft discusses how to maintain a friendly relationship between robots and humans, especially amid worries that automation means a decline in “human” jobs. The key, she says, is not to lament the loss of low-wage jobs, but embrace how this shift will help to maintain an overall better standard of living and create more “good quality, complex and interesting jobs.” This in turn, will lead to increased Canadian productivity as labour is focused in more complex, higher-value jobs.

The article also explores Canada’s unique stance in the worldwide discussion on roboethics and the current work of Canadian companies that specialize in human robot interaction.

You can read the full article here: These Canadians are helping the world become replicant ready

Interested in seeing what goes on in our labs and student spaces? The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers public tours throughout the year. Our student-led tours typically take 1.5 hours, and include a tour around our facilities. We typically stop at two labs and two student teams, where you will learn a bit about the research done in Mechanical Engineering and some of the great design opportunities that our students have. At the end of the tour there is an optional half-hour advising session where we will have program advisers to answer any questions you may have about the department or UBC Engineering.

Check out this year’s tour dates here.

Dr. Agnes d’Entremont, an instructor in Mechanical Engineering, and her colleague Dr. Jonathan Verrett, an instructor in Chemical and Biological Engineering, were featured in a video by BC Campus for their work with an open-source online homework system.

The video highlights how creating problems for the WeBWork Open Problem Library (OPL) improves their students’ learning experience and reduces financial barriers. WeBWork is an open-source online homework system for math and science courses that provides students with immediate, detailed feedback. They are allowed to make changes to their answer, which promotes learning. WeBWorks also has  individualized versions of problems, allowing instructors to encourage students to work together – each student has a similar but unique problem, and much develop their own answer to their individual version of the problem. For instructors, WeBWork has over 30,000 problems in an Open Problem Library that can be used in math and an increasing number of problems that are available for other sciences and economics. At least 5 post-secondary institutions in BC use WeBWork.

d’Entremont and Verrett wanted to create a set of problems that could be used in engineering programs in BC, North America and worldwide. This project received an Open Education Resource grant this year to supplement and extend the UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund grant that the instructors received. The funding will be used to hire a student to increase the number of problems in the OPL, and adding to the set of open problems available globally for engineering.

“My hope is that we plant a seed on the open problem library” says d’Entrement. “We’re starting several subjects that don’t exist there now. We’re founding certain subject areas on there. And we have the capacity to build 60 – 80 problems, but what we hope is people will see that and say, “Oh, there are like-minded people… engineers using this. I could build a few problems too. And if 10 people build five problems each, suddenly we have this amazing resource that’s available to all of us.”

To read the full article visit bccampus.ca.

Story adapted from APSC News.

• Mark Terrance Bonar
• Shujun Gao
• Chenlu Han
• Shayan Hoshyari
• Alexander David Sylvester
• Min Xia
• Ehsan Zaman

• Mark Terrance Bonar
• Saran Deep Singh
• Cheng Yang

• Cody John Pavel Esau

The first day of December brought good news to the UBC Sailbot team – their lost Sailbot was discovered off the coast of Florida.

In August 2016, the UBC Sailbot Ada — an autonomous sailboat designed and built by UBC students — was launched off the coast of Newfoundland with the goal of crossing the Atlantic. This feat has never been accomplished despite the numerous attempts by researchers.

After 800km, the UBC Sailbot team lost contact with Ada when the sailbot was damaged in a storm and lost power. Power briefly returned when sunlight hit the boat’s solar panels a few days later, allowing the team to track Ada to her last known position near the Azures Islands in Portugal. Ada’s journey set the record for the longest distance autonomously sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

Over 12 months later, Ada was discovered on December 1, 2017 by the research vessel Neil Armstrong off the coast of Florida. The Neil Armstrong was on an expedition led by Jennifer Miksis-Olds, a research scientist in the school of marine science and ocean engineering at the University of New Hampshire. The research team blogged about this discovery.

Efforts are now underway to bring Ada back to B.C.

Ada’s story has been featured on: CTV, CBC, Global (video), Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Courier, Kelowna Capital News and Vernon Morning Star.

Learn more about Ada, and the UBC Sailbot team, at: ubcsailbot.org or facebook.com/ubcsailbot

View more photos of Ada’s launch and rescue here.

Speaker:             Dr. Andrew Szeri, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Topic Area:        Current Research Areas

Date:                   Thursday, January 18, 2018

Time:                  1:00 – 2:00 pm

Location:            KAIS 2020

RSVP:                  Please RSVP to https://survey.ubc.ca/s/szeri/

Please note that this is a technical seminar that will be focused solely on Dr. Szeri’s research.

A specialist in fluid dynamics, nonlinear dynamics, and computational neuroscience, Professor Andrew Szeri joined the University of British Columbia as Provost and Vice-President Academic in July 2017.  He is appointed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Szeri’s areas of research interest include solute transport (air-sea exchange of heat and mass, respiratory mechanics and gas exchange in alveoli, delivery of anti-HIV microbicides, and insulin delivery and control systems for an artificial pancreas), medical acoustics (destruction of kidney stones by shock waves, clot dissolution by high-intensity focused ultrasound, and diagnostic ultrasound contrast agents), and computational neuroscience (synchronization, sleep dynamics, optogenetics, and seizure dynamics and control). These research topics build on earlier work in nonlinear hydrodynamic stability, complex fluids, charged particle dynamics, and cavitation physics.

Prior to joining UBC, Dr. Szeri was a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Vice Provost for Strategic Academic and Facilities Planning at UC Berkeley, teaching in the areas of fluid mechanics and nonlinear dynamics. He has won several research awards, four teaching awards, and a recent award for excellence in student mentoring.  He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University in 1987 and 1988.

Please note the following fluids seminar this Friday, January 12, 1-2pm in CEME 2202

Adjoint Solver Technology
by Chris Hill, ANSYS Inc.

Abstract:
The ANSYS Fluent adjoint CFD solver was released several years ago and has seen steady growth in usage by industrial customers since then. An overview of the adjoint method in CFD and how it is applied in industry will be given. The foundations of adjoint solver technology will be described together with the specific approach taken in ANSYS Fluent. The challenges of achieving convergence of an adjoint CFD problem will be discussed along with the challenges of making adjoint technology usable. Mesh morphing is a key component in the design process involving adjoint solutions and the rationale for the morphing method used will be described. Applications in multi-objective design, rotating machinery, thermal problems and constrained design problems will be presented. The application of adjoint methods for robust design and robust optimization will also be presented.

Bio:
Dr. Chris Hill started with Fluent in 1999 and currently holds the position of Chief Technologist for Fluids at ANSYS. His Bachelor’s degree is in Natural Philosophy and Mathematics, and he holds a Ph.D.in Engineering from the University of Cambridge where he studied under Prof. J.E. Ffowcs Williams. Dr. Hill worked at NASA Ames Research Center in California as a Post-Doctoral Researcher and was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford. He has a longtime interest in adjoint methods and is the original author of the ANSYS Fluent discrete adjoint solver.

SSHRC Talent Award – 2018 Competition

The SSHRC Talent Award recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual who, on 6 March 2018, holds a SSHRC doctoral or postdoctoral fellowship or scholarship. The Talent Award is given to an individual who maintains academic excellence, has a talent for research and knowledge mobilization and has demonstrated clear potential to be a future leader within and/or outside the academic sector. One Talent Award will be awarded by SSHRC from the nominations submitted by Canadian universities.

The Talent Award may be taken up as a fellowship to fund the recipient’s doctoral or postdoctoral research over a one-year period, or may be used, within one year of receiving the award, as a grant to support research, knowledge mobilization or other research-related activities. At least 10 per cent of the award funds must be used to promote the recipient’s research achievements.

Eligibility: A nominee must be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada at the time of nomination, must be an active social sciences and humanities researcher or student, and must hold a SSHRC doctoral or postdoctoral fellowship or scholarship on 6 March 2018.

Nomination Deadline: Complete nomination packages must be received by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, 16 February 2018

For nomination procedures, please consult the G+PS website (https://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards/sshrc-talent-award). The G+PS contact for this funding opportunity is Junnie Cheung (junnie.cheung@ubc.ca).

Friedman Award for Scholars in Health + Information Session Announcement

The Friedman Award for Scholars in Health is open to any UBC graduate student or medical resident studying in the area of health. ‘Health’ is interpreted very broadly, and includes health promotion and disease prevention, mental health research, laboratory sciences related to medicine or health, public health, health services research, or any area intended to impact human health.

Information Session – Sign up here for the Friedman Award Info Session, details are listed below:

Date: Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Time: 2:00 to 3:30 PM (PST)

Locations:

1. UBC Point Grey Location (Live) – Life Sciences Centre (2350 Health Sciences Mall), Room 1312 (LSC 1312)
2. UBC Okanagan Location (Video Conference) – Reichwald Health Sciences Centre, Room 129 (RHS 129)
3. Paul’s Hospital (Video Conference) – St. Paul’s Hospital 4/5 (SPH 4/5)
4. Vancouver General Hospital (Video Conference) – Jim Pattison Pavilion, Room 3414 (JPPN 3414)

About the Friedman Award for Scholars in Health

The Friedman Award for Scholars in Health supports learning and research opportunities for graduate students or medical residents working in the broad area of health, to bring new perspectives to their education and further their career.

• Award Value: Awards of up to $50,000 each will be granted for six or more months of study. Award amount will be at the discretion of the adjudication committee. Each recipient of a Friedman Award will be designated a “Friedman Scholar”.
• Application Deadline: 4:00 PM on Friday, February 23, 2018

For further information about this award opportunity, please visit: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards/friedman-award-scholars-health

Please contact Junnie Cheung with any questions or concerns at junnie.cheung@ubc.ca.

Please see the below call for nominations:

Aboriginal Graduate Fellowships

The University of British Columbia offers multi-year fellowships to Master’s and doctoral Aboriginal students. Award winners are selected on the basis of academic merit through an annual competition, administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in consultation with the First Nations House of Learning. Approximately a dozen new fellowships are offered each year.

Each fellowship provides a stipend of $18,200 per year for doctoral students or a stipend of $16,175 per year for Master’s students. Additionally, AGF recipients are eligible to receive tuition funding. Tuition funding will not exceed the current value of the standard doctoral or Master’s degree tuition fees. Applicants for Master’s funding will receive fellowship funding until the end of their second year of Master’s studies; applicants for doctoral funding will receive fellowship funding for four years or until the end of their fifth year of doctoral studies, whichever comes first. In all cases, continued fellowship support is conditional on satisfactory academic progress. Recipients of Master’s fellowship funding must re-apply to be considered for doctoral funding.

All Aboriginal students are eligible to apply, but priority is given to Aboriginal students whose traditional territory falls, at least in part, within Canada. This includes Canadian First Nations, Métis or Inuit students and may include Aboriginal students from Alaska and the northern states of the USA. The University may request further information to confirm Aboriginal eligibility.

Application and nomination details: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards/aboriginal-graduate-fellowships

Graduate program nomination deadline: 8:00am, Thursday, 1 February 2018 to admissions@mech.ubc.ca