Mechanical Engineering Archives - Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS)

Science & Engineering at 91��ɫ

vinish — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:48:35 +0000

Graduate School at 91��ɫ is an exciting environment to pursue innovative, socially engaging, career-ready education. With our cross-disciplinary programming, experiential learning opportunities, and partnerships, we provide a modern and innovative education for a changing world. We are dedicated to enhancing the academic and professional experiences of our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Graduate Studies is where the next generation of impactful careers and cutting-edge ideas are born. There's a place for you at 91��ɫ.

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BIOLOGY

MSc, PhD

As one of the largest Biology departments in Canada, we produce cutting-edge, hands-on research and advance the current frontiers of knowledge guided by award-winning and internationally recognized faculty. Both the MSc and PhD degrees are designed to give students in-depth knowledge of a specific area of current biology by offering three specializations: Cell & Molecular Biology; Animal & Plant Physiology; Ecology & Evolution. For part-time study, contact the program directly.

EARTH & SPACE SCIENCE

MSc, PhD

Earth and Space Science was one of the founding graduate programs at the Lassonde School of Engineering and Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS). The program is recognized internationally for the development of satellites and scientific instruments for space exploration and scientific analysis. Students in our program conduct ground-breaking research in the areas of atmospheric Science and Meteorology, Geomatics Science and Geomatics Engineering as well as Space Science and Space Engineering.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MASc, PhD

91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering offers an exceptional opportunity to work with award-winning investigators in state-of-the-art facilities. The program offers research directions in core fields such as solid mechanics, thermofluids and aerospace. Students will develop the skills and experience required to prepare for industry leadership, teaching and research-based career paths across a wide range of engineering disciplines, along with a strong emphasis on soft skills.

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91��ɫ graduate scholars apply their unique lens to contemporary issues

vinish — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:22:24 +0000

As a leading international teaching and research university, 91��ɫ is proud to support the cutting-edge ideas of our Graduate Students. Applying their distinctive lens to contemporary issues, this diverse group of Graduate Students are able to come up with unique answers that can advance knowledge both in academia and the industry.

Shiva Akhtarian –&�Բ��;Doctoral Student, Mechanical Engineering

Akhtarian's research involves the investigation of bacteria and virus-imprinted polymers in developing portable, low-cost and rapid microfluidic biosensors for on-field monitoring of biological pathogens. Akhtarian shares that this research “can pave the way to the development of lower-cost, easy to use, rapid and sensitive technologies that can be used to detect microorganisms on site, which can significantly impact health and safety applications.”

The impact of this innovative study can be significant since the development of a prototype technology for on-site food and water testing can ultimately help save lives and reduce the impact of environmental contamination on our society.

_{A photo of Shiva Akhtarian}

Charlotte Lombardo��–��Doctoral Student, Environmental & Urban Change

Lombardo’s research is a participatory action project with the community arts organization SKETCH Working Arts. The initiative engages young artmakers from underrepresented communities as artist-researchers to express place, community and culture through creative explorations and public art experiments. Lombardo’s research emphasizes that certain voices are not heard because of systemic issues of oppression, and her research can further the discourse on the issue and allow these voices to have more prominence.

“I'm constantly engaging with people who are fascinating and beautiful and who are also very very happy to tell their stories,” says Lombardo. “Who enters into the space that's given because that hasn't always been the case.”

_{A photo of Charlotte Lombardo}

Jonathan McSpadden – Doctoral Student, Music

McSpadden found his unique area of study while visiting the casino. His innovative research looks at historical casino soundscapes from two different perspectives: 1) how casinos have actually sounded throughout history; and 2) how casinos have been heard and listened to by the patrons of the space. McSpadden argues that sound is used as a tool of manipulation on the casino floor, directing gamblers to stay longer and spend more money. By better understanding the sonic environment of the casino, policies can be adapted to address the issues surrounding gambling habits and problematic behaviour. “I believe that gambling is okay and can be beneficial to the economy through the collection of the taxes,” notes McSpadden. “Though I do believe that casinos can be predatory and tend to prey on lower income and vulnerable individuals.”

_{A photo of Jonathan McSpadden}

Marie Prisca Alima Ondoa –&�Բ��;Doctoral Student, Études francophones

Ondoa's thesis focuses on the French colonisation of the Americas and Africa; mostly seeing how the notion of human trafficking has evolved until today. The research is based on ancient texts/dialogues about French colonisation and slavery. This subject is relevant to the tensions in the current geopolitical climate ranging from the withdrawal of troops from Mali to the visit of Pope Francis to Canada; these events note geopolitical unrest, which Ondoa links back to colonization and the past still having an impact on the present.

This important research and the data that comes from it can be used as a resource in the classroom as well as contribute to the overall enhancement of diverse perspectives in the academic sphere and beyond.

_{A photo of Marie Prisca Alima Ondoa}

Sarah Redikopp –&�Բ��;Doctoral Student, Gender, Feminist & Women's Studies

Redikopp's dissertation explores the lived experiences of self-harm by self-identified women, trans and gender non-conforming individuals in Canada. Redikopp pushes back against the idea that self-injury can only be explained as a symptom of mental illness and hopes to explore more supportive engagements with self-injury, such as contextualizing self-injury as a coping practice. Insights from Redikopp’s fieldwork have already been included and mobilized in training workshops about how we can engage with and respond to self-injury in ways that are trauma-informed.

“The opportunity to not only bring my own lens to the research but to be able to engage with and deeply listen to and centralize the experiential knowledge of those with lived experience has been really an honor,” reveals Redikopp.

_{A photo of Sarah Redikopp}

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Passion for mechanical engineering leads grad student to explore 4D-bioprinting

vinish — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 15:17:40 +0000

91��ɫ PhD student Daphene Solis is researching new ways to create a novel type of material that is similar to soft contact lenses, which can be used to grow artificial blood vessels for tissue engineering applications.

Solis’ passion for engineering came at a young age while playing with a radio-controlled car. “I was amazed how the toy can be controlled and wanted to disassemble it to figure out how it works,” says Solis, who is a PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at 91��ɫ’s Lassonde School of Engineering. “For me, it was a magical thing.”

With her innate curiosity and aptitude for physics and math, Solis found herself drawn toward mechanical engineering. A native of Brazil, Solis completed an undergraduate and master’s degree and was already working in engineering for a company in Paraná, Brazil. Her passion for research led to a decision to move to Canada to begin her doctoral studies in engineering at 91��ɫ.

Now a PhD student in Professor ’s lab, Solis is creating , a novel type of material similar to soft contact lenses which can be used to grow artificial blood vessels for tissue engineering applications.

_{Daphene Solis works in the lab located in the Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence}

To make these hydrogels, she is using a process called additive manufacturing (AM) in which three-dimensional objects are created by precisely depositing materials layer-by-layer with the help of computer-aided design. This technique is commonly referred to as 3D printing. Since its invention in the 1980s, 3D printers found early use in rapid industrial prototyping but more recently are utilized in areas as diverse as architecture, art, and even Solis’ field of biomedical engineering. But in the latter case, rather than using industrial metals and plastics to print inanimate objects, cells and biomaterials are used to print functional tissues.

However, even given the advanced state of 3D bioprinting, the ability to create biological constructs that successfully mimic the complexity and conformation of real tissue is hindered by the static nature of the 3D-printed output. Solis’ research adds one more dimension to solve this problem: .

“The fourth dimension is time,” Solis explains. “Instead of producing a fixed shape straight out of a 3D printer, you further apply a stimulus (like heat), and the part will change over time, folding to the desired shape.” She uses a polymer material called poly(N-isopropyl-acrylamide) (pNIPAM) to produce the hydrogels, as they are biocompatible, but also happen to be thermo-responsive, close to human physiological temperatures (32 C).

With the field of bioprinting being less than 10 years old, Solis enjoys the challenging and interdisciplinary nature of the research. In addition to mechanical engineering principles, she’s also had to learn about tissue engineering, blood vessels and cell culturing.

Solis also appreciates that Czekanski’s industry background has given her a broader perspective than typically found in academic environments, for example, influencing how she manages her time and resources.

“Daphene tackles challenging tasks from multidisciplinary perspectives – from engineering and life science,” said Czekanski. “Her work is a building block for soft tissue engineering.” With his support, she will soon carry out a four-month internship at the National Research Council of Canada’s newly opened Advanced Materials Research Facility in Ottawa.

Most recently, in addition to the internship, Solis was awarded the Joseph R. Benedetto Scholarship in June 2022 thanks to her clear interest, talent, enthusiasm and skills related to engineering and manufacturing.

In moving to a new country to pursue her doctoral studies and doing so in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Solis has shown she is no stranger to tackling challenges. So, when asked about the challenges facing women pursuing careers science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), she believes that despite undeniable barriers, success is attainable if one has courage, willingness to learn, a strong drive and a support system.

Solis embraces the responsibility of teaching undergraduate students during TA sessions and supporting junior master’s students who come to her for advice. “I’ve been a PhD student for three years now,” she says, “it makes me feel better knowing that people see me as someone they can seek out for help and guidance.”

“It is our task as women in STEM to destroy the notion that women do not belong in STEM,” says Solis. “It is nonsense.”

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