Archive Departmental News

2010 CSChE Chemical Engineering Local Section Scholarships

We are very pleased to announce that the winners of the Chemical Engineering Local Section Scholarship,
given by the CSChE, were two of our students:
 
Keith Oxby and Sharleen Weatherley
 
who are both entering their 5th year, Sharleen in the Chemical and Bioengineering Programme.
Keith in the Chemical Engineering and Management Programme 

This is a great honour for both these students.  Only two awards are given each year
and for students from our department to win both is a huge honour.

The scholarships each consist of a certificate and $2,000 cash, which will be presented at the 60th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference in Saskatoon SK.
Congratulations to Sharleen and Keith

Paul Gatt Receives President’s Awards for Outstanding Service

Paul Gatt, Mechanical Technician and Machinist received the President’s Awards for Outstanding Service at a reception held on May 13/10 in Convocation Hall. Paul’s work lies at the heart of many of the undergraduate teaching experiments and many of the projects conducted by research groups. Given that much of the equipment is not available commercially, and has never been built or conceived previously, it is fair to say that without Paul, several of the department’s teaching experiments and research
projects would not exist.

It was noted that Paul also gives excellent support for all members of the department, faculty, staff, graduate students, undergraduate students, post doctoral fellow, and visitors.

Congratulations to Paul on this well deserved award.

2010 CANADIAN ENGINEERING COMPETITION

Nafisa Kanji 5th Year Chemical and Bioengineering student took first place at the 2010 Canadian Engineering Competition on March 21, in the Engineering Communication category. Her topic was Tissue Engineering of Blood Vessels.Congratuations to Nafisa. Read more

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DOES WELL IN MONTREAL

At this year's PAPTAC meeting, the annual meeting of the Canadian Pulp and Paper sector held in Montreal Feb2-3 2010, there was a student poster and presentation competition. Three McMaster Chemical Engineering students won prizes.
Quan Wen won second prize with a talk entitled "Designing mocrogels fow wet paper strength

Tracy Wong won third prize with a talk entitled "Paper-supported immunoassay-not all paper surfaces behave the same

Vincent Leung won third prize with his poster "Streaming potential sensing in paper-based microfluidic channels

Well Done to all

Wei Chen - 2nd Place Prize in the NSERC Innovation Challenge Awards

The Innovation Challenge Awards honour graduate students in the natural sciences or engineering who have demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit by identifying ways in which their research thesis results can be developed into products and processes to benefit Canadians. Read more

Heather Sheardown Scientific Director of 20/20: NSERC Ophthalmic Materials Network (20/20 Network)

HAMILTON, ON, September 24, 2009 … They may have grown up to the 1970s hit “I can see clearly now” but Canada’s ageing population can do anything but.
 Funding for a new $6.7-million research network was announced today to deal with the increasing vision loss of Canadians.

The 20/20: NSERC Ophthalmic Materials Network (20/20 Network) is part of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council funding announcement made by Federal Minister of State (Science and Technology) Gary Goodyear today at McMaster University in Hamilton.  NSERC is providing $5 million to the 20/20 Network over five years through a Strategic Network Grant.  Other funding is being provided by industrial and institutional partners, and the Ontario Centres of Excellence, over the same period.

“Providing Canadians with a lifetime of perfect vision is the ultimate goal of the network,” said Heather Sheardown, scientific director of the 20/20 Network and professor of chemical engineering at McMaster University.  “It is rather ambitious but by combining different areas of expertise there is a lot of potential for drastically improving treatment of vision loss.”

The 20/20 Network will focus on developing and commercializing new biomaterials, medical devices, and drug delivery devices for treating vision disorders.  Some of the products being pursued include: composite and hybrid materials; ocular microgels, microemulsions and triggerable materials for drug release; a drug delivery system that attaches to the back of the eye to eliminate monthly needle injections; and contact lenses that eliminate end-of-day dryness and discomfort.

“The potential for new biomaterials and drug-delivery devices to address vision loss is hugely untapped,” said Keith Gordon, vice president research, CNIB and chair of the Board of Directors of the 20/20 Network.  “This is the type of initiative we need to release our research talent in Canada, provide new therapies for vision loss, and develop a homegrown industry.”

The 12 researchers in the network are from four Canadian universities: McMaster University (Heather Sheardown, Michael Brook, Todd Hoare, Robert Pelton and Judith West-Mays), Queen's University (Brian Amsden), University of Toronto (Edgar Acosta, Christine Allen, Shelley Boyd and Yu-Ling Cheng), and the University of Waterloo (Maud Gorbet and Lyndon Jones).

Industrial partners are: Alimera Sciences, CIBA Vision Corporation, Custom Contact Lenses, Fovea Pharmaceuticals, iCo Therapeutics, Rimon Therapeutics, Siltech Corporation, Take Control Cosmedix, Vista Optics Limited, and Walsh Medical Devices. 

It is estimated that 30 to 40 post-doctoral fellows, 35 to 45 graduate students and more than 60 summer students will be trained through the network over the five-year funding period.

“There is a lot of innovative and promising work being done in universities to address disorders of the eye and other conditions,” said Michael May, president, Rimon Therapeutics Ltd. and a member of the board of directors.  “This network provides an ideal forum to bring key players together and move solutions into the market as quickly as possible.”

Chemical Engineering Local Section Scholarship

We are very pleased to announce that the winners of the Chemical Engineering Local Section Scholarship,
given by the CSChE, were two of our students:
 
Marta Dabrowska and Rohan Jacob
 
who are both entering their 5th year of the Chemical and Bioengineering programme. 

This is a great honour for both these students.  Only two awards are given each year
and for students from our department to win both is a huge honour.

The scholarships each consist of a certificate and $2,000 cash, which will be presented
to them at the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering in Montreal on August 23 2009 

Congratulations to Rohan and Marta!
 

Fellowship to CIC

Shiping Zhu has been granted the Fellowship of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC). The fellowship recognizes the merits of CIC members who have made major contributions to the professions of chemistry, chemical engineering or chemical technology. See http://www.cheminst.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/5709/la_id/1.htm for the details.

UNB Scholarship Named After Leslie W. Shemilt

A graduate of the University of New Brunswick has established a scholarship at his alma matter named after Leslie W. Shemilt, P.Eng., professor emeritus of chemical engineering at McMaster University.
MORE

Doug Keller 2008 Veronica Czerneda Award Recipient

Doug Keller, Lab Manager for the Department and Research/Lab Manager for SENTINEL and MIPPT, has been recognized for his tireless efforts and dedication to the Faculty and Department with the Veronika Czerneda Award.  The Czerneda award recognizes staff for their exceptional quality of service, for their improvements of daily operations of their department or division, or through their contribution, which has enhanced the reputation of engineering.  In addition to his Departmental work, Doug provided a large amount of time and support for a number of Faculty of Engineering initiatives related to Level I, the new Engineering Technology Building and coordinating computing resources for engineering design initiatives.

 

 

New Faculty Welcome and Retirement Reception

A reception was held on Wednesday October 1, 2008 in the Great Hall, University Club to honour all new faculty, and to recognize our retiring faculty for their many years of distinguished service to the University

Chemical Engineering Faculty and Staff enjoy reception

John Macgregor (retiree) Todd Hoare (new) Benoit Chachuat (new) Tom Marlin (retiree)

 

 

Rena Cornelius receives the
President's Award for Outstanding Service

Rena Cornelius, Research Engineer in Pathology & Molecular Medicine and the Department of Chemical Engineering received the President's Award for outstanding service at a ceremony held on May 15, 2008 in Convocation Hall. Rena was recognised for her invaluable work in the various research groups, her training of students, TA's and staff in the research laboratories. Her membership on the McMaster Environmental Steering Committee and her involvement in the municipal waste reduction program, all enhances the reputation of the Departments' and McMaster through her commitment to excellence. Congratulations to Rena on the well deserved award.

Boiler House Team receives the
President's Award for Outstanding Service

The Boiler House Team have significantly impacted the education of over 1,000 engineering students over thirty years. The operators generously share expertise and patiently help students in addition to their primary responsibilities of the safe, efficient, and reliable supply of heating and cooling to University buildings and laboratories through the operation of the industrial scale power house. With the help of this team, students are able to make the transition from student to practitioner quickly. The team participlates in this program with generosity and enthusiasm. Congratulations to them on a well deserved award.

 

SENTINEL research consortium to develop low-cost bioactive paper

Researchers from 10 universities across Canada, nine industry partners, and federal and provincial government agencies have formed a research consortium named the SENTINEL Bioactive Paper Network to develop low-cost and easy-to-use paper-based products with biologically active chemicals that can protect the public against increasing incidents of food-, water- and air-borne illnesses.

The term "bioactive paper" was coined by Bob Pelton, scientific director of SENTINEL and a professor of chemical engineering who specializes in pulp-and-paper research. The idea stemmed from conversations with colleagues back in 2004, inspired partially by the SARS outbreak that killed 44 Canadians and hundreds globally, and the anthrax scare in the United States.

Bioactive paper will offer immediacy, portability and low cost in detecting and repelling or deactivating harmful pathogens, right now it can take days or weeks to get samples to a lab, diagnose the problem and get the remedy into the field.

Gord Slater Retires

After more than 23 years of dedicated service to McMaster University and the Department, Gord Slater has decided to take early retirement. We wish Gord a happy and healthy retirement.