UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering
550 University Ave C1A 4P3 Charlottetown, PE, Canada

Shared from ProGRES at UPEI: Happy International Women's Day! This is Dr. Marya Ahmed, jointly appointed in Sustainable Design Engineering and Chemistry at UPEI, who was awarded a prestigious NSERC New Frontiers Grant in 2020 and leads a multidisciplinary research team: https://www.upei.ca//upei-bovine-mastitis-research-support

Happy International Women’s Day! This is Nat, BSc-SDE student and one of our powerful, beautiful student voices for equity, diversity, and inclusion #ChooseToChallenge:

This coming Wednesday, March 10 the Engineering Success Center will be holding a professionalism panel from 6:00 to 7:30 Pm. We will be joined by three working professionals from various engineering sectors that will share their experience after graduating with an engineering degree: Elliot Coles, the current president of Engineers PEI; Brady Gallant, UPEI alumnus who now works in the Cannabis extract industry in Ontario; Melody Bruce, a current aerospace engineer working w...ith Airbus. This event is free for everyone and you don't have to leave the comfort of your home. You can join us on Wed March 10 from 6:00 to 7:30 using the link below: https://upei.zoom.us/j/67248403822

The next event in the Virtual Networkshop Series is "Beyond the canvas with Ash Maurya". What does Networkshop mean? It is a hybrid event that is part networking and part workshop! Whoever said virtual events weren't social and interactive is about to be proven very wrong! UPEI has partnered with 6 other universities in Atlantic Canada to host this series. Are you thinking I have filled out my lean canvas now what? Well, this is the Networkshop for you! Join Ash Maurya, cr...eator of the lean canvas, to discuss your next steps as an early-stage entrepreneur! Haven't filled out a lean canvas and want to learn how? Email [email protected] to gain access to the recording of last semester's recording of "Stayin' lean". Ash Maurya is the author of two bestselling books Running Lean and Scaling Lean, and is also the creator of the highly popular Lean Canvas. He is praised for offering some of the best and most practical advice for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs all over the world. His advice has been featured in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Fortune. He regularly hosts sold-out workshops around the world and serves as a mentor to several accelerators including TechStars, Propel, MaRS, and guest lecturers at several universities including MIT and Harvard. What does Networkshop mean? It is a hybrid event that is part networking and part workshop! Whoever said virtual events weren't social and interactive is about to be proven very wrong! UPEI has partnered with 6 other universities in Atlantic Canada to host this series. This event is Thursday, March 11 from 12:00-1:00pm AST. Sign up at: https://hopin.com/events/beyond-the-canvas-w-ash-maurya

This year, the University of Prince Edward Island launched the first-ever UPEI Panther Pitch competition as part of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program. In January, twenty-five student teams were chosen to compete for support to develop their ventures. Since the competition launch, these teams have been receiving coaching from experienced mentors and refining their business plan to potentially win a portion of $45,000 in prize money to support their startup vent...ures. Six of these teams will be selected to compete in a live semi-final Q & A session from 7:00 to 8:30 pm on March 24, 2021. Each team will present a five-minute pitch and face questions from a judging panel, as well as questions submitted from the online audience. To mark this important occasion, Wade MacLauchlan, former premier of Prince Edward Island and UPEI president emeritus, will give opening remarks on behalf of the MacLauchlan family. To attend the semi-final event virtually, please register at: https://pantherpitch.eventbrite.ca

EngineersPEI has created numerous awards and scholarships in support of our BSc-Sustainable Design Engineering students and graduates over the past five years. The newest EngineersPEI scholarship award is offered to all alumnae of the ProGRES Promoting Girls in Engineering and Sustainability summer research mentorship program, started by Dr. Amy Hsiao in 2017, who choose to pursue their Bachelors of Science in Sustainable Design Enginering at the University of Prince Edward Island. What a way to start the semester! Thank you, EngineersPEI! Engineers Canada | Ingénieurs Canada #30by30 ProGRES at UPEI [Photo credit: Nicholas Krouglicof, used by permission]

Thanks to Upei School of Sustainable Design Engineering Libby Osgood for visiting our Girls Engineering Camp today, sharing her story of working on a satellite for NASA and challenging our students to design a solar panel suitable for a space satellite.

Thank you to UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering Nadja Bressan for visiting our Girls Engineering Camp yesterday. Her story was inspiring and her challenge showed us it is ok to fail when learning.

The @UPEI FSDE is working hard to be ready to welcome back our students in September (both online and in person). Here's our Dean, Dr. Nicholas Krouglicof explaining what students can expect. You can also find messages from our faculty and staff about how we are all preparing on our YouTube page https://t.co/5rA40r2zp0

Six Atlantic Canadian universities, including UPEI, are hosting a free virtual networking event to bring together entrepreneurial students from across the region. "Hello Atlantic Canada Startups" will run from 9:30-11:30 am ADT on July 21. Info on the event and a registration link are available here: https://hopin.to/events/hello-atlantic-canada-startups During the session, two startups will share their story of how they pivoted during COVID-19. Students will have also have an opportunity to meet like-minded peers from across Atlantic Canada.

Today is International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), a day to raise the profile of women in engineering. The theme of INWED 2020 is #ShapeTheWorld and is an opportunity to highlight the important contributions that women make in their communities through their engineering work. Engineers Canada is featuring women in engineering across Canada nad how they are responding to the COVID 19 Pandemic, including FSDE's Dr. Amy Hsiao. https://engineerscanada.ca//inwed-2020-how-women-in-engine

We are pleased to announce that Innovation PEI will provide additional funding for clinic projects in the 2020-21 academic year in response to the uncertainty that COVID-19 has caused for PEI-based companies. UPEI’s Sustainable Design Engineering program is unique in that it focuses on experiential learning: learning by doing. Clinic projects, which are integrated into every academic semester, are based on real-world problems and designed for external clients. Innovation ...PEI has been a funding partner with the faculty since our program began in 2016. It has contributed 50% of the senior clinic fees for Island-based companies that participate in the engineering program. Over 70% of the clients that participate in the program are Island-based. The new funding arrangement will see Innovation PEI contribute 75% to the senior clinic fees with the client paying 25%. This increase in contribution is substantial and will allow more companies to participate in the clinic program in these uncertain times. We are thankful for the tremendous support that Innovation PEI has contributed over the years and for it’s leadership at this time. To get more information on the UPEI engineering clinic projects, please contact Wayne Simmons at [email protected]

Congratulations to the 2020 FSDE graduates! We're all very proud of the way you've risen to the challenge and successfully completed your studies in spite of a very difficult situation. We're saddened that we cannot celebrate your achievements in person, but members of our faculty and staff have shared some messages and videos at the link below to express how proud we are of what you have accomplished. Best wishes in all your future endeavors, whether that be working as a professional engineer or continuing your studies. As you embark on the next phase of your career, please stay safe and stay in touch!

A small group of our faculty and staff are working on producing an emergency stock of personal protective equipment for health care workers. Dean Nick Krouglicof spoke with CBC's Island Morning about it; you can listen to his interview here: https://www.cbc.ca//1-30/clip/15769488-making-face-shields

A research team led by the UPEI has been awarded a research grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to adapt a hand-held, portable technolo...gy to detect whether someone carries the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. The research team is co-led by Dr. William Whelan (Physics, UPEI) and Dr. Andrew Trivett (Sustainable Design Engineering, UPEI) and includes Dr. Marya Ahmed (Chemistry, UPEI), Dr. Javier Sanchez and Dr. Dan Hurnik (Atlantic Veterinary College, UPEI), Dr. Solke De Boer (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, retired), and Dr. Mark Redmond (PEI BioAlliance). The patent-pending technology was developed by UPEI researchers for the detection of viruses in farm animals. Current methods to detect viruses require trained technicians to process samples in a central testing lab. The UPEI technology was developed to allow biological samples to be literally analysed anywherein a barn, field, or on a tractorwithout pristine laboratory conditions. The researchers will apply this rugged LabAnywhere technology to detecting human diseases. Since the call went out for applications to CIHR’s Rapid Call for Coronavirus Research, COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The global need for reliable, rapidly deployable detection methods is more important than ever. We began developing this technology several years ago with the goal of helping farmers manage livestock and crop diseases better, said Dr. Trivett. We are really excited to see our work enter the fight against this new threat to our communities. When we were notified of the award, I was in self-isolation, after being tested for COVID-19, said Dr. Whelan. I received my test result, which was negative, two days later. With this funding, we will work hard to deliver an on-site, rapid test for coronaviruses, with results in an hour. The research project will use easily handled, safe viruses from the animal world for initial testing to validate the methods and move to tests using human viruses once initial trials are complete. With support from Synapse, Innovation PEI, the PEI BioAlliance, and SpringBoard Atlantic, the inventors have created a spin-out company, Fieldetect Inc. to commercialize the technology. Dr. Kathy Gottschall-Pass, UPEI's Interim Vice-President Academic and Research said, COVID-19 is an unprecedented global public health risk. We are thankful to CIHR for expanding this important funding to allow our interdisciplinary research and development team at UPEI to test this diagnostic technology that will have an impact around the world." This project is one of 96 across the country funded by the Government of Canada in rapid response to the COVID-19 coronavirus. The outbreak of COVID-19 evolves quickly, and protecting the health of Canadians is our priority, said the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health. The additional teams of researchers receiving funding today will help Canada quickly generate the evidence we need to contribute to the global understanding of the COVID-19 illness. Their essential work will contribute to the development of effective vaccines, diagnostics, treatments, and public health responses. This research has been supported from its earliest days by Synapse and its partners in the Springboard Atlantic Network, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Innovation PEI. Synapse is UPEI's independently incorporated commercialization, technology transfer, and industry-engagement company, created to develop stronger links between UPEI research and industry sectors, to encourage exciting new levels of idea generation, technology evaluation, technology transfer, commercialization, and spin-off company formation. Since mid-2018, the Fieldetect Inc. team has benefitted from commercialization coaching by industry and regulatory experts at Emergence Bio-Business Incubator. Operated by the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance, Emergence pairs its clients with mentors who have a proven track record in related fields, and provides services designed to help companies like Fieldetect Inc. succeed in getting their products to market.

The women of our Class of 2020 celebrating International Women's Day 2020 at the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering! #IWD2020 #EachforEqual @UPEI #BecauseofYou International Women's Day is this Sunday, March 8 and the FSDE is participating in a few ways: Gather at the bottom of the Learning Stairways at 12:30 PM on Friday for a Faculty-wide #EachforEqual photo, all students, faculty, and staff are invited!... Fill out a Selfie Card and show your support and commitment to gender equality! Sign a selfie card for display at the Industry Entrance starting today! Take a photo doing the #EachforEqual pose with your classmates/design groups and post to your social media (or share with me and I will ask for it to be posted) #BecauseOfYou #EngineeringUPEI Take a selfie card and post it on your office door!

Still some places available for girls in grades 7-10 at our GO CODE Girl Day on March 7. Sign-up deadline is March 2. Find more information at the link below.

Students from UPEI’S Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering made a terrific showing at the annual Atlantic Engineering Competition, held recently in Frederic...ton, New Brunswick. UPEI’s senior students took first place in their division. The junior team placed second. Both teams are invited to the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC), being held next month in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Atlantic Engineering Competition (AEC) is an annual event that pits teams of engineering students against each other in eight different competitions: re-engineering, communications, innovative design, debate, junior design, senior design, programming, and consulting. The top two teams in each competition advance to compete in the CEC. This year, two teams of students from UPEI competed at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. The junior design team was made up of second-year students Benoit Sampson, Kyle Doiron, Chad Stewart, and Andrew Friedrich. The senior design team was made up of fourth-year students Spencer Lynch, Lucas Gallant, Tharuka Kuruppu, and Ryan Stewart. Both the senior and junior design competitions consist of coming up with practical solutions to real-world technical problems. Teams were presented with an industry-related problem and were tasked with designing and building a functioning prototype in a limited amount of time while creating a technical presentation. After the design phase, competitors presented their designs to a panel of technical judges for evaluation. The teams also tested their designs in front of the judges for further evaluation. UPEI’s junior design group was challenged with designing a portable dam that would be completely independent of the testing setup. The UPEI students competed against 14 other first- and second-year teams. The senior design group was tasked with designing a residential pollutant particulate capture system to captures volatile organic compounds and nitric oxide from the air. UPEI’s senior team competed against two other teams in this category. Both prototypes were constructed out of everyday materials, such as popsicle sticks, sponges, tubing, and tape. I would like to congratulate both the senior and junior design teams for their outstanding performances at the Atlantic Engineering Competition, said Dr. Nicholas Krouglicof, dean of the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering. These students are all a proud product of our unique, hands-on undergraduate program that is focused on engineering design and delivering innovative solutions to real-world problems. I can’t say that I’m at all surprised by the outcome of the competition, and I’m confident that the two teams will continue to do us proud at the national level. UPEI will host the 2021 Atlantic Engineering Competition for the first time and will be looking for industry support for the event.

We invite girls in Grades 7 to 10 to visit us for Go CODE Girl Day on Saturday, March 7, 1:00-4:30 pm. Go CODE Girl Day is an exciting opportunity for girls to learn about the world of computer programming and software development for engineering applications. We will introduce, inspire, and equip girls with the digital skills needed to pursue interests in the fastest growing industries of technology, computing and engineering. Technology is revolutionizing our world, and she... who knows how to code holds the power of change in her hands! Registration is FREE but space is limited. Sign up before noon on March 2 at: https://events.onwie.ca/ Additional details can be found here: https://sites.google.com/upei.ca/fsde-go-code-girl/home and http://www.onwie.ca/programs/go-code-girl

Exciting news from the Atlantic Engineering Competition: UPEI Engineering won 1st in Senior Design and 2nd in Junior Design. Both teams will be moving on to the Canadian Engineering Competition hosted in Manitoba in March. Congratulations to the teams: Senior Design: Spencer Lynch, Ryan Stewart, Lucas Gallant, and Tharuka Kuruppu Junior Design: Benoit Sampson, Kyle Doiron, Andrew Friedrich, and Chad Stewart

Congratulations to Dr. Amy Hsiao on being named a Fellow of Engineers Canada | Ingénieurs Canada. Dr. Hsiao was nominated by EngineersPEI for her service to the engineering profession.

On December 6, we will join engineering schools across the country in shining a light into the evening sky to commemorate the victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting and to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Join us for the ceremony, which will begin at 5pm at the Learning Staircase, with the light being lit just after 6 pm.

UPEI Engineering is participating in Movember. Members of the team shaved at 8:00am this morning and will be growing moustaches throughout November to raise funds and awareness for men's health. You can join the team, donate, or follow the team's progress at their page (linked below).

We had a blast on Saturday for #GoENGGirl Day in the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering at UPEI! Thank you to everyone who came out - we hope you had fu...n! We enjoyed meeting you and spending time together to learn some Engineering! Thank you also to OnWiE for the swag and giving us the opportunity to be a part of this Canadian Engineering initiative! Thank you to Haley (MSc-SDE, BSc-SDE '18), FSDE Dean Nick, Gillian (ProGRES '19), Gayla (BSc-SDE), and Kaelyn (BSc-SDE) for helping out!

Any girls in grades 7-10 who would like to learn what engineering is all about are encouraged to sign up for Go ENG Girl Day at UPEI.