Dr. Clarence de Silva awarded NSERC Canada Research Chair in Mechatronics and Industrial Automation

UBC Mechanical Engineering Professor Clarence de Silva has been appointed a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Mechatronics and Industrial Automation. This seven-year, federally funded research position - valued at $1.4 million - is designed to build Canada's research capacity.

An expert in machine health monitoring, the prediction, detection and diagnosis of malfunctions in engineering systems and machines, de Silva is working to develop a unified framework for industrial systems and machinery that will integrate health monitoring with intelligent supervisory control.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) through its Leaders Opportunity Fund also provides funding for infrastructure associated with a Canada Research Chair.De Silva has received an additional $121,413 from CFI towards a fully networked and integrated laboratory for research and industrial applications in machine health monitoring, intelligent supervisory control and automated design evolution.

Robyn Newell receives a grant from the International Society of Biomechanics

Robyn Newell, a PhD candidate with Dr. Peter Cripton, has been awarded a travel grant to travel and collaborate with a group in Switzerland.

The grant was awarded by the International Society of Biomechanics and will allow Robyn to do a 30 day collaboration with researchers at the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research at the University of Bern in Switzerland. The purpose of the trip to Bern is to learn and develop a new research method for describing three-dimensional spinal kinematics using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluoroscopy. This technique combines dynamic 2D images from a single fluoroscope image and subject-specific high resolution, static, 3D data sets from magnetic resonance scans to achieve highly accurate and precise 3D kinematics. The proposed work will be part of her thesis project entitled “Kinematics and muscle activation of the cervical spine during vehicle rollover accidents”.

Susana Zoghbi selected to attend the Young HRI Pioneers Workshop

Susana Zoghbi, a Ph.D. student in the CARIS lab has recently been selected as one of the nine out of twenty-eight students to attend the 2009 Young HRI Pioneers Workshop immediately preceeding the IEEE Human Robot Interaction Conference in San Diego California, on March 10, 2009. This award includes travel and accommodation funds to attend the workshop where Susana can make a presentation on her research.

Guan-Lu Zhang Receives Mitacs Accelerate Canada Industrial Internship

Through a highly competitive process, MITACS ACCELERATE CANADA program has provided $15,000 for our graduate student Guan-Lu Zhang to undertake an applied research project at Dynacon, Inc.—a company headed by Dr. Reda Fayek, based in Mississauga, ON. Guan-Lu’s research internship will be under the supervision and guidance of his M.A.Sc. supervisor and Mechanical Engineering Professor Clarence de Silva. It will extend his Master’s research of robotics and control for object handling and manipulation into a specific industrial application. Guan-Lu will receive $10,000 as the stipend for the 4-month internship. The remaining $5,000 will be used by Dr. de Silva to support the research related to the internship. In addition, the Program has provided up to $3,500 for travel expenses of Guan-Lu.