News

Twice as many early-career researchers at the University of Guelph as last year will receive provincial Early Researcher Awards (ERA) in 2018.

The Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation recently announced that six U of G researchers will receive funding for wide-ranging studies, including precision agriculture, electric vehicles and functional foods. Each award is worth up to $100,000.

This year, 102 research projects across Ontario will receive ERA funding, which covers salaries and travel for student research assistants, research equipment and facility expenses.

The University of Guelph has created Canada’s first academic chair in sustainable food engineering, backed by a $5-million gift from the Barrett Family Foundation. The chair is intended to develop innovative ways to improve food processing and production.

“Feeding the world’s growing population, safely and sustainably, is one of the greatest global challenges of today,” said president Franco Vaccarino.

U of G’s Prof. Ed McBean was featured in a Jan. 30 Globe and Mail story on First Nations drinking water advisories.

Guelph – When Animesh Dutta ponders the problems of the world, he lands on energy security, food security and climate change. The University of Guelph researcher’s latest project holds promise for addressing all three.

As professor and director of the Bio-Renewable Innovation Lab in the School of Engineering, Dutta focuses on taking waste from farms or food processors and finding the best solution to convert it into renewable energy that will maximize the economics.

This January, Deiab and five other teams will take part in a new program, Accelerator Guelph. Academics who wish to pursue a business in agri-food and biotechnology can take the mentorship-based entrepreneurship program. Over 14 weeks, "participants will learn how to turn their innovative ideas into products and services… and maybe even create a startup company" Read more here.

The Machine Design Trade Show on 30 Nov, 2017 was an amazing event! We had a large number of visitors from several public, and industry. The theme of the project this year was “Our Food”, where the 3rd year mechanical engineering students designed and built machines for food and agriculture applications. The judges selected the top 3 projects, and the SOE offered generous awards for the top teams.

The 8th annual School of Engineering Alumni Honours & Awards Banquet took place on Thursday November 16th and welcomed over 80 Alumni, partners and special guests. The evening celebrated the accomplishments of our esteemed award recipients, and to honour their dedication and commitment to the School of Engineering and the University of Guelph.

From a medical brassiere that assists healing after breast cancer surgery to an electronic glove that helps a deaf-blind person communicate more easily, University of Guelph students have come up with about two dozen bioengineering prototypes that can help improve life.

They were displayed Monday during a bio-instrumentation trade show on campus. The School of Engineering atrium teemed with people and ideas that may help the biomedical, health care, food and agricultural industries.

Providing expertise in water resources management while guiding the next generation of engineers.

Andrea Bradford, P.Eng., is one of us. She’s an OSPE member who has dedicated her career to environmental work with a sharp focus on water management for wetlands and rivers. As associate professor at the University of Guelph, she is a fierce supporter of engineering as a career, and is proud of her students who continue to change the world.

OSPE:
Why did you choose engineering as a career? 

When 20 teams gathered for NextAI’s first venture day this September, competing to become the next Shopify, Uber or Wealthsimple – but powered by the machine learning technology this incubator hopes to help commercialize – the big winner was a machine-learning powered garbage bin that sorts and diverts waste away from landfills, while extracting consumption and demographic insights. It may seem odd, but over the past few years AI has spread ever more widely into our daily lives. Anticipating its next application could not only change the way we live our lives, but our entire economy.