Announcements

CFI New Initiatives Funding Award

Nov 30, 2006

I am pleased to announce that a team of 10 researchers led by Dr. Ling Guan has been awarded the inaugural CFI New Initiatives Fund for Supporting the infrastructure for the Centre for Interactive Multimedia Information Mining.

The total value of the award including contributions from CFI, University and industrial partners is approximately $3 million. Our sincere congratulations to Dr. Guan and his team for their hardwork and contributions in further strengthening our research base and activities in Multimedia.

Keep up the good work!
Sri Krishnan

IEEE Canada Best Paper Award

Nov 30, 2006

I am also delighted to announce that Riwa Karkoli's 2005-2006 capstone design project titled, A Plantar Pressure Distribution Analysis System for the Dynamic Moving Foot, has been awarded First Prize in the nation-wide IEEE Canada Best Paper Contest. The project was supervised by Dr. Kristiina McConville. Our congratulations to Riwa and Dr. McConville in winning this prestigious award.

Our students participation and performances in Provincial and National competitions are making them self-confident and empowered, and this is quite evident from the numerous competition funding requests (from RECESS, IEEE, Hobby Electronics Club, Hobby Computing Club, Engineers without Borders) that both the Dean and I have received for 2006-2007.

Keep up the good work!
Sri Krishnan

NSERC Industrial Research Chair

Nov 30, 2006

Bin Wu has been appointed NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Power Electronics. Dr. Wu is one of the world leaders in the field of Power Electronics and is highly deserving of this recognition. Industrial Research Chairs, "assist universities in building on existing strengths to achieve the critical mass required for a major research endeavour in science and engineering of interest to industry; and/or to assist in the development of research efforts in fields that have not yet been developed in Canadian universities but for which there is an important industrial need."

This appointment was founded upon a successful industrial collaboration with Rockwell International and the success of this partnership was acknowledged with a NSERC Synergy Award. This is Ryerson's first NSERC Industrial Research Chair appointment.

Community Achiever Award

Nov 17, 2006

Sri Krishnan was awarded the South Asian Community Achiever Award by Dalton McGuinty, Ontario Premier and Minister for Research and Innovation, at the Desi News — Grants Awards Gala on November 12^th, 2006.

The award, a partnership between Desi News and Grant & Sons Ltd., recognizes those in the South Asian community who, "do that little extra that benefits us all and builds our pride in our neighbourhoods."

 

Governor General Gold Medal

Nov 5, 2006

At the Fall 2006 Convocation, held on November 2^nd, ELCE Dept. Graduate Student, April Khademi (MASc '06, BEng '04) was awarded Ryerson's sole Governor General Gold Medal for her excellent academic performance; outstanding research thesis in the area of biomedical image analysis; and for greater involvement in extra-curricular activities.

This is the second medal awarded to an ELCE graduate student; the previous winner was Serhat Erkucuk, who won in 2003.

 

"High Power Convertors and AC Drives"

Sep 7, 2006

High Power Convertors and AC Drives, by Bin Wu has been published by IEEE Press. This book presents the latest technology in high-power (megawatt) converters and variable-speed drives. It provides a comprehensive analysis on various power converter topologies, drive configurations and control schemes, addresses practical problems and their mitigation methods, and illustrates important concepts with computer simulations and experiments.

The book can serve as a reference for academic researchers, practicing engineers and other professionals and it can also be used as a textbook for a graduate-level course.

BEST GA/TA AWARD

Jun 5, 2006

The winners of the Best Graduate Assistant/Teaching Assistant Award for the 2005-2006 academic year are April Khademi (M.A.Sc. II), who also won last year, and Hatice Kosek (M.A.Sc. II); their achievement will be recognized in the Departmental Awards ceremony in November.

IEEE PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR

Jun 5, 2006

Dimitri Androutsos has been voted as the 2006 IEEE (Ryerson) Professor of the Year. A number of faculty were nominated by the students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program and then a vote was held to select the winner, who the students believe surpasses the duties of a normal professorship which include unparalleled teaching ability and the extended duty of care to the students.

FACULTY RESEARCH GRANTS

May 27, 2006

Drs. D. Androutsos, A. Anpalagan, S. Beheshti, V. Geurkov, A. Kabbani, G. Khan, and I. Lee received NSERC Discovery Grant funding in the 2006 competition to, "assist in promoting and maintaining a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities; fostering research excellence; and providing a stimulating environment for research training."

Dr. D. Xu received NSERC Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) funding to, "assist in buying or developing research equipment that costs more than $7,000."

Dr. G. Zywno was the first receipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant in the Department. "SSHRC-funded research fuels innovative thinking about real life issues, including the economy, education, health care, the environment, immigration, globalization, language, ethics, peace, security, etc."

STUDENT RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS

May 27, 2006

April Khademi received the NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS-D) scholarship of $21,000/year to pursue doctoral studies, and Amir Faizi received the $17,500/year NSERC CGS-M award. This financial support allows scholars to fully concentrate on their studies and to seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields.

Mohammad Aram, Amir Faizi, Bassma Ghali, Aiden Morrison, Baice Li, Jigar Patel, Mahsa Kowsari, April Khademi, Valeri Kirischian, Hatice Kosek, and Litifa Noor were awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) valued at $15,000/year.

Amir Faizi, Shamim Ziaee, Adam Kohn, Alexander Hamlyn, Dima Ostrovsky, Tahir Jaffer, Sepideh Behinaein, Wael Louis,and Elnza Shorollahi were awarded the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award valued at a minimum of $5,625 for four months, to engage in research work with an ELCE research group during the summer.

Ryerson Teaching Excellence Award

May 22, 2006

Dimitri Androutsos won the 2006 Ryerson Teaching Excellence Award for the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science. In the three years he has taught at Ryerson, Dimitri has made a notable impact on his students and received praise from his peers— last year, he won a FEAS Teaching Excellence Award.

ICUE 2006 Award Winners

May 19, 2006

Ryerson University students from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department won two prizes at the 2006 International Conference for Upcoming Engineers (ICUE) held at the University of Waterloo on May 13-14. Riwa Karkokli was awarded the second prize in the Student Paper Competition for her paper, A Plantar Pressure Distribution Analysis System for the Dynamic Moving Foot. In the Design Project Competition, Bassma Ghali & Mahsa Kowsari won for their project, Handy Mouse for the Physically Challenged.

The other student paper award winners, both from the University of Waterloo, were M. Fakharzadeh (first prize), Miniaturized Optical Delay Lines and M. F. Baroughi (third prize), Design of Multilevel Read Only Memory for High Density Memory Applications.

NSERC Award Nominee

May 5, 2006

Danoush Hosseinzadeh, second year M.A.Sc. student in the Signal Analysis Research Group, is one of the two nominees from Ryerson University for the prestigious NSERC Innovation Challenge Award for his essay, "An Ubiquitous Biometric System". The other nominee is Ram Sah, M.A.Sc., Environmental Engineering for his essay, "Stabilization of Paper Waste in Bioreactor Landfills Using SBP Enzyme". President Levy congratulated Ryerson's nominees for the awards, which recognize students who apply their research findings into real world results.

While Sah's research focuses on enzyme decomposition of landfills, which is up to four times faster than conventional methods, Hosseinzadeh's work on keystroke recognition software has significant applications for online security and networking. "It's really rewarding to see the project get recognized outside of school," said Hosseinzadeh.

The Innovation Challenge Awards honour students pursuing graduate studies in the natural sciences, engineering or computer sciences, who have demonstrated an entrepreneurial flair by thinking of ways to transform their research thesis results into products and processes that will potentially benefit Canadians. These awards recognize and reward the power of imagination and innovation within Canada's brightest minds.

Sah and Hosseinzadeh will represent Ryerson in the national NSERC Innovation Challenge Awards competition to be held this coming October, in Winnipeg, where the Grand Prizes will be awarded at a gala event.

For further details please refer to the article on Ryerson's website.

COU Award Honourable Mention

May 5, 2006

Gosha Zywno (Electrical Engineering) and Frankie Stewart (Industrial Engineering) were recognized by the Council of Ontario Universities and its industry partners with Honourable Mention for the 2005 COU Award for Excellence in Teaching with Technology (University Application) for the program "Interactive On-line Control Systems Tutorials".

Professors Zywno and Stewart created the tutorials with assistance of the Digital Media Project Office to support their innovative teaching of control systems courses. Their students can access the online tutorials that include streamed video, engaging graphics and textual information as well as self-scoring quizzes for an immediate feedback on material comprehension. This project was completed as a Ryerson contribution to a CLOE (Co-Operative Learning Objects Exchange) initiative of several universities aiming to build a repository of learning objects that are freely available online for any instructor interested in incorporating them in their teaching.

As part of their recognition, Professors Zywno and Stewart were invited to a luncheon on November 29, 2005 in company of Sheldon Levy, the President of Ryerson, Ian Clark, the President of COU and Jan Donio, the CIO and Executive Director of Partnerships for COU.

MEMS CAD Tools Award

April 21, 2006

Eddie Law and Fei Yuan were awarded two MEMSPro licences from CMC Microsystems valued at $6000 per licence in CMC's Notice of Competition—Computer-Aided Design Tools/Software Supporting Microsystems Research. This state-of-the-art MEMS CAD tool will enable Ryerson to carry out leading-edge research on the design and fabrication of MEMS (three-dimensional mechanical components made of silicon at the micrometre scale).

Dennis Mock Student Leadership Awards

April 1, 2006

On March 31^st, five Electrical and Computer Engineering students received Dennis Mock Student Leadership Awards from Dr. Dennis Mock, currently President of Nipissing University and the former Vice-President of Ryerson University. The award winners were:

• Aaron Consebido,
• Anny Fong,
• Michael Hall,
• April Khademi and
• Mahsa Kowsari.

The Dennis Mock Student Leadership Awards recognize students in their graduating year, who have made outstanding extra-curricular contributions to their school, academic department, or to Ryerson as a whole, and encourage student participation in university affairs.

Canadian Engineering Competition Winner

Apr 1, 2006

Congratulations to Emilijan Mirceski, a second year Computer Engineering student, who won the $3000 first prize in the Innovative Design category of the 22nd annual Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) recently held in Montreal, for his project MiniRank, an online website ranking tool.

For further details, please refer to the article on the Ryerson website.

Industrial Research Partnerships Grants

Mar 26, 2006

Ontario Centres of Excellence-CITO Research Partnerships funding awarded to Dimitri Androutsos for his industrial partnership with IMAX in developing a new automated rotoscoping technique requiring much less user interaction; IMAX will use the results in motion picture production to provide the foundation for converting traditional 2-D movies into 3-D, an area that IMAX views as a growing entertainment sector.

NSERC Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) Grant awarded to Xiao-Ping Zhang for his work with Epson Canada in developing intelligent technologies in visual media management, processing and applications in commercial environments including system framework, algorithms and prototype products of content-based image/video indexing, categorization, analysis and management for home media centre applications.

New Pioneers Award in Science and Technology

Feb 27, 2006

Sri Krishnan has been awarded the 2006 New Pioneers Award in Science and Technology and will be honoured at the Gala Awards Ceremony and Dinner on Thursday, March 30, 2006 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The New Pioneers Awards (NPA) are awarded annually through Skills for Change, a non-profit agency assisting immigrants and refugees in the Greater Toronto Area. The goal of the NPA program is to recognize and honour outstanding achievements and contributions to the wider community made by immigrants and refugees.

Dr. Krishnan will be honoured for his distinguished research achievements, major contributions to Ryerson's transformation to a full-fledged research university through the establisment of graduate programs in engineering, his unfailing dedication to his students, and his volunteering work.

He is the third member of this Department to be honoured by the New Pioneers Award in Science and Technology; he was preceded by Samith Mikhail in 2000, and Gosha Zywno in 1996.

Energy Ambassadors Student Competition

Feb 15, 2006

It is my great pleasure to announce that two of our current capstone design project (ELE 800) students, Mr. Jamin Islam and Mr. Dennis Marcantonio have won the 2006 Energy Ambassadors Student Competition for their project titled, "Energy Efficiency Assessment Using Zigbee Sensor Platform". The project also involves two additional students from Architecture Science. This interdisciplinary project is being supervised by Dr. Lian Zhao and Dr. Zaiyi Liao (Architecture Science).

The twenty Energy Ambassadors selected each year raise awareness of energy efficiency; the award includes:

• a cash prize of $3,000;
• a trip to the GLOBE 2006 international conference in Vancouver, with all travel, accommodation, food and registration expenses paid to present their work.

Congratulations to our students in winning recognitions in capstone design projects, and confirming our leadership in this important aspect of a student's undergraduate training.

We also extend our congratulations and appreciation to Dr. Zhao for her commitment to training the next generation of engineers and innovators.

Best regards,
Sri Krishnan
Chair