The original ARISE project, the AUV – Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, which aims to compete in San Diego in July 2011, now has a completely new electronics case that was fabricated by Pronox, their industrial partner which operates a machine shop in the Ottawa region.  The flexibility of the case allows programmers and electrical engineering students to reconfigure the hardware to test out different systems while its modularity allows the mechanical students to reuse it in other vehicles.

In fact, as a spin-off of the autonomous submarine, an autonomous boat is being built, which aims to compete in Virginia Beach in June 2011. Due to the extent the two competitions similarity to each other, both vehicles are being designed and built by the same team to maximize the quantity of work that can be reused and applied to both challenges.

Many tests for the boat have already been performed. Controlling the boat through wireless Internet is quite fun! Control systems and simple machine vision have already implemented and development is advancing quickly.

Another spin-off of the autonomous submarine is a project to build an Internet-controlled submarine with the intent of it being commercialized: the Internet-controlled vehicle will be used as a tool to inspect hydro-electric power stations. Currently, dam inspection is done manually which is expensive and dangerous.  This project, with an important grant by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), will improve on the autonomous submarine to produce a vehicle that can inspect the dams for cracks and the penstocks for debris.

Intéressé en aviation et en vol autonome? Le groupe mené par Jean-Philippe Perron vous intéressera. Leur équipe travaille sur l’intégration et le développement d’un auto-pilote pour assister les pompiers à surveiller et à combattre les feux de foret. Ils ont récemment fait l’acquisition de lunettes vidéo,qui seront utilisés lors du contrôle à distance.

Les membres veulent aussi souligner leur implications dans la communauté. Lors du 9 novembre, le groupe de robotique a présenté leurs projets à des jeunes de 11e et 12e année lors d’une journée spéciale au musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada. Les jeunes (et quelques adultes aussi) ont bien aimés contrôler le bateau dans une piscine de 400 litres installé pour l’occasion. Il a pu être remarqué avec amusement que le système de reconnaissance visuel contrôlant le robot suivait plus que la bouée orange, mais aussi les personnes habillés de couleur vive. Quel niveau d’avancement technologique quand même!

Si vous voulez plus d’information sur ARISE ou voulez vous joindre à nos projets, visitez notre site web www.ariselab.ca ou venez nous voir au SITE 3041!

For more information about ARISE or would like to join our projects, visit our website www.ariselab.ca or come see us in SITE 3041!

Now how exactly do we do this? The list is too numerous to outline here, however our latest idea is to work closer with Carleton, giving us a chance to compete with them and show them how we do things here at uOttawa. Also, by working together, it allows us to plan bigger events for you, gives us access to more resources, and generally makes planning events easier for everyone.

This semester, they invited us to an annual event of theirs, Castiglone’s birthday. If you don’t know who this fine chap is, he is the inventor of a theorem allowing you to determine the forces in an indeterminate structure. He will either be your best friend or your worst enemy when getting into theory of structures. For the event, Carleton goes out to a bar, usually on campus, drinks, eats cake, and recites poems about their favorite structural engineer. That’s just fun for the entire department, I think.

Also held this semester was the small bridge competition with Carleton. We have been in it for a number of years now and it is a bridge building competition where the “secret ingredient” is popsicle sticks. The turnout this year was the best for us in two years, even though there wasn’t a single civil engineer on the team. The team from uOttawa did admirably, placing near the bottom at 8th place out of 9 teams. Next year, the competition comes back to uOttawa and we are looking for a win, so start dreaming up a design and testing it. If you are interested in the competition, you should come and see us in our office CBY A08: we have a comfy couch.

But don’t think that we redemption is impossible this year. The national popsicle stick bridge building, or big bridge competition, is coming up fast; its only four months away. We are looking to send a few teams who will represent us and place decently among the country’s undergrads. Come see us to sign up.

The National Capital Section (NCS) of CSCE is hosting the annual conference at the end of this year. This means that the possibilities for networking are huge and it’s super easy to get to, so there’s no excuse not to come! There will be a people from all different types of civil engineering, from water resource to structural. Come out and talk with professionals, and start that love affair with the type of civil engineering that’s just right for you. It’ll cost you a bit of cash, but this is one thing that is well worth the expense.

The CFES is your federal representative body. Its elected executive is comprised of engineering students from all over the country working to implement leadership and technical skills amongst their members. Moreover, they organize numerous conferences that gather students and industry leaders from all over Canada with the aim of facilitating networking opportunities. Also available are complementary education courses, which are open to all CFES members.

This coming January, I will attend the CFES congress: a one week conference held in St-John’s, Newfoundland. The CFES Annual General Meeting will be held at this conference.

ESSCO is the provincial representative body that creates a link between the engineering faculties of Ontario universities. Its goals are similar to those of the CFES in that they aim to improve leadership and networking. They also strive to help their members become active members of the engineering community while they are studying as well as after graduation. They keep close ties with Professional Engineers Ontario and even collaborate with them for the organization of a conference. They also keep good ties with Ontario Society of Professional Engineers as well as with the Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering, to whom they sometimes lobby issues on behalf of their members. Every year, they undertake a study relating to a subject that affects engineering students. This year, they will present a report to the deans of their member universities that will evaluate the need to improve the teaching of soft skills in engineering curriculums.

En tant que votre vice-présidente aux affaires externes, je vous représente auprès de la fédération canadienne des étudiant(e)s en génie (FCÉÉG) et d’Engineering Students Societies’ Council of Ontario (ESSCO).

La FCÉÉG est votre corps représentatif fédéral. Ses élus sont des étudiants en génie de partout au pays qui œuvrent à instaurer auprès de leurs membres des compétences en matière technique et en leadership. De plus, ils organisent de nombreuses conférences qui rassemblent des étudiaient de partout au pays ainsi que des leaders d’industrie dans le but d’offrir des opportunités de networking. Ils offrent aussi des cours d’éducation complémentaire qui sont disponible à tous leurs membres.

Au mois de janvier, je participerai au congrès de la FCÉÉG, une conférence d’une semaine qui aura lieu à St-John’s Terre Neuve. C’est à cette conférence qu’aura lieu l’Assemblée Générale Annuelle de l’organisme.

ESSCO est le corps représentatif provincial qui rassemble les facultés de génie des universités ontariennes. Ces buts ressemblent ceux de la FCÉÉG en ce qui concerne le networking et les compétences en leadership. Ils désirent voire à ce que leurs membres deviennent des membres actifs de la communauté d’ingénierie, pendant leurs études et après. Ils gardent des liens concrets avec Professional Engineers Ontario et collaborent même avec eux pour organiser une conférence. Ils gardent aussi de bons liens avec Ontario Society of Porfessional Engineers et Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering auprès desquels ils font parfois du lobbying au nom de leurs membres. Chaque année, ils entament une enquête portant sur un sujet qui touche les étudiants en génie. Cette année, ils présenteront un rapport aux doyens de leurs universités membres qui évaluera le besoin d’améliorer l’enseignement des compétences non techniques dans les curriculums d’ingénierie.

The winter Iron Ring will be happening sometime in March. I will be putting together an Iron Ring committee made of myself and students who are graduating that semester. I am doing this so that the grads can be a part of their Iron Ring and have say in the matter.  The grads on the committee can keep the other grads up to date on what is happening and ask for their input.

The other event that will be happening next semester will be a MATLAB tutorial for undergraduate students. MATLAB is a program that is used in every engineering discipline in courses and in the workforce. The tutorial will be taught by professors who know all of the secrets of the program. The date of tutorial has not been decided yet, but you can bet you’ll hear about it when we’ve got it all planned out.

Thus purely on an academic basis, we present to you the Bodine Value.

The Bodine Value is an easy way to scientifically determine the usefulness of a given alcoholic beverage by leveraging the powerful forces of Math. It can be calculated using the formula of (Volume * Alcohol Content) / Cost. The result is that you are given a value against which you can compare the relative drunkenness-for-cheapness of different drinks. That is to say, multiply the volume of the container by the percentage of alcohol by volume and divide the result by the cost. For example, one can purchase 12 bottles of Labatt Blue for $21.95. With a total volume of 4092ml, an alcohol content of 5%, and a total cost of 21.95, our formula becomes (4092* 0.05) / 1.6625 = 9.3. A respectable Bodine Value.

If we are down to only a few hypothetical dollars, however, we may be looking for a higher value. A 12-pack of PBR ranks in at 12.73, a single Colt 45 at 15.29, and a jaunt across the border to Quebec to purchase the 10.1% Labatt Bleue could net you a value of 28.72. These values are based on Beer Store/LCBO/SAQ prices rather than bar value – the Bodine Value of which is inevitably lower due to the high cost of alcohol at bars.

When visiting these reputable establishments for the scholarly pursuit of the comparison of economic values, a pint is 473 mL, a shot is 44 mL, and a pitcher is 1773.9 mL. Thus a five-dollar pint of 5% has a value of 5, a shot of any 40% at 5$ is 3.52, and a pitcher of 5% beer at $10 is 8.8.

It is the sincere hope of this researcher that these values spur the read on to increased research into the field of economics and consumer behaviour. The way in which pricing is perceived and acted upon by the consumer can have a direct economic impact on the individual economic actors and those around them. Ultimately, it is only through rigorous peer-reviewed experimentation that we will advance this delicious field of study.

Google Maps has added bike routes to their ‘Get Directions’ option. Before, you could get directions to and from anywhere in the city by car, public transit, or by foot.  In a world where the population is becoming more and more conscious of their carbon footprints, this is a useful tool which will show cyclists the best route to get from point A to point B.

With this new software, Google takes into account the roads with existing bike lanes, avoiding major highways, dedicated cycling paths, NCC’s recreational pathways, and the elevation of the ground – whether it is fairly flat or really hilly. From this, they spit out a suitable bike route for you to get where you need to be.

This new tool will be especially useful for urban dwellers that don’t have a car. Living in the heart of the city allows you access to everything you could possibly need, usually within walking distance. Using your bicycle just gets you there faster and lets you carry more back home!

Numerous students cycle to school, even with the new U-Pass available. Students choose to cycle to avoid the crowded OC Transpo buses, prevent pollution, get their daily exercise, or just because they like the feeling of the wind in their hair.

If you cycle to school, you probably have your regular route over the bridge from Quebec, along the transitway from Hurdman or Alta Vista, or through the pot-holes of Sandy Hill. With Google biking directions, you can learn about bike paths you probably didn’t know about, close-by roads with bike lanes instead of pot-holes and hills, and a quieter route with less traffic.

When you pull up the Google map of the area you want, click ‘Get Directions’  and you will see the icons for walking, public transit, cars, and now biking. When you click on the bicycle icon, the map changes. It now shows you dark green lines for dedicated bike trails, light green lines for streets with bike lanes, and dotted green lines for other streets suitable for biking.

All you have to do is type in where you are, and where you are going, and it maps out your route in blue.

(At press time, the application wasn’t up and running for Ottawa, but it can be expected to launch very soon.)

This year, the University of Ottawa had the honour of hosting the National Conference on Women in Engineering (NCWIE) with the help of the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES). Student delegates from universities all over Canada poured into the city and checked into the Holiday Inn & Suites Downtown for one of the most memorable weekends they will ever experience in their academic years. These lucky students were about to get acquainted and receive the benefit of years of experience from some of the most high profile and successful women engineers from industry, the public sector, and academia. To what end? This year’s theme, Expanding Horizons, encapsulated the purpose of NCWIE and ignited the imaginations of a hundred young men and women in engineering who congregated here in Ottawa and heard the inspirational accounts of professional women who found their own paths and expanded their horizons in the field of engineering

what is ncwie?

If you’ve never attended, you may find yourself wondering what the purpose of a conference such as NCWIE is? NCWIE began in 1990 at Queen’s University thanks to their engineering society, and in 2003 became the national conference as we know it now. NCWIE was started so that female students could understand the issues faced in the past and issues they could find themselves facing in the future, from anything regarding negative stereotypes, to working in a male-dominated field, to encouraging more women to become engineers. Now, the conference celebrates the accomplishments and achievements of women in engineering by offering speaker sessions and workshops. Topics include how to improve current conditions, and understanding and developing strategies for the future workforce. NCWIE also provides social events and networking opportunities to enhance the experience of those attending.

what horizons are left to expand?

Now you may be thinking, “That’s great! But, is a conference like NCWIE really necessary? I’m a female student in engineering and I’m wondering what horizons are left to expand?”

First off, thank you for having that thought! There are so many avenues left to explore and issues to be addressed pertaining to women in the field of engineering; some of which were discussed at NCWIE 2010, including: the perception of engineering, the enrolment of female students in engineering disciplines, the career opportunities for women in engineering, the roles of engineers in public policy, and so many more! Long gone are the days when a woman in engineering was considered unusual. We now find ourselves with the paths forged and cleared. It is now our turn take advantage of the work that’s been done for us and to help women in engineering touch all aspects that might be interesting to them, reach out to others in the discipline, and essentially expand our horizons; for ourselves, and for the next generation of women in engineering.

engineering simply not perceived favourably

One particular thing to keep in mind is that we are all currently benefitting from women friendly environments (ie. the workplace, post-secondary institutions) that didn’t necessarily exist as they do now 60 years ago. Today, student enrolments in universities are tipped slightly toward the female majority and yet the enrolment of female students in engineering is still disproportionately low. We are all told since kindergarten that we can be anything we want. So why do so little female students gloss over engineering when it offers so much? A speaker at NCWIE, Jana Levison, PhD and EIT (Engineer-In-Training), Acting Executive Director at OCEPP (Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy) asked these questions during her speaker session Expanding Horizons Through Civic Engagement. Dr. Levison consulted the Engineers Canada website and found that enrolment of female students into engineering disciplines has not increased at the rate that was originally hoped for and that fewer women who study engineering go on to do graduate studies (compared to their male peers) and very few women who earned a B.Eng or B.A.Sc. get their P.Eng designations.  Dr. Levison attempts to explain these trends by examining how engineering is perceived.

how engineering is perceived by female high school students

At the high school level, she theorizes that engineers are in the public eye enough for the discipline to gain popularity on its own; “You don’t make an appointment every year with an engineer the way you would with your family physician.” For many university applicants, engineering isn’t even on their radar. Perhaps if engineering were more consistently in the minds and in the public view would high school girls really start to see engineering as a viable, engaging, rewarding, and challenging career path. Perhaps then we would finally see a significant increase in university applications to engineering disciplines on behalf of female students. And, if engineering were perceived better and more female students were to apply to these programs and accept, we might soon see a levelling out of the gap in enrolment between male and female students.

How else can we improve the perception of engineering? Dr. Levison presents a second point that is related to the first; with less general attention from the public comes less general knowledge. The engineering field is very large and is split into many disciplines, and those, split into many more specializations. How can one really capture the imagination and spark a lifelong passion for learning within female students who might be considering engineering when even the information about the engineering disciplines on the websites of engineering faculties and departments sound so very incomplete; vague even, and sometimes downright boring! What is there to get excited about?  You only need to visit a few university websites (even ours) to see what I’m talking about. There is a definitive lack of concrete examples about the applications that are possible through studying engineering. One might see something like “Health Systems” listed (in the case of software engineering), but that’s it. How can one really even begin to grasp the many venues and opportunities that exist in such a general statement?  How can one imagine that through their studies, they might develop an iPad app to help doctors with their tasks and get featured in the Ottawa Citizen (such as was the case recently for three Carleton University grads) when there are no more details than that? How can someone who is researching programs and sitting on the fence about engineering decide to commit if there is such a lack of complete and inspiring information from the very institutions that offer the programs of study? Of course, there are still female students in engineering but don’t you think there could be more if some things about perception were changed? I think it is clear that universities should take the lead on the issue of female student enrolment, and I believe, just as Dr. Levison expressed, that the first issue to be tackled is that of the perception of the discipline.

how engineering is perceived by female university students

Dr. Levison also pointed out that the enrolment of female students in engineering graduate studies is even lower than what it is at the undergraduate level (compared to male students). One might wonder, what might graduate studies in engineering offer? Especially since engineering undergrads are very well prepared to enter the workforce and for the most part can start with very satisfying salaries. Indeed, I ask you what is there to be gained?  More?  More of what? Again, this is probably an issue related to perception and lack of information which in turn can lead to plain disinterest in pursuing postgraduate degrees. At least NCWIE featured some speakers from academia, and so for those delegates who attended the talks the subject is somewhat less ambiguous, but for the rest of us, what should we expect? Yes, there are information fairs specifically on grad studies but I’m left wondering…is that it?

On the subject of professional engineers, you may have guessed it by now, but again, less female engineering students get their P.Eng licences…again I ask you why? Some find that it’s not necessary for their careers, and some leave the engineering disciplines entirely, and some do get it eventually. Whatever the reason, it is clear that it’s a shame that there aren’t more women in engineering who become officially licensed. This trend only compounds the perception problem.

lucky girl: stop undermining yourself!

When asked how they got into engineering, or how they landed a job – which led to their career, or how they happened to benefit from some opportunity, a lot of the female speakers said something to the effect of “Oh, I was lucky and I happened to talk to someone/do something/read something, etc”. This turn of phrase actually got a bit annoying after a while and I wonder if anyone else noticed the trend and felt the way I do?

I felt frustrated when some of the speakers would use this phrase because I felt they were undermining their personal achievements. What is luck? Luck has nothing to do with skill! In contrast, how can engineering have anything else to do but with your skill? It’s why you as students must read and study and be tested on our knowledge and skills; it’s to be sure we won’t screw things up when the opportunity to do something big, something significant, something important comes along. Being lucky is winning a draw; it’s something that requires zero skill and just might happen to you based on random probability. Now being offered an opportunity to interview for you dream job, or a high-profile career, or research, that is not luck and it’s not being at the right place at the right time!

What these women were describing, and kept chalking-up to being lucky, was actually the fruits of their labour. They had prepared themselves with their studies, work experience, and community involvement to be able to accept these opportunities once they presented themselves. That is not luck; that is preparation and diligence and should be expected of any competent engineer. It’s their jobs to do all those things, but for whatever reason, maybe modesty, was explained away as luck.

I would like to ask you the reader, to make the effort to prepare yourself for future opportunities such as these and when they come and you are talking about them please don’t explain away your 4 years minimum of study as luck. You’ve invested in yourself, and these women in themselves, and I think that you are entitled to recognize your own efforts that brought you to those points. When opportunity comes, it might be a surprise opportunity that comes unexpectedly, it might be something that you’ve been planning for and applying for, it might be something else, just remember that the reason you’ll be able to accept those opportunities is because you were prepared. You didn’t just get lucky; you guaranteed yourself that you’d be prepared.

I think that makes a difference to say one was lucky versus one was prepared.  I think saying you were lucky really undermines your achievements and preparation. I think if you are an engineering student you should probably get it into your head to avoid explaining your actions or accomplishments with luck and to embrace your hard work and preparation no matter how modest you may normally be!

now what?

The situation is evident; growth of the number of enrolment of female students has never been that good and is now dipping slightly. Now, one’s gender certainly doesn’t make one a better student or engineer, and I don’t believe that we should have more women in engineering for the sake of having more women in engineering. What I believe is that it’s a shame to have so many young, intelligent, and capable women, not even consider engineering for themselves, either because it’s not talked about enough or because the perception is not that great. Hopefully, the delegates at NCWIE will return to their institutions with a renewed sense of awareness of the situation for female student in engineering and will explore more horizons on how to make the discipline more appealing to high school students, and will explore the graduate studies options, and will register as EITs to eventually get their P.Eng licenses.

get motivated!

NCWIE is great conference to attend for both male and female students and I highly recommend that you participate next time. I encourage you all to help change the perceptions of engineering and help encourage young women to enrol in the programs. NCWIE is an effective eye-opener and vehicle for discussion on many topics. Here I focused on perceptions but there are many more horizons left to expand!

Mechatronics combines the disciplines of mechanical and electronic engineering together with computing and IT systems.  Competitors (individuals or groups of students) entries will be judged based on the ingenuity of their projects and their presentation abilities.

Authors are invited to send an abstract (maximum: 200 words), a short biography (maximum: 150 words), and a headshot (JPEG).  The abstract will be the basis for project selection, therefore we advise authors to focus on describing the details of projects concisely.

Please send the abstract by January 15, 2011 to register@omc2011.ca.  Authors will be notified of acceptance by February 1, 2011.

Further instructions (poster specifications, presentation format, cash prize amounts, etc.) will also be provided.

For more information visit www.omc2011.ca or email us at info@omc2011.ca.

Acts received donations in their name for EWB and the act with the most money at the end of the night won an encore. Wich brought in a total of $70, follow by Ian Nichols with $40 and, finally, Jean-Pierre with $35 dollars. All the bands jammed out for the encore act, which included a surprise performance from EWB Carleton member Simon Mack on the drums. In total, the event raised about $200, all of which will go towards sending EWB volunteers overseas next summer. EWB would like to thank Community Life Services and the School Spirit fund for supporting the event financially; it would’ve been impossible without these two organizations.

Ingénieurs sans frontières (ISF) a tenu la première édition de « Battle of the Bands » vendredi passé. Ce fut toute une soirée! Cinq talents locaux ont performé pour une audience d’environ 100 personnes. Les premiers à prendre l’estrade furent le groupe Wich, qui a joué du rock classique ainsi que quelques morceaux originaux. En deuxième lieu, ce fut Jean-Pierre Simard, un étudiant en génie qui a séduit la foule avec des pièces acoustiques. Par la suite, des influences de punk et de ska ont marqué la performance de Cowards. Au quatrième rang, ce fut le retour du rock classique avec Last Call et finalement, Ian Nichols a conclut la soirée accompagné de Claire Hutchinson, membre de l’exécutif de ISF, au piano.

Les musiciens ont reçu des dons pour ISF en leurs noms. L’acte qui a reçu le plus de dons à la fin de la soirée c’est mérité un encore. Wich a rapporté un total de 70$, suivi d’Ian Nichols avec 40 $ et Jean-Pierre Simard avec 35 $. Les groupes se sont réunis sur l’estrade pour un encore collaboratif, qui a comprit une performance surprise d’un membre de l’ISF de Carleton, Simon Mack à la batterie. L’événement a prélevé un total 200$. Tous les profits iront envers les bénévoles de L’ISF qui se rendront en outre-mer l’été prochain. L’ISF souhaite remercier les services de vie communautaire ainsi que le fonds d’esprit d’école pour leur appui financier; le tout aurait été impossible sans l’aide de ces deux organismes.