Mechanical and Material Engineering

Western Engineering receives $4 million in funding to improve urban climates

Nov 29, 2022

A new Western-led project, developing new tools and technologies to improve accuracy of building energy and climate models, was awarded $4 million by the Canadian government to advance science and technology to fight climate change.

Kamran Siddiqui

“Fighting climate change and mitigating its catastrophic consequences require a collective approach involving conscientious actions from the household level to municipal and governmental levels,” said project lead and mechanical engineering professor Kamran Siddiqui. The project is focused on improving energy and climate models for better assessing the main contributors of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in buildings and their overall impact on the urban climate. “We want to find better ways to support various stakeholders, from individuals and businesses to communities and cities, in developing short-term and long-term mitigation and adaptation strategies and actions,” said Siddiqui. “An important component of this project is knowledge mobilization as this research will not make a meaningful impact if we can’t effectively share it with stakeholders or motivate Canadians to make real change in their lives.” The project, improved multi-scale GHG emissions modeling from urban environments to enhance mitigation strategies, will also promote new policy tools to lower financial barriers for the implementation of these proposed actions to assist the Canadian government in achieving the targets outlined in the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, 2021. Siddiqui, an expert in thermal sciences and fluid mechanics, said the project will also incorporate two-way interaction between building energy and climate models to better understand how building energy usage (constituting over 40% of GHG emissions in Canada) influences the urban environment, which will help to improve future climatic predictions and GHG mitigation strategies. This five-year project was announced by Environment and Climate Change Canada on Nov. 23. It has a budget of $5.56 million, with $4.04 million contribution from the federal government including $3.78 million from Canada’s Climate Action and Awareness Fund.

Big step forward in researching knee pain

Jul 8, 2022

Western engineering professor part of $2.3M grant testing sensors to prevent repeat knee replacements

Western-led research aims to help shoulder arthritis patients

Dec 6, 2021

One of three new projects receiving inaugural Arthritis Society Ignite Research Grants

Mitigating for angle, ‘torque’ of impact key to safer hockey helmets: study

Nov 10, 2021

Western engineers find latest helmet tech could be improved to withstand indirect hits to the head

New process can extend lifetime of metals

Feb 2, 2021

Western materials engineer Hamid Abdolvand and his team discovered important factors into the deformation of metals used in automobiles and nuclear reactors, and developed new models to predict the lifetimes of these materials.

‘Learning to fall’ fuels grad’s performance

Jun 15, 2020

Dean Kernaghan’s portfolio opens with a quote: “You don’t have time to work fast.” Not only has he heard these words often from his mentor in the Engineering student shop, these are words he tries to live by.

Homegrown idea looks to solve ventilator shortage

May 25, 2020

A homegrown idea to create a 3-D printed ventilator might be the answer to a global problem first exposed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘Cough chamber’ shows six-feet not far enough

Apr 14, 2020

A recent Western-led study says two meters might not be far enough away if someone lets an uncovered cough loose in your direction – meaning sneeze and cough etiquette is more than a simple social nicety, but a key to stopping the spread of diseases like COVID-19.

Future-focused network to boost industry foresight

Feb 19, 2020

Mechanical and Materials Engineering professor Tengyuan Zhang, Associate Director of WIN 4.0 (Western’s Industry Network), is utilizing the latest industry revolution – cyber-physical systems – to give businesses the ability to anticipate what will happen in their facilities and address problems even before they happen.