Iron Warrior: Volume 5, Issue 6

8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 5, Issue 6

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SEPTEMBER 1984

I W RA FORUM FOR ENGINEERING CONCEPTS

BRE KING FROM TR DITIONJohn KeenIron Warrior StaffEngineerng is a cash-for-life profession, right? So why do I need to botherthinking about doing anything else? Ifyou currently subscribe to this philosophy, then you should carefully rethink

your attitude toward your career whileit is still in the future and not in the past.As engineering students, we receive athorough and rigorous education concerning the application of math andscience to practical problems. John GEvans, the President of the CanadianCouncil of Professional Engineers(CCPE), gives the following definitionof engineering: understanding andappreciating the discoveries and advances of sciences and employing them andadapting them for the benefit of mankind . To meet this goal, engineersmust

~ ~ ~ h ~ ; : : . ica lSome ~ n g i n e e r i n g students interpretthis definition in a narrow, technicalsense: engineers are intended only tosolve problems using math and science,and these problem must lie within thecope of the field of engineering inwhich they were educated (civil, mechanical, etc.).

Other students view their responsibilities in a wider sen e, and include suchactivities as management and sales inbusinesses associated with engineering.Experience has shown that engineerscan make valuable contributions inthese areas, and that an eng ineeringeducation is a key element in thissuccess.Onl y a few students consider careersin what might appear at first to be nonengineering jobs. Although most engineers have traditionally occupied them selves with pure engineering or management and sales related to engineering,there is no reason why engineerscannotenjoy similar success in non-traditionalfields. Each individual engineer has natural gifts and talents as well as an engineering education. By confining oneselfto traditional activities, these naturalabilities maybe wasted. Therefore, eachindividual should choose a career whichwill enable him or her to fulfill his or herfull potential, although such a careermight not be considered traditional.The key to success is to combine naturalgifts with a formal engineering educationin a way such that both are used inacomplementaryand synergistic manner.Engineers can enjoy success in manynon-traditional fields, such as: musicand the arts; law; medicine; economics,commerce and finance; public officeand politics. Some notable precedentsare discussed below.

Many engineers have artistic talents.Barry Wills, a Systems Design professor

combined these skills to develop theelectroencepha logram (EEG), a valuable tool for today's brain researchers.He continues to hold a membership inthe IEEE. Medicine would be an excellent field of endeavour for an engineerparticularly concerned about the sickand disabled members of our society.Economics, commerce and financerequire strong analytical skills as well asgood judgement. Most engineers couldexcel in such work. Consider RichardM. Thomson, who received his B.A.Sc.in mechanical engineering from the UofT in 1955. Since 1977, he has servedas the President, Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer of the TorontoDominion Bank. Economics, com-merce and finance remain s an area ofhigh potential for engineers.. le is a Lrong demand for e g t ~neers in public administrati on as well asprivate management. Unfortunately,la wyers continue to domi nate Canadia npolitics. In West Germany and Japan,however, many legislators have ascience or engineering background. Theeconomic ucce of these two nationsdemonstrates the need for more engineers in our government. Frank Milleris an engineer who has enjoyed greatuccess in the Ontario provincialgovernment. After graduating with adegree.in chemical engineering in 1949 ,he first worked as a research engineerand then as a production engineer. Following this, he went into sales . He waselected as an MPP in 1971 and sincethen has served as Minister of Health,Minister of Natural Resources, Treasurer and Minister of Industry andTrade.

Barry Wills pioneering new developments in ele t roni musicMr . Miller recently urged engineeringstudents to find jobs in non-traditionalareas, such as man aging high-tech firms

or starting up their own businesses. He

here at Waterl oo, is a talented musicianwho combines this talent with his engineering proficiency so that he can pioneer new developments in the world ofelectronic music. Many popular sciencefiction writers such as Robert Heinlein,Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov areengineers or have a math and physicseducation. Arthur C. Clarke, for exam-ple, is still a member,of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and has written numeroustechnical papers in addition to his manyacclaimed novels.Dr. John C. Lilly is both an engineerand a medical doctor. After studyingelectrical engineering, he went on tostudy medicine and neurology. He

(continued on page 6)

IN THIS ISSUE:The Cost of Education 5The Great Debate 9

The Roots of Success 11


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IRON WARRIORTHE IRON WARRIOR MATURESFrank BaylisEDITOR

The IRON WA RRIOR, since its firstissue, has varied greatly in terms of con-tent and style of presentation. Therehave been times when the paper closelyresembled a technical journal, othertimes the paper ha focused more onsocial events put on by the engineeringsociety. A few issues have simply been acollection of any available articles. Thenumber of issues per term has also beeninconsistent.This lack of consistency in the IRONWA RR IOR from one term to the nextstems fr om the fact it is a relatively newpaper, lacking a standard format. Thus,it has always been up to the editor at thetime to decide on the for mat fo r eachiss ue. The result was a new paper thatwas often a close reflection of theamount of effort extended by the par-ticular editor and his or her personalinterests.

The IRON WARRIOR should be anewspaper that reflects the interests ofUniversity of Waterloo's engineeringstudents. The newspaper, by coveringthe social activities of the students aswell as containing technical articles canbest cater to its full audience. To achievethese goals, certain controls are neededto set the IRON WARRIOR in thedesired direction and to establish conti-nuity from one term to the next. We will.also need a team of enthusiastic peoplethat include both students at all levels ofstudy as we ll as professors. Together wecan set in motion th e beginning of asolid and res pected newspaper.

I f you are interes ted in helping outwi th the newspsper or becoming a staffwriter, leave a message in the editor'sbox in the Eng Soc office.

FROM THE DEAN S DESKOn the evenings of September 26thand 27th, the Office of Developmentand Alumni Affairs and the Faculty ofEngineering will be conducting another

phonathon aimed at helping alumnifund raising. Last term's phonathonraised over 2 5,000. and the previousone, close to $ ,000., so it is obviousthat phpnathons are provingsuccessful.I t is also a fun evening (or thoseinvolved as anyone from last year cantell you. First prize this timeis one wee kfortwo in Florida, includingaccommo-dation and travel and second prize is aweekend for two in Montreal. Eachevening will have special prizes also.Remember the event qualifies forP**5 pointsAlumni funds go directly to supportthe undergraduate program. Turn outfor an evening of fun and participate inraising funds to improve your educa-tion.

As I have discussed in previous lettersto the Iron Warrior the engineeringfaculty is suffering from problemsrelated to declining university fund ing.There is no doubt that a quality ofeducation maintenance fund (QEMF)would have provided some fin ancialrelie f from this situation. This isindicated by the fact that both theUniversity of Toronto and Queen'sUniversity ma intain similar studentinitiated funds for this purpose. In myletters I have als.o indicated that we areconsidering an additional charge forengineering students in order to solvethe financial situation we now findourselves in. This is reflected in a reportwhich 1am preparing for the University,asking for an additional $60 per studentper term. This charge is approximately$10 per course per term. It is an attemptto recover costs associated with suppliesand equipment maintenance and is not

IRON W RRIORSTAFF

intended for equipment and classhandouts. (A significant proportion ofthis is paper).The $60 fund does not address theproblem of equipment replacement orthe need to stay ato p of new technologyin fields like CAD / CAM , processcontrol, graphics or similar fast movingareas. I am optimistic that industry andthe province will help us with these goalsas has been the case in the past.

2

To make my arguments more clear 'for you, I have provided excerpts frommy report to the university. Please readthem and, if you have comments, feelfree to write to me or to the IronWarrior Yours sincerely,Dean Lennox.

EDITOr. WRITERS ADVERTISING LAYOUT PHOTOGRAPHERSFrank I3aylis Chris Dubelaar

John Keen Jacques Desjardinsbead) Andrew Paterson head)Micheal BayerEr i c NordinKris Shah head)Gordon StrachanEric Nordin Simon BirchEddie Fung Harold BronsaDon Pecena

Gordon Strachan John KeenEr i c NordinPi er re SchipperRob TrompJohn Willemsma

The IRON WARRIOR i s a publicat ion of the Engineer i ng Societya t the University of Waterloo. I t s purpose i s to p ro mo teprofessional awareness whithin the Engineering Faculty andto inform Engineers of the socie ty act iv i t ies .

Mai l ing AddressIron Warriorc/o Eng Soc AUn i versi ty of WaterlooWaterloo, Ontario


3/12

IRON ARRIORPresident s editorial

Gord DennyNow that we're all back on campus, ty balancing themselves while walking,I'll bet the one thing nobody has let alone balancing a budget. Thethought about is elections. The four debt is so high now that they'll be finanpositions: secretary, treasurer, vice- cially crippled for at least the next 2president and president, are up for grabs years. The sad part of it all is that thethis term. Candidates for vice-president newly elected executive had nothing toand president must be in 2B or 3B at this do with the affair, but now it is theirmoment. duty to rectify it.I'm not sure how seriously the student So, when the candidates do showpopulace regards these elections. But jf themselves next month, listen to whatthere is anythingaside from your studies they say, ask them nasty questions, askthat you should take seriously while the people who do know them whatyou're here, it is these elections. they're like. And to those people whoUnfortunately, there is one student are on the line between running and notsociety on campus which found itself running, go for it. Life's short and I can

1 .. yan uliv wh ' y y .in my life.

SEPTEMBER 1984 3

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AWARDS

The following award are available toundergraduate engineering tudents.The decision criteria for each award andapplication forms are available fromNeedle Hall. So be optimistic andmake an applicationBell Canada Engineering Award(Available to all 2BChevron Canada Re ource Ltd. Scho-larship. (Available to all 38)John Deere Ltd. Scholarship. (Availa-ble to all 3B Mechanical)Charles Deleuw Scholarship. (Available to all 3B Civil)Dow Chemical Inc. Scholar hip inChemical Engineering. (Available to all

Murata-Erie orth America, Inc.Award. (Available to all3B Electrical)Noreen Energy Scholar hip (Available to all 2B Chemical & Mechanical)Parad ne Canada Ltd. Award. (Available to a112B Electrical)Stearns-Catalytic Limited Scholarship.(Available to 2nd or 3rd year)M.S. Yolles & Paltners Ltd. Scholarship. (Available to 3B Civil)J. P. Bickell Foundation Bursaries.Deadline: September 30, 1984 . (Available to all 2B)Canada Packers Scholarship. Deadline:October IS , 1984. (Available fo 2BChemical and Mechanical)3B Chemical) Emco Bursary. Deadline: SeptemberRandy Duxbury Memorial Award. 30, 1984 . (Available to all Mechanical(Available to all3B Chemical) and Electrical)

MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ready Mix Concrete Association ofLtd. Scholar hip. (Available to all 3B Ontario Scholarship. Deadline: Octo-Electrical) ber 30, 1984. (Available to all 3B)

For more information about the Foundationor any of it programmes. please ('olllact:The Sandford Fleming FoundationRoom 4332,Carl Pollock Hall885.()910 or K l5-1211 ext. 3440Registered Charitable Organization (no.0462275-21-15)

At the Engineering Convocation on May 26, 1984 the Foundation presented 11 silver medals forexcellence in either Co-operative Programme Proficiency or Academic Achievement, to thefollowing students:

CO-OPERATIVE PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY MEDALSteven H.S. HUANG, Chemical EngineeringMichael H VAN DUSEN, Civil EngineeringAmrik S BHOGAL, Electrical EngineeringRoss N. TOMAN, Mechanical EngineeringSteven F SHEVELL, Systems Design Engineering

t ttl. , 1

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT MEDALStephen L HUBER, Chemical EngineeringGary J.E. KARMER, Civil EngineeringMatthew A HURAS, Electrical EngineeringPaul F GALPIN, Mechanical EngineeringKurt D RUEB, Systems Design EngineeringGregory L SMITH, Electrical Engineering.

Management Science Option

I t ,. .


4/12

f

Dave Allan4A Electrical

IRON W RRIOR

PLUMBERS'FORUM

Jean Benoit NadeauK 3

Why did you choose engineering asyour career?

Jouke HaapanenK01

SEPTEMBER 9 4 4

Ken DavisK05I wanted to be able to work indesigning electrical circuits whilemaking a lot of money.

My father is an engineer and I hadgood marks in physics and 2 + 2 = 5 I had to live with a mathie brother so Idecided to do one step better thanhim.

Because my father is a U of W mathprof.

Monica Marcovici2B Systems

John Whatman2A Electical David Madill2B Civil Bill LennoxDean

It almost beats being a starving artist. At the time it sounded fun and Civil engineering seemed to be aninteresting. interest ing, chal lenging andrewarding career.I had been working before I came touniversity and that exposure madeengineering look like it would be fun.That, and I was interested in math andphysics.

FEDER TIONO STUDENTSPLANS ACTNEF LL TERMGord Wiseman

For those Engineering Studentswho tend to forget, the Federation ofStudents is hard at work on yourbehalf. The first Federation Councilmeeting was held on Sunday,September 16, and the fall activitieswere discussed.Federation Hall will, according toFederation President, Tom Allison, beopen on or before Halloween. Even,says Allison, if I am up there myselfserving beer". A manager has alreadybeen hired and is busy getting thingsready for you thirsty Engineers. It wasdecided that the building wouldalwavs be called Federation Hall, but

that a contest would be held to namethe new pub. The contest would beginthis term and end in the next term, sostart thinki ng up good names.The Federation has once againtriumphed in their protection ofstudents' housing rights. Pro ratedrent has been judged illegal. TheLegal Resources Office (CC room 150

or 8860840) has begun to keep fileson leases in an effort to keep on top ofthe situation. It is hoped that this willserve to further assist students withtheir housing problems. All studentsare urged to contribute copies of theirleases.

OTHER NEWSThe Women's Centre is sponsoringa film series (men can come tool)including among other films, Norma

Rae For more information on thefilms and any other Women's Centreactivities, drop into CC room 150 (B)or call ext. 3457.The speakers tour which got off to astrong start with speaker G GordonLiddy, will continue to bring inprominent speakers - moreinformation to come.There will be a referendum inOctober to decide whether Waterloowill continue being a member in theOntario Federation of Students(O.F.S.).For more informat ion onFederation activity, check theFederation Bulletin Boards, drop intothe Fed Office in the CC or call FedInfo number 886FEDS

i k


5/12

IRON WARRIOR

THECOSTOFEDUCATIONSUMMARY

The financial situation in engineeringhas declined dramatically recently. Inaddition to the continuing univer ityunderfunding situation, engineeringfaculties are faced with the ma siveadditional costs of trying to keep up tothe impact of the developments in computer and computer-related technologies. This is not a research need but aneed that recognizes the rather dramaticchanges now tak ing place in engineeringpractice and the obvious implicationsfor engineering education.This proposal addresses only oneaspect of this global problem. We havebeen reasonably successful in acquiringsome types of teaching equipment,especially in the area of computer-related equipment. As recently as three

w e ~ k s ago IBM helped with a donationof over $200,000-worth of PC's for ourWATSTAR II project, which should beavailable for everyone shortly.

The fee in this proposal represents theadditional costs of supplies, maintenance and replacement primarily relatedto the acquisition of this equipment , butalso begins to address problems associated with supplies (materials and papers etc.) associated with the undergraduate program.The fee increase requested is $60. /term per student.

BACKGROUNDThe situation re: finances in Engineer-. ri' cal. h n ra decl' ne in

of the companie ha,e gi\en ubstantialdi counts and everal of the uni\ersitie 'have subsidized the program , but it stilli expensive. Queen's l Jniver. ity isactivel} considering this no\\. Thiapproach may indeed addre the needfor "computer literacy" among generalcollege students but I do not believe it isappropriate to meet the need of mostengineering tudent who require morepowerful personal computer (costingin the $5,000 to $20,000 range) capableof supporting sophisticated languagesand operating systems (eg. FORTRAN,Pascal, C, and UNIX), powerful graphics and communications with mainframe hosts. Furthermore, the rapidevolution of personal computer technology will almost certainly make thosemachines typically elected for studentpurchase obsolete by graduation time.This already has happened at Stevens. Itmay well be, however, that such a technological breakthrough in terms ofcosts and capability is on the horizon,but in the meantime I believe a moreeffective way to approach the challengeof providing "personal computing"resources to our students is for the institution itself to assume the responsibilityfor providing the appropriate environment. This is an absolute must for us ifwe are to remain one of Canada's premier engineering schools. Again, however, the costs are staggering. Michigancharges each student in the engineeringschool $100 per term. This translatesinto $1,000,000 per year and their firstpurchase wa 400 IBM PC's . M1T and

SEPTEMBER 19845

Dean Lennox

I believe Engineering at Waterloo isat the forefront of providing those service in Canada. Over two year ago, wedeveloped our own highly successful"WATSTAR" network of personalcomputers to meet this challenge. Weare now in the proces of expanding thisto an IBM PC network with the help ofIBM. This hould be a ailable shortlyand is quite an exciting y tem. Somefinancial a sistance for the developmentwork was provided by the Univer itythrough the University Academic Development Fund, but personnel, maintenance and supply costs a sociated with'the project have been borne by thefaculty.[n addition, the faculty has, over thepast five years, assumed much of thecost of replacing the keypunch terminals with video terminals including thecost of connection and the ubsequentcost of maintenance and supplies. Thisservice was previously provided byDCS. In my view, we now have a min-imally acceptable inventory of servicesfor our students, but we still have a longway to go. We certainly have more facil-ities than any other program in Canada.The introduction of CAD into many ofour courses is steadily increasing asfaculty become more familiar with theconcepts. We have a head start in thisregard as many of our faculty have ahigh level of computer literacy. Also, Ibelieve there is opportunity for studentsto begin to help us develop educationalsoftware. The limitation is our ownfmanclal ability to acquire the hardware

provincial funding levels has createdserious problems for all equipmentintensive programs in terms of replacingobsolete equipment, but engineering'ssituation has been exacerbated by therapid introduction of computers andcomputer-related technologies into theengineering workplace. Engineeringpractice and education have entered anera of unprecedented change. Developments in computer and communications technology already have hadmajor impact on engineering practicethrough applications in such fields ascomputer-aided design (CAD), com-puter-integrated manufacturing (CI M),computer-aided process control (CAPC)and distributed intelligence computerand communication networks. A recentissue of the Engineering News Recordreferred to the situation as CAE,computer-aided everything.

own are s p e f f l J f ~ S1O:ootr OOf1 eaa'fover the next five years Cal Tech isattempting to prm ide one station forevery three students. These schoolsobviously have tremendous financialresources.

not tile- ability" ~ ~ > _ ; ~ ;

As a result, engineering cducationfaces a twofold challenge: to undertakecreative research and development inthese fields and to integrate the resultingtechnologies into academic programs.To respond to this challenge, (Inincreasing number of universities in theU.S. are requiring all entering studentsto purchase a personal computer typically costing $1,000-$2,000 for use during their studies. Clarkson charges $400per term which pays for the micro overthe four years. Stevens required students to buy Atari 800's in 1982 but nowrequires them to buy DEC Professionals. Drexel requires a Macintosh. Some

FEES AT OTHER INSTITUTIONSSOURCEi) 82/83 OCUA Report

Relative to what has happened in theU.S . ollr gains huyc been somewhatmodest but we un: steadily ncqlllrin'equipment.Over thc past threl. years we llavCbought, borroweu or accepted as giftscomputercquipmcnt tor undergraduatetcaching slich that ollr inventory in thisarca alolle is now $1,08UQO. Some R6courscl, require the usc of the computerand this is incrl. asing steadily. Manystudents arc taking advantage ortllc systcrn to learn word processing, usc visicalc software, lotus 1-2-3, etc. I amoptimistic that we will continue to beable to acquire hardware - eitherthrough direct Provincial support forteaching equipment or through Industrial support.

The purpose of the $60. / term is twofold - one is to help pay for the support,maintenance and supplies of the facilities. The second is that it will help payfor the direct costs associated withxeroxing handouts for classroom use.This has increased substantially recently.

ii) COU Cireulet ter 3464. 1984. . - . . t l l O "fti'i e . . e e eli ............... . f.The H H3 Ontario Council of University Affairs (OClJA) publication - AdvisoryMemorandum 82-XII- lists charges at other schools. Some typical charges are asfollows :

Laurentian:York:

Queens:Ottawa:UBC:

- $20, course in all engineering. science courses.- computer courses have a $50 lab fee- upper year computer science students are charged $100 peryear- all students taking science courses are charged bet\\een $4and $60 per session- administration students are charged S22/ course.- applied science students pay a SI50 equipment fee.- duplication fee in Science and Engineering.- computing time SIOO250/ year.

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ooarer 10 VCR MACHINE 3 MOVIES FOR 1 DAY(NIGHT).A security deposit and proper identification will be required.

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6/12

IRON WARRIORSEPTEMBER 984 6

BREAKING FROM TRADITION continued from page 1)state that over the last three years, ANNUAL EARNINGS BY WORK CATEGORY - ALL C N DFortune 500 companies have lost some-thing like three million job while busi- High High Low Lownesses Ie s than tcn years old have added Count Decile Quartile Median Quartile Decilemore than a million new employees Largely Engineering 11 893 $61,000 $50,400 $42,000 $34,800 $29,300nd that small companies need the dis-ciplined thinking and know-how that is Associated with Engineering 11,762 70 ,000 55,740 45,400 38,000 31,800reflected in an engineering degree. He Non-Engineering 1,275 81,000 62,000 49,500 40,000 33,000advises, the challenge, for many of you,is to engineer your own jobs, through ANNUAL EARNINGS BY PRINCIPAL FUNCTIONSeither innovation or business manage-ment. He conclude. by tating that the OR SERVICE PROVIDED - ALL C N Dfastest growing company in Japan dur-ing the past ten years, has not been atransistor maker or an automobilecompany, but a chain of7-Eleven Food ManagementStores and that there is an alma t end- Administrative Servicesless array of opportunities for doing theobvious a little better or a little more Public Relationsefficiently. Computer Services

f any engineers are worried about Consultingnot achieving finandal uccess in a non- Planningtraditional career, the following data Marketing, Salesshould be reassuring. t reports engi- Production Engineeringneers' salaries for the year 1982 and orig-inally appeared in Engineering Digest, Project Engineeringthe official magazine of the CCPE. ConstructionField Explorationconclusion, all engineers should try Instrumentationto pick a career in which they can fulfill Maintenance Engineeringtheir full human potential. There is no Design Engineer ingreason to fear breaking from tradition. Development EngineeringResearch EngineeringSurveyingTeaching (University)Teaching (Other)Other EngineeringOther Non-Engineering

Dance to new musicFridays and Saturdays2.00 cover4 largest satellite screens in town

ESPN SPORTS S REEN & MTVAll day and nightPIZZA SPECIALS

Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday4 slice pizza with 2 itemsonly $2.00

Try our famous New York Style chicken wings

High High Low LowCount Decile Quartile Median Quartile Decile7,557 $84,000 $65,000 $53,400 $45,000 $38,500

386 60,000 51,300 45,000 39,600 33,00034 82,700 48,500 42,692 36,000 32,000

589 54,500 47,000 39,000 33,000 28,4002,555 65,000 54,000 44,000 36,000 30,000917 59,100 50,000 43,000 36,420 30,500

984 64,800 51,971 42,000 35,000 30,0001,012 54 000 45,000 37,000 31,980 28 0803,026 54,660 47,000 40,000 33,400 29,000635 60,000 49,000 40,393 33,000 27 500216 68,481 55,000 45,600 36,000 30,000287 50,000 46,128 40,200 34,400 29,500676 50,000 45 ,000 39,400 33,400 30,0002,307 51 ,000 44,400 37,800 31,025 27,200842 55 ,000 47,000 40,140 34,000 29,000685 57 000 50,000 43,000 35,400 29,40045 55 ,000 43,000 35,200 29,626 25,000462 65,000 57,146 49,273 42,000 35,000

315 44,800 40,600 38,950 36,000 32,634774 53,600 46,000 40,000 34,000 29,000365 65,000 53,952 45,000 37,000 31 ,020

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TH GREG GODOVITZSAND I SATURDAY SEPT 29AlsoFM FRIDAY SEPT 28

DAVID WILCOX FRIDAY ocr 5Bring This Ad and U of W Student for Free AdmiSSion

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7/12

WOULD YOUST LL PASSIron Warrior StaffShould someone be granted a degreewithout having passed all of theircourses? While the answer may at fi rstappear obvious, most feel a degreesignifies the successful completion ofall of the course requirements, thequestion is not resolved.

IRON W RRIOR7

The present regulations at theUniversity of Waterloo allow studentsto continue in their programs andgraduate even though they may havefailed courses, some of which wouldnormally be deemed essential in theeducation of an Engineer. TheAssociation of Professional Engineersof Ontario (APEO) has expressedconcern at certifying s professionalsthose engineers who have not passedall of their core courses. For thisreason , the Undergraduate AffairsCommittee has had considerablediscussion on this topic. ShouldRegulations be changed toaccommodate APEO's concerns, theFaculty of Engineering would then befaced with a dilemma. If someone failsan essential course but still passes theterm, what should be done? Should

the student be required to write amakeup exam? Because of the cooperative system, the course may notbe available the next term the studentis on campus. As well, the course maybe a prerequisite for other courses in

the following term.Changes, if any, would only affect newstudents entering the facultyHowever, as curren t students you canexpress important views on this

touchy subject. If you have an opinionthat you believe is worth considering,write a letter to the Editor of IRONWARRIOR

CO-ORDINATION DEPARTMENT DATESSepteaber 28, Friday 4:00 p.m. Last day to submit re8ume - please attempt to8ubmit re8umes to co-ordinator at ~ t u r n to.. Campu. interviews. 25 typed copies-8 1/2 x I IOctober 5, Friday 11:00 a.m. Job application forms available

The Want Ads available - Needles HallOctober 9, Tuesday 12:00 noon All job application rorms submitted ExOctober 10, Wednesday Late job descriptions posted on bulletinboardsOctober 29 - November 16 Employer interviewsNovember 15, Thursday 11:00 a.m. Pick up student rankings formNovember 16, Friday 4:00 p.m. All employer and student rankings submitted .hlNovember 27, Tuesday Acceptance of employment and studentinterviews(watch boards for exact dates)December 27, Thursday Work term begins

ALL CO OP INFORMATION POSTED ON 2CO ORDINATION BULLETIN BO RDSIra G. Needles HallEngineering Lecture Hall 1st Floor2nd Floor near centre foyer

IF YOU H VE NY QUESTIONS OR NEED ADVICE:see your co-ordinator or contact of the following in theDepartment of Co-ordination and Placement.Student Information Counter Ext. 3219 Sandra Hayes Ext.Ext. 2498 Toni Lebold Ext.Olaf Naese Ext. 3782 Janet Metz Ext.Beverlie Robertson Ext.

ALL CO ORDINATORS WILL BE ON C MPUSSeptember 10 19 October 29 - November 16 . . November 27-29 . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Co-ordinator InterviewsEmployer InterviewsAcceptance of Employment

3698377322713040


8/12

CUT BACKS ONNUCLEARRESEARCHDon Pecenaron Warrior Staff

Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories(CRNL) has experienced a systematicreduction in staff over the past severalyears. This has been implemented bynot replacing staff which retire, or leave.The number of students hired has alsoreduced, but this has basically beenimplemented by reducing budgets toindividual divisions within AtomicEnergy of Canada (AECL). Since co-opstudents from this university comprise alarge fraction of the national studentpopUlation at CRNL, the situationdirectly effects the number of researchjobs available through the departmentof co-ordination and placement.The reason for these reductions in thebudget is that management goals at theAECL research company has changedfrom that of pure research to one requiring short term financial rewards formost endeavours. Also, the CANDUnuclear reactor system which focusedthe efforts of most scientists and engineers in the past, has since been completed. A major portion of this technicalstaff will remain on hand as a maintenance team familiar with CANDUtechnology. However, the lack of a newclear goal. along with the requirementto turn a profit, is slowly eroding theexpertise working at CRNL.

Another reason for cutbacks is thepolitical atmosphere. Since the federalgovernment's accomplishments are measured in a time frame of one or twoyears, it is reluctant to invest in longerterm research projects which may produce results in, say, ten years. With an.. unpredictable economy, investment inlong term projects from industry, orfrom the private sector rarely occurs .The solution to the Canadian research question is clearly not cutbacks.We must focu our attention on a newmajor goal, while maintaining the

CANDU technology expertise now atCRNL. Perhaps fusion, often considered the ultimate energy source,should be considered . Other possibilities include research leading to thedevelopment of a feasible and safe hydrogen powered car or electrical energystorage systems capable of poweringelectric vehicles, the implementation ofalternative energy sources, such as wind ,solar, wave, tidal and geothermalpower, should also be considered.In conclusion, besides the effect onemployment, reduction of researchexpenditures will eventually stagnatethe Canadian economy. This will havethe effect of dulling Canad a's technicaledge.

IRON W RRIOR8ENGINEERING RESE RCH T UW

Chris DubelaarIron Warrior taff

Beginning next issue, this column willpresent articles detailing some of theresearch being conducted at UW. Eachissue will centre around one specificProfessor, highlighting his origins,background and major field of study.The areas that will be concentratedupon are those that are the newest andmost radical of technologies, alon g withthose that are most likely to affect youreveryday life, as you know it. Some ofthese specific projects have beenrecently highlighted, such as Dr . Cham-berlain's silicon devices and integratedcircuits (SiDIC) laboratory group'swork on linear imagine arrays whichmade a great deal of noise in 1983.Other groups and individuals have alsomade large contributions to their specific areas of expertise, have been laudedby their technical societies, but havereceived little or no recognition oncampus.This column will thus serve the multiple purposes of:- making undergraduates aware of thetype and extent of research performed here at UW.

Mark Pulver demonstrates b i ~ o l r st icknotation of an STTL N ND gate- bringing to light the opportunitiespresent for those who may wish toente r the field of R D.- and crediting the appropriate individuals whose brainchildren theseresearch projects start out as.With these objectives in mind, theron Warrior will report on those projects which are maintaining UW's reputation as both a top ranking academicinstitution and a hotbed of industrialinnovations, which, for the past 7 yearshas been setting the R D world on itsear.


9/12

IRON WARRIOR

THE GREAT DEBATES 9It is better to debate a question withoutsettling ilth n to settle a question wi h-out debating it

Gordon StrachanIron Warrior Staff

- Unknown

In J978 , a small group of faculty staffand students joined together to form agroup to encourage the debating skillsin engineering students. Together theyfounded the Sir Sanford FlemingDebates. Originally these debates wereheld once a year, in the winter term, butas they grew in popularity, they spreadto all three terms. Although the debatesare sponsored by the Sir Sanford Flem-ing Foundation, all prizes being pro-vided by the Foundation, they arejointly run by the faculty and the Engineering Society.

At first glance, debates may seem tobe confusing to the novice, howeverthey are in fact quite simple. Basically adebate is an argument in which the par-ticipants agree to follow a set of rulescalled points of order. A per on, knownas the speaker, oversees the debate andassures that the points of order are followed. There are many different stylesand types of debates, each with theirown specific points of order. The SirSa nford F leming Debates fo llow theparliamentary style. In this form ofdebate there are four debators, two perside. The side arguing in favour of theresolution is designated the Govern-ment and its two members consist of thePrime Minister and the GovernmentHouse Leader. The opposing side istermed the Loyal Opposition and itsmembers referred to as the Leader of theLoyal Opposition and the HouseLeader of the Loyal Opposition .

Steve Hutton and Anthony Chodas, Systems Design, winners of theWinter Term 1984 Sandford Fleming Debates. Runners up were KevinPrice and Dave Herzstein of Mechanical Engineering. The resolution fordebate was "Be it resolved that , Art should not be subsidized by thegovernment". The winning team was arguing on the negative side.

There are two main types of debates ,off topic and on topic. In an on topicdebate, the de bators know the topicforty-eight hours ahead of time as wellas their positions. Th erefore, they havetime to research and prepare theira p . .is the type of the Sir Sanford FlemingDebates, the topic of debate is chosentwo minutes before the debate and sothe debators have only a brief time toprepare their argument. .

Once the debate starts , the PrimeMinister begins by defining the resolution, as any resolution always has someinherent ambiguity in it. While they cannot violate the letter of the resolution,

the spirit of it is open for definition. Thegovernment will try to make it as hardas possible for the negative side to coun-ter argue and consequently the resolution often gets twisted around to someclever definit ion . The debator thenThese are followed by two minuterebuttals from the Prime Minister andthe Leader of the Opposition in whichthey sum up their arguments.

That's really all there is to debating .When the points of order come intoplay. it becomes more complicated. butthese rule are greatly played down andthe debates are run very informally.

Later in the term the debates will be

organized for each department. Thewinners of each department will then goon to the finals . The debators from thewinning team in the finals each receiveqne hundred dollars while the runnersup receive fifty do llars eac h. Fi rst year

1 au d to ent r as the }have often won in the past.The Sir Sanford Fleming Debates area gre lt sour e of fun and a good challenge fm all those involved . As anyone

who has witlll.'sscd them can tell you,they are extremely animated and entertaining. For all those interested, thelewill be a sign-up sheet posted in the EngSoc office.

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10/12

IRON WARRIOR SEPTEMBER 198410

WPIRG Engineers: Not Mutually ExclusiveStephen Thwaites WPIRG

Many engineers think that the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group(WPIRG) has little to offer them andthat they have even less to offerWPIRG. As past president of WPIRGand as an engineering student, Idisagree.Before explaining why I disagree, 1think a little background on WPIRG isin order. First, WPIRG is studentdirected. The seven student Directorsare elected early in the fall for a two yearterm. If a Director leaves campus for awork term, an interim replacement isappointed until the elected memberreturns. You may have noticed theadvertisements around campus and inthe Imprint for this term's interimDirectors. Secon d, WPIRG is studentfunded. As your fee statement packagesays, the $2.50 fee per term is optionaland refundable. Refunds are availablethe first three weeks of the term from theWPIRG office, Campus Centre room217, during office hours (10:00 a.m. to2:00 p.m., Monday to Friday). Themoney mainly goes to pay our two fulltime staff a researcher and educationalevent organizer, and our part-t ime officeco-ordinator . And yes, if you would liketo see our audited financial statement,we would be happy to give you a copy.Third, a word about Public InterestResearch. As the Caterpiller Tractor adsays There are no simple solutions,only intelligent choices." But the choicesare only intelligent when all the facts areavailable. This is where Public InterestResearch comes in. It is based on the

belief that knowledge should be equallyavailable to everyone. The goal of Pub-lic Interest Research is to present thefacts that may otherwise be obscured.Public Interest Research helps us makeintelligent choices; it doesn't make thechoices for us.An example of WPIRG's researchcan be found in the acid rain issue. In1980, after extensive investigationWPIRG published Acid Rain: TheSilent Crisis One of the very first bookson Acid Rain, it is now a text in American and Canadian high schools anduniversities. WPIRG's involvement inthe issue continues through public education events such as the Acid RainDebate held last fall co-sponsored bythe Political Science Union, where anOntario Hydro spokesman and anenvironmentalist squared off.As far as engineers go, WPIRG hasmore to offer than most of us realize.WPI RG's educational events are topicaland thought-provoking. For instance,one of the lunch time events in the winter term was the film The MondragonExperiment." It was the story of a priestand five Basque engineers. The filmexplained how they started a workerco-operative with 23 members in 1956and how the worker co-operativemovement grew to its present 91 companies and over 18 000 employees.Worker co-operatives are not the onlyideal economi c solution for the Basquesor for anyone. But they are one of theintelligent choices. WPIRG will beshowing this film again this fall.

As Engineers, we are the movers andshakers behind the booming growth inhigh technology. Often we hardly haveenough time to put the hardwaretogether, let alone to look at the socialimpacts of our work. But that doesn'tmake the impacts of technology any lessimportant. Recognizing the importanceof this issue, WPIRG,organized the firstever Canadian Conference on the SocialImpacts of Computerization in thespring of 1982. If you're taking GE 351as your non-technical elective you'llnotice your textbook is the proceedingsfrom that conference.

WPIRG also offers us a heavily used - - - - 'resource centre that you are welcome tobrouse through. It probably won't helpyou with thermodynamics but it couldhelp your non-technical electives. Theresource centre includes sources youwon't find in other campus libraries.Some of the topics covered include:Energy, Toxic Wastes, Third WorldPolitics, Occupational Health andImpacts of Computer Technology.

Just as WPIRG has alot to offerengineers, engineers have alot to offerWPlRG. WPIRG wants to know whatinterests its members, engineers or otherwise. What would you like to see uslook at? Tenant rights? Cheap ways tosave on heating bills? Impacts of hightechnology? Energy options? LetWPIRG know.

WPIRG also wants your technicalexpertise. Your technical knowledge isthe corner stone to solving a variety ofcurrent issues. From controlling asbes-

tos in the workplace to designing moreenergy efficient devices, you are using yourtechnical expertise to solve some currentproblems. If you have a report or project that might interest WPIRG, dropby the WPIRG office and let a WPIRGstaffer xerox a copy for the resourcecentre. On the other hand, if you arelooking for a project topic, technical ornon-technical, why not see if you can getsome ideas from the WPIRG resourcecentre or staff. They would be happy tohelp you.r hope I've shown you that as engineers we have alot to offer WPIRG andthat WPI RG has alot to o ffer us. Keepyour eyes open for the posters advertising our autumn education events. Andremember, feel free to drop by theW PIRG office, room 217 of the Cam-pus Centre weekdays between ~a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Find your place in the sunWin a trip for two to Florida's Gulf CoastHelp your Faculty and help yourself - to a chance at winning a one-week vacationfor two at the Madeira Beach Yacht Club. You can qualify by volunteering for oneof the alumni phonathons listed below.A few hours of your time is all that's required. You will be telephoning UW graduates to ask them to make a donation to support teaching and research in yourFaculty. At the same time, you alO help to update alumni addresses and careerinformation.Last year's phonathons were a big success, with thousands of dollars raised forWaterloo's continued growth and achievement. This year, we hope to double thenumber of calls - and dollarsGET INVOLVEDl Don't worry if you've never asked for pledges before.Full traininl will be provided.To be elilibleRegister for one of the evening phonathons listed below by calling the contactperson for your Faculty at the University of Waterloo: (519) 8 5 ~ 1211Phonamon fllCully 0.1 (.) Con_ISchedule Am Nov. 6.7.8 BouyZanna

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Grand Prize {{One week in Florida, including:.7 nights condo accommodation at the Madeira Beach Yacht Club air-conditioned car with unlimited mileage for one week charter air transportation freshwater pool and health club tennis courtsPScMC n Ql C .Some mlllOf r .U1 . IW''''''C-'' ch.')In .nJ r t - ( u ~ C Jrpuwu Will .pplvPria.c WI valid (0 . 4V year. Suny' lluor IV buuk'na J' 'fn4u,n, tripc-.nnoc Ix ~ f n dunnChua.,n .. tw .. Ynu ... M. .h &nIt

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11/12

THEROOTSOFWATERLOO'sS(]CCESSErik NordinIron Warrior StaffFrom a meagre and somewhatcontroversial beginning, University ofWaterloo has developed one of thefinest Engineering Faculties in the

world. In 1957, McGill, Queens, and Uof T boasted of large and wellestablished Engineering Facultieswhile McMaster, Western and Windsorwere busy getting their faculties off theground. Ignor ing what wasconsidered at the time an overabundance of Engineering Facultiesin Ontario, Waterloo College wasfounded. Despite it s early critics,Waterloo College (later to becomeUniversity of Waterloo) grew at aphenomenal rate. A major reasonbehind .success can be directlylinked to the several novel ideas of thepersons who founded Waterlop.In its first year, the AssociatedFaculty of Waterloo College offeredthe first co,ol2erative education

program in Canada. Co-op wasobviously helpful to students, butmore importantly, this programbegan the trend which would separateWaterloo from the otherwise rigidOntario university structures of lhatera. As the Dean of Engineering, D.T.Wright, said at the time, it (Waterloo)was held in no esteem and thereforehad nothi ng to lose; we could tryanything .This atmosphere would attractmany young and innovative mindslooking to test new ideas that w ~ u dotherwise be stifled by a rigidframework. Dr. Ralph Stanton, anoutstanding mathematian of the latefifties came to Waterloo for preciselythis reason. He was largelyresponsible for beg inning the Facultyof Mathematics and the influx of manyexcellent students and colleagues.

....

IRON WARRIOR11

llllllllllllllil lIIIII11tllllll11111'1(1111 '1111

The Arts Library in 1966 - a building that has grown since then.

The first Dean of Engineering,Doug Wright, was also attracted bythis same atmosphere. Wrightand hiscolleagues had several ideas aboutengineering education and researchthat were considered radical at thetime. The Dean believed that a largefaculty with varying interests wasparamount to supporting largeexpenditures for modern equipmentneeded for reasearch andundergraduate and graduate studies.Another strongly held view was that ahigh standard of engineering

,.

education is not possibl without ahigh lev I rese rc h dnd p l o f e s ~ l o n lactivity , The pursuit of lhes Ideaswould elevate Waterloo into one of Ufinest education and resedr h centersin Ontario in less than a decad .Strong ties with industry through boththe co-op program and joint res archprojects would also provlde th muchneeded funds. These were the keyfactors to University of Waterloo'ssuccess.Some problems have begun todevelop recently in the Faculty and

modern equipment purchases aredecreasing and with it, the quality ofeducation_ In the next issue, we willlook at why this destructive process istaking place, and what remedies areavailable.

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12/12

IRON WARRIOR

A look at IBM sIBM has entered the field ofrobotics with the introduction ofthe RS 7535 and RS 7565 industrial robots. The less expensive

of the two, the 16,000 RS 7535,is manufactured and sold by theRS plant an..d robotics lab in BocaRaton Florida, Birthplace of the,IBM personal computer.This Robot has four degrees 4

SEPTEMBER 1984 12

575 5 robotby Vic QuintanA

interface is also much superiorwith such an arrangement,enabling less trained personnelto use the system.

of movement; shoulder motion(Theta 1), elbow motion (Theta2), vertical motion (Z - degree)and roll. It can lift approximately five Kg which is remarkable for a machine of t his size.The work envelope or the effective work area is about the sizeof a small ki tchen table. The RS7535 uses DC servo motors forshoulder, elbow and roll movement. These are smooth runningmotors, a quality essential forposition monitoring. This is particularly jmportant in order toguarantee repeatability of allmovements. Motion along the Zaxis is performed by a pneumatic

IBM s new RS 7535 robot and controller unit.

Thilo Sack, a 3A MechanicalEngineering student at UW,spent this past workterm working with these robots at the IBMManfacturing Plant in Toronto.The robots which he worked withwere implemented on an assembly line manufacturing IBM 3180terminals. Amoung other thingsRS 7535 s handled the assemblyof the upright legs for the 3180 sand the installations of footpads. The removal of this tedious labour allowed for manpowerto be transferred to moreimportant tasks requiring humanmonitoring. Despite having ahigh volume, the 3180 productionline required only eleven ,)f opleto run it at anv particuhr imeas a result of the robot installation.

activator. This air drivenmechanism is simpler andcheaper than equivalent electric lo r hydraulic systems. Thesimplicity of the RS 7535 makesit a low cost machine yet it stillhas the potential and performance of more sophisticatep

pieces of equipment. This makesthe RS 7535 an attractive product in the manufacturing market.The RS 7535 is operated by a dedicated processorcalled the 'Controller Unit . Thecontroller has 5 K resident memory into which programs may bedownloaded or compiled. It supports the AML/Entry Version

robot control language. Sometypical commands in this language are; Move, Open, Close,and Pickup. Application pro-

NOTICE OF OFSREFERENDUMThe Federation of Students currently pays slightly inexcess of 40,000.00 of the mone_ it collects fromstudents each year, to the Ontario Federation ofStudents as a membership fee. This works out to 1.50per student per term. Mer reviewing this expenditure,the Federation of Students Students' Councilunanimously passed the following motion:

Be it resolved that a referendum beheld on October 15, 1984 to review theFederation of Students' membership inthe Ontario Federation of Students.

THE QUESTION APPEARING ON THE BALLOTWILL READ AS FOLLOWS:

o I support withdrawing membership from theOntario Federation of Students effective January 1,1985.o I support continuing membership in the OntarioFederation of Students.

grams may be created and compiled onboard or if more flexibility is required, a larger hostmay be used for these functions,provided it has the proper downloading facilities. Up to fivesequences can be stored inmemory each of which can bemanually selected on the controlpanel. More complicated computers may also be interfaced tothe RS 7535. The IBM P.C. forexample can be used as a controller, providing greater program ming area, processingpower and flexibility. User

As with many other IBMproducts, the RS 7535 and RS7565 seem destined to becomeIndustry standards. (n the nextfew months other companies willundoubtedly be scrambling tointroduce similar low cost robotsinto the manufacturing rna

Puhs- Concer l /Jf ' (,

Iron Warrior: Volume 5, Issue 6

Documents

Transcript of Iron Warrior: Volume 5, Issue 6