MacEngineer Fall 2003

F A C U L T Y O F E N G I N E E R I N G M C M A S T E R U N I V E R S I T Y F A L L 2 0 0 3

TheMacEngineerVOLUME 28 NUMBER 3TheMacEngineer

Featuring...

Alumni Weekend 2003See pages 12 & 13

A message from the Dean

2 The MacEngineer M c M A S T E R U N I V E R S I T Y

On the cover…A great day of golf at Tyandaga. See page 23for more.

Mo Elbestawi

Like other universities acrossOntario, McMaster University, andthe Faculty of Engineering in

particular, have been anticipating theonrush of the double cohort. This term wewill see two groups of post secondaryschool graduates arrive on campus – Grade12 and OAC students. This will createnumerous challenges for the faculty and anequal number of opportunities.

McMaster’s Engineering Faculty pridesitself on being student-centred andresearch-intensive by offering nine engi-neering disciplines, which when combinedwith Society or Management offering atotal of 27 different degree options in theundergraduate stream. Our planning forthe influx of new students this fall hasbeen threefold. Leadership – EducationalInnovation – Facilities. These three aspectscreate a new level of service for engi-neering students.

We have invested in Level ONE with anacademic team of 3 professionals – Dr.Robert Fleisig, Dr. Konstantin Kreyman,and Mr. Tom Doyle. A new, improvedcurriculum has been implemented this fall,as a result of recommendations of ourLevel ONE Task Force. Recognition ofstellar educational achievements is thefocus of the new incentive scholarshippackages for our Level ONE students; theaddition of new undergrad programs inElectrical & Biomedical Engineering,Photonics Engineering, Environmental

Leadership – Educational Innovation – Facilities

Engineering; and new grad programs inMasonry, Materials & Structural Design,and Rehabilitation of Civil EngineeringStructures will be getting underway in thenew future. The development of thecurricula for the three Centres containedSchool for Engineering Practice willpresent further educational opportunities.These additions to our already substantialofferings go towards placing McMaster atthe forefront of Education Innovation.

Leadership of Mechanical Engineeringis now in the hands of Dr. Samir Ziada, astrong academic and a man very consciousof the importance of instructional excel-lence. Dr. Ziada has proven himself to be a dedicated university citizen, and has arecognized international reputation as astellar researcher. His citizenship commit-ments speak to his dedication to the admin-istrative aspects of academic life. At thehelm in Electrical and ComputerEngineering is Dr. Max Wong, who isfamiliar with the role from past experience,also a committed administrator and again,an internationally recognized researcher.These two departments will gain greatly

from the administrative guidance of theseprofessionals.

Engineering & Society welcomes Dr.Brian Baetz (Civil) as the new Director.Well suited to this task, Dr. Baetz’s interestsinclude sustainable communities and theplanning of municipal solid waste manage-ment systems. Engineering & Managementwelcomes Dr. Ken Coley (MaterialsScience & Engineering) as Acting Directorfor the year. Dr. Coley’s interests includekinetics and thermodynamics of hightemperature reactions in materialsprocessing and service. Both thesespecialty programs will benefit from thetalents of these gentlemen.

For anyone visiting campus, the constanthum of construction is very obvious.Providing excellent facilities, not simplyadequate, is our goal for our students. ForEngineering, the annex to the InformationTechnology Building is coming along, andis destined to house a portion of ourElectrical & Computer EngineeringDepartment. Meanwhile, the renovations tothe entire NorthEast wing of the JohnHodgins Building will house the state-of-the-art Chemical Engineering facilities.Also, fundraising is ongoing for a newbuilding to accommodate the School forEngineering Practice and it’s associatedCentres, and the proposed expansion inBioengineering.

New opportunities, new activities, newideas all supported with dedicated admin-istrative and teaching personnel – that’s thecrux of a student-centred institution. AtMcMaster Engineering, we are committedto providing a whole life experience for ourstudents, and we welcome the input of allconcerned – students, staff, faculty, alumni,community neighbours – to make us thevery best we can be.

Mo Elbestawi,Dean of Engineering

Chemical Engineer named University Professor................5

Alumni Profiles .....................10

Alumni News........................12

Engineering Career Services ................................19

Hey Alumni! Have you got something tosay, or any other news? We would like to hearfrom you. Contact Carm Vespi:

Tel: (905) 525-9140 ext. 24906Fax: (905) 546-5492e-mail: [email protected]: www.eng.mcmaster.ca

The MacEngineer is published by the EngineeringFaculty for its alumni. Distribution assistance isprovided by the Alumni Office.

Publication Number 40063416

inside this issue

A message from the Associate Dean

The MacEngineer 3M c M A S T E R U N I V E R S I T Y

been developed in which students haveaccess to all course materials, practice tests,message boards, schedules and their indi-vidual grades from a centralized location.

In several of their courses, theEngineering 1 students will benefit froma new evaluation system whereby theycan write their tests at any time duringthe week: upon arrival at the Test Centre,their ID card is swiped and a custom testis printed for them. Upon seeing theirgrade, they can study some more and re-write another version of the test thefollowing week.

As I mentioned in a previous article, weare also introducing two new four-yearprogrammes this year: Electrical andBiomedical Engineering, and PhotonicsEngineering. These programmes are thefirst of their type in Canada and have beendesigned to cater to two areas that are

growing in importance across NorthAmerica. The Civil Engineering pro-gramme now recognizes two fields of engi-neering practice with separate Water/Environmental Engineering and Structural/Geotechnical Engineering streams.

At the graduate level, the Faculty ofEngineering is establishing the School ofEngineering Practice, made up of threecentres: the Centre for Entrepreneurshipand Innovation, the Centre for Engineeringand Public Policy, and the Centre forEngineering Design.

These are all exciting developments thatcontinue to transform the Faculty ofEngineering and maintain a vigorouslearning environment. If you ever have theopportunity, I encourage you to visit usand see the results of these developmentsfirst hand.

By the time you receive this editionof the MacEngineer, classes will beunderway again for the 2003-04

academic year. I always look forward tothe bustle of this time of year and therenewal that takes place at McMaster as anew group of students arrives from acrossOntario and from around the world.

As you probably know, this is the doublecohort year in which both the old OAC classand the new Grade 12 class graduate fromOntario high schools at the same time. It hasbeen a stressful time for both the studentsand the University, with neither knowinghow events would unfold. As it turns out,our enrolment will be very close to ourtarget of 800 students for Engineering, withour minimum admission average increasingby 2-3% over previous years.

In an effort to provide our very bestincoming students with an attractive schol-arship package, the Faculty of Engineeringhas teamed up with the University to offerstudents having an admission average ofover 95% with an innovative packageworth $18,000. It consists of $6,000 foreach of Levels 1 and 2, and a guaranteedresearch placement at the University in thesummer, worth an additional $6,000.

Upon arrival, Engineering 1 studentswill have a slightly modified curriculumcontaining one new course on materialsand another containing design projects thatwill introduce them to the various engi-neering disciplines.

Bob Loree, our Engineering 1 Director,has worked with the instructors over thesummer to coordinate the lectures acrossall courses so that students obtainmaximum benefit from common themes.To help in this, a web-based system has

New incentives help incoming students

Dr. Peter Smith,Associate Dean of Engineering

Get your MacEngineer by e-mail!If you would like to receive your issue by e-mail (pdf format)

please contact Carm Vespi, [email protected]

CITO grant assists softwaredevelopment research

Engineering news

Three engineering research projectshave been awarded New Oppor-tunities Funds from the Canada

Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Theawards are made to promising youngresearchers who are new to the universitywithin the last year, and are to be used topurchase specialized equipment and toinitiate new work.

Sarah Dickson, assistant professor, civilengineering, and Carlos Filipe, assistantprofessor, chemical engineering, wereawarded $487,374 for infrastructure thatwill enable them to conduct research inwater, the environment and public health.Raja Ghosh, assistant professor, chemicalengineering, received $112,981 to purchaseequipment for bioseparations engineeringresearch. Stephen Veldhuis, assistantprofessor, mechanical engineering, wasawarded $100,000 for manufacturingprocess investigation tools. ChristopherAnand, assistant professor, and WolframKahl, associate professor, computing and

CFI New Opportunities funding benefits engineering profs


software, were awarded $91,623 for auto-matic code generation of efficient andprobably correct image processing andrelational programs.

In total, fifteen young McMaster re-searchers received more than $2.5 millionin New Opportunities funding. All therecipients are representative of the qualityof researchers at the University, many ofwhom came from world-class institutionsacross Europe and North America.

“Recruiting excellent faculty is a highpriority for McMaster and this program hasallowed us to do just that,” said MamdouhShoukri, vice-president research and inter-national affairs. “This investment will helpour new faculty to expand their researchprograms and build their research capacity.”

The New Opportunities projects areselected on the recommendation ofexperts who assessed each one againstthree CFI criteria: quality research andthe need for infrastructure; contributionto strengthening the capacity for innova-

tion; and potential benefits of the researchto Canada. The CFI is a federally funded,non-profit corporation that providesCanadian universities with an opportunityto attract cutting edge researchers fromaround the globe. Of the 46 universitiesthat received $43.5 million in infrastruc-ture for 237 projects, McMaster rankedthird with 14 projects funded.

Two Engineering professors willbenefit from a recent injection offunding from the Centre for

Research in Earth and Space Technology(CRESTech).

Yiping Guo, assistant professor of civilengineering, received $22,785 from theMinistry of Enterprise, Opportunity andInnovation (MEOI) for his project called,“Transferring analytical probabilisticstorm-water models to practicing waterresources engineers”. Other supportincludes $7,785 in-kind from Alan A.Smith Inc and $15,000 from Weslake Inc.

Daniel Ewing, adjunct assistant pro-fessor of mechanical engineering, received$35,000 from MEOI for his work on“Investigation of pollutant removal byadvanced EGR cooling devices for dieselengines”. Other support includes $30,000and $17,000 in-kind from Dana Corp.

Beginning April 1, 2003, CRESTech isinvesting $6.7 million in a total of 55 R&Dprojects at 13 Ontario universities andcolleges. The projects are supported by a$3-million investment from MEOI and$3.7-million from 86 private and public-sector partners.

Funding boostfor innovativeR & D

Assistant professor of com-puting and software engineeringMark Lawford has received a$205,000 boost for his researchin software development, designand management from Communi-cations and Information Tech-nology Ontario (CITO) in April2003. In addition to $100,000from CITO, he has obtained$100,000 from Ontario Power Generationas well as $5,000 in-kind support for histwo-year project entitled “ReverseEngineering of High Level Requirementsfrom Assembly Code.”

The majority of the moneywill be spent on support for grad-uate students working on theproject. Lawford’s project alsoinvolves computing and softwareengineering professors JacquesCarette, Wolfram Kahl, RidhaKhedri and Alan Wassyng,all of whom are members of the recently formed Software

Quality Research Lab.To date, CITO has provided more than

$9 million in funding to support high-tech research projects at eight Ontariouniversities. ”

Mark Lawford

Software Symposium AttractsAttendees From Across Canada

receive meticulous attention and yieldsuccess. His technical and organizationalskills, knowledge and exceptional managerialskills have been a part of the success of manyFaculty projects. Keller, who has been atMcMaster for over 23 years, does his workwith great pride, putting forward extraordi-nary efforts for staff, faculty and students.The Faculty congratulates these staffmembers on receiving this well-deservedrecognition.


In May, the Department of Computingand Software sponsored a symposiumentitled the Canadian Software Require-ments Symposium: Advancement ofMathematical Methods. Held on May 26,the one-day event covered a wide rangeof topics: elicitation, modeling, valida-tion, verification, documentation andrequirements-based testing.

The symposium was opened by theChair of the Department of Computingand Software, Dr. Paul Taylor and bythe Dean of Engineering, Dr. MoElbestawi. Keynote speaker was Dr.Axel van Lamsweerde, well-known

for his work in developing usablelanguages, methods and tools forassisting software engineers in thecomplex, knowledge-intensive tasksthey face. Over 50 were in attendance,including researchers from almost everyuniversity in Southern Ontario.

The symposium targeted selectedCanadian researchers from both aca-demics and industry, noted SpencerSmith, assistant professor. “One of theobjectives of this event is to provide anopportunity for our department to reachout to the software engineering commu-nity in Canada.”

Engineering Staff Receive 2002 President’s Awards

Janet Delsey Doug Keller

Professor of chemical engi-neering John MacGregorhas been named University

Professor, the highest honourMcMaster can bestow on itsfaculty. The title is awarded toprofessors who demonstrateexceptional achievement byattaining distinction in research,scholarship and education in sucha manner as to have made a majorimpact on a given field of study and/or tohave had a major impact across discipli-nary boundaries.

Dr. MacGregor, who received thehonour in June, has earned an outstandingscholarly reputation in the area of process

Chemical Engineer Named University Professorand product quality monitoring,advanced process control andpolymer reaction engineering.He was instrumental in thedevelopment of three majorresearch centres at McMaster:the McMaster Institute forPolymer Production Technology,the McMaster Advanced ControlConsortium, and the SteelResearch Centre. Business Week

magazine cited him as one of the top fivepeople in North America in the area ofquality improvement.

MacGregor, who is currently the holderof the Dofasco Chair in AutomationProcess, has pioneered several innovative

research fields in engineering. His workhas had a profound influence on theCanadian process systems engineering andchemical engineering communities, andinternationally in the general area onproduct and process quality improvement.

A recipient of the President’s Award forExcellence in Graduate Student Super-vision, MacGregor’s many other honoursinclude the Century of Achievement Awardfrom the Canadian Society for ChemicalEngineering, the W. G. Hunter Award for Quality Control, the ProfessionalEngineers of Ontario Engineering Medal(Research and Development), and the BellCanada Forum Award. He is a Fellow ofthe American Statistical Society.

John MacGregor

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Two Faculty of Engineering staffmembers are recipients of the 2002President’s Working At McMaster

Awards for Outstanding Service. JanetDelsey and Doug Keller received theirawards in May. In total, six individuals andtwo teams were recognized for their workand contributions during 2002. The annualawards recognize staff who have performedabove and beyond the call of duty in theirservice to McMaster.

Janet Delsey, a 26-year employee of theUniversity, supervises the EngineeringDocuCentre. She was recognized for hermotivation and strength in innovationwhich have contributed to the prosperityand success of the DocuCentre.

She is described by one nominator as a“woman of high ideals and soundintegrity… her originality of ideas andcapacity for hard work have been amongher outstanding characteristics.”

Doug Keller was cited as being effi-cient, professional and singularly effectivein overseeing his areas of safety andpurchasing and his duties as a lab manager. Itwas noted that any task he undertakes will

ment, Venture has prepareda brand new computer labfor the use of campersduring the summer and forthe Mechanical EngineeringStudents during the schoolyear. This has been a fabu-lous addition to camp andhas greatly improved theeducational value for thecomputer and technologycampers. Another highlightis the continuous successof the All Girls week.Every summer, one weekis dedicated to girls topromote and excite them about engineeringand science.

The staff at Venture work hard to designoriginal and stimulating projects for thestudents. From hand fans and turbines toLego Robotics and green screen moviemaking, the kids had a blast experimenting

with creative projects which teach themabout the value of engineering and sciencein real world applications.

On top of the regular day-to-day camplife, Venture has proposed and imple-mented some new initiatives this year. In


The Faculty of Engineering awardedtwo honorary degrees during convo-cation ceremonies on June 5th , held

in the Great Hall at Hamilton Place. Francis Navin, professor of civil engi-

neering at the University of BritishColumbia, and Andrew Benedek, aleading authority on global water relatedissues, received Doctor of Science degreesduring the morning ceremonies.

Dr. Navin, who has enjoyed a distin-guished career as a researcher andeducator, developed a worldwide reputa-tion as an expert in road safety. He has beenteaching traffic and transportation engi-neering to graduate and undergraduates atUBC since 1972.

He retired in June 2003. He coordinatedthe Transport Canada-UBC AccidentResearch Team from 1980 to 1995 andparticipated as a member of the OntarioProfessional Engineers’ Committee toinvestigate the safety of Highway 407 forthe Ontario Government. Dr. Navin isPresident of Synectics Road SafetyResearch Corporation, and director andpartner of GD Hamilton Associates in

Faculty Awards Honorary Degrees

Vancouver, one of the world’s largest roadsafety engineering firms.

Navin received his degree in civil engi-neering from McMaster in 1963, and hisM.Sc. and PhD degrees in transportationengineering from the University ofMissouri (1968) and the University ofMinnesota (1975) respectively.

Dr. Navin gave the Convocation addressat the Engineering Convocation.

Dr. Benedek is chair, CEO and founderof Zenon Environmental, based inOakville, Ontario. Zenon is dedicated tosolving water quality problems throughthe use of advanced membrane tech-nologies. The company was formed on his

Francis Navin Andrew Benedek

vision of a world where cost effectivemembrane technology could ensure safe,superior quality water. Under his leader-ship the company has grown steadily tobecome a global leader.

Dr. Benedek received his degree inchemical engineering from McGillUniversity in 1966 and his PhD at theUniversity of Washington, in 1970. Hejoined McMaster’s Faculty of Engineeringin 1971 as a chemical engineer specializingin environmental issues, and eventually leftthe University in 1981 to found Zenon.

Dr. Benedek is a member of the inau-gural Faculty of Engineering’s Dean’sAdvisory Board and has served on theNational Research Council of Canada,the Canadian Advanced TechnologyAssociation and the BiotechnologyResearch Institute.

At the spring convocation, the Facultyof Engineering awarded bachelor degreesin technology, engineering, engineering &society, engineering & management;master’s degrees in science (materialsscience), applied science, engineering; anddoctorates in philosophy.

This summer the Venture Engineeringand Science program celebrated its14th year of operation.

Previously known as Venture Engineering& Science and Adventures in ComputingTechnology, Venture celebrated its successat a first annual Commemorative Gala. Allpast Directors and Counsellors were invited,along with all sponsors and anyone who hashelped Venture in definitive ways. Thedinner took place on August 14th, 2003 inthe CIBC Celebration Hall on campus, andwas a huge success. It was great to see somany former staff return for the event.

Venture, sponsored by the Faculty ofEngineering and Science, has had anextremely exciting and innovative year. Anextra classroom was added to theComputers and Technology stream whichincreased the spots available for campers. Ithas also helped to increase the counselor-to-camper ratio. As well, in conjunctionwith the Mechanical Engineering Depart-

Venture Engineering and Science 2003

continued on page 7


Engineering alumni will be saddenedto learn that George C. Weatherlypassed away on April 29, 2003

following a courageous struggle withcancer. A professor in the Department ofMaterials Science and Engineering, hislegacy is writ large in the careers of formerstudents and the high regard in which he isheld by his colleagues – both as a scientistand as a man.

George Weatherly entered CambridgeUniversity in 1960 where he completedboth his Bachelor of Science and Ph.Ddegrees, the latter in 1966 under the super-vision of Robin Nicholson. Following a

In Tribute to George Weatherly by David S. Wilkinson

post-doctoral period with theU.K. Atomic Energy Authority atHarwell, he came to Canada in1968 as Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Metallurgy andMaterials Science at the Univer-sity of Toronto. He remained atToronto for 22 years, reaching the rank of full professor in 1980. Professor Weatherly joinedMcMaster University in 1990.

Professor Weatherly developed a well-deserved reputation as one of NorthAmerica’s premier electron microscopists,based both on the quality of his work andhis uncompromising sense of integrity. Hisresearch interests were eclectic, rangingfrom interfaces in structural alloys to semi-conductor devices, from hydrides forhydrogen storage to phase transformationin zirconium alloys.

During the course of his long career,Professor Weatherly participated actively asa member of various associations andreceived numerous honours. He was aFellow of both CIM and ASM, and a recip-

ient of the Canadian MetalPhysics Gold Medal, the Alcanand Dofasco awards of CIM andthe Vanadium Award of theInstitute of Metals (U.K.). From1972 to 1986, he was the associateeditor of CMQ. He was instru-mental in the founding of theOntario Centre for MaterialsResearch (now MMO) and wasco-academic leader of the Centre

through its formative years. He was alsoDirector of the Brockhouse Institute forMaterials Research at McMaster.

He will be remembered by family,friends, colleagues and students for therichness of his life, his quiet humour, hiscaring humanity and his unfailing honesty.

In recognition of Professor Weatherly’scareer, McMaster and the University ofToronto will establish an annual GeorgeWeatherly Symposium on New Frontiersin Materials. A fund has been started tosupport this symposium. More informationcan be obtained through the Faculty ofEngineering at either university.

Dr. George Weatherly

Remembering Professor GeorgeWeatherly with a Class Gift

A number of Professor Weatherly’s students from the Materials Science & EngineeringClasses of ’95 & ’96 have made a contribution in his memory to the George WeatherlySymposium on Frontiers in Materials. Along with many of Professor Weatherly’s students,they remember him as a kind man, an excellent educator and researcher, with a specialcombination of integrity and thoughtfulness. They appreciated being able to benefit fromtheir contact with him, remembering the influence he had on their time at McMaster and,for some of them, beyond.

The following alumni/friends contributed towards the gift: Max Biscottini, Kevin Boyle,Jason Bragg, Rob Kszan, Kurt Long, Joel Magnan, Jeffrey Mauthe, Donna Moritsugu,Alasdair Paterson, Michael Petersen, Wayne Regier, Rob Sparling, Jeff Thorpe, MarkWard, and Christopher Westell.

Contributions can be sent as follows: cheques are to be made payable to McMasterUniversity and marked with the phrase “Weatherly Symposium Fund”. All cheques areto be sent to the attention of:

Terry MilsonMcMaster UniversityJHE-2611280 Main Street WestHamilton, Ontario L8S 4L7

A charitable tax receipt will be sent to you by McMaster University.

June, eight staff traveled to Six NationsReserve in Ohsweken to deliver the firstever Native Camp! For three days the staffcarried out a program consisting of aChemistry Show, roller coasters workshop,flight workshop and a chemical pie cookoff. The most exciting part of this programwas that it was absolutely free to the kids.These children do not have the same accessand exposure to engineering and scienceas many students who live near a majormetropolitan area. The kids, as well as thestaff, had a blast and are very excited aboutcontinuing the tradition next year.

Venture is very proud to be supportedby some high-profile industry and tech-nology leaders. Dofasco was generousenough to sponsor traveling workshops to 4 elementary schools in downtownHamilton. In the past these schools havenot have been able to afford the cost oftravels and materials and therefore did notget the oppourtunity to experience theworkshops. As a result of this assistance,over 800 children were presented withVenture’s traveling workshops. Fundingand sponsorships is received each yearfrom a host of government and businesssupporters including: Dow Chemical,Hewlett Packard, General Motors, IndustryCanada, Ontario Power, Panasonic, andboth the Faculties of Engineering andScience here at McMaster University.

Venture Engineeringand Sciencecontinued from page 6


Fireball ll, the University’s second-generation solar car, failed to qualifyfor this year’s American Solar Car

Challenge. Unfortunately for McMaster’steam of 10 students headed by projectleader Claire Braden, cloudy skies, faultybrakes and flat tires conspired againstthem, with the result that the vehicle didnot complete the 220 km qualification raceheld at Evanston, Illinois in July.

“We didn’t qualify and it’s disappointing,”Braden (’03, Mech.Eng.) says. “We gave itour best shot.” However, the team remainspositive and is already setting sights on thenext race in 2005. The McMaster Fireballteam plans to spend the time improvingcockpit space and weight distribution.

Building a solar car requires time andeffort in gathering sponsorship, creatingdesigns, manufacturing parts and thenbuilding the vehicle. The 2003 vehicle wastruly a University-wide project withstudents from engineering, arts & science,business and nursing as members of theteam, and professors from several Facultiesproviding support. Sponsors and volunteermechanics helped make Fireball II a realityafter two years of hard work. At a cost of$124,000, the vehicle was one of the moremodest solar car entries. Sleek and light,the car – dubbed “the land shark” – has aKevlar body shell covered with 430 bluesolar panels.

The ASC Challenge is a biennial event

McMaster’s Solar Car Melts in Qualifiers

involving approximately 30 universityengineering teams from all over NorthAmerica and Europe that compete in a 10-day, 3,700 km. race from Chicago, Illinois,to Los Angeles, California along historicRoute 66. Fireball I, the first solar car everbuilt at McMaster University, qualified forthe 2001 Challenge and started the race.However, technical difficulties later forcedit to withdraw. That year, the race was wonby the University of Michigan.

New directorappointed

The McMaster Senate has appointedDr. Brian W. Baetz as the new directorof the Engineering and Society Pro-gramme. He will replace Dr. RobertHudspith who retired in July, 2003.

Professor Baetz received his Bachelorsand Masters of Science from theUniversity of Toronto, and his Ph.D. inEngineering from Duke University. Hisresearch fields include sustainablecommunities and the planning ofmunicipal solid waste managementsystems.

Brian W. Baetz

Mentorship ProgramThe Engineering Alumni Advisory Committee is in the process of establish-ing a Mentorship Program. We are struggling with what role the programshould play. Is there a need for this program? If so, what sort of needs shouldit fill.

Should we be looking at starting it with 1st year students who are trying todecide on what field of engineering is for them or concentrate on 4th yearstudents who are making the transition to the working world?

We are looking for volunteers to take part in a mentoring night, likely with apanel type discussion. We need new graduates as well as those with moreexperience. The panel should also have representation from undergraduates.We need you! If you are interested contact Carm Vespi at 905-525-9140, ext.24906 or email: [email protected]

Despite a disappointing showing at the American Solar Challenge in the United States, McMaster’ssolar race car, Fireball II – like the Phoenix – will rise from the ashes.


Bob Hudspith Retires

Engineering retirees

The Faculty of Engineering held areception in June, 2003 to recognizeand honour three members of the

Faculty who were retiring in July: Dr. BobBaber, Professor Robert Hudspith and Mr.Martin van Oosten.

During his comments during the after-noon event, Mo Elbestawi noted that oneof the hallmarks of the Faculty is its repu-tation to a commitment to excellence anddiversity in undergraduate &graduate education, and thepriority attached to research.“All of our honorees havefostered this commitment in theirvarious capacities during theiryears at McMaster.”

An accomplished scholar andeducator, Dr. Bob Baberreceived a Bachelor’s andMaster’s from MIT, and aDoctorate at the Technical University ofDarmstadt, Germany. His interest inmethods of program verification haveproduced sound procedures that can beused by software developers who want toensure that their programs actually do whatthey were created to do. Dr. Baber’s prac-tical experience as a software developerand consultant made him an outstandingasset to the Software EngineeringProgram, especially in helping studentsunderstand why mathematical rigour isimportant to software development prac-tice. While at McMaster, Dr. Baber has

been a contributing engineeringrepresentative to the HumanitiesFaculty Council. In his sparetime, he enjoys sailing, amateurradio and theatre. He and his wifeare moving to Ireland.

Professor Bob Hudspithearned both his B. Eng in Civiland his M. Eng in EnvironmentalEngineering from McMaster.

After working as anEngineer in the Water QualityBranch of the Ministry of theEnvironment (Toronto) andserving as a teacher and a prin-cipal in the Christian schoolsystem in Ottawa andsurrounding area, he returned toMcMaster in 1979, first as aninstructional assistant, thenlecturer, then assistant professor,

and finally associate professor inthe Department of MechanicalEngineering. The majority of hisacademic career has been devotedto teaching, administrativeresponsibilities, and researchrelated to curriculum design andteaching methodology. In sevenseparate years, ProfessorHudspith has been nominated forMcMaster Teaching Awards – inEngineering & Society and in theArts & Sciences program, where he hasreceived the award twice. He was involved

with the creation of new coursesand programs - specifically,Engineering & Society, and theTheme School on Science,Technology, and Public Policy.He is a board member and volun-teer for the Threshold School ofBuilding, enjoys canoeing inCanada’s near north and folkmusic, is a practiced storytellerand is quite active in his

Presbyterian church. Technical Services Coordinator

Martin van Oosten has contributedimmensely to the evolution of theDepartment of Materials Sciences &Engineering. Before coming to McMaster,he worked at Hamilton Cotton Company,Westinghouse and STELCO. During histime at STELCO, Mr van Oosten earned a3-year Metallugical certificate. He started

in the (former) MetallurgyDepartment in 1966 and waspromoted to Technical ServicesCoordinator of MaterialsSciences and Engineering in1989. He served the Departmentin this capacity ever since. Mr.Van Oosten’s wife, Hennie, whoalso works at McMaster, isretiring this year too, and theyplan a two-month excursionthrough the American southwest,

followed by gardening and time withfamily.

Bob Baber

Bob Hudspith

Martin Van Oosten

The first thing you notice aboutProfessor Bob Hudspith’s curriculumvitae is the seven Teaching Award nomi-nations. Twice he was the recipient(1987/88 and 1990/91), both times fromthe Arts & Science Programme.

“I do enjoy teaching,” says the associateprofessor. “Working with students, gettingto know them one-on-one, has been a priv-ilege and will be my fondest memory.”Professor Hudspith retired from the Depart-ment of Mechanical Engineering in July.

After receiving both his Bachelor and

Masters of Engineering from McMaster(1969, 1970), he worked as an engineerwith the Ministry of the Environment,Water Quality Branch, in Toronto.Following a series of teaching positions inOttawa, he returned to McMaster in 1979,where he has dedicated himself toteaching and administrative responsibili-ties. Many engineering alumni will knowof Professor Hudspith’s work in proposingand directing the Theme School onScience, Technology and Public Policy. Aswell, since 1996, he has been the Director

of the Engineering and SocietyProgramme. Both these areas of responsi-bility have had their rewards, he says.

“The Theme School offered inter-faculty opportunities to meet and workwith other faculty members and students.The Engineering and Society Programmeprovides engineering students with amuch broader education.”

Professor Hudspith and his wife,Barbara, are taking time out to access whatthey would like to do next. “The plan isnot to make any plans for one year!”

ucts. Its products enableOriginal Equipment Manufac-turers (OEM) and OriginalDevice Manufacturers (ODM)to deliver superior performing,high-volume wireless LANsystems faster and more prof-itably. Mathers joined thecompany in April 2001.

Wireless LAN (WLAN) tech-nology is becoming increasingly

important to the small office/home office(SOHO) and public access markets.Entrepreneurs are interested in connecting avariety of information (and entertainment)devices to the Internet through a single port,

while the operators of airports, hotels andconvention centers want to be able to offereasy Internet connections to customers fromtheir premises.

IceFyre has developed an innovativeproduct that solves the connectivity, powerconsumption and performance problems oftraditional WLAN systems. It consumesless power than traditional chipsets,produces more output power, and offersimproved transmission and reception.IceFyre has filed 31 patents covering thisnew modem design.

In June, the company was recognized asa top semiconductor company to watch in

named General Manager and Vice Presi-dent, Eastern Canada Operations and, in1994, he moved to the United States andassumed the position of Business Director,Global Chlor-Alkali Assets. He chaired thecompany’s Global Chlor-Alkali Teamwhich was in charge of enhancing andmaximizing the value of Dow’s globalchlor-alkali facilities. In 1998, he wasnamed Vice President and Director ofMichigan Operations and Global Manu-facturing Director for the Specialty Chemi-cals business in Midland, Michigan.

With responsibility for $3 billion dollarsworth of sales and over 2,000 employees,Smith is also the Site Director for WesternCanada Operations and oversees Dow’smanufacturing locations in Alberta,Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.

He notes that one principal gleanedduring his time at McMaster is an under-standing of the importance of goodcommunication. “The courses taught byDr. Don Woods revealed the importance ofclarity and precision in communicatingthoughts and solutions to clients, co-workers and the public.

He is on the Board of Directors of theCanadian Plastics Industry Association(CPIA), the Canadian Chemical Producers’

Association (CCPA), Alberta’s ClimateChange Central (ACCC) and is a memberof the Canadian Council of ChiefExecutives (CCCE). In addition, he hasbeen involved with many communitygroups including the Chamber ofCommerce, United Way, Junior Achieve-ment and various sporting organizations.He resides in the Edmonton area with hiswife, Barbara, and their two children.

Alumni profiles


Vince Smith, ‘72 (Chemical Engi-neering) has enjoyed a long andvaried career with Dow Chemical

Company and is currently the President andCEO of Dow Chemical Canada Inc., asubsidiary of the well-known American-based company.

“Engineering at McMaster gave me theconfidence to apply my base learning tonew and increasingly challenging situa-tions,” he says. “It instilled in me an appre-ciation for the need to strive for continuousimprovement in my understanding of bothbusiness and engineering.”

In 1972, he started in the company’sSarnia, Ontario plant as an engineer. “Ijoined a large corporation like DowChemical Canada for its potential to giveme exposure in engineering. I did not wantto specialize at an early age and felt Dowwas a great company with which to acquirediverse experiences and opportunities.”

During a stint in Fort Saskatchewan,Alberta, where he held several manage-ment positions in manufacturing andhuman resources, he spent more than 15years directly involved in the productionof chlor-alkali products. In 1991, hereturned to Sarnia as a production managerin Plastic/Design Resins. In 1993, he was

Vince Smith – gained confidence from Mac

Vince Smith

Dan Mathers – hard work, preparation and luck

According to DanMathers ’86 “Hardwork and preparation,

mixed in with a bit of luck, go along way. This was the keylesson from MAC Eng.” It’s alesson the 38-year-old alumnushas taken to heart, with excitingcareer results.

Mathers is currently presidentand CEO of IceFyre Semi-conductor Inc., based in Kanata, Ontario.The company, founded in February 2001,develops low-power, high performance andcost effective semiconductor solutions forwireless local area network (LAN) prod-

See MacLab Extravaganza – page 14

continued on page 11

Dan Mathers

2003 by the VentureWire’s “SemiconductorInnovation Letter”. The National Post hasalso listed IceFyre as one of 10 most prom-ising start-ups in Canada.

After completing his Bachelor ofElectrical Engineering at McMaster,Mathers received an MBA from YorkUniversity in 1991. In May 2000, he wasselected by the Ottawa Business Journalas one of Canada’s “Top 40 Under 40”.Dan Mathers has worked for leadingcompanies in the technology industry suchas IBM Canada Ltd., Celestica Inc. andMOSAID Technologies in various manage-

ment positions. Over the years he has gained extensive

expertise in all areas of business manage-ment, as well as international experience,and he is known within the industry forskills in developing exciting plans, andbuilding organizational teams with theexpertise and energy to turn these plansinto reality.

When not hard at work, Mathers sharestime with his two daughters, and forleisure activities enjoys sailing, runningand golf.


tions in more than 50 countries worldwide.One of his best McMaster experiences,

he says, was the opportunity to work on apart-time basis under former Dean ofEngineering, Dr. Art Heidebrecht. Thework included preparing and presenting abusiness plan for and following through onthe University’s first campus-wide Ethernetinstallation. “This was fantastic training forthe need to take a business approach tocomplex technical problems in the world atlarge,” he says. “Dr. Heidebrecht had thesingle most profound impact on my futurein the business world.”

After earning his degree in 1986, Elopworked at Soma Inc., a Canadian softwaredevelopment and management consultingfirm. When Soma was acquired by Lotus

Development Corporation, he becamedirector of the firm’s Consulting ServicesGroup with responsibility for Canada andmid-western United States. Prior to joiningMacromedia Inc, he was CIO for BostonChicken Inc. Although Macromedia isbased in San Francisco and he routinelytravels all over the world, Elop and hisfamily have established Southern Ontarioas their permanent home.

Stephen Elop is married to Nancy (néeTyrie), also a Mac grad, and they enjoytheir large family of five, including an 11year old future NHL player, a beautiful 7year old daughter adopted from China, andtriplet 4 year old daughters. “It keeps usquite busy.”

One never knows how universitycourses and professors might affectone’s career.

Stephen Elop, ’86 (Engineering &Management) says that his 5-year degreecombining both technical and businessaspects has definitely been a boost to hiscareer. “Finance, personnel and legalcourses, as well as the computer engi-neering curriculum, have all contributed tomy success,” he says, and jokingly adds“with the possible exception of Dr. Ives’Materials Science course!”

Elop is Executive Vice President of theWorldwide Field Operations division forMacromedia Inc., a San Francisco-basedsoftware developer. When he joinedMacromedia in 1998, he started in a tech-nical/computer engineering role withresponsibilities similar to a chief informa-tion officer, and then moved into the role ofa general manager. In his current position,he is responsible for worldwide sales, busi-ness development, customer care and tech-nical support.

The company designs desktop applica-tions aimed at creative professional andapplication developers, and is a strategicIT supplier to customers in the business,government and education markets. It isprobably best known for its Dreamweaverand Flash products. Other products includeBreeze, ColdFusion, Fireworks, Freehand,and Authorware. The company, founded in1992, employs over 1,400, and has opera-

Stephen Elop – combined degree a boost to career

Stephen Elop

Dan Mathers profile continued from page 10

HOMECOMING2003

HOMECOMING2003

Class of ’88 and Class of ’93

October 3 to 5Come ‘home’ to Mac and experience all

the fun and excitement of the manyplanned events including: campus tours;Marauder Football game; varsity games;

reunions of clubs, residences andstudent groups, …and more. Renew‘old’ acquantainces. Enjoy good food

and cold beverages.Check out the alumni web site

for updates:www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/

See you here!

Saturday, October 411:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

McMaster University StudentCentre – Marketplace

$25 includes food, ticket, parking & giftGame starts at

2:00 p.m.more details to follow


by Pat Stevens

Students of McMaster Universityautomatically become members ofthe McMaster Alumni Association

and the Alumni associations of the variousFaculties, upon graduation. By being anactive member of the MacEngineeringAlumni Association, you are providedwith a variety of engaging opportunitiesto renew your ties with the Faculty and toreconnect with friends and colleaguesfrom your days at McMaster. Your partic-ipation also provides the Faculty ofEngineering with the opportunity to shareits excitement regarding new develop-ments within the various fields ofEngineering and their growth strategieswithin the Faculty. Participation is a winfor you and a win for McMaster!

Over the first half of 2003, Carm Vespi,Iwona Centurami and your Mac Engineer-ing Alumni Advisory Committee havebeen very active! The Toronto AlumniEvent was held on February 27th at theOntario Science Center and was attended,by Dr. Peter George, President ofMcMaster, Dr. Mo Elbestawi, Dean ofEngineering and 70+ MacEngineeringAlumni. We look forward to seeing evenmore Toronto and area Alumni at this get-together next year!

On May 22nd, 130 golfers and non-golfers attended the First Annual

McMaster Engineering Alumni GolfTournament at Tyandaga Golf Club inBurlington. The Department of CivilEngineering was extremely well repre-sented and as we plan for the SecondAnnual Tournament, we are challengingthe other engineering departments tomatch (or beat) the participation of theCivils. A special thanks to David Ryan forspearheading this event and to the largenumber of Alumni and companies whocontributed to its success.

Then, on June 7th, members of theAdvisory Committee were invited to attend

Alumni Weekend where 130 members ofthe classes of ’63, ’78 and ’83 gathered torenew acquaintances. It was a very memo-rable weekend for all who attended.

So, as you can see, it has been a busyfew months and there will be even moreopportunities over the second half of theyear for you to reconnect with friends andto learn more about the developmentswithin the Faculty.

Please continue to check the website atwww.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/ forphotos and recaps of recent events and fortimely news of upcoming activities. And,

Alumni news

Dave Capson, Dave Quinn, Tony Bombera, Colman O’Brien, Maurice Battistuzzi, Joe Fehervari,Kevin Simpson (The Hog), Pat Greene, Wayne Moore, Craig Congrady, Rob Corcoran, DonLeBlanc, Max Wong

Class of ’63: (clockwise) John Ramage, Jim McLellan, Glenn Riley, Gary Beaudoin, PatriciaBeaudoin, Marina Navin, Frank Navin, Bill Reist and Anne Reist.

Together Again… Twenty-three years aftergraduating, Pat Stevens and Anita Heikkila(1980, Chem.Eng.) together have joined theEngineering Advisory Committee, with Patcurrently serving as chair, and both are look-ing forward to “giving back to Mac” throughthis voluntary commitment.

most importantly, if you have any ideas forfuture events or would like to volunteer inany way, please do not hesitate to contactone of the MacEngineering AlumniAdvisory Committee members listed below:

Pat (King) Stevens, Chemical ’80 – Chair

Romeo Palombella, Civil ’73 – Founding Chair

Len King, Civil ‘72 – Co-Chair

Carlos Escalante, Civil ’98

Susan (Juhasz) Laughton, Chemical ’95

Stephen Veldhuis, Mechanical & Mgmt ’90

Anita (Weygang) Heikilla, Chemical ’80

David Ryan, Political Science ’99

Doug Wittenberg, Electrical and Comp ’94


Class of ’78 Back row left to right: Don R. Woods, Cam M. Crowe, Leslie Uebanks Kilgour,Terry W. Hoffman, Mike McLarty, Dean Chambers, Bob Quaiattini. Les W. Shemilt. Front row:Cindy Hamielic, Suzanne Norman Sills, Jeff Saunders, Brian Hoyle, Bob Moore, Claudia Wong,Hans Schols.

Civil Engineering ’83: Peter Oddi, ErsilioSerafini, Tony Arpino, Samir Chidiac

Mr. and Mrs. Craig Congrady (left), WayneMoore (standing).

Class of ’83 bringing back memories with Dr. Colin Campbell sitting on Santa’s Lap. Santa isalso known as ‘the Hog’ (Kevin Simpson).

Alumni above enjoy a sumptious meal while sharing stories about good times past.


2003MacLab Extravaganza

Guest speaker:Mr. Vince Smith, B.Eng ’72 (Chem.Eng.)

President and CEO, Dow Chemical Canada Inc.

Topic:Making the Connection: LinkingChemistry to the Quality of Life

Thursday, November 6MUSC, McMaster Student Centre 6 p.m.

Chemical Engineering Conference

McMaster Welcomes Canada’s Chemical Engineers attendingthe annual meeting of Canada’s chemical engineering commu-nity from October 26 to 29, 2003. The conference will havespecial symposia addressing the themes of process systemsengineering, energy conservation and the linkages betweenchemical engineering practice and the environment.

We look forward to welcoming you to the City ofHamilton which is set between the beautiful NiagaraEscarpment and Lake Ontario, with opportunities forhiking, sightseeing along the lake, or visiting local muse-ums and cultural attractions. Hamilton is less than anhour away by bus or car from Toronto and Niagara

Falls. Enjoy the renowned Niagara wine region with itsmany boutique wineries and restaurants.

Also come ready to enjoy the McMaster ChemicalEngineering Alumni Reception. Dr. Mo Elbestawi, Dean,Faculty of Engineering and Dr. Peter George, President & Vice-Chancellor, invite you to attend a reception for all McMasterChemical Engineering Alumni in connection with the 53rdCanadian Chemical Engineering Conference on MondayOctober 27, 2003 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm in the Heritage Roomof the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel. As well as meeting with for-mer classmates, many Chemical Engineering faculty membersare planning to attend.

53rd Canadian

For information and registration, check the alumni web site:www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni

Vince Smith

MES news

Software engineering student ChrisBenoit and his fellow entrepreneursare the recipients of the 2003 Campus

Incubator Business Plan Challenge. Thethird-year McMaster student, along withPeter Hitchcock, a third-year McMaster artsand science student, and Brock Universitycomputer science student Mark Mikulec,will be using the $25,000 CampusIncubator award to further the growth anddevelopment of Iron Fusion, their enter-

$25,000 Prize Nurtures Student Entrepreneurs

Scott Moore, a fifth-year engineeringphysics and management student anda member of the Marauder Men’s

tennis team, is the recipient of the Dr. JackKennedy Award for 2002-2003. The pres-entation was made in June at the 7th annualMcMaster Marauder Scholar Brunch. Theaward is given in memory of Jack Kennedy,an associate professor of physical educa-tion from 1965-87, who passed away in1999. Kennedy was also director ofathletics from 1969-74. He retired in 1987after an impressive 34 years of coaching.

A nominee for the 2002-2003 IvorWynne (Male Athlete of the Year) and Ray

Matching Physics with Tennis

New Faculty membersCivil EngineeringIn July 2003, the Depart-ment of Civil Engi-neering at McMasterUniversity was pleasedto welcome our newestprofessor, Dr. AhmadHamid (’78). Dr. Hamidobtained his B.Sc. andM.Sc. in Structural Engi-neering from Ain-Shams University andhis Ph.D. in Civil Engineering fromMcMaster University in 1978. Dr. Hamidcomes to McMaster University from

Drexel University where he has held afaculty position since 1982.

Dr. Hamid is an internationally recog-nized authority in the field of masonry.He has over 30 years of engineeringexperience in teaching, research, con-sulting in the United States, Canada andthe Middle East.

Engineering PhysicsDr. Rafael Kleiman joined the depart-ment of Engineering Physics in May, 2003.Dr. Kleiman received his Ph.D. fromCornell University (Ithaca, NY) in 1992

and has research inter-ests in the advancementof MEMS (MicroElectro-Mechanical Systems)technology and its usesfor biomedical and tele-communications appli-cations. Prior to hisappointment at McMaster,he was employed in the SemiconductorResearch Department at Bell Laboratories,the R&D lab for Lucent Technologies inMurray Hill, NJ.

Ahmad Hamid

Rafael Kleiman


Johnson Awards, Scott was thisyear’s OUA singles bronzemedallist and also won a bronzemedal in doubles. For the secondstraight season he was the Men’sTennis team Most ValuablePlayer and for the fourth time infive seasons he was an OUA All-Star. He was the team captainand, for the past two seasons,was assistant coach.

Scott has been a Marauder Scholar everyyear that he has been at McMaster. Hefinished the 2002-2003 school year withan 11.1 average over 36 units - two courses

more than the average completedby a typical student in anacademic year. He is also therecipient of the Atomic Energy of Canada Scholarship, the RayLawson Scholarship and the Dr. Harry Lyman HookerScholarship.

Scott graduated with acombined average 11.7 out of 12or an A+ average and, during

Convocation ceremonies, received theProfessional Engineers Ontario GoldMedal as well as the Shell Canada prize inEngineering and Management.

tainment software development company. “The money will really help us make a

lot of progress,” says Benoit who, withHitchcock and Mikulec, leads a nine-member team. “Within the next year or twowe hope to have the engine complete andby the end of 2004 we hope to complete agame called Dog Fight, which is a tacticalspace combat game.”

Iron Fusion supplies the core softwarecomponent of a computer game. “The

whole idea about this invention is that weare making it easier for others to creategames,” he explains. “People have greatideas. They just don’t know how to separatethe content of the game from the code.”

Benoit notes that the games industry isstill very new and is growing rapidly. In2003, it made about $7.7 billion in U.S.sales. According to the young entrepreneur,“it rivals the music and movie industries.

Scott Moore


Departmental newsbriefs


Chemical Engineering

Professor Robert Pelton has been nameda Canada Research Chair in InterfacialTechnologies. His research involves usingemerging biotechnological developmentsto produce new papermaking chemicalsthat are less harmful to the environment.Pelton’s research group is considered theworld’s largest research group working inthe area of polymers in papermaking. He isthe founding director of the McMasterCentre for Pulp and Paper Research andscientific leader of the Canadian networkof Pulp and Paper Researchers. He hasbeen awarded a Tier 1 Chair.

Congratulations to Doug Keller on his2002 President’s “Working at McMaster”award for outstanding service. Doug is amost deserving person, as everyone inChemical Engineering knows and appreci-ates. Doug is special because he takesresponsibility for his tasks and takes pride indoing a great job. He demonstrates strongtechnical capabilities in his job, possessesstrong networking skills within the Univer-sity and industry, and has top-level commit-ment to the safety and functionality of thedepartment. Congratulations and thanks foryour outstanding work, Doug.

Professor John Vlachopoulos presentedhis 50th International Intensive Shortcourse on Polymer Rheology And Extrusionin Brussels, Belgium in February 2003.The course was attended by 34 polymerprofessionals working in large multina-tional corporations like ExxonMobil,Atofina, Dupont, Akzo, Solvay, Borealisand several other medium sized companiesin 17 European countries. The 51st coursewas presented in early June in Spanish andin-house at the Novacel Corporation inGuadalajara, Mexico. Dr. Vlachopoulos

also lectures in French, German andGreek. The 52nd International course willbe presented in August in Burlington,Ontario, mostly to Canadian and Americanparticipants.

Chemical EngineeringDepartment Simulation workselected by the editors ofChemical Engineering as oneof 200 major contributions inthe past 100 years

To celebrate 100 years of chemical engi-neering, the editors of the magazineChemical Engineering selected 200 note-worthy accomplishments of the century,one or two per year. For 1965 they chosethe project entitled “A live operating chem-ical plant [a contact sulfuric acid plant ofCanadian Industries Ltd.,] was successfullysimulated by a digital computer system”.The simulation was done as a final yearproject by the class of 1965 of ChemicalEngineering students from McMasterUniversity. The students were MikeCoome, Paul DiSalvo, Peter Friedman, JohnMacGregor (now Professor MacGregor inthe Department of Chemical Engineering),Bill Pacey, G.K. Patel, Gerrard Renaud andJim Yallop. The faculty coordinating theproject were Professors Ab Johnson,Cameron Crowe, Archie Hamielec, TerryHoffman and Don Woods. They used thenewly-developed simulation package,PACER, written by Paul Shannon, then atDartmouth College, Hanover, NH. Theteam visited the site several times and tookextensive measurements on a day that theprocess was run at steady state, so that asuccessful simulation could be achieved.

Over 100 engineers and editors attendedthe students’ presentation of their work.

Since this was a ground-breaking achieve-ment, their success made news and wasreported in many professional magazines,including Chemical Engineering andChemical Engineering Progress. In subse-quent years the McMaster team of facultyled simulation projects of the Shell alkyla-tion plant, then in Oakville, ON; Alcan’sBayer process in Arvida, QC; and BPCanada’s waste water treatment plant inBronte, ON. Johnson went on to developthe computer package MACSIM and,together with Crowe, Hamielec, Hoffman,Woods and Shannon, presented numerousworkshops on simulation and published thebook, “Chemical Plant Simulation: anintroduction to computer- aided, steady-state process analysis,” in 1969 throughMcMaster University Printing Department.

Their book was also published byPrentice Hall in 1971 and was translatedinto Russian several years later.

Intelligent Mill Wide Control System

Precarn Inc., Forintek Canada, Tembec,Compact Optimisation and McMasterUniversity are joining forces to develop anIntelligent Mill Wide Control System forthe lumber industry. Dora Kourti and JohnMacGregor from Chemical Engineeringare representing the University. Over thenext 3 years, the partners will contributed$2.7 million to create the Smart MillAssistant (SMA). This advanced processcontrol system will allow lumber manufac-turers to monitor and control all inde-pendent production steps in an integratedfashion. The prototype for the Smart MillAssistant, to be commercialized by Comact,will be installed in a Tembec sawmill byMarch 2005.

Don Woods has been appointedDistinguished Visiting Teaching Professorfor the fall of 2003 by the University ofGuelph. Don will be visiting the campus andworking with faculty and students frommany departments on how to improvestudent learning. He gave a workshop on“Ideas to Improve Learning” at the SummerInstitute sponsored by the Centre for

Engineering Alumni...Join our Engineering Alumni E-mail Database just for ENGINEERS!

http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/

This is a great opportunity to keep in touch with your fellow classmates.Check out McMaster Alumni Association’s new on-line McMaster @lumni Community

http://www.mcmaster.ca/ua/


Flexible Learning, University of Windsor,Windsor. A workshop on a similar topic wasgiven at the “Focus on Learning” confer-ence for new teachers from the EasternOntario Community Colleges held atOpinicon Lodge, Chaffeys Locks. Bothworkshops were held in June, 2003. Donwas one of four guest speakers at the secondannual “Celebrate Teaching” conference atthe University of Ottawa. This year thetheme was “Problem-based Learning: a dayof exploration and shared experiences”.

Civil Engineering

Dr. Said Easa (’76) has been awardedthe 2003 Sandford Fleming Award fromthe Canadian Society for Civil Engineering(CSCE). The lifetime achievement awardwas presented at the Society’s AwardsBanquet, held on June 6, 2003 in Moncton,New Brunswick. Dr. Easa, Professor andChair of the Department of CivilEngineering at Ryerson University,obtained his Ph.D. from University ofCalifornia at Berkely. His field of interestis transportation engineering, and has beenwidely published. In 2002, he was keynotespeaker for the CSCE national lecture touron road safety conducted in 12 cities acrossCanada. In 1998, he led a CSCE delegationto China and Pakistan focusing on sustain-able transportation. He has received manynational and international best-paper andlifetime achievement awards including the2001 Frank M. Master TransportationEngineering Award from the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineering (ASCE).

Dr. Gordon Huang (’94) was recently

named a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) inEnergy and Environment. Dr. Huang isProfessor of Environmental SystemsEngineering at the University of Regina.Being at the forefront in developing deci-sion support systems for petroleum wastemanagement, Huang acted as the principalor co-principal investigator for fourNSERC Strategic Projects, and producedover a hundred refereed journal publica-tions. He plans to continue to researchadvanced innovative methodologies forsystems analysis under uncertainty andcomplexity. Two focus areas will betackled, including subsurface contamina-tion and air pollution caused by variouspetroleum-related practices. While at Mac,Gordon was co-supervised by Dr. BrianBaetz and Dr. Gilles Patry.

In July Ronald E. Materick (Civil ’70)was nominated by Governor Rod Blago-jevich of Illinois to fill one of two vacantseats on the Illinois State Toll HighwayAuthority board. Ron Materick is Presidentand Chief Operating Officer of TishmanConstruction Corp. of Illinois, which ispart of New York-based TishmanConstruction Corp. The Chicago office hasdeveloped and managed major projectssuch as the John Hancock Center and theSheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

Electrical & ComputerEngineering

Dr. John Bandler has been awardedFellow of the Canadian Academy ofEngineering. His induction took place onMay 30th in Montreal. The Fellows of the

Academy are profes-sional engineers fromall disciplines and areelected on the basis oftheir distinguished ser-vice and contributionto society, to the countryand to the profession.Dr. Bandler is the firstmember in the Depart-ment of Electrical andComputer Engineeringto be awarded such anhonor.

The citation fornomination noted thatJohn Bandler’s record

spans 35 years of scholarly, pioneering andprofessional contributions in radiofrequency and microwave theory and tech-niques, optimization of circuits andsystems, and computer-aided engineering(345 papers). Pioneering achievementsinclude design centering and yield-drivendesign, analog diagnosis, testing andtuning, and device statistical parameterextraction, now taken for granted in the RFand microwave arena. He foundedOptimization Systems Associates Inc.(OSA) in 1983, developing optimization-based products until 1997, the date ofacquisition of OSA by Hewlett-PackardCompany (HP). His optimization contri-butions, even exploiting electromagneticsimulators, set benchmarks for today’ssoftware.

Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus,along with his co-authors, J.D. van Wykand R. Chen, has been awarded the BestPaper Award for 2002 by the IEEETransactions on Components andPackaging Technologies. The paper isentitled “Experimental and theoreticalcharacterization of an antiferroelectricceramic capacitor for power electronics”and was selected from over 100 interna-tional manuscripts. A shared $2,500 U.S.cash prize and Certificate was awarded.Congratulations, Colin!

Dr. Tim Davidson’s dedication andhard work have been formally recognizedby his success in receiving the Premier’sResearch Excellence Award.

Dr. Terry Todd is the first chairholderfor the NSERC/RIM/CITO IndustrialResearch Chair in Pico-Cellular WirelessInternet Access Networks. The Departmentcommends and congratulates Dr. Todd onhis hard work in establishing this Chair.

Dr. Max Wong has been selected as thenew chair of the department. He started inthis position on April 1, 2003.

The Department has developed anexciting and unique proposal for a fiveyear B Eng/M Eng degree in biomedicalengineering. Students will have the optionof completing the 4-year B Eng program inelectrical and biomedical engineering andthe necessary pre-medical qualificationsfor entrance into most medical schools inNorth America. Graduates of the programwill have very broad career opportunitiesin electrical and biomedical engineering,especially in the areas of biomedical

While attending the 4th International Conference on Seismologyand Earthquake Engineering in Tehran, Iran in May, 2003, Drs.Ahmed Ghobarah and W.K. (Dick) Tso had an opportunity meetwith alumni Drs. Abdoreza Sarvghad-Moghadam (’98), HohsenGhaemian Amirkolai (’97) and Rezaa Ardekaaniaan (’97).


imaging, signal processing and instrumen-tation. The 4-year B.Eng. program hasbeen approved by Senate, and the 5th-yearMaster’s degree option is currently goingthrough the approval process.

Engineering Physics

The Institute of Electrical and Elec-tronics Engineers (IEEE) has elevatedChang-qing Xu to Senior Member in theorganization. Senior Member is the highestprofessional grade within IEEE andrequires a degree of experience that reflectsprofessional maturity. Only approximately7% of IEEE’s 382,000 members haveachieved this designation.

This year the Department hired 30summer students. Thirteen of those wereNSERC Undergraduate Student ResearchAward winners. The students assisted in anumber of ongoing research projectsthroughout the department. They were alsoengaged in the assembly and testing ofrecently acquired device fabrication equip-ment and the development of the controlsoftware for data acquisition and materialscharacterization.

This spring saw the first two lectures inthe newly established Photonics SeminarSeries, jointly organized by EngineeringPhysics, Ontario Photonics Consortium(OPC), Centre for Electrophotonics and Materials Devices (CEMD) andPhotonics Research Ontario (PRO). Thespeakers were Dr. A. Rakitin of theUniversity of Toronto and Dr. R.Gwilliam, the Director of the Surrey IonBeam Centre, University of Surrey,Guildford, Surrey, UK.

The Centre for ElectrophotonicsMaterials and Devices (CEMD) recentlytook occupancy of approximately 5,000 sq.ft. of new space dedicated to photonicsresearch. This space is located in the new building adjacent to the TandemAccelerator Laboratory. It will be home toseveral research engineers and graduatestudents. The ground floor will containfacilities for the growth of complex semi-conductor structures, photonic waveguidedevices and optical filters. It will alsohouse state of the art thin film diagnosticequipment. The second floor will housevarious specialized optical and electronicequipment for device characterization.

Some device processing equipment willalso be available and space is designatedfor device packaging. This new laboratorybuilding will greatly expand the CEMDfacilities, complement the existing clean-rooms, and further enhance McMaster’sunique capabilities in the fabrication ofphotonic devices.

Dr. C-Q Xu has recently been awarded$150,000 over 5 years through thePremier’s Research Excellence Award(PREA). Congratulations!

The Department is pleased to acknowl-edge a donation of approximately $450,000worth of equipment from JDS Uniphase.This equipment will be used to upgradephotonics undergraduate laboratories. The donation was facilitated by the Ontario Photonics Education and TrainingAssociation (OPETA) as part of a programinvolving several Ontario universities.

Computer & SoftwareEngineering

Students in the Department of Computing& Software have been winning accolades.

Ayako Watanabe, a 2003 SoftwareEngineering and Management graduate isthe winner of the Best UndergraduateStudent Paper Prize 2002/2003 awarded bythe Canadian Operations Research Society.The title of the paper is: Optimal BasisIdentification Procedure, and it documentsthe work that she did in the summer of2002 in the Advanced Optimization Labunder the guidance of Dr. Tamas Terlaky.Ayako did preparatory work on this projectin the summer of 2001 under the supervi-sion of Dr. Ned Nedialkov. The prize wasawarded during the annual CORS confer-ence in Vancouver on June 3rd.

The third annual IBM Challenge assign-ment was to build a monitoring system forthe McMaster Nuclear Reactor. TheSoftware Engineering Senior Thesis proj-ects were judged by IBM judges andawards went to the top groups at a cere-mony on April 17th. The first place groupmembers, whose project was entitled“Rottweiler Reactor Sentry” each receiveda cash award of $1000: Ryan Oattes,Andrew DeDecker, Mark Dzialo,Chinedu Maduakor, Matthew Roy, andKai Ki Tam. The second place teamreceived $500 each for their project entitled

“Cerberus Safety System”: Reid Copeland,Rudi Batic, Anish Passi, Shabbir Patel,and Yogamala Satheeswaran.

Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Samir Ziada assumes his new roleas chair of the department, effective July 1,2003.

On July 1, 2003, the Department ofMechanical Engineering, in partnershipwith the Arthroplasty Group of HamiltonHealth Sciences Henderson Hospitalstarted a new research initiative in biome-chanics. Research topics include, amongothers, stability of prostheses in totalknee and hip replacement and the effectof antibiotic additives and curing proce-dure on the mechanical properties andadhesive strength of bone cement. Thisis the result of several years of coop-eration between the Department ofMechanical Engineering and HendersonArthroplasty Group, during which 4thyear students in Mechanical Engineeringcarried out various projects in biome-chanics. The initiative is jointly super-vised by Drs. D. Metzger and S. Ziadafrom Mechanical Engineering and MDsA. Adili, J. deBeer and J. Leone fromthe Henderson Arthroplasty Group.

It’s an exciting time to be in it because thereare so many exciting things happening.”

Iron Fusion is already generating keeninterest. Niagara College, for example, isinterested in investing in the company’ssoftware to use as a model to teach studentsin a future post-graduate program in gamedevelopment.

The Challenge, which runs each yearfrom September to April, starts with aseries of workshops covering the basicsof writing effective business plans, intel-lectual property issues and raising capital.Undergraduate and graduate studentsfrom all faculties at McMaster can enterthe competition. A panel of experiencedentrepreneurs, venture capitalists andlegal professionals judge the businessplans.

$25,000 prizecontinued from page 15


2002-03 was a busy year!Over 80 internship students were placed

in companies across the country and inter-nationally. Fifty students found researchwork through the Undergraduate ResearchOpportunities Program (UROP) – up 44%from last year. Our revised coop program –the Summer Engineering Experience Coop(SEEC) – has placed close to 50 students.

Engineering Career Services (ECS) isplanning to continue this trend through the2003 – 2004 year. Would you like to getinvolved?

If you’re interested in participating ininnovative career programs, would like toget your company’s name known oncampus and would enjoy the added benefitof helping out future Mac Alumni, cometalk to us or have us prepare a presentationfor you and your colleagues. We wouldlove the opportunity to visit your work site!Here are just some of the many ways youcan get involved…

The Cooperative IndustrialInternship Program:

ECS’s Internship Program is nowentering its 14th year and is one of thestrongest experience-based programs inboth ECS’ portfolio and in Ontario. For2003/2004 ECS is hoping to exceed its100-student placement goal.

Why is our Internship program so great?Because years of experience have taughtus exactly what employers want inInternship students.

All students who wish to participate inthe program must first complete a 6 -courseseminar series, known as 3INO. ECS pridesitself on placing students who not only havethe grades and skills to do the job but whounderstand the way the world of work oper-ates. For instance, the importance of theresume and the interview process, and whatto do if a problem arises at work.

The hard work put in by both thestudents and ECS pays off – McMasterInternship students have been placed in 8,12, or 16 months internships around theworld, from Germany to British Columbia,as well as right here in Hamilton.

Engineering Career ServicesThe Summer EngineeringExperience Coop (SEEC):

The Summer Engineering ExperienceCoop (SEEC) exists to help students findwork in their field and gain much neededexperience. With many of the positions,students can count the work towards theirProfessional Engineers of Ontario (PEO)license.

The summer of 2003 was the inauguralyear for the revamped SEEC program andit was a huge success – with close to 50students being hired for summer positionswith companies big and small across thecountry.

ECS is planning to place even morestudents in 2004. These placements willgive students the opportunity to gain expe-rience and skills in their chosen field andgive them a head start on their careers. Wethank those of you who supported us in thepast year and look forward to working withyou again!

The UndergraduateResearch OpportunitiesProgram (UROP):

How many undergrads think of pursuinga Masters during their first year ofEngineering? Not as many as we wouldlike. ECS is hoping to change the trendwith McMaster’s Undergraduate ResearchOpportunities Program (UROP).

UROP is currently the only one of its kindin Canada. It offers students in level one andtwo the opportunity to gain research-orientedexperience with professors in their field – anopportunity usually only available to gradstudents. Now in its second year, theprogram is a confirmed success. This pastsummer ECS placed 50 students in UROPplacements around campus.

For 2004, ECS wants to expand theprogram to selected industry, giving morestudents the opportunity to gain researchexperience and helping them to decide

whether research work and a Mastersdegree is for them.

Fall Graduate Recruitment:If you are looking to hire new graduates

to train and grow with your company thencome to Mac!

On September 18th 2003, McMasterwill be holding it’s annual career fair,“Career Day”. This is your chance to meetgraduating students from Engineering andother disciplines. This is the biggest CareerEvent at Mac and our students are excitedto meet companies that have an interest intheir futures. Come and tell them whatyour company is all about. To register,or for more information, please visit:http://careers.mcmaster.ca/career_fair/2003/.

ECS also invites you to participate incompany information sessions forEngineering students during Septemberand October. This is a great way to get toknow students in the graduating class andto have them get to know your company.Company information sessions may bebooked in the new student centre to accom-modate a larger audience or in the engi-neering building for smaller groups.

A free job posting service athttp://careers.mcmaster.ca is available tohelp you recruit graduating students andalumni. Usage patterns indicate that alumniuse McMaster job postings for up to 5years after graduating.

According to the Canadian Associationof Career Educators and Employers’(CACEE) Campus Recruitment Outlook2003 Study, McMaster University is ratedin the top 5 Canadian schools for campusrecruitment.

Each year over 200 companies takeadvantage of McMaster’s unique servicesand on campus recruitment events – givingthem the chance to get to know ourstudents and hire some of the best andbrightest new grads.


Visit the Engineering Career Services website atwww.eng.mcmaster/ecs


Upcoming eventsThurs. Sept. 25, 2003Wine Tasting EventSee website: www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni

Oct. 3, 4, 5, 2003Homecoming Weekend10 and 15-year reunion for EngineeringClasses of ’88 and ’93

NEW: McMaster EngineeringConnectionThursday, October 16, 2003 (Markham)Tuesday, October 21, 2003 (Ottawa)Thursday, January 29, 2004 (Toronto)Thursday, March 4, 2004 (Mississauga)Watch for more details coming soon!

Wed., Oct. 15, 2003Engineering and Science Olympics & Open House

October 20-24, 2003Engineering Week (Hamilton Chapter)Details to follow

Mon., Oct. 27, 20035:30-7:00 pm – Reception for McMasterChemical Engineering in connection with the Canadian Chemical Engineeringconference Oct. 26-29. Details at www.chemeng.mcmaster.ca/

Thurs., Nov. 6, 2003MACLAB Extravaganza 2003. Keynotespeaker is Vince Smith, President and CEODow Chemical Canada Inc. Details atwww.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/index.html

Sat. Feb. 7, 20042nd Annual Women in EngineeringExperienceDetails to follow

Fri., March 26, 2004The Ritual of the Calling of an EngineerKipling Ceremony

For additional information or to register forany of the above events, please contact

Carm Vespi, (905) 525-9140, ext. 24906,or e-mail: [email protected],

or register on-line:http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/

Guest speaker:Dr. John Brash

University Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering

Tuesday, October 21, 20035:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m.

Corel Centre, Palladium Drive, KanataAir Canada Club Restaurant

5:30 p.m. – Buffet Dinner

8:00 p.m. – Opening remarksDr. Peter George & Dr. Mo Elbestawi

Cost: $20/person

Visit our website for more details: http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/

You are invited to the

Markham Alumni/Industry Night

Guest speaker:

Dr. Mo ElbestawiDean of Engineering

Thursday, October 16, 20035:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m.

Location to be confirmed

6:30 p.m. ~ Buffet Dinner7:30 p.m.~ Opening remarks

Cost: $15/person

Visit our website for more details: http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni/

2nd Annual Alumni/Industry Night

(Bioengineering)


Change of address card:

Name:_______________________________________________________________________________

Grad Yr. & Dept.: _____________________________________________________________________

New Address: _________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Phone: __________________________________ Fax: ________________________________________

Postal Code: __________________ E-mail:_________________________________________________

Comments: (present occupation, recent accomplishments ie: awards, recognitions).

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

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Any comments provided will be included in the next issue.

Get your MacEngineer by e-mail!

If you would like to receive your issueby e-mail (pdf format) please contact

Carm Vespi, [email protected]

Alumni Memorial Hall receives renoThe 53-year-old Alumni Memorial

Hall (formerly, Faculty Club) isbeing renovated to make the

building accessible to persons with dis-abilities and to bring it up to currentbuilding codes.

The $1.6 million renovation project,known as “Phase I”, includes essentialimprovements to infrastructure, such as theinstallation of an elevator and secondentrance; the replacement of the heating,ventilation and air conditioning systems;

the complete renovation and reconfigura-tion of the cloakrooms and washrooms at the dining room level; and aesthetic and functional improvements within thecontext of the building’s designatedhistoric status.

The project will also create an appro-priate setting for the University Club as ashowcase dining and function facility, nowunder the direction of new Club ManagerTeresa Carlisle-Blythe.

“Renovation of Alumni Memorial Hall

is a significant step towards ensuring asustainable future for the facility,” saysGraham Hill, president of the UniversityClub, which occupies most of the building.Renovations should be completed by theend of September, he adds. When the clubreopens, it will be designated a smoke-freefacility.

Phase II, to occur at a future date, willinclude an expanded dining room, patioand balcony to the west, and expansion ofthe kitchen to the north.

Did you know?Other ECS Events YOU canparticipate in…

ECS offers a variety of events andprograms to help our students andemployers get to know each other. We lovehaving our alumni participate innetworking breakfasts, company seminarsessions and career days. If you have theinclination, you can help shape theemployees of tomorrow through ourvarious workshops and courses – you neverknow, you might just meet your future staremployee there!

To learn more about any of the servicesoffered by ECS, including the UROPprogram, SEEC and the Internship Program,or how you can increase your company profileon campus and reach your Fall recruitmentgoals through seminars, networking events orinformation sessions, please contact AnneMarkey, Engineering Career ServicesManager, at: [email protected] or905.525.9140 x 27283.

At ECS our mission is to bring studentsto companies and companies to students.You are invited to help us reach that goal byparticipating in any of the abovementioned and additional ECS programs.If you have an idea for an event or work-shop, please pass it on!

Career Servicescontinued from page 19

Ever wonder how far a-field Mac’sEngineering alumni have roamed?With a little help from the Office

of Alumni Advancement, we have beenable to determine where in the world ouralumni have ventured, and who exactlymakes up the group known as MacEngineers.

To date, the Faculty of Engineering hasa total of 9,790 alumni, 88% of whomare males. Almost 32.2% of these gradu-ated in the 1990’s, a decade that saw3,155 students graduate from the Faculty.The average age of our alumni is 40.

The United States has the highestnumber of engineering alumni currentlyliving outside of Canada. Over 480alumni live and work in “The States”.

Hong Kong is second with 172. Alsolisted in the top ten are: India (43),Singapore (37), China (35), Malaysia(34), Egypt (33), England (25), France(18) and Australia (15). Free Tradepartner, Mexico, is home to 11 alumni.

Some countries you might think wouldattract our engineering grads havesurprisingly few alumni. Ireland, Finland,Austria, and Kuwait report 1 each. SouthAmerica has fared better: Chile andVenezuela have 3 each. Numbers varywidely for Middle East countries. Thereare 6 alumni in each of Iran and Turkey,3 in Saudi Arabia, and 1 each in Oman,Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan and Israel.

A surprising 1,402 engineering alumniare currently listed as “lost”!

MacMechEng.Coene, Douglas ’97: Living in Montréalfor the last 3 years and recently began a newjob with OSIsoft, a company specializing indata historian and display software forproduction plants. Prior to that, he heldsupply-chain positions with Imperial Oil andMolson Breweries, followed by a stint inindependent consulting. Still enjoy mountainbiking, scuba diving, and traveling (the non-work kind!) [email protected].

D’Angelo, Greg B.Eng. ’78 and MD’82: I’m now in Lexington, Kentucky, prac-ticing orthopedic surgery – which somepeople say is about the same as engineeringor, maybe, plumbing! My wife Suellen and Ihave a daughter, Joellen (3), a son, John (2)and we are expecting a second daughter onJuly 24th.

Plut, Will ’94, M.Eng. ’97: Have beenliving in San Fracisco, California for the last5 years. What a beautiful place. I wasworking for a Silicon Valley Patent law firmdoing patent prosecution for the first fouryears. I quit the law firm last November tostart my own company which creates tech-nologies and companies based on those tech-nologies. If you’re going to play the techgame, this is the place to be! Living with mygirlfriend, Erica.

MacChemEng.Kurelek, Dianne ’82: I will be attendingthe Ontario Institute for Studies in Education(OISE) at the University of Toronto, startingin September 2003. I was accepted into theIntermediate/Senior division, with chemistryand math as my teachable subjects. Althoughit’s a one-year program, it will be a challengeto attend school fulltime as well as look afterthe 3 kids and Andy!

Stezinar, Marlene ’91: As of the begin-ning of this year, I was relocated to Bayer’sglobal headquarters in Leverkusen, Germanyand promoted to a Global Product LineManager. Please note new e-mail [email protected].

Wainwright, Mark ’74: Has been awardedan honorary degree, Doctor of Science, bythe University of South Australia, Adelaide.Dr. Wainwright is currently the Deputy ViceChancellor at the University of New SouthWales, in Sydney, Australia.

MacCivEng.Kular, John ’85: Just joined The KeithCompanies in Thousand Oaks, CA and amliving in Moorpark, CA ([email protected]). Married to Anne with two chil-dren, Reed (7) and Holly (6). Last fall Ipassed all the exams, on the first attempt, to

get my California P.E. status – a remarkablefeat for someone out of school for 18 years.Typically, the pass rates for each of the 3exams are 30-40%. Thanks to my formerprofessors – you taught me well!

MacMaterialsSci & Eng.Tsintzilonis, Georgios A. ’01: Workingas Business Services Manager for E-Construction SA, the leading Business-to-Business e-commerce services provider forconstruction companies in Greece, sinceSeptember, 2002. Current address: 177Michalakopoulou St., Athens, Greece 11527.E-mail: [email protected]

MacEngPhys.Harold, Donald, ’74: I have recentlyreturned to my Dundas roots and am nowliving at 7 Renata Ct., Dundas ON CanadaL9H 6X1 (e-mail [email protected]).I am currently transitioning to retirementfrom a rewarding management career atNortel Networks after 30 years of service intheir Engineering and Information Systemsgroups. Following the passing of my wifeCathy in 1998, I have again found love and happiness with a wonderful woman,Adrienne. She teaches elementary schoolin Hamilton. My son (Colin) and I havejoined her and her son (Sacha) in theirDundas home. We plan to marry this


Alumni GrapevineHey Alumni! Have you moved, taken a new job,

got something you would like to say, any other news? We would like to hear from you.Contact Carm Vespi Tel: (905) 525-9140, ext. 24906, E-Mail [email protected]

To: Ms. Carm VespiManaging EditorThe MacEngineerFaculty of EngineeringJohn Hodgins Building, Room A 201McMaster UniversityHamilton, Ontario L8S 4L7Tel: (905) 525-9140, ext. 24906 Fax: (905) 546-5492E-mail: [email protected]

TheMacEngineerTheMacEngineerThe MacEngineer is printed and produced by

Managing Editor: Carm Vespi,Engineering Alumni Officer

Editorial Committee: Dave S. Weaver,John Preston, Terry Milson, Carm Vespi

Art Direction and Design: WordsmithDesign and Advertising

Contributing Writers: AdministrativeCoordinators, Terry Milson, Trudi Down,The Daily News, Carm Vespi, Judy Mair,Krista Adlington and Susan Fekecs


Alumni Grapevine (cont’d)August and look forward to a full andexciting life together.

MacEng&Mgmt.Werry, David Chemical ’81: We havereturned to Ontario after working out westfulltime since 1984 in Vancouver and KitimatB.C., followed by Edmonton, AB. Currentlyliving in Dunrobin and working for theNuclear Safety Commission in Ottawa.Enjoying the opportunity to be closer tofamily. Home e-mail: [email protected].

Talalla, Dominic Mechanical ’92: After9 years with General Electric, I am nowwith BDC Venture Capital, in Toronto. Inthis position, I seek out and evaluate smalltechnology investment opportunities. It’s a

wonderful new challenge to see and eval-uate new technologies, and to work closelywith entrepreneurs and their emergingcompanies.

MacElect.Eng.Marsh, Eva M.Eng. ’81: Recipient of theWoman of the Year in Health and Fitness2002, award by the Hamilton Status ofWomen Committee. Speaking and con-ducting workshops on healing and recoveryand Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Can be reachedat [email protected].

Sullivan, Steve (Elec Eng ’89): and wifeNatalie are proud parents of our first child,Ryan Alexander Sullivan, born July 8thweighing a healthy 7 lbs, 14 oz. (born at

McMaster hospital, of all places!). Motherand baby are doing great.

OtherMassoptier, Laurent ’03: Former ex-change student from France, would like tokeep in touch. Currently living in Chamalieresat 22 avenue Paul Bert, France, 63400. E-mail:[email protected] .

On the fairway with McMaster Engineering

The first annual McMaster Engineering Golf tournament was held in May at the TyandagaMunicipal Golf Course in Burlington.

Civil Eng.& Mgt. class of ’82 from left toright: Doug England, Michael Nakawatase,Cathy Taylor and Dave Starr

Civil Eng.& Mgt. class of ’82 from left toright: John Gunter, Tony McCarthy, PeteVerok, Ben Van Hoeve

Emeritus Professors: Dr. Art Heidebrecht, Dr.Alan Smith, Dr. Bob Korol and Dr. Dick Tso

From left to right: Michael Delsey, Civil ’74;Peter Betka, Civil ’75; Gord Shields,Civil ’75;Doug Onishi, Civil ’75 and David Coughlin

From left to right: Veso Sobot, Chedo Sobot,Dave Reeds and Vlad Sobot

Wine Tasting EventKittling Estate Wines & Spirits

297 South Service Road, Grimsby, Ontario

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Meet at 6:00 p.m. in the Gathering Room for a brief

introduction to be followed by a Walking Tour which includes:

Fruit Receiving Room – grape press & mash tank, Fermentation

Cellar, Still Tower Room, Barrel Aging Cellar,

Tasting Bar & Boutique (after dinner)

Dinner MenuRoman Bastilla – Layers of white cheese, chicken breast, zucchini,

mushrooms and sundried tomatoes elegantly wrapped in a flaky

phyllo pastry. Complemented by Caesar salad and crusty bread.

Light and luscious chocolate raspberry cake

served with coffee and tea.

A glass of wine is served with dinner, and two more tastings are provided at the hospitality bar after dinner.

Tour with dinner will take approximately 2.5 to 3 hours

Cost: $30.00 per person

Registration is available on the engineering website atwww.eng.mcmaster.ca/engalumni

or call Carm Vespi at 905-525-9140, ext. 24906 email [email protected]

Attendance is limited. Please register early!

MacEngineer Fall 2003

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