Ten topics featuring university moments and milestones from 2018

The installation of the university’s fourth President and a campus visit from the Prime Minister are among many campus milestones from 2018. Here’s a selection of highlights:

Student success stories leading the way in industry and the community

• A current Mechatronics Engineering student shared top prize in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, topping more than 40,000 other students from around the world.
• Two female engineering students won Hydro One Women in Engineering
• A team of Game Development and Entrepreneurship students saw their startup company Ominous Games win a Spark Centre entrepreneurial competition.
• A 2018 Automotive Engineering graduate won a coveted placement with the INFINITI Engineering Academy in the United Kingdom.
• Master of Arts in Criminology graduate students taking a powerful stand against hate speech and right-wing extremism through two online campaigns.
• A master’s student (and 2018 bachelor’s degree recipient) received a prestigious scholarship in artificial intelligence from the Toronto-based Vector Institute.

Game-changing research and discovery portfolio continues to grow

The university’s funding for innovative funding continues to expand as it maintains a solid placing among Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities. 2018’s many highlights include:

• A new Canada Research Chair (CRC) appointment in The Internet of Things and a renewed CRC in Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation.
• Nearly $2 million in new research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
• New internal funding awarded to 14 researchers.
• Creation of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism.
• Provincial Early Researcher Award funding from the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science.

New R&D opportunities at ACE

• ACE joined Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network to support leading-edge research and development of driverless vehicles.
• Plans were unveiled for a Moving Ground Plane for high-end research and development in the ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel, including a $9.46 million announcement by the Prime Minister in August.

Innovative spaces

• The launch of Brilliant Catalyst in the Energy Systems and Nuclear Science Research Centre; the opening of the Jeffrey S. Boyce Engineering Innovation Studio in the Software and Informatics Research Centre; and the unveiling of the Teaching City Hub in downtown Oshawa to develop the city as a ‘living lab’ to address and study complex urban issues.

Dr. Steven Murphy installed as fourth President

• At his presidential installation address, Dr. Steven Murphy outlined a plan calling for the university to transform into the technology hub of the eastern GTA.

Healthy workplace, healthy campus

• In October the university announced measures to make the campus smoke-free as of 2019.
• The university generated conversation about accessibility perspectives by implementing the new Dynamic Symbol of Access on parking spaces.
• Activities led by the Healthy Workplace Committee earned the university a fourth consecutive Healthy Workplace Award from the Regional Municipality of Durham.

Building a supportive culture for women in STEM disciplines

• To promote new opportunities for women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), in November the university launched the Women for STEM program: a commitment to raising funds in the community for entrance scholarships for women and the promotion of mentor pairing with female role models.

Tackling today’s pressing societal issues

• The university is on the forefront of key societal issues affecting the local and global communities. It hosted such events as the Technologies of Justice conference; the Futures Forum on Energy and the Environment; a symposium exploring how clean-tech materials and device technologies will help improve quality of life; and the biennial International Network for Hate Studies conference.

Community impact and engagement

• The university capped the opening week of the new academic year with a high-energy powwow celebration at Polonsky Commons.
• One of the university’s earliest graduates (Dr. Naheed Dosani, class of 2008) received the Governor General of Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross for helping some of society’s most marginalized.

Ridgebacks hoopla on the horizon

• The varsity athletics program announced the addition of women’s and men’s basketball starting in the 2019-2020 academic year. And 2018 was the year that Vaso’s Field was reconstructed with artificial turf for soccer, lacrosse and other outdoor sports.