MAY 2008 Issue
STUDENT COLUMN
Students Prepare for Solar-Powered Journey
BY MELISSA TIERNEY
University of Calgary
Student Columnist
(Engineering)
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Some University of Calgary engineering students have more than exams to prepare for as the 2008 North American Solar Challenge draws near. The stakes are higher than ever for the U of C crew this year — because the competition stages its finale in Calgary.
While this gives the Calgary team home-court advantage — at least at the end — it also increases the pressure to perform. The competition starts July 13 from Dallas, Tex., and ends 2,400 miles later in Calgary on July 22. At press time 26 teams from across North America were registered, offering stiff competition.
The U of C Schulich I car is still recovering from a pre-race test run in Australia, where it placed 12th. The car suffered major damage to its tail end when it caught a guardrail.
However, the ever-optimistic Schulich students used the experience as a chance to learn and grow as a team. Ravi Mani, a team veteran and an aerodynamicist, explained that the group learned a lot while rebuilding the entire tail section. The experience helped team members grow and adapt, teaching them to apply their skills and work under pressure in ways a classroom can’t.
Schulich I doesn’t use a drop of fuel. Yet it can reach a speed of 70 km/h, while consuming about the same amount of energy as a hair dryer. These facts make the scar an important project for the future of individual transportation. If solar energy really is a major player for the future, it is competitions like this that will help initiate and publicize its technological advances.
Engineering for Medicine
The Schulich School of Engineering will watch proudly June 9 as its first class graduates in the biomedical engineering specialization. Biomedical engineering applies engineering principles and analysis — including knowledge of math, physics, chemistry and biology — to advances in health and medicine.
Its roots go at least as far back as the 1900s when early diagnostic imaging tools were created. In 1950 the first professional societies and publications dedicated to biomedical engineering began emerging, with the creation of a medical database called MEDLINE in 1966. MEDLINE made publications more readily available than ever before.
The technology advanced rapidly from 1960 to 2000, beginning with simple EEG tests and recombinant technology in the 1960s through to the 1980s, and expanding into the development of commercially available MRI machines and Gore-Tex ligaments in the 1990s.
More recently, the human genome project and robotics have dramatically advanced not only our current technology but also what we can expect to come. Future research into biomedical engineering will focus on many medical issues, among them tissue engineering, stem cells, computer-assisted surgery and nanotechnology.
The Biomedical Engineering Program began as a graduate program in 1995, before becoming provincial (expanding to the University of Alberta) in 1996. It wasn’t until 2003 that it was added as an undergraduate program, which now culminates in a research thesis in the fourth and final year of the specialization.
On April 8 students were able to showcase their work at the Biomedical Engineering Projects Day. The event was a huge success, with 20 presentations ranging from joint dynamics to alternative drug delivery.
The exciting projects coming from the very first batch of graduating undergraduate students is a great indicator of the essential research we can expect from this thrilling field in the coming years.
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AN EARTH SHOT |