Eligibility

• Be either a) a Teaching Assistant (recognized as eligible under the collective agreement) or b) an Undergraduate Student Course Assistant who is registered as a full-time student.
• Be hired as a Teaching Assistant or an Undergraduate Student Course Assistant for a course administered by the Faculty of Engineering. The appointment must be for a minimum of 50 hours in the given semester (of the current academic year) for which they are nominated.
• Not be the instructor of a course.

Criteria

A nominated teaching assistant must, as mentioned, have demonstrated teaching scholarship and service beyond his/her duties. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Outstanding effectiveness as an educator
• Excellent command of the subject
• Capacity to motivate students

Nomination Procedure

Only activities associated with the course in the year of nomination are to be considered. Any five full-time students, registered in the Faculty of Engineering (and registered in the course for which the nominee serves as a TA) may submit a nominating petition. Such a petition shall include:

• The course(s) for which the candidate is being nominated
• The date, signatures, and ID numbers of the five nominating students
• The signature of the instructor of the course for which the teaching assistant is nominated to certify that
  1. students are registered in the course and
  2. that the signatories are eligible nominators
• Completion of the nomination form describing the grounds for the nomination
• Any additional supporting documents that the nominators deem insightful into the performance of the nominee (ie, letters of support)

The Committee

The Committee on Outstanding Teaching Awards, is chaired by the Dean or his/her representative, and makes the final decision.

Best Poster Presentation Award

Reza Rabiei

Reza Rabiei received the Best Poster Presentation Award at the 2011 Bioengineering Symposium last September for his presentation Toughness Amplification in Natural Composites. In 2009 he also received Best Paper by a Young Researcher at the 12th International Congress on Fracture for his paper Micromechanics of Fracture in Nacre From Mollusk Shells which he wrote with his supervisor Francois Barthelat.

2011 Awards for Outstanding Teaching Assistants

Brian Hamilton

Marwan Kanaan

Mehrdad Kermani

Previous Outstanding Teaching Assistants

2010
Steve Khoury (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
Karim Allidina (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
Bhavin Shastri (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
2009
Vahid Raissi Dehkordi (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
Damien Claude Gilles (Civil Engineering)
Charles Martin Ormsby (Civil Engineering)
2008:
Christian Krelling (School of Urban Planning)
Adrian Ngoly (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
Dominic Sauvageau (Chemical Engineering)
2007:
M. Azzi (Mining & Materials Engineering)
I. Castillo (Chemical Engineering)
K. Hikita (Civil Engineering/Architecture)
2006:
J.S. Chenard (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
J. Imtiaz (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
M. Nunes (Civil Engineering)
2005:
P. Navarra (Mining & Materials Engineering)
2004:
D. Barclay (Mathematics & Statistics)
D. Dionne (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
S. Kashani (Mining & Materials Engineering)
2003:
A. Blander (Mining & Materials Engineering)
T. El-Ramahi (Civil Engineering)
2002:
R. Gupta (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
R. Harmouche (Electrical & Computer Engineering))
K. Karagiozis (Mechanical Engineering)

Chemical Engineering Students Win Environmental Prize

Third-year Chemical Engineering students Omer Dor and David Morris are the 2011 recipients of the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation TD Go Green Challenge Award. Each student received a $10,000 prize and a 12-week summer internship with the FEF Foundation. The McGill duo was honoured for what was termed an innovative and highly creative carbon dioxide chemical conversion system. The team's project is described in this video: Integrated Energy & Food Greenhouse

The prestigious TD Go Green Challenge Award includes a $100,000 payment from TD to McGill to support on-campus sustainability initiatives. The McGill Engineering students competed against 132 entries from across Canada.

The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation is a national organization that was formed by TD Bank Financial Group. It has a grassroots focus that funds local projects dedicated to preserving the environment. Chemical Engineering Department Professor Alejandro Rey said that his department’s “long tradition of research-inspired teaching provides fertile ground for engineering solutions to pressing environmental, energy and sustainability challenges,” and he praised the two student winners for “their outstanding creative and academic skills.”

For more information please visit the McGill Newsroom

Recognizing Outstanding Teaching Assistants

The Faculty of Engineering recognizes the important role played by teaching assistants (TAs) in undergraduate education. As a result, the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award was created to acknowledge TAs who excel in their activities. This award is presented once a year to up to three persons who are TAs or Undergraduate Student Course Assistants and who have demonstrated excellence in teaching scholarship and service. Awardees will receive $500 and a certificate from the Faculty of Engineering.

CEMF 2010 Undergraduate Scholarships

Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation
20 Years of Supporting Women in Engineering

Jill Vandenbosch is a fourth-year student in Chemical Engineering. Jill believes “engineering is a demanding field of study but one that has great rewards to the keen student.” She has been very active with the Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering committee at McGill and represented her university at the National Conference for Women in Engineering. Jill has also been involved with the Golden Path Tutoring Program both as a tutor and program coordinator. Whilst at high school, Jill played a major role in implementing a mentoring group for younger female students.

Architecture Student Julia Webster Receives Scarlet Key

Julia Webster

Architecture student Julia Webster was one of 14 McGill students to receive a Scarlet Key. The Scarlet Key Society has promoted student leadership at McGill for over 75 years. The prestigious Scarlet Key award is given out to recognize and celebrate excellence in student leadership and extra-curricular activity.

Ms Webster is a post-professional M.Arch. student, enrolled in the History and Theory of Architecture option. Since 2005, she has been a positive force in campus life as a member of the first Bachelor of Arts and Science Integrative Council, serving as the VP Internal, VP Arts External and finally as President. Under her presidency, the council produced the first issue of the journal Ampersand and developed a new website. In her fourth year, Julia was elected Vice-President Internal of the Students' Society of McGill University. Julia was also involved in the creation of the 2009 SSMU Handbook, an acting editor of the Old McGill yearbook and a Photo Editor of the McGill Tribune.

Best Student Paper/Poster Award

Mr. Karim Allidina won the Best Student Paper/Poster Award at the CANEUS Fly-By-Wireless 2009 Workshop, held earlier this summer. Both National and International students ran for this competition where judging was conducted by a panel of six industry representatives.

Mr. Allidina is a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Professor Mourad El-Gamal. The research work presented related to the use of very low power ultra wideband IC’s for wireless communication and sensing, without interference, for aerospace applications. Mr. Allidina holds an NSERC / MEDA - Vadasz Scholarship.
Please see the Graduate Funding site for more information about the funding available for graduate students at the Faculty.

Lyceum Traveling Fellowship in Architecture

Traian Dima

Third-year undergraduate Architecture student Traian Dima, received second prize for his winning project in the 2009 Lyceum Traveling Fellowship in Architecture competition. The McGill submissions were projects developed in the U3 studio sections of Profs. Tom Balaban, Howard Davies, and Robert Claiborne.

The Lyceum Fellowship was established in 1985 to advance the development of creative thought and talent in architecture. The structure of this design competition and accompanying travel grants establishes an important dialogue among 14 participating schools of architecture.

The complete story at: School of Architecture Announcements

2009 Microwave Prize

Dr. Joshua D. Schwartz, Professor David V. Plant, and Associate Professor Jose Azaña (Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications (INRS-EMT)) were awarded the 2009 Microwave Prize from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. for their paper entitled "A fully electronic system for the time magnification of ultra-wideband signals"

This annual prize was established in 1954 to recognize authors of the most significant contribution by a published paper to the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society.

Dr Schwartz, Plant, and Azaña received their award at the IEEE International Microwave Symposium on June 10, 2009.

McGill Engineering Students Win the Hybrid Race

Formula Hybrid International competition team members (from left to right) Kieran Humphries, Simon Ouellette, Patric Demers, Joey Odman, Marc-Olivier Rivest, Albert Mathews, Edward Ko. Elizabeth Lee sits in front.

McGill University took the top prize for the second year in a row. The school’s hybrid was one of only two cars that circled the speedway for the full 22 kilometers required in the competition. This earned the cars top marks for endurance, one of the most important categories in which vehicles were judged. The other team to complete the 22-km track was from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Teams were also scored on factors including car design and acceleration and the students’ presentation skills in describing their cars and design efforts.

McGill’s triumph was due in no small part to its experience building and racing hybrid snowmobiles in other SAE-sponsored competitions, according to graduate student and team leader Simon Ouellette. “Most of the people on our team were also on our electric snowmobile team,” he says. The combined effort keeps them busy most of the year.

“That’s where we get to break stuff and fail,” Ouellette says. “Then we adapt our snowmobile designs to the race car because they’re proven and reliable. A big part of the competition is reliability, and we’re using the components in the winter in much more demanding conditions.”

Although McGill’s vehicle hadn’t changed dramatically from last year’s, the students were surprised by how much better their car performed. “It was fixing all of the little things we didn’t like about last year’s car that added up,” Ouellette says.

Despite their experience, the McGill team still faced a problem that other teams did not: “We didn’t get much time to drive our car before the competition because it’s still too cold in Montreal in March and April,” Ouellette says.

You can view the complete article byJohn R. Platt at: The Institute

Zero Emission Champions

The McGill Electric snowmobile team won the "zeroemission" category at the 2007 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge held in Houghton, Michigan. The team won 1st for Overall, Best Design, Innovation. The event is an intercollegiate engineering design competition that challenges students to re-engineer an existing snowmobile for improved emission and noise while maintaining or improving its original performance characteristics.

Winner of the Governor General's Gold Medal

Dr. Joshua Schwartz received the Governor General's Gold Medal at convocation this year for being the top graduating student receiving a Ph.D. or Masters in any discipline of the Natural Sciences and Engineering. He also received the D. W. Ambridge Prize as top PhD graduate in Electrical Engineering