Learning isn’t confined to the classroom at Queen’s University and for students in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science one of the avenues to gain hands-on experience is through design teams.

For Chris Woischwill, currently a master’s student in mechanical engineering, his participation in the Queen’s Eco-Vehicle Team has provided him not only a valuable learning experience but also a new calling for his area of study.

The QEVT – which designs, manufactures and races prototype and concept vehicles in pursuit of attaining new heights in fuel efficiency – is a new team that has only been around for two years. From the start, the team set an ambitious goal of competing in the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition in Houston with a mere four months to create a vehicle from scratch.

Their vehicle was able to pass all the technical inspections and successfully finish the marathon, recording a fuel efficiency of 180 miles per gallon – for comparison, the top hybrid vehicles on the road today top out around 50 miles per gallon.

While the QEVT lagged well behind the leading teams from across North and South America, simply finishing the marathon, Mr. Woischwill explains, was a competitive result.

“I think that was our biggest accomplishment,” he says. “We went down to Texas in our first year and we raced a car, we passed all the technical inspections. Only three quarters of the teams that arrive at competition are able to pass technical inspections, and even less are able to make it across the finish line. Managing to do both in our first year of competition is an enormous accomplishment.”

The team returned to the event this year, held in Detroit, and passed the inspections but was unable to finish the street course. A positive, however, was that, after their own analysis, they nearly tripled their efficiency to 520 miles per gallon.

It has been a great experience all around, Mr. Woischwill says, including what he has learned as the operations manager handling the organization of the team.

“I’m so glad that I did a design team. I remember that in my first year I did a summer co-op and they said what set me apart from the other candidates was that I had more extra-curricular experience and that’s what they look at when hiring people,” he says. “So when I heard that, the next year I went and joined this team as it was starting up and really focused on this. Really, I think it’s true that employers look at design teams. I think that if the employer was looking at two people with identical resumes they would pick the one with design teams experience just because you really get the experience of team dynamics, such as meeting deadlines and collaborating with others.”

When he started at Queen’s, Mr. Woischwill thought that renewable energies was the only engineering field that could lead to a greener tomorrow. However, after joining QEVT he gained a new passion for designing and constructing lightweight, eco-friendly vehicles.

Currently he and academic supervisor Il-Yong Kim (Mechanical Engineering) are collaborating with General Motors to develop lighter trucks to improve fuel efficiency.

That makes the QEVT a perfect fit for Mr. Woischwill.

But for now his goal, and that of all the members of the QEVT, is to keep increasing the fuel efficiency of their vehicle and keep improving.

“We really hope that we can be a top team in the next three or four years,” he says. “We know that is aggressive but we were aggressive when we said we wanted to get to competition the first year so maybe we’ll keep building on that momentum.”

There are a number of design teams organized by the Engineering Society of Queen’s University that focus on all aspects of engineering and provide a wide range of jobs for a variety of levels of commitment: Aero Design Team (QADT); Baja SAE Design Team; Concrete Canoe Team; Concrete Toboggan; Queen’s Eco-Vehicle Team (QEVT); Environmental Sustainability Team (QUEST); Formula SAE Team; Fuel Cell Team (QFCT); Genetically Engineered Machine (QGEM); Mostly Autonomous Sailboat Team (MAST); Bridge Building Team (QBBT); Solar Design Team (QSDT); and Space Engineering Team (QSET).

There’s more to Janet Pollard’s job than just keeping the lights on.

As one of Queen’s electrical engineers, she has a hand in nearly all of Queen’s electrical infrastructure, from planning the power sourcing of a new building to the maintenance of emergency generators. Her role requires both an eye for detail and a sense of the big picture.

“When we develop or review electrical specifications and drawings, it can be for a variety of things,” Ms. Pollard says. “It could be a small office renovation or it could be the construction of a whole new building. Queen’s is almost like a small town, so there’s always a lot to keep in mind and a lot to do.”

Ms. Pollard came to her role in January 2006 following seven years spent in the automotive sector. After her time in an auto glass production plant, she felt ready for a change.

“Supporting a manufacturing plant can be much more demanding on your personal life. Nights, weekends, and holidays are not always your own as you are often called in to resolve issues that are halting production. Although working at Queen’s also has its share of demands, there is more opportunity for a work-life balance. Of course, when the chips are down and power is off in a building, we’re here around the clock to fix it.”

Coming to Queen’s was something of a homecoming for Ms. Pollard, who graduated from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in 1998, but it didn’t take long before she was in the thick of things.

“It’s been busy from pretty much day one,” she says. “There have been major construction projects since I got here: the Queen’s Centre, the Goodes Hall Extension, new Medical Building and the Isabel Bader Centre. That said, this summer is shaping up to be our busiest yet.” 

Campus is receiving a wide range of much-needed electrical upgrades over the coming months, and Ms. Pollard is helping to oversee them. There’s work being done to prepare for the revitalization of Richardson Stadium, electrical equipment retrofits and fire alarm upgrades to some of campus’ older buildings and the replacement of the main electrical switchboard for the Queen’s Central Power Plant, to name just a few.

“When we develop or review electrical specifications and drawings, it can be for a variety of things. It could be a small office renovation or it could be the construction of a whole new building. Queen’s is almost like a small town, so there’s always a lot to keep in mind and a lot to do.”

- Janet Pollard, electrical engineer

Though we use electricity constantly, we don’t often stop to think about the work or systems that keep it running, something Ms. Pollard says comes from design. Queen’s buildings are powered by “electrical feeders” that connect them to the power grid and most have redundancies, meaning power can be provided from multiple sources. Those redundancies help prevent prolonged power failures and allow isolation of feeders without building disruption.

“We can move a building onto another feeder without anyone inside being disturbed or even knowing that we’ve made any change,” she says.

Her job is mostly behind the scenes work, making everything run smoothly, and that suits Ms. Pollard just fine.

“I do what I do to try to support others in their work,” she says. “It’s nice knowing that I help make campus systems more reliable so that students, faculty and staff can perform their jobs and studies — the things they came here to do — without being disrupted.” 

While most engineering design is aimed at making things simpler, a special event on Thursday is asking local elementary students to make a basic task more complex.

It’s called a Rube Goldberg machine, named after the cartoonist and engineer best known for his cartoons depicting intricate gadgets that perform simple tasks in convoluted ways.

The aim of the annual Rube Goldberg design contest, organized by EngQonnect, an outreach program for the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Queen’s, is to get local youth interested in design and possibly an education and career in engineering.

This first pilot event has students designing and building Rube Goldberg machines that complete the task of turning on a musical device.

The focus of the contest is to introduce young minds to the engineering design process, explains Scott Compeau, Outreach Coordinator.

“That’s what we’re trying to reiterate with this contest. Engineering requires a lot more creativity and innovation, building a prototype, testing it and going through a design process,” he says. “It’s using a lot more of the problem-solving skills that are necessary to become an engineer.”

Some students may be deterred from engineering as they believe it only requires strong abilities in math and science, but it’s more than that, Mr. Compeau says.  Providing an accurate representation of the engineering profession is the goal of the outreach program along with connecting with the community.

“I think that there are a lot of components to engineering that are not necessarily known – creativity, innovation, problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills,” he says. “All of these are essential engineering skills that sometimes get overlooked, but, within the profession, are extremely important.”

Ahead of the event, Mr. Compeau and Monika Palinkas, Engineering Outreach Projects Coordinator and an engineering student herself, have been visiting local schools to spread the word about the contest and get students thinking about a future in engineering.

They want them to know that while engineering is definitely challenging, it can also be a lot of fun.

“The Rube Goldberg contest is a great introduction to the engineering design process because it’s practically impossible to make a machine that’s going to work the first time,” says Ms. Palinkas. “I made one myself and it took me a few days to complete. It’s all about building one step and asking yourself why it’s not working? You figure out the problem and you solve it. There are all these mini-engineering challenges within the whole design process which is why it works so well for exposing engineering to kids.”

Grade 8 students from Calvin Park Public School have been building their machines throughout the week and will be displaying their machines for judging on Thursday, June 11 from 12:30- 1:30 pm in Room 313 within Beamish-Munro Hall.  The Rube Goldberg machines will be open to the public during the final celebration between  6-7:30 pm where all attendees are welcome to actively participate in the event by voting for the “people’s choice” award

Further information can be found on the EngQonnect educational outreach program website or contact the team at eng.qonnect@queesu.ca.

Praveen Jain’s success is due in no small part to the opportunities he has received throughout his education and research career.

The Canada Research Chair in Power Electronics and Director of the Queen's Centre for Energy and Power Electronics Research (ePOWER) repeats time and again that he wouldn’t be where he is today without the work, support and generosity of others.

And that is a big reason why he has donated all his patent royalties to Queen’s.

It’s no small sum. Dr. Jain is responsible for more than 50 patents and has started up two companies through PARTEQ Innovations, whose role it is to commercialize intellectual property arising from university-generated research, such as Dr. Jain’s.

One of his start-ups, CHiL Semiconductor, was sold in 2011 to a U.S. company for $75 million. Dr. Jain developed and patented the technology that formed the basis for CHiL’s success. All the funds he received from the patent royalties were directed back to the university.

With his current start-up, SPARQ Systems, he intends to do the same.

“It gives me great career satisfaction to be involved in a start-up company as a founder,” he says. “The research work that makes a start-up possible is done here at the university, so I feel it’s only right that the royalties that I receive as a result be directed back to the university, to be put to good use to allow students to develop their research knowledge, skills and experience.”

It’s simple for Dr. Jain, as he feels that the best use of the funds is to direct it to education, where it will create opportunities for others to realize their potential.

“I was welcomed in Canada and have benefitted from a number of opportunities. People in the past made contributions that provided me with valuable chances to learn and contribute,” he says. “I appreciate their generosity, and want to ‘pay it forward’ to support the next generation of researchers and inventors.”

A key to Dr. Jain’s groundbreaking work – with the aim of creating new energy-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly power electronic technologies – is trying different approaches.

As he explains it, there are two key steps to innovation – identifying the problem that needs to be solved and understanding the solutions that are already out there.

“Then the question to ask is: how can you create a different solution? So you start looking at things from a very different angle. When you do that, you may find two or three potential solutions,” says Dr. Jain. “Then your job is to evaluate the potential solutions and decide which one makes more sense.”

Dr. Jain’s research these days is focused on increasing the efficiency of power conversion in electronics.

The primary source of energy used in the world is electricity – in its many forms – from computers to jets, from cars to household appliances. However, different products use different forms of electricity.

For example, the standard power frequency in North America is usually 50 Hertz, but a plane that lands at Pearson Airport may use 400 Hz power, so power frequency conversion is needed for the ground power unit used to power the plane while it is at the gate. And when any power unit receives one type of electricity and converts it into another form, a lot of power is wasted.

Even a slight reduction in electrical energy lost in conversion could have a massive result.

“Almost two-thirds of electricity throughout the world is processed through electronic devices,” Dr. Jain says. “So if you can improve the efficiency even by 1 per cent you can imagine the impact – you can save an enormous amount of energy.”

At ePOWER, Dr. Jain and his team of researchers are working to make this a reality. However, it’s far from a simple task, as many of the electronics, Dr. Jain points out, are used in consumer goods. As a result there is a need to make them cost-effective as well.

“So to meet the needs of industry and people who buy its products, at ePOWER we have to do this conversion in the most efficient manner and at the lowest possible cost, ensuring as small a device size and as low a device weight as possible,” he says. “Successfully balancing all these considerations creates technologies that meet the needs of companies and consumers.”