Gradzette
THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2012
Gradzette The UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT MAGAZINE Gradzette c/o The Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation 105 University Centre University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2 General inquiries and advertising Phone: (204) 474.6535 Fax: (204) 474.7651 Email: publisher@Gradzette.com
Editor: Sheldon Birnie Copy Editor: Ryan Harby Designer: Leif Larsen Contributors: Fosyer Lyle, Grace Romund, Chinenye Alozie , Beibei Lu Cover: Beibei Lu
The Gradzette is the official student magazine of the University of Manitoba’s graduate student community and is published on the first Monday of each month byThe Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. The Gradzette is a democratic student organization, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens. The magazine’s primary mandate is to report fairly and objectively on issues and events of importance and interest to the graduate students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expression and exchange of opinions and ideas and to stimulate meaningful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be of interest to the student body and/or society in general. The Gradzette serves as a training ground for students interested in any aspect of journalism. Students and other interested parties are invited to contribute. Please contact the Editor for submission guidelines. The Gradzette reserves the right to edit all submissions and will not publish any material deemed by its editorial board to be discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic or libelous. Opinions expressed in letters and articles are solely those of the authors. The Gradzette is a member of the Canadian University Press, a national student press cooperative with members from St. John’s to Victoria. All contents are ©2012 and may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. Yearly subscriptions to the Gradzette are available, please contact publisher@Gradzette.com for more information.
Annual engineering students’ competition a success Event highlighted University of Manitoba Automotive Engineers By Foster Lyle
through rigorous technically
O
tests, before getting the chance n the evening of Oct. 25, 2012, over 100 people gathered in the
University of Manitoba’s engineering complex for the Celebration of Engineering Student Competitions. !
The celebration is held
annually by the Friends of Engineering (Manitoba), a group made up of engineers and nonengineers from across the province. Membership stretches across a number of industries, creating a unique and diversified portfolio of knowledge and support. The event highlights the previous year’s work of University of Manitoba Automotive Engineers (UMSAE), giving others within the faculty a
to race both in speed and endurance. Team Aero, on the flip side, creates a small, unmanned remote controlled motor aircraft that goes through various flight tests. Team Nano Satellite designs innovative satellites, competing for the chance to actually send their satellite to space. Team Formula and Electric Formula create small sized formula and electric formula cars, which respectfully compete in a number of technical and structural tests. Team Glider designs and constructs a glider that is put to the test, seeing which is most practical in the air. Finally, and possibly most uniquely, the Quarter Scale Tractor team
chance to see what has been accomplished.
constructs a one forth scale tractor for competition. All teams have had
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impressive results, more than a few of them boasting top ten finishes in recent
UMSAE, an organization within the engineering faculty, consists of seven
different teams. Team Baja is a team who creates a dune buggy that goes
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years.
!
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they wanted to. Maybe some of the teams even have [graduate students on their
Teams obtain individual funding through corporate sponsors, who attend
“Honestly, I have no idea about grad students. I assume they could join if
the event to check out the students’ progress. Sponsors not only aid in financial
team].”
donations, but also assist students in many of the technical areas. Professionals
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from Bowing, Magellen, and StandardAero all happily gave students advice on
would be beneficial, being able to give higher level insight on issues, and
their builds, and provided students time to pick their brains on whatever topics
reducing the reliance on sponsors that UMSAE has now.
they needed. These professionals also give students an excellent opportunity to
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network and build a web of contacts within the industry they will one day work
website at www.friendsofengineering.com. For more information on UMSAE
in. Needless to say this event is one of the largest networking events that
and their design programs go to www.umsae.com.
The student did agree though that the presence of graduate student
For additional information on the Friends of Engineering go to their
UMSAE puts on. !
“The purpose of the event is to get together and celebrate all of our
accomplishments and show off what we’ve done,” said one member of UMSAE Team Baja. “A lot of our sponsors come, too, so they can see what we’re doing with their money.” !
And celebrate they did. Each of the seven teams brought last year’s
creation, and the array of trophies that they successfully scooped up. Also present was an amazing spread of hors d’oeuvres and a bar of which many of the students took full advantage. !
“It’s amazing what [members of UMSAE] can do every year,” said an
engineering faculty member. “Each year they push themselves one step further, working extra hours, or recruiting different mentors to learn from.” He went on to explain that though they make work hard, sometimes braving long days and cold weather to do outdoor testing, they all do it for the fun, and the chance to represent their school on the national engineering stage. !
“It’s basically the Olympics of engineering. Except there’s no news
coverage and no one really knows about it.” !
When asked about the opportunities for graduate students, UMSAE
members across the board shrugged their shoulders.
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Flower power UWindsor prof looks to dandelions for cancer cure Darryl Gallinger – The Lance (University of Windsor)
W !
INDSOR (CUP) — A University of Windsor professor’s
to find a way to convince cancer cells to die while sparing healthy cells.
research into using dandelions to cure cancer is awaiting
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approval from Health Canada before moving to human testing.
with Pandey since he started this project, explained that finding such a
Professor Siyaram Pandey has been working on a cure for cancer
Pamela Ovadje, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry who has been working
treatment
is
the
g o a l .
involving dandelion root extract. His work is focused on apoptosis, or
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p r o g r a m m e d ce l l d e a t h , a f i e l d t h a t p i c ke d u p s te a m i n t h e 1 9 9 0 s .
chemotherapy, because they are not very selective so they tend to target non-
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cancerous
“Our cells perform their function, and then commit suicide,” Pandey
“ T h a t ’s t h e p r o b l e m w i t h c u r r e n t l y a v a i l a b l e t r e a t m e n t s l i ke
cells
as
w e l l . ”
e x p l a i n e d .
!
!
Damaged cells sometimes forget to die off, become cancerous and then
Cancer Centre oncologist Caroline Hamm, who discovered that two of her
rapidly divide and multiply. Pandey is using natural sources such as dandelions
patients with leukemia found positive results while drinking dandelion tea.
Pandey’s attention was first brought to dandelions by Windsor Regional
Photo by waferboard, Flickr Creative Commons
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!
“Two people mean nothing,” Pandey said of the questionable results. He
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Pandey is researching other areas involving apoptosis, such as inhibiting
explained that the cases could have been coincidental with other factors being
cell death. “If cells in the brain start dying at a faster rate, we have a problem.
r e s p o n s i b l e f o r i t . “ It c o u l d h a v e b e e n p s y c h o s o m a t i c , ” h e a d d e d .
With an excess of cell death we end up with neurological diseases like
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Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s,” Pandey explained. “If we understand cell suicide,
Despite his skepticism, he was willing to take a chance and look into it.
“The results were astonishing,” Pandey said. “I was not expecting anything.”
c a n w e i n h i b i t c e l l d e a t h i n t h e b r a i n ? ” !
“If cells in the brain start dying at a faster rate, we have a problem. With an excess of cell death we end up with neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s,”
Krithika Muthukumaran, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry, has been
working !
with
Pa n d e y
on
this
next
p r o j e c t .
“I wanted to do something related to neuro-degeneration,”
Muthukumaran said. “We work with a water soluble formulation of Coenzyme Q10, which we’ve shown [ . . . ] could be used in curing Parkinson’s disease.”
-Siyaram Pandey
!
Tests on non-cancerous cells have proved promising. He was quick to
caution that despite the fact that just treating cancer in mice has turned out p o s i t i v e r e s u l t s , i t m a y n o t s h o w t h e s a m e s u c c e s s w i t h h u m a n s . !
Currently, Pandey is trying to secure permission for clinical trials on
humans from Health Canada. Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation has provided over $150,000 in funding for human testing, which Pandey can tap into !
as
soon
his
request
is
a p p r o v e d .
Pandey has found a lot of support locally, with donations from the
Knights of Columbus, Seeds 4 Hope and the parents of Kevin Couvillon. !
“That kid [ . . . ] he was so amazing,” said Pandey, who added that
Couvillon had donated blood for Pandey’s research. After Couvillon died in 2010 of leukaemia, his family kept faith in the project and later donated
Photo curtesy CUPwire
$20,000. In February, 2012, another $20,000 was donated to keep the project g o i n g . !
Pandey credits his students for the success he has experienced so far.
“They are the ones who do the experiments — the hard jobs, actually.”
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Defederation on the horizon? GSA’s relationship with CFS worsens after October’s Special General Meeting Grace Romund
T
he relationship between the Canadian
30 Special General Meeting that detailed her
incomplete nature of the information” it was left
Federation of Students (CFS) and the U
findings.
to the membership to choose from a number of
of M Graduate Students’ Association
!
options for a next step as outlined in the agenda
UMGSA president Rotimi Ojo explained,
(UMGSA) has been notably strained in recent
“We had the [Special General Meeting] at both
months over what the GSA executive claims to be
the Fort Garry and the Bannatyne campus. We
a lack of willingness to communicate and provide
had posted material online and sent out emails to
information on the status of the UMGSA’s CFS
the students two weeks in advance information
According to Ojo, the money collected for the
membership. A Special General Meeting, which
about the discussion was going to be about and
2012-2013 will be added to the money
was called by the UMGSA executive, was held on
had the opportunity to read the materials more.”
Oct. 30 for the UMGSA members to ultimately
!
vote on the UMGSA’s next move.
by email in the weeks prior to the meeting was
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Gonsalves’ report ensuring that members had a
This fall’s Special General Meeting to
of the meeting on Oct. 30.
collected from the last academic year and will remain in trust at this time
Included in the materials that were sent out
determine the UMGSA’s position on the nature of
chance to properly review the 22-page document
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their relationship with CFS comes after what has
before voting.
information gathered by Gonsalves the UMGSA
been a year-long process of research and meetings.
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is, in fact, a member of the CFS; voting that the
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Gonsalves’ stated in the Conclusion/
UMGSA is not a member of the CFS; voting to
the questionable validity of UMGSA’s CFS
Recommendation of her report, “The
include higher authorities to determine
membership the previous UMGSA executive
contradictory and incomplete nature of
membership; and, finally, voting to continue
voted Feb. 2, 2012, to continue employment of a
information at this time provides a completely
further internal research on the issue.
research assistant dedicated to investigating the
non-definitive answer to the question of the
!
issue further.
UMGSA membership in the CFS/CFS-S and the
the outcome of the meeting, but Ojo said that as a
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CFS-MB.”
result of the vote, “We are not members and that’s
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how we’re going to stay.”
After initial research and discovery as to
UMGSA Researcher Elizabeth Gonsalves
presented a research progress report at the Oct.
At the conclusion of months of research,
Based on the “contradictory and
The options included: voting that from the
UMGSA has made no official statement on
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!
According to the CFS website, the
UMGSA is currently a member of the student federation. !
Ojo mentioned he was pleased with the
number of student members that were present at both the Fort Garry and Bannatyne campus meetings, indicating that this was an issue of importance to U of M graduate students and that the vote accurately represents the decision of UMGSA members. !
Also at the Feb. 2 meeting, where it was
decided Gonsalves would look into this issue more closely, it was decided that the approximately $44,475 collected from the UMGSA membership for the 2011-2012 year would be held in trust and not be paid to the CFS until which time the UMGSA had reached a decision regarding their relationship. !
According to Ojo, the money collected for
the 2012-2013 will be added to the money collected from the last academic year and will remain in trust at this time. !
The UMGSA was unwilling to officially
release the minutes of proceedings of the Oct. 30
Photo by Sancho McCann,
meeting as they are currently in the process of
Flickr Creative Commons
drafting and approving a letter— explaining the motions carried and ultimately decisions made— to be sent to the CFS in the coming months.
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RESEARCHER PROFILE
Naghmeh Garmsiri Chinenye Alozie controller, called BELEIC. BELEIC is a bio-inspired controller that mimics the
T
emotional learning of a mammalian brain. Naghmeh Garmsiri is a PhD student and a research assistant at the University of Manitoba’s department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering. She is presently working on pneumatic robots.
Pneumatic robots use pressurized air to create mechanical motions. !
Naghmeh was born and raised in Iran where she also completed her
undergraduate degree majoring in Computer Engineering at Shiraz University. !
“When I started university, I did not have much idea around engineering
fields. I just had passion with building something like a machine, which can work properly. This dragged me to engineering,” Naghmeh told the Gradzette. !
Naghmeh completed her undergrad and worked as a control engineer for
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Naghmeh is now employed at the University of Manitoba where she
works as a research assistant under Dr. Nariman Sepehri`s supervision. She hopes to build a rehabilitation system using the pneumatic robot originally built by her fellow research members. !
“The most important decision to make when building a rehabilitation
setup is the robot actuation method. Robots have different methods of actuation. Among them, the only one which provides gentle, stiff motion and also safety for humans is called pneumatic actuation. This is obtained by injecting air into a piston, which transfers the movement to the robot arm,” Naghmeh told the Gradzette.
two years before she felt like she missed the university, returning to pursue her MSc in Mechatronics Engineering, a field quite different from her first degree. !
Naghmeh experienced a lot of setbacks at the onset
“Working as a control engineer, I developed interest for mechatronics
of her research. One of her biggest challenges was
engineering,” Naghmeh said. !
developing a controller for the setup.
Naghmeh started her MSc research on rehabilitation robots. These
robots can work or act exactly like a physiotherapist and are able to help disabled people meet their daily needs. !
“I was really motivated when I heard the testimony of a patient who has
lost his motor functionality after a brain stroke. He said the rehabilitation robots worked softer and easier comparing to a human physiotherapist.” !
Naghmeh started working to optimize the performance of these robots
by improving the robots’ co-operation with patients. She used an intelligent
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The rehabilitation setup also consists of a haptic device and a control
system. A haptic device is one that makes physical contact between the computer and the user through an input/output system such as a joystick. By using a haptic device, the user can not only feed information to the computer but can receive information from the computer in the form of a sensation on some part of his body.
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device, which then reflects it to be felt by the doctor. The disabled body part of the patient could be the limbs or the hands. !
Naghmeh experienced a lot of setbacks at the onset of her research. One
of her biggest challenges was developing a controller for the setup. !
“Air is compressible and nonlinear. It makes the control work really
challenging,” Naghmeh explains. !
Naghmeh has developed two control systems for this setup. Using them,
the actuator can provide the desired position and desired force. Then she combined them to achieve a more human-like performance. !
In the face of challenges, Naghmeh was motivated by her highly
experienced supervisor who has always encouraged and stood by her side. She might never forget her wonderful lab mates who provided her with a welcoming and conducive atmosphere for her research. !
“I can’t wait to get to school and see my lab mates; they are the best
friends I have ever had.” ! Photo by Author
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In this system, the haptic device is manually operated by a doctor. The
“My ultimate goal is to have a robotic system that can be efficiently
applied to rehabilitation treatment. Furthermore, this robot can also be used inside MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) for rehabilitation assessment where a
doctor moves the haptic device and the movement data is transmitted to the
lot of existing robots are not capable of working,” said Naghmeh.
control system. The control system is the central processing unit of the setup
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which runs the control software. It communicates with the entire system
radio waves to produce detailed images of the brain and the brain stem.
through a data acquisition board and communication channels. It uses the
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transmitted data from the haptic device to move the pneumatic actuator
society, our grandparents and sometimes ourselves.”
MRI of the brain is a safe and painless test that uses a magnetic field and
“The loveliest fact about my thesis is that it will be used to serve our
accordingly. The pneumatic actuator is connected to patient depending on the desired application. !
The pneumatic actuator moves the patient disabled part and measures
the reaction force of patient’s body part. This force is sent back to the haptic
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