Volume 2, Number 2, 2023-2024
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Wishing you all the best for the start of the winter semester!
January 30, 2024
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Dear colleagues,
As we ease into a new year and a new semester, I am thrilled to share the exciting news that our school continues to advance with new achievements and milestones. I would thus like to share with you some of our community's achievements and some exciting announcements that took place during the tail end of 2023.
Our students consistently excel, securing major awards and accolades. In this regard, our graduate student Riya Dutta won the 3-minute thesis competition and Space Concordia is closer than ever to launching their rocket to space.
Our research is experiencing significant expansion, driven by the establishment of major partnerships with prominent public and private organizations. Furthermore, our external funding has seen continuous growth, marked by the successful establishment of multi-million-dollar grants in strategically targeted areas. For instance, the Volt-age project, spearheaded by our faculty members and funded initially by a historic $123M grant from the Canadian First Research Excellence Fund, has garnered extensive partner commitment, elevating the total investment to more than $200M over the next seven years.
I have no doubt that this year will bring even more prosperity and success to the Gina Cody School. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for being here and helping us achieve the school’s goals and initiatives.
I wholeheartedly wish each of you the very best, and I'm confident that together, we will continue to reach new heights of excellence and innovation.
Best regards,
MD
Dr. Mourad Debbabi, Dean & Professor
Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science
Concordia University
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Riya Dutta, a graduate student in software engineering, took first place in the national 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) showcase at the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies annual conference in Victoria B.C. on November 10. Her winning presentation titled “Like clean hands? Diversify your research!” beat out seven regional winners from across the country. Congratulations, Riya!
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Space Concordia has successfully tested their Starsailor rocket's entire launch sequence. This milestone represents one of the most significant accomplishments in the team’s history and propels them one step closer to being the first student-built rocket to reach outer space.
Congratulations to the Space Concordia team!
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From left: Graham Carr, Dominique Bérubé, Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Marie-Andrée Mauger, Karim Zaghib, Michel Angers, Pierre Fitzgibbon and Norman Hébert.
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On October 11, 2023, Concordia University had its official launch of the Volt-age research program. Born from the historic $123M grant announcement from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the program's vision is to significantly decrease global CO2 emissions. The launch event included keynote speeches, panelist discussions and a poster session. Various industries, organizations and leardership attended the launch in support of this new initiative. Congratulations to everyone who made this fantastic launch possible, including Volt-age CEO Karim Zaghib.
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Our colleague Osama Moselhi, professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Centre for Innovation in Construction and Infrastructure Engineering and Management (CICIEM) has been appointed a member of the Order of Canada in recognition for his groundbreaking contributions to the field of construction engineering and management on December 28, 2023. Congratulations!
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According to CS Rankings, software engineering research now ranks first in Canada, third in North America and 5th in the world. It is inspiring to see the work of our researchers propel us to the top of one of the most wide-reaching and important fields of research of our time.
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On September 22, the annual Shuffle event took place. We had 63 team members on the Gina Cody EDI Trekkers walk with us between campuses. With the generosity of our community, we reached 147% of our fundraising goal, raising almost $12,000! I am filled with gratitude for the 187 donations that supported our cause. Thank you to everyone who donated and participated!
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From left: Lyes Kadem, Chunjiang An.
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Lyes Kadem has been selected to receive the Gina Cody School EDI Award. Chunjiang An was also selected to receive the Gina Cody School EDI Research grant for his work on the important role of Indigenous communities in addressing environmental problems.
Congratulations to Lyes and Chunjiang for their contributions to EDI!
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Ayhan Ince, professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, has been named Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The fellowship is awarded to elected members of the society to recognize their outstanding achievements in the field of mechanical engineering, and contributions to the engineering profession and to ASME.
Congratulations, Ayhan!
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Ayhan Ince
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M.N.S. Swamy
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M.N.S Swamy, research professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received the 2023 Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Saskatchewan. The award recognizes an alumnus for an outstanding lifetime of accomplishments and contributions in any area, such as academics, athletics, arts, business, not-for-profit, public or private sector. It is the highest honour presented by the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Association.
Congratulations, professor Swamy!
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Karim Zaghib has been named one of Quebec’s Personalities of the Year for 2023 by L'actualité magazine. He was selected for his profound impact in the field of electrochemistry and his pioneering efforts in the realm of eco-conscious battery development, including over 600 co-invented patents and 62 licenses.
Congratulations, Karim!
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Karim Zaghib
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Concordia University Cybersecurity Distinguished Seminar Series
This fall, the Security Research Centre launched the new Cybersecurity Distinguished Seminar Series. Four lectures were held, with guest speakers joining us from across Canada to share their cybersecurity expertise. The lectures have been very well received and I look forward to seeing these events continue into 2024.
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From left: Nicholas Kamel, Nawwaf Kharma
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Nawwaf Kharma and PhD candidate Nicholas Kamel from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are part of a research team that has received $1 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The grant will allow the research team to continue their work on potential treatments of three genetic diseases. Congratulations, Nawwaf and Nicholas!
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Our fall convocation ceremonies took place on November 28 at Place-des-Arts. The event was a wonderful celebration of our newest cohort of graduates. I would also like to congratulate Farah Alibay for walking the stage to receive her honorary doctorate from Concordia.
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On November 1, we had the pleasure of hosting this year's Innovation Fund Demo Day. The goal of the Fund is to provide financial support for the transfer of innovative student ideas increase their chances of commercialization.
Team Insightwear took home the prestigious Judge's Award, securing a $50,000 prize for their remarkable innovation and dedication. Congratulations! A special mention goes to Team CapmAI, who captured both the Audience award and the Most Innovative Award.
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From left: Yiming Xiao, Hassan Rivaz, Jun Yan, Nizar Bouguila
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Concordia has announced the newest cohort of 2023 Concordia University Research Chairs. I am proud to share that four Gina Cody School faculty members were selected:
- Yiming Xiao, Concordia University Research Chair in Intelligent and Intuitive Surgical Technology (New Scholar)
- Hassan Rivaz, Concordia University Research Chair in Medical Imaging with Deep Learning (Tier 2)
- Jun Yan, Concordia University Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity and Resilience (Tier 2)
- Nizar Bouguila, Concordia University Research Chair in Applied Artificial Intelligence (Tier 1)
Congratulations to Yiming, Hassan, Jun and Nizar being recognized for their research excellence!
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In the research corner
An NSERC Alliance/Mitacs project developed by Yong Zeng with CREO has been approved for a major grant with a total budget of $1.7 million over three years. The project is titled "Evidence-based monitoring of construction projects through effective, reliable, and credible RFI analysis and management." Congratulations, Yong!
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Nizar Bouguila and Manar Amayri have been approved for $700,000 for a Mitacs/Prompt research project with Nectari Software. The funding will be provided over three years, with Nizar and Manar operating at co-principal investigators. Congratulations!
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I am pleased to share that Bruno Lee from the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering has received $630,000 from NSERC. He will conduct researchi n collaboration with JLL on the development of a multidisciplinary decarbonization framework to revamp existing commercial buildings to decrease their total emissions. Congratulations, Bruno!
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Yang Wang has received two NSERC Alliance grants for a total of $464,850 for 3 years. The first project "Computer Vision for Information Extraction from Document Images" will be done in partnership with Mitacs and ERA Environmental Consulting Inc. The second project, "CONCIOUS: Contextspecific understanding of HMI by an automated agent", will have CRIAQ, Beslogic and Collins Aerospace Canada as partners. Congratulations Yang!
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An NSERC Alliance/Mitacs project led by Khaled Galal worth $540,000 over 4 years has been approved. He will conduct the project "Characterization and structural behaviour of dry-stacked interlocking masonry" in partnership with Groupe MBM. Congratulations Khaled!
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Four lectures under the Law Meets Engineering speaker series have taken place so far. We had the pleasure of welcoming cybersecurity lawyer Vanessa Henri, CDPQ President and CEO Jean-Marc Arbaud, intellectual property lawyer Jean-Nicolas Delage, and Internet expert lawyer, Allen Mendelsohn. The attendance for all of these events have been very successful.
Our next lecture is set on February 7th with Pamela McGovern, secrétaire et directrice des affaires juridiques, Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and Marie-Julie Gravel, conseillère à la prévention de la pratique illégale, Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. I encourage you to register for this very interesting talk!
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Concordia has received funding from the Canadian National Cybersecurity Consortium under the Cybersecurity Innovation Network. The project is titled “Building Cyber Resilient and Secure 5G Network Through Automation and AI,” and will involved researchers from Ericsson, Concordia, the University of Waterloo and the University of Manitoba. I am very pleased that members of the Gina Cody School will be involved in this innovative project.
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Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science
Concordia University
1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Montreal, QC H3G 1M8
CANADA
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