More than 270 young scientists from 32 Island schools will present 196 science projects at the 2017 PEI Science Fair. The event will be held Tuesday, April 4 at UPEI’s Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre. The theme this year, submitted by an elementary school participant in 2016, is “Science is Everywhere: Get Involved.”

These young scientists will share their projects and experiences with about 100 volunteer judges. The line-up of projects this year covers a broad range of topics, including health sciences, physical sciences, agriculture, environment, and natural resources. More than $15,000 in prizes and awards will be handed out by the 45 community partner organizations that annually support the Fair. Five students from grades 7-12 will be selected to represent PEI at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Regina in May, where more than $1 million in prizes and scholarships will be awarded. 

The public is invited to come by and speak with these remarkable students during the following times. For students in grades 4-6, public viewing is from 12:00-1:00 pm and the awards ceremony is 1:00-1:30 pm. For students in grades 7-12, public viewing is from 2:30-4:00 pm and the awards ceremony is 4:00-4:30 pm.

More information on the 2017 PEI Science Fair including a list of community partners can be found at: peisciencefair.ca.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

Dr. Neb Kujundzic, dean of Arts and a professor of philosophy at UPEI, delivered a guest lecture last week on the relationship between humanity, work, and technology (particularly robotics) and its implications for education to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Malta (UMalta).

Dr. Kujundzic is the latest of a long series of island-to-island exchanges between UPEI and UMalta, which started off with an invitation extended to Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino to visit UPEI back in 1992. Dr. Baldacchino is now pro-rector and a professor at UMalta and a UNESCO Co-Chair in Island Studies & Sustainability at UPEI and UMalta.

A healthy history of student exchanges exists between UMalta and UPEI. Clare Byrne, a UPEI student, is currently at UMalta for a semester studying political science. UMalta nursing student Chanel Borg spent a semester at UPEI last year. Dr. Robert Dennis, a professor of religious studies at UPEI, will visit Malta and UMalta in May 2017.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

The University of Prince Edward Island is proud to announce the creation of the Barb C. Mullaly Memorial Athletic Award in memory of the late Barb Mullaly, former director of athletics at UPEI.

The inaugural award was presented to third-year science student Kelly Green, a member of the women’s soccer team, at the UPEI Athletic Awards Gala held on Saturday, April 1, 2017. She was selected for the award by Chris Huggan, director of UPEI Athletics and Recreation; the athletics student leadership group; and varsity coaches.

“Kelly is very approachable with a fantastic positive attitude,” said Huggan. “Her trustworthy character, leadership, and mentoring qualities are a shining example to everyone. She is an integral part of the leadership group, which helped create new initiatives for the athletics department. Kelly is a strong, driven individual who holds the highest respect from everyone who knows her.”

Created by Mullaly’s family and friends, former students, and colleagues, the Barb C. Mullaly Memorial Athletic Award is granted to a returning Academic All-Canadian student athlete in their first undergraduate studies program, who displays a positive attitude and the qualities of leadership and mentorship that Mullaly exhibited throughout her university career in education.

“Through the Barb C. Mullaly Memorial Athletic Award, we are honoured to recognize the many great contributions that Barb made to athletics at UPEI during her long, outstanding career,” added Huggan. “Her legacy will live on through this award and the wonderful example she set as a leader in the field of sport.”

“Congratulations to Kelly on being the first recipient of this award created in Barb’s memory,” said Mary Lou Turner, Mullaly’s partner. “Barb’s family and friends are very pleased that the University is honouring Barb’s legacy in this way, and I was excited to be part of the inaugural presentation to a deserving student-athlete and leader.”

Mullaly’s four-decade career as a classroom instructor, coach, and nationally decorated athletic administrator began in 1967 at Prince of Wales College. When UPEI was formed in 1969, she began a long career at the University, initially as the first women’s basketball and field hockey coach. She eventually served as director of athletics at UPEI for 13 years, and then retired in 2006 as the University’s first director of wellness and fair treatment advocate. She passed away in December of 2016 after a brief illness.

Well-respected in the world of academics and athletics, Mullaly understood the competitive nature of sport but also believed that all student athletes need to focus on academics as well as athletics to reach their full potential. She worked to create an environment of fairness and equality, and to ensure that women were in leadership roles.

Mullaly served as president of Atlantic University Sport (AUS), and chaired numerous committees and sports. Upon retirement, she was awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the AUS. She was the long-time chair of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) finance committee and a member of the CIS executive committee. She was awarded the CIS Austin-Matthews Award in 2007 for outstanding service to university sport in Canada over her career.

She was named a Founder of UPEI in 2010. She was also the 2013 winner of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty’s Mentor Award, which salutes a Prince Edward Islander for mentorship and leadership on the local, regional, and national level. At the time of her death, Mullaly was active in several community organizations, including the UPEI Retirees’ Association.

People who wish to contribute to this award may contact the UPEI Department of Development and Alumni Engagement at 902-566-0615.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

 

In keeping with one of the Institute of Island Studies’ goals to see Prince Edward Island through the lens of other islands, PEI’s Chief Justice, David Jenkins, will share with Islanders what he’s learned as a member of Bermuda’s Constituency Boundaries Commission. He will deliver a lecture Monday, April 10, at 7 pm, in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building. All are welcome.

While Prince Edward Island goes through the process of updating its electoral boundaries, over the past several months, Chief Justice Jenkins has been on hand as Bermuda underwent a similar process. Bermuda has jurisdictional similarities with PEI, being an overseas territory of the UK comprised of 36 electoral districts and a population of approximately 65,000. This is why Justice Jenkins was first invited to be a member of the commission in 2009. He is also a former chair of the federal boundaries commission.

A statement released by Secretary Tenia Woolridge, on behalf of Bermuda's Commission, described the need for the review: “The Constitution requires that, from time to time, the Commission review the constituency boundaries and report thereon to the House. In deciding whether or not to recommend any changes in the boundaries, the Commission has to ensure that the constituencies contain, as far as reasonably practicable, equal numbers of persons qualified to be registered as electors. This is to achieve equality of votes. The Commission has to consider the constitutionally prescribed factors; as geographical features, natural boundaries and contiguity of constituencies.”

The Honourable Gerard Mitchell, who is chairing Prince Edward Island’s Electoral Boundaries Commission, will be on hand to provide the PEI context of reviewing the Island’s 27 electoral districts, including boundaries and names.

The Honourable David H. Jenkins is the Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island. After attending Charlottetown schools and Prince of Wales College, he graduated from Dalhousie University with his BComm in 1970 and LLB in 1973. He practiced law in Charlottetown with Scales, Jenkins & McQuaid, which became Stewart McKelvey, in a general practice focused on business, administrative law, labour, and employment and related litigation. He was appointed as Queens Counsel in 1986, has been president of the Law Society, and has served on national legal organizations including Federation of Law Societies of Canada President (1986), and as Secretary of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association, until his appointment as a judge.

He sat as a trial judge in the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 2008, when he was appointed as Chief Justice of the province and of the Court of Appeal. He has served nationally as president of the Judges' Counselling Program, the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association, and is currently a member of the Canadian Judicial Council.

Chief Justice Jenkins has always been involved in the Island and Charlottetown community.  He is a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Hillsborough and a Governor of the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

The Atlantic Association for Research in the Mathematical Sciences (AARMS) is holding its 2017 summer school this July at UPEI. For a four-week period every summer, AARMS invites highly regarded faculty from around the world to deliver graduate courses in the mathematical sciences and their applications. The goals are to broaden the education of graduate students and to encourage promising undergraduates to continue their study.

Accommodations and registration is free for students, however travel arrangements and costs are the responsibility of the students.

Theme: Financial Mathematics and Actuarial Sciences.

Time and location: July 3–28, 2017, University of Prince Edward Island

School Directors: Dr. Alexander Alvarez, Dr. Gordon MacDonald, and Dr. Nasser Saad.

The summer school is intended for graduate students and promising undergraduate students from all parts of the world. Each participant is expected to register for at least two of the three courses. Each course consists of three hours lecture sessions per day for two weeks. These are graduate courses approved by the University of Prince Edward Island. AARMS will facilitate transfer credit to the extent possible.

Courses

Equity-Linked Life Insurance (July 3–15)
Instructor: Dr. Alexander Melnikov, University of Alberta.

Statistical Modeling in Finance and Insurance: from data to real-time decision making (July 17–28)
Instructor: Dr. Manuel Morales, University of Montreal.

Stochastic Control with applications to Mathematical Finance (July 17– 28)
Instructor: Dr. Agnès Sulem, Centre de Recherche Inria de Paris

For more information, please visit aarms.math.ca/affiliated/summer2017/

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

The April Island Studies Lecture features Master of Arts in Island Studies student Owen Jennings speaking about Saint Helena: an island in flux. His presentation is Tuesday, April 18, at 7 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building.

The allure of islands relies on often-inaccurate assumptions. These imaginary islands are small, remote, and—more often than not—tropical. Where most islands fall well short of that imagined island, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena comes pretty close to the ideal. Over the past decade, this island has been gifted a new connection to the world—an airport. When it eventually opens to commercial traffic, the airport is expected to reduce travel time to and from South Africa from five days to a few hours. The Saints, as the islanders call themselves, will soon be able to travel in a way that most similar island communities take for granted. This lecture considers the experience of travelling to and being a researcher on Saint Helena, and what being a Saint might mean as the island's connection to the rest of the world changes dramatically.

Owen Jennings is a Master of Arts in Island Studies student at UPEI. He is studying remoteness and access on the island of Saint Helena, and, last November, had the opportunity to travel to Saint Helena to do his field research. Before coming to PEI, he studied politics for his undergraduate degree in the UK.

Admission to the lecture is free. All are welcome.

Watch for details for another lecture about islands–near and far–May 16. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or 902-894-2881.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

A research project at the University of Prince Edward Island is seeking volunteers for a study on the impact of consumption of blueberries on indicators of diabetes. The research team is seeking participants who are healthy, non-smoking, and age 21 to 65. Eligible participants will be compensated up to 200 dollars.

Those interested in participating are invited to attend a 30-minute information session in room 301 of UPEI’s Health Sciences Building. To accommodate participants, sessions will be held at the following dates and times:

Tuesday, April 18, at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Wednesday, April 19, at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Thursday, April 20, at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Friday, April 21, at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Tuesday, April 25, at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Wednesday, April 26, at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Thursday, April 27 at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Friday, April 28 at 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Please park in the Bell Aliant Centre/MacLauchlan Arena parking area for the noon information session and the UPEI parking lot C for the evening information session. 

This project is a collaboration between UPEI’s Dr. Katherine Gottschall-Pass, Dr. Marva Sweeney-Nixon, and Dr. Kim Stote, 2016/2017 UPEI Fulbright Scholar and Research Chair of Nutrisciences and Health. For more information, contact Dr. Stote at kstote@upei.ca.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

UPEI is proud to host the second Pan-Canadian Conference on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), May 31 to June 2. UDL is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences that guides the development of flexible learning environments that can accommodate individual learning differences.

The first conference on UDL was hosted two years ago at McGill University. Interest and momentum for UDL has steadily grown across Canada in both the K-12 and post-secondary sectors, and the time has come for UDL practitioners and advocates to come together again to exchange ideas, showcase practices, and examine the potential for future development.

The conference hopes to encourage an interdisciplinary dialogue and to offer participants a multi-faceted overview of current Canadian initiatives. To this end, the conference will offer a stream for student services and student affairs professionals, another specifically for instructional designers, and one showcasing the learner voice. The conference organizers hope to attract UDL practitioners from overseas in order to allow for an emerging international dialogue on UDL implementation and research. The theme of the conference also seeks to create a bridge between the UDL discourse and the User Experience (UX) literature, and welcomes participants from the community at large.

The keynote speaker is Christina Bosch, a PhD candidate in special education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Bosch employs user experience design (UEX) methods to investigate instruction and learning in the area of juvenile corrections and to co-design inquiry-based UDL curricula to meet the unique learning needs of incarcerated youth. Bosch is an instructional designer on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Project RAISE (Reclaiming Access and Inquiry in Science Education) and a HASTAC (Humanities, Art, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) fellow. She is also a NSF CADRE (Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education) fellow. She holds an MA in Special Education: Learning Disabilities from American University, and an MEd in Mind, Brain and Education from Harvard University. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as an instructional designer at CAST, an education coordinator at the non-profit Artists for Humanity, and a special education teacher for middle grades.

For early bird registration or for more information, please visit www.udlconference.ca or contact udlpei17@gmail.com.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

The University of Prince Edward Island's School of Sustainable Design Engineering (SSDE) annual Student Design Expo on April 21 will kick off a three-day showcase of the best in student, sustainable, and green engineering in Atlantic Canada.

Student Design Expo, Friday, April 21, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

More than 20 student projects will be set up for public viewing at various stations around the first floor of the School of Sustainable Design Engineering. Each project is the result of collaboration between UPEI SSDE students and an industry or community partner. Students were tasked with designing and creating solutions to their partners’ unique challenges.

The Student Design Expo begins with a short ceremony at 1:00 pm. Projects are available for viewing through the afternoon, with the Student Award Ceremony beginning at 4:00 pm.

All are welcome. A complete list of projects can be found below.

Industry Engagement Day, Friday, April 21

The annual Industry Engagement Day engages the community and industry partners by presenting the SSDE program and team. The day is highlighted with the Student Design Expo, an excellent opportunity to tour all student design clinic projects and celebrate student success. The day is capped off with a keynote presentation at 5:30 pm by Dr. Peter Childs, head of the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London, and a reception.

Atlantic Green Expo, presented by E365, Friday, April 21 to 23

Atlantic Green Expo is the first expo in Atlantic Canada dedicated to clean technology, green living, and healthy lifestyles. It will provide Atlantic Canadians with an opportunity to educate themselves about the importance of green living and our collective need to address global climate change. We aim to stimulate this growing industry by introducing consumers and businesses to innovative products and services, and to the vendors who supply them. Atlantic Green Expo hopes this will encourage businesses and consumers to make eco-conscious choices and to purchase more eco-friendly products.

Atlantic Green Expo is an initiative of PEI-based company E365, in partnership with Transform Events & Consulting, UPEI Climate Lab, UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering, and Sierra Club Canada.

Keynote Presentations:

Dr. Peter Childs
Friday, April 21, 5:30 pm

Dr. Childs is head of the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. His professional interests include creativity tools and innovation, design, heat transfer and rotating flow, the circular economy, and sustainable energy. Former roles include director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre for Aero-Thermal Systems, director of InQbate, and professor at Sussex University. He has contributed to over 150 papers and several books on engineering design, rotating flow, rural urban migration, and sports technology. He has been principal or co-investigator on contracts totalling £30 million. He is director and chief scientific officer at Q-Bot Ltd.

Hon. David MacDonald
Saturday, April 22, 4:00 pm

Hon. David MacDonald was born and raised in PEI. Beginning in 1965, he was a Member of Parliament for 20 years including a stint as Secretary of State and Minister of Communications. He was the first chair of the House of Commons Committee on the Environment from 1989–1993. In that role, he actively participated in preparations for the first Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He taught “Impediments to a Sustainable Society” at Concordia University in Montreal from 1995–2005. Serving as a special advisor on indigenous justice and residential schools from 1998–2015, he worked closely with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was a keynote speaker on the Fate of the Oceans at the Coastal Zone Canada Conference in 2010 and a member of an expert panel in Geneva, Switzerland, on a new international financial and economic architecture in 2013–2014.

For more information, on Atlantic Green Expo, including a complete schedule, visit atlanticgreenexpo.com.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

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Media contact: Dave Atkinson, UPEI
(902) 620-5117, datkinson@upei.ca

 

School of Sustainable Design Engineering

List of 2016-2017 Student Projects

 

Community Design

 

Client: Parks Canada-Sable Island Reserve

Parks Canada works on behalf of the people of Canada to protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways to ensure their ecological and commemorative integrity for present and future generations.

Project

Remote and isolated, Sable Island is one of Canada’s furthest offshore islands and was established as Parks Canada’s 43rd national park in December 2013. Its shifting sand dunes and extensive beaches are home to wild horses and the world’s biggest breeding colony of grey seals. A freshwater lens floats below the island, providing freshwater ponds for plants, birds, and insects, some of which are found nowhere else on earth.

Maintaining sustainable and accessible infrastructure in a harsh environment such as Sable Island poses many challenges. The student teams will study these challenges and develop design concepts to address areas such as the optimization of renewable energy, infrastructure maintenance/remediation, and accessibility.

Junior Design

Client: Perfection Foods—Amalgamated Dairies Limited (ADL)

ADL is a producer-owned co-op with dairy processing and retail food distribution facilities throughout PEI. These plants process close to 100 million litres of fresh Island milk each year and employ over 250 staff. Perfection Foods, part of ADL, processes evaporated and sweetened milk for distribution throughout Canada and international export markets.

Project

The Perfection Foods facility produces cans of evaporated and sweetened condensed milk at a set rate. After canning and pasteurization, the cans are quickly cooled for packing. Currently this is accomplished through a water spray system with the excess heat being discarded. The student team is developing a system that would be able to use the waste heat for a secondary purpose. The students are also exploring ways to reduce water consumption within the process.

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Client: UPEI Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC)

With its first graduating class in 1990, the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) is the only institution in Atlantic Canada educating doctors of veterinary medicine. More than 1,400 graduates now work in private practice, academia, research, government, and industry worldwide.

Project

AVC houses a wide range of animals on its campus to support short- and long-term student instruction. Keeping these animals requires AVC to manage a large amount of waste, especially for larger animals like horses and cows. Currently, animal waste removed from enclosures is dumped into a large roll-off bin that is designed for solid waste. The students assigned to this project are developing a system that will be able to manage both solid and liquid animal waste. The team is also researching opportunities to convert the animal waste into value-added products such as biogas and compost.

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Client: Elanco Animal Health

Elanco’s Charlottetown site manufactures vaccines for the aquaculture market. The vaccines are used to prevent a variety of bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases, primarily in salmon and trout species. The company’s Victoria, PEI, site is an R&D facility dedicated to the development of the vaccines.

Project

Elanco utilizes a number of varying sized stainless steel tanks to hold, blend, and heat a liquid mixture of buffer solution, antigens, and other ingredients. After every use, these tanks are required to be thoroughly cleaned and inspected before they can be steam sterilized for reuse. For cleaning and visual inspection, employees are required to enter the tanks. This poses a risk since the tanks are a confined space, and the entry and exit is through tight and hard–to-access locations. The student team is tasked with designing an alternate tank-cleaning process that is consistent, repeatable, and easily validated.

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Client: Health PEI-Provincial Palliative Care Centre

Opened in March 2015, the Provincial Palliative Care Centre provides palliative care services for Island residents. Comprised of 10 inpatient beds, the facility also includes an outpatient clinic, respite care, space for families to meet for planning/counselling, a family lounge, and chapel. A key focus is to make patients and their families as comfortable as possible.

Project

A number of Hygiene Lifter units were recently purchased to assist staff with transferring patients from their beds. Unfortunately, the Hygiene Lifter base interferes with the bottom structure of the hospital beds, preventing the lifter from reaching completely across the bed. Staff instead have to handle patients, resulting in added strain on the staff and patient discomfort. To address this issue, the student team is designing modifications to the existing equipment to allow for better integration and minimized patient handling.

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Client: Master Packaging

Located in Borden-Carleton, PE, Master Packaging produces corrugated and folding carton packaging for export worldwide. Their high-quality boxes are in demand by some of the world’s largest, most familiar producers of products such as tissue, beer, pizza, and french fries.

Project

Printing press paper is purchased in 5,000 lb rolls, inherently posing a material handling challenge.  Currently, an in-floor pneumatic system and trolley are used to load the paper rolls into the printing press but this system is underpowered and the trolley does not provide an adequate base. The student team is working on a redesigned in-floor and trolley system to optimize material handling.

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Client: Parks Canada - Prince Edward Island

Parks Canada is a government agency with a mandate to protect and present outstanding representative examples of natural landscapes and natural phenomena that occur in Canada.

Project

Water monitoring is done at various locations within PEI’s National Park. Instantaneous meter readings are easily carried out from a boat. Continuous unattended monitoring, however, poses some challenges since the monitoring device needs to remain in place. To assist Parks Canada, the student team is designing a support jig that can properly support the monitoring device; remain upright at a constant depth; keep wildlife off; will not be affected by wave, wind, and tidal conditions; and is easy to install and remove. 

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Client: Raspberry Point Oyster Co.

A subsidiary of Cows PEI, Raspberry Point has been producing oysters for over 20 years. Their oysters are among North America’s most sought after products.

Project

With the current cultivation system, oyster cages must be flipped every few weeks to de-foul and naturally clean oysters. To do this, a platform is lowered along the side of a boat, and two to three workers stand on the submerged platform and flip each cage. The student team is working on designing a mechanical system to flip the oyster cages to minimize the required labour while also causing little or no damage to the cage or boat.

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Client: City of Summerside

Despite its small size, Summerside is a community with big ambition. Its economy comprises over 600 companies in a wide range of manufacturing, business services, transportation, retail, trade, education, and human service sectors. 

Project

The clock on City Hall is a showpiece and a source of pride to the community. Its driving mechanism is a gravity weight, which needs to be wound manually every few days. To help keep the City of Summerside on time, the student team is designing a system to automate the winding process, eliminating the need for a person to climb the clock tower.

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Client: Treetop Haven Inc.

Treetop Haven is currently doing the groundwork for a new ecotourism accommodation in Albany, PEI. The full plan will be to build a 4,000 square foot reception/conference building and five geodesic domes in the area of 800 square feet each.

Project

To enhance the visitor experience, Treetop Haven wants to build a self-guided nature walk, including a section through the trees. This would be made up of elevated platforms around a tree with a suspended bridge connecting the platforms. The student team is working with this organization to design a tree walk that is unique and creative, while also considering the stability of trees in this location.

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Client: UPEI Baja SAE Club

Baja SAE is a highly recognized, international intercollegiate competition during which teams design, build, and compete a mini Baja (buggy) in various static and dynamic challenges, ending in a four-hour-long endurance race. Begun in 2015, the UPEI Baja Club competed in its first competition in Rochester, NY, in May 2016, finishing an impressive 84th.

Project

Weight is a major design consideration for teams competing in Baja SAE—minimizing weight will help cars go faster. To support UPEI’s competition entry, the student team is designing a suspended seat that is lightweight and  ergonomic for the driver, and will pass the safety and technical inspections at the competition. The design must also be able to sustain repetitive abuse from the competition course.

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Client: UPEI Department of Physics

Dr. Derek Lawther, Department of Physics, is conducting radiation detection from particles emitted from the sun. 

Project

The experimental setup is comprised of two detector units housed on each end of a telescopic cylinder, with the cylinder rotating in the horizontal and vertical axis. The student team is working on a second-generation device setup that allows for more precise calibrations and a greater level of repeatability of experimentation. 

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Client: UPEI Robertson Library

The Robertson Library is the major research library for Prince Edward Island. Officially opened in 1975, it is located on the UPEI campus.

Project

The Robertson Library is looking to streamline its operations by providing a self check-out option to its patrons. The student team is designing a system to support this, ensuring that the design is capable of reading and verifying student cards, scanning book barcodes, demagnetizing books, and finally printing a check-out receipt.

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Client: Veggie Flats

Veggie Flats is a home-based business dedicated to providing a vegetable alternative to traditional bread products. Manufactured in the form of a flat bread, the product is primarily comprised of vegetables, making it very attractive to individuals with gluten sensitivities. As well, Veggie Flats products are a great and tasty way to include more vegetables in your diet.

Project

Veggie Flats’ production challenge is how to form vegetable mash into a consistent flattened shape prior to the baking process. Due to the consistency of the mash, it sticks to commonly used surfaces in food production equipment. Therefore, workers need to manually flatten and shape the mash mixture, which is labour intensive and not profitable. The student team is working on an automated, repeatable, and cost-effective solution to eliminate the manual process.

 

Senior Design

Client: Aspin Kemp & Associates Inc. (AKA)

Aspin Kemp & Associates (AKA) is a systems integrator, delivering innovative products, technically advanced services, documentation, and world-class training primarily to the marine and offshore industry.

Project

AKA’s hybrid systems are difficult to explain in a trade show setting. Wordy, technical and/or static explanations do not convey AKA’s message or engage trade show participants. The student team has been tasked with designing a multi-functional trade show prop that will effectively explain and demonstrate the benefits of AKA’s technology.

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Client: Atlantec Bioenergy Corporation

Incorporated in 2006, Atlantec Bioenergy Corporation has been working to develop a commercially viable bio-refinery to produce advanced bioenergy from sugar beets, which is a non-traditional feedstock for this region. 

Project

Prior to the fermentation and distillation processes, sugar beet feedstock is processed through a primarily mechanical extraction process. The student team is focusing on this extraction process, redesigning the process to recover more sugar from the feedstock.

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Client: Bell Aliant Centre

The Bell Aliant Centre is the most comprehensive athletics facility for Charlottetown and surrounding area. Covering 160,000 square feet, this building houses an aquatics facility, two ice surfaces, and also space for other community and industry organizations.

Project

The Bell Aliant Centre was designed to use the hot water from the arena’s refrigeration system to heat other areas of the facility. The operations team is able to reclaim enough heat from this hot water to heat the facility’s pools. However, there is still considerable excess hot water being redirected back down the well. The student team assigned to this project is analyzing the current facility design and modeling a system to optimize the use of the excess hot water.

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Client: Honeywell

In existence since 1885, Honeywell is currently headquartered in Morris Plains, NJ, and operates 1,250 sites spanning 70 countries. Honeywell invents and manufactures technologies that address some of the world’s most critical challenges around energy, safety, security, productivity, and global urbanization. They are uniquely positioned to blend physical products with software to support connected systems that improve homes, buildings, factories, utilities, vehicles, and aircraft, and that enable a safer, more comfortable, and more productive world.

Project

Within Honeywell’s Slemon Park facility, fuel controls are tested before and after each repair/overhaul activity. The set-up and take-down time for each test is considerable and renders the test stand unusable. The student team is designing a method and tools to reduce the test stand changeover time to increase throughput.

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Client: PEI Bag Company

Established in 1935, the PEI Bag Company is a professional supplier of reliable packaging options to industries, including agriculture, fishing, food, and construction. Products produced are available in a variety of styles, formats, and sizes, and are composed of materials ranging from paper and burlap to synthetic materials such as woven or mesh polypropylene.

Project

Sold in bundles of 6 or 15, the Eco Man bag product is a wet-strength, double-layer paper bag suitable for compostable kitchen waste. Production of this product runs on a multi-use press and conveyor. For other product runs, three employees can staff the line. Due to the Eco Man bundling requirements, three additional employees are required to sort, bundle, and band packages. The student team is designing a system to automate these process steps to satisfy the Eco Man bag requirements and to also accommodate other package size options.

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Client: PEI Potato Solutions

Founded in 2014, PEI Potato Solutions operates as a full service preparation facility for Prince Edward Island potato growers. Product passed through this facility is cleaned, sorted, and scanned for foreign materials. 

Project

With washing, water is inherently critical to operations. Since agriculture residue is removed, environmental legislation does not permit water used in the facility to be released, forcing the organization to manage a closed recycled water system. The student team is working on a design to improve/optimize the facility’s existing product-washing and water-filtration processes. With cleaner water, product throughput will be increased while using the same or less amount of water.

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UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering

To support the School of Sustainable Design Engineering, UPEI officially opened a 76,000 square facility on August 4, 2016. Cutting-edge infrastructure within this building has been designed to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry-university collaboration.

Project

With a tight opening deadline, the provision of photovoltaic and wind turbines components was not completed. The student team has been given the opportunity to further design the facility’s infrastructure to include, at minimum, one additional source of power derived from sustainable energy.

The Atlantic Book Award Society recently announced the nominees for the 2017 Atlantic Book Awards. Among the nominees for the Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing is New London: The Lost Dream by John Cousins, published by Island Studies Press at UPEI.

The book tells the remarkable true story of the Quaker settlement, which existed on PEI’s North Shore between 1773-1795, at French River. The settlement’s leader was Robert Clark, a wealthy Quaker from London, England. Rather than farming or fishing, Clark wanted to create a commercial outpost on what he considered the doorstep to the new world. He named the settlement New London, after the city he had left, and brought with him fellow Quaker tradespeople and artisans, who had never experienced wilderness, and certainly never the harsh weather of PEI’s north shore in winter. How they survived, and occasionally thrived—the settlement numbered more than 100 at its peak—is related in this remarkable book by author and historian John Cousins, of Bloomfield, PEI.

Cousins recreated the rise and fall of this Quaker community through new and old sources, including three diaries written by settlers and correspondence with England.

John Cousins is a descendant of two of those settlers, John Cousins and Mary Townsend. As well as being a retired teacher and school administrator, he is a well-respected Island historian and taught folklore at UPEI for many years.

Congratulations, John!

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.