Professor Antony Hodgson appointed as NSERC Associate Chairholder

Vancouver, Canada—July 9, 2009—Professor Philippe Kruchten has been appointed as a Senior Chairholder of the NSERC Chair in Design Engineering program. Professor Antony Hodgson has been named an Associate Chairholder.

The primary focus of this Chair is to eliminate barriers between engineering disciplines and enhance connectivity between engineering and other fields, particularly medicine and commerce, to better serve society. This Chair builds on the first NSERC Chair in Design Engineering awarded to UBC in 2002, which was held by Dr. Peter Lawrence.

The Chair will initially focus on interdisciplinary design of innovative intelligent equipment to improve treatment and quality of life for people with debilitating diseases or disabilities.

“During the term of this Chair, we expect to significantly increase the number of students who have a truly interdisciplinary design experience and who are trained in the skills needed to move ideas from conception to product,” says Kruchten.

For example, recently students involved with a pilot project affiliated with the Chair have created award winning designs for the ALS Society of B.C. Plans are underway for collaborations with the Tetra Society of North America and the Disability Foundation.

“At NSERC, we want to make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators,” said NSERC president Suzanne Fortier. “The Chair in Design Engineering program helps us achieve that vision. Drs. Kruchten and Hodgson exemplify the high level of excellence we expect from our Chairs. Together they will provide a superb environment to train the next generations of discoverers and innovators.”

In future, the Chair’s focus will expand to address interdisciplinary solutions in areas such as energy and sustainability.

The Chair will also endeavour to enhance the design experience of graduate students in the Biomedical Engineering Program; foster relationships between local industry and junior engineering faculty members through student capstone projects; simplify industry-university collaborations; and oversee the newly-created Centre for Design Engineering.

“In addition to the interdisciplinary design experience students will receive, the Chair will play a significant role in enhancing the profile of design activities at UBC and in the broader community,” says Kruchten.“Our industrial partners will be involved in sponsoring student design projects and mentoring senior students in their critical final year and will benefit from graduates trained with an interdisciplinary perspective.”

The Chair is valued at $2 million over five years. In addition to NSERC funding, Western Clinical Engineering Ltd; Jeppesen Sanderson; WorleyParsons Westmar Division; ALS Society of BC and Ensemble Systems have generously contributed to the Chair, and have provided the necessary industry support to secure the NSERC Chair.

Dr. Kruchten is a mechanical engineer and computer scientist. Before joining UBC in 2004, he spent 33 years in industry developing systems in telecommunications, defense, transportation and software tools and methods.

Dr. Hodgson is a medical engineer whose research focuses on computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery, medical robotics, surgical process modeling, and sensorimotor control. He is affiliated with the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver Hospital and serves on the board of the Medical Device Development Centre.

Contact:
ErinRose Handy
Communications Manager
Faculty of Applied Science
The University of British Columbia
Tel: 604.822.1524
E-mail: erinrose.handy@ubc.ca