 Associations Fair 2011
On November 16 2011, the Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies invited their students to speak with representatives from various associations within their professional industry. This provided students with the opportunity to learn about membership benefits and application processes, get licensing or accreditation instructions, discuss career opportunities within the industry and expand their network of contacts.
Attending Associations included:
See the photos from this event 
Intelligent Machine Technology Gets Humans Thinking at George Brown
What began, in George Brown College’s Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies, as one project to develop technology to simulate human thinking has spawned a new laboratory site at George Brown: a web-based, remote-sensing research laboratory for industry partners, and a host of green applied research projects.
Along the way, Professor Leo Salemi and cross-disciplinary teams of students in electromechanical design, mechanical design and computer programming, with college volunteers, have had in-kind support (equipment and mentoring) and funding from industry partners, as well as seed funding from George Brown’s Office of Applied Research and Innovation.
Says Salemi, “Hierarchical temporal memory [HTM] theory says that machines can be designed to detect underlying patterns and categorize images and novel attributes or capabilities not seen before, based on foundational data that the system was previously trained with.
“Then,” Salemi adds, “the HTM system can be programmed to respond accordingly to understand and automate a process like heating, lighting or security in a building.” Full utilization of HTM technology in an application like this is still a ways down the road.
Professor Salemi and his students have discovered plenty to keep them busy in applying technology to immediate and near-future challenges. Their inaugural project involved working with Numenta Inc.’s new HTM computing technology, at the point when its programming platform for HTM, NuPIC, was in its infancy.
Creating a functional system was beyond the scope of the initial project. But with mentoring and support from Industrial Technical Services, International Society of Automation (ISA) Toronto Section, Grace Instrumentation, Hatch Engineering and Hoskin Scientific, the research team quickly adapted the project to the creation of a living laboratory space on the George Brown Casa Loma campus. Here they generate data on the space itself that the technology has been primed to detect--data pulled from motion sensors and video cameras--in order to monitor and control the process systems in the lab.
The logical next step was to develop a remote site, a web technology that could deal with sensory input, not only from the George Brown lab, but from any remote site, and test new applications. The result, the Salemi team’s Infrastructure Research & Testing Lab (greenenergy.georgebrown.ca) is a kind of first-step HTM. In April 2009, Salemi’s team demonstrated the remote-sensory lab at ISA’s Technical Conference.
The applications of a sensory-detection system to green energy projects are numerous, as Salemi saw when the opportunity came to demo their remote site application to the Kortright Centre in Vaughan, Ontario. With funding from Prolet Inc. and matching funds from GBC to support student researchers, the team started work at the Archetype House, a demonstration home featuring leading-edge green technologies. In a relatively short time the team reached their first milestone by establishing an internet connection, which was difficult to achieve given the isolated location of the house.
This, in turn, allowed the team to essentially duplicate the remote site design back at the college. Further, by utilizing the George Brown team’s unique intelligent-router design, other researchers and industry partners were able to gain remote access to all the computers in the Kortright demonstration house, making it easier for them to conduct research and develop their own applications without the need to travel to the site.
In a short time, the Salemi team was able to access and log data generated from the solar panels, video cameras, and other sensors in the house, also working closely with a Ryerson University research team and other industry partners. “Since then,” says Salemi, “We’ve spun four or five different projects from the original project at the Kortright house.” These include a solar tracking system to capture at least 30 to 40 percent more light energy from the sun; a security and home-automation system; and a web portal to monitor energy consumption.
The Salemi team is now mimicking the Kortright solar tracking project on the roof of George Brown’s Casa Loma campus. Solar panels are being installed, with the solar tracker to be mounted in 2010. The team will use the collected energy from the Casa Loma roof to charge batteries and power the lighting in Salemi’s lab.
Upcoming projects for the Infrastructure Research and Testing Lab include: a “homeowners’ dashboard” remote-sensing project to monitor energy consumption in real time, linked to time-of-use cost data so that homeowners can manage their consumption; the application of the Salemi lab’s results at the Kortright Centre to future George Brown green-energy initiatives now in the planning stages; and an HTM memory camera system powered by Vitamin D Video software.
All this activity is leading to novel George Brown algorithms that will link, monitor and control all process systems in a building. And that could be one big step toward training a machine-brain HTM to automate novel processes and troubleshoot problems in building processes.
“We’ll get there,” says Salemi.
Professor’s Mini Circuit Board Has Maximum Impact for George Brown College Curriculum
If asked “what can fit on the head of a pin,” Professor Jamie McIntyre of the School of Mechanical Engineering Technologies would know more than most. The same, as it turns out, could be said of a pen. Recently Bloorview Kids Rehab scientist Dr.Tom Chau, with one of his post-doctoral students, David Fernandez, essentially asked McIntyre the question: “How small can you make the features of a circuit board so that they can fit on the head of a pen?”
“The answer so far,” says McIntyre, a licensed engineer, “is five thousandths of one inch.” The result, for George Brown College, has been an overhaul of its microprocessor curriculum in the Mechanical Engineering and Electro-Mechanical Technology programs.
In a mutually beneficial partnership between McIntyre in the college’s microelectronics laboratory, Bloorview and several industrial-design partners, McIntyre provided an early circuit-board prototype for Bloorview’s handwriting data analysis unit, which is still under development. The electronic pen will ultimately be used as a diagnostic device for children with severe physical challenges, such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, and for those with more common conditions, such as developmental coordination disorder (dcd). Once the optimum design is confirmed and commercialized, occupational therapists and clinicians will be able to use the pen to assess grip strength, grip position and control, paper pressure and speed of printing.
McIntyre’s contribution involved miniaturizing his circuit board to less than one-and-a-half by one inch (the size of a postage stamp), to fit the tip of the pen so as not to interfere with grasping the pen along the shaft. McIntyre, using top-of-the-line, specialized equipment that Siemens Canada has provided to the microelectronics lab, designed the radically small circuit board, constructed it and got it working.
“Jamie’s work,” says Chau, “also enabled us to eliminate a second computer connection to the pen. The wiring itself is cumbersome and can be very distracting to children for whom printing and writing are real challenges.”
A second challenge for Jamie was interfacing the circuit to accommodate a flexible sensory array that was purchased from another vendor. To overcome this incompatibility, McIntyre collaborated with the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and used one of their labs, another of McIntyre’s mutually beneficial partnerships. Fernandez at Bloorview then fed the circuit board into his software and computer configuration.
Chau, who also directs the University of Toronto’s clinical engineering program, adds, “We would be very interested in working with Jamie again, now that we have a wireless prototype of the handwriting data analysis unit.”
The circuit board project is one of a series of research and education exchanges between George Brown College and Bloorview Kids Rehab. The college’s microelectronics students have also worked with U of T undergraduate engineering students, guided by McIntyre and Chau, respectively, to develop and assemble circuitry and design an aspirometer, which indicates if a person is experiencing swallowing difficulties. Chau and his team are now actively working towards commercialization. In another association, a George Brown mechanical engineering student was invited to work and study in Chau’s lab at Bloorview in summer, 2007.
“We’re successful in projects as diverse as these,” says McIntyre, “because we never say no to a design challenge. We can also, as a result, educate and involve our students in relevant, applied research. The fact that our microelectronics lab is comparable to industrial microelectronics labs in quality, and virtually unique among public institutional engineering labs, ensures that the Siemens technology is well used on novel design research.”
School of Mechanical Engineering Technologies showcase their projects at the Ontario College Information Fair 2011
On October 25th 2011, The Centre for Construction & Engineering Technologies took part in the Ontario College Information Fair 2011 at the Direct Energy Centre.
The Fair is the largest concentration of student prospects in Ontario, and is the largest recruiting event of the year. OCIF brings in high school students, non-direct college prospects, parents and other family members, and teachers and guidance staff. This was an excellent opportunity to showcase the strengths of The Centre for Construction & Engineering Technologies.
School of Mechanical Engineering Technologies students presented demos of their projects including a - Electric Race Car (Adam Piercey, Mathew Nettleton, Milovan Borisavljevic) and a Wind Turbine (Andrew Stuart, Phillip Blundell).
Trade skills competition team gets Student Service/Experience Award
Skills competition team gets Student Service/Experience Award: The group of Centre for Construction and engineering Technologies employees who devote hundreds of hours to create a winning student team for the annual Ontario’s Skills competition was presented with the Student Service/Experience Award at the President’s Breakfast in late August. on hand to receive the award from President Anne Sado were (from left) co-team lead support officer Patricia Sturino, professors Milt Aimoniotis, Steven Racey, Bob Visentin, co-team lead dean’s assistant Jennifer Barbier, and professor Vince Masella.
2011 George Brown College Achievement Awards
The Centre for Construction & Engineering Technologies would like to congratulate all of their staff who were nominated for the 2011 George Brown College Achievement Awards!
Jamie McIntyre – Innovation Award
Ontario Skills Competition Team - Student Service/Experience Award
On May 31, 2011, Alumni Relations & the Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies hosted a networking lunch at The Chefs' House. Alumni were invited to hear the latest news from George Brown College, mingle with fellow alumni and college faculty and staff, win great draw prizes, and update us on their careers. [Read more...]
Fourth Annual Electromechanical Engineering Technician Student Project Showcase & Student Achievement Celebration
On April 14 2011 students, instructors and staff celebrated the success of our graduating students in their final semester and participated in judging students final semester projects.
View the photos of this event
Fourth Annual Mechanical Engineering Technology - Design
Student Project Showcase & Student Achievement Celebration
On April 19 2011 students, instructors and staff celebrated the success of our graduating students in their final semester and participated in judging students final semester projects.
View the photos of this event
2011 Dinner with the Dean The Centre for Construction & Engineering Technologies held its second annual Dinner with the Dean - Nancy Sherman, on March 29th 2011 to enjoy an evening of food, drink, socializing and acknowledging the great work of our Peer Leaders, Peer Liaisons, Ambassadors, faculty and staff. [Read more...]
2011 Technology Career Fair
On February 8th 2011, The Centre for Construction & Engineering Technologies & the Industry Liaison Office hosted the 2011 Technology Career Fair in our Casa Loma campus gymnasium.
Hundreds of students from the School of Architectural Studies, School of Construction Management and Trades, School of Computer Technology, and School of Mechanical Engineering Technologies were in attendance to hear first hand from over 30 local, national and international employer industry partners how they can fit into the job market. [Read the full story]
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