Current News and Events (continued...)

September 6, 2012- Mr. Nishant Balakrishnan joined my research group as an M.Sc. student. His research interest is in designing and building energy-efficient active bipedal walking robots. Welcome, Nishant.

August 20, 2012- Mr. Derek Koop successfuly defended his M.Sc. thesis. He will work at Price Industries as a mechcanical engineer. Congratulations, Derek, all the best.

June 4-6, 2012- Mr. Derek Koop, Sean O'brien, Shafiullah . AKM, Mansoor Alghooneh attended CSME International Congress 2012 in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

June 3-7, 2012- Mr. Sobhan Sadri attended 2012 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium at Alcalá de Henares, Spain. He presented two posters.

May 11, 2012-The Research Group Spring Research Conference was held at FortWhyte Alive. Each graduate student presented his/her current reearch results. Dr. Wu gave a presentation reflecting the group achievemnts during the academic year of 2011 to 2012, and discussed the research plan for the next 5 years.

May 4, 2012- Dr. Wu has been named the NSERC/MCI Senior Industrial Research Chair in Heavy Ground Vehicles and Transportation Equipment. In her role, Dr. Wu will establish a reearch program on body structure integrity of heavy on-road vehicles, safety monitoring and accelerated sub-scaled durability testing. The Chair Program is co-sponsored by Motor Coach Indutries Inc., NSERC and University of Manitoba.

May 1, 2012- Three new reesarch students joined the group, Mr. Gregg Streuber, Mr. Daniel Kowbel and Jaiden Chan. Gregg and Daniel both received NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Awards. Welcome.

April 15, 2012- Dr. Wu recieved Discovery Accelerator Supplements, which are awarded to accelerate progress and maximize the impact of superior research programs. The award is valued at $120,000 over three years ($40,000 annually) and provides recipients with additional resources to compete with the best in the world.

April 1. 2012- Dr. Wu received two grants from NSERC:.......... Discovery Grant (Development of stable and energy-efficient bipedal walking robots - challenges in stability analysis and stability criteria) and Reseach Tools and Instruments: (Fully Instrumented Treadmill for Characterizing Stability of Energy-Efficient Bipedal Walking)

March 30,2012- Mr. Graham Leveric recieved a University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship. Graham is a recipient of NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship in 2011.

March 28, 2012- Mr. A K M (Moon) Shafiullah successfully defended his M.Sc. thesis. Here is a picture after the defense with his M.Sc. exam committee. Shafiullah will start his career as a testing engineer at Western Canada Testing Co orporation (Portage laPoria, Manitoba). Congratulations Moon, and all the best.

March 1, 2012- Mr. Mansoor Alghooneh received a 3-year University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship. Congratulations, Mansoor.

October 31-November 3, 2011- Mr. Derek Koop attended and presented papers at ASME 4th Annual Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Arlington, VA, USA.

October 23, 2011- Graduate Student Research Poster Competition is held today. Mr. Derek Koop and Mr. Mansoor Alghooneh receive 1st place in the Dynamics/Robotics group. Congratulations, Derek and Mansoor.

September 5, 2011- Two members joined the group:

Mr. Yun-Hsiang (Foster) Sun joins the lab as a Ph.D. student. HIs research interests are in developing bipedal walkingn robts. Welcom Yun-Hsiang.

Mr. Graham Leveric starts his M.Sc. program in my lab. Mr. Leveric is a receipient of NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships. He has worked in my lab for the past two years with NSERC Undergraduate Summer Reearch Awards. Mr. Leveric will start new research on nonlinar dyanmic systems. Congratulations and welcome back, Graham.

August 21-26, 2011- Dr. Wu is away to Ottawa to attend the strategic panel meeting. Dr. Wu serves as the Chair of Strategic Projects Selection in Competitive Manufacturing-Panel A of the NSERC Strategic Grant Program.

August 19, 2011- Mr. Ehsan Kouchaki finished his 1-year research on effects of toe-joints on balancing control of bipedal locomotion. He will return to Iran finishing his Ph.D. thesis from Isfahan University of Technology. Here is a picture of the good-bye party with Ehsan and his wife (5th and 4th from right). All the Best, Ehsan.

August 16, 2011-Miss Ke Xu successfully defended his M.Sc. thesis. Here is a picture after the defense with her M.Sc. exam committee. She will start her career as a testing engineer at Motor Coach Industries Inc. (Winnipeg). Congratulations Ke, and all the best.

August 15,2011- Mr. Rushdi Kazi successfully defended his M.Sc. thesis . Here is a picture. He will start his career as a consulting engineer at Fluor Canada, Ltd. (Vancouver). Congratulations Rushdi, and all the best.

June 5-9, 2011- Four graduate students, A K M, Shafiullah, Ke Xu, Rushi Kazi Sean O'Brien and Dr. Wu presented papers at CANCAM2011 in Vancouver BC.

May 16, 2011- The group had a spring Potluck party with Dr. Sepehri's group at St. Vital Park. Here is a picture.

May 13, 2011- The group spring research conference is held. Each lab member gave a presentation of their research project. Here is a picture of the lab members.

April 20, 2011- Mr. Graham Leveric recieved received a 2011 C.P. Bennett Thesis Prize for Mechanical Engienering. This award is given to the best undergraduate thesis in mechanical engineering program. Only one award is given every year. The title of the thesis is "Mechanical Design and Testing of a Variable-Buoyancy Kinetic Sculpture". The thesis is co-supervised with Professor Gordon Reeves, a sculpture professor from the School of Fine Art at UM. Congratulations Graham.

April 15, 2011- Mr. Derek Koop received a University of Manitoba Graduate Scholarship for 2011-2012. Mr. Koop is a recepient of NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship in 2010.

April 2 , 2011- Dr. Wu's application for an NSERC Research Tools and Instruments (Category 1) Grant is successful. The title of the proposal is "Instrumentation for Accelerated Durability Testing of Ground Vehicles. The grant is $102,311.

March 31, 2011-Mr. Graham Leverick recieved an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship for 2011. Congratulations Graham! (Graham worked in my lab for the past two summers with NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Awards. He is currently workin on his undergraduate thesis under Dr. Wu's supervision.)

March 10, 2011- Dr. Wu received an MITACS/Matrix Biodemical Inc. Internship grant at $15,000. The project is Wear Analysis of Total Knee Replacement using the Method of Finite Element Analysis. Dr. Y. Luo is the co-applicant.

January 5, 2011- Mr. Alireza Armion joins the lab as a Ph.D. student. Mr. Armion is interested in automotive engineering. Welcome Alireza.

November 1, 2010 - Mr. Ehsan Kouchaki joins the group as a visiting Ph.D. student for a year. Mr. Kouchaki wil conduct research on effects of toe-joints on bipedal locomotion. Welocme Ehsan.

Octorber 20, 2010 - Dr. Wu received an NSERC ENGAGE Grant ($24,500) with Western Canada Testing Inc. The project is entitled: Development of Effective Durability Tests for Ground Vehicles".

October 4, 2010 - The provincial government made an announcement to contribute $150,000 to MITACS to increase industrial internship opportunities for graduate students in Mnaitoba. Dr. Wu's reearch team on vehicle dynamcis was invited to attend the event held at Motor Coach Industries Inc. Several students were interviewed by the Press. Here is a picture.

September 30, 2010- Dr. Caixia Yang finished her PDF training and starts to work with Dr. E. Bibeau on renewable energy technologies. Wish you the best, Caixia.

September 15, 2010- Dr. Wu was interviewed by MITACS and featured a story for "Accelerate Success".

September 5, 2010- Mr. Sobhan Sadri joins the lab as a Ph.D. student. Mr. Sadri is interested in automotive engineering. Welcome Sobhan.

August 31 , 2010- Mrs. Graham Leveric and Pei Zhang finish their summer research today. Graham has been working on a project of a variable-buoyancy kinetic skulpture. Prof. Gordon Reeve, Chair of sculpture of Faculty of Art, is his co-advisor. He is going to continue it into his underggraduate thesis. Pei worked on a project of accelerated durability tests. Excellent work, Graham and Pei. All the best.

August 30, 2010- The group research confernce is held today. Every lab member gives a presentation. Here is a group piocture. More can be found in Gallery.

August 19, 2010- Mr. Jeremy Silcox successfully passed the oral exam for his M.Eng. program. Here is a picture after the exam.

August 13, 2010- Mr. Stephen Cull finishes his summer reseacrh term today. He wil continue his graduate studies at University of Calgary. Stephen has made siginificant contributions to developing accelerated durability tests. Wish you the best, Stephen. Here is a picture at the Goodbye party.

August 4, 2010- Mr. Mansoor Alghooneh joins the lab as a Ph.D. student. Mr. Alghooneh is interested in developing energy-efficient bipedal walking robts. Welcome Mansoor.

May14, 2010- Mr. Derek Koop received a 2010 C.P. Bennett Thesis Prize for Mechanical Engienering. This award is given to the best undergraduate thesis in mechanical engineering program. The thesis title is Passive Dynamic Bipedal Walking: Ramp-Treadmill Comparison and Gait Variation Due to Parameter Change. Congratulations Derek, well-done.

May 11, 2010- The group spring research conference is held. Each lab member gave a presentation of their research project. Here is a picture of the lab members.

May 10, 2010- Dr. Erdman, director of Medical Devices Center at University of Minnesota and a world recognized expert in mechanisms design, visited my lab. Daniel Giesbrecht, Derek Coop and Sean Obrien showed Dr. Erdman their legged walking mechanisms. Here is a picture.

May 4, 2010 - Five members join my group:

Mr. Sushil Doranga joined my lab as a Ph.D. student. Mr. Doranga receied his M.S.c from Lamar University, Texas in 2009. Welcome Sushil.

Mr. Derek Koop starts his M.Sc. program in my lab. Mr. Koop is a receipient of NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships. He will continue his research on passive dynamic walking. Congratulations and welcome back, Derek.

Mr. Graham Leverick strats his summer research. Mr. Leverick recieved his second NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award. He is working on a new project related to kinetic sculpture. Congratulations and welcome back, Graham.

Mr. Pei Zhang starts his summer research in my lab. Mr. Zhang is working on a project related to the analysis of the acceleration time series with the objective of creating effective laoding profiles for accelerated durability tests. Welcome Pei.

Mr. Stephen Cull returns to my lab for his second summer search term. He is working on creating synthesized loading profiles for accelerated durability tests and failure analysis of HVAC module using the Fractograph approach. Welcome back, Stephen.

April 5, 2010-Mr. Daniel Giesbrecht successfully defended his M.Sc. thesis. He will start his career as a consulting engineer. Congratulations Dan, and all the best.

March 31, 2010-Mr. Derek Koop recieved an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship. Congratulations!

March 24-Dr. Christine Wu is appointed as a member of the evaluation committee of the NSERC Strategic Project Grants Program in Competitive Manufacturing for a 3-year term.

February 25, 2010-Dr. Christine Wu is appointed as a member of CFI review committee for 2010 Leader Opportunity Fund ($1M-$2M).

February 15, 2010-Mr. Graham Leverick recieved his second NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award. Congratulations Graham!

January 10, 2010-Four new graduate students joined our group, Sepideh Afshar (Ph.D. student), Ke Xu, Shafiullah A.K.M., and Sean O'Brien (M.Sc. students). Welcome!