frequency september 2011

A McMaster Engineering Society Publication | September 2011

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year, every-one! I’m Zachary Strong, the incoming editor of Fre-quency. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m in my fourth year of Engineering Physics and Manage-ment. I’m looking forward to my fourth year of par-ticipation in the McMaster Engineering Musical - I play bass guitar in the Musical’s band, and am the Lighting Director this year as well.

Frequency is a relatively new magazine, created a few months ago by Justin Sma (a now-graduated Mechatronics engineer) to replace the strug-gling EngTimes. I took hold of the reins at the end of the school year last year, and I had to think for a few weeks about what kind of publication Frequency could become. I quickly realized that the MES was sorely lacking an outlet to showcase all the amazing exploits of undergradu-ate engineers. There are a lot of student accomplishments that are under-reported, and Frequency is going to take a shot at changing that. Within this issue is a large collection of different things that students have been up to over the past few months; every-thing from researching next-generation materials, to building a hovercraft. You will also find an interview with Erica Barnes, the valedictorian of the Engineer-ing Class of 2011.

I first met Erica in May of 2010, when we were teamed up to mentor a group of high school students for the annual Engineering Experience Weekend. Throughout our experiences at the EEW, I discov-ered Erica to be a well-spoken and confident young woman who felt very strongly about a wide variety of issues, and had no qualms about voicing her opinions on them. A 45-minute interview that I scheduled with her on June 20th quickly turned into an engaging two-hour conversation situated at the concrete table outside of JHE. One of the issues that both Erica and I talked at length about is the large number of students who have limited involvement with the McMaster Engineering Society during their time spent at university. Erica is a prime example of this

demographic, having earned numerous awards (as well as being selected valedictorian) despite never having held an MES Council position. During our conversation, one of the topics that we found our-selves retreading was the fact that there are rather large groups of students that have limited involve-ment with the McMaster Engineering Society.

Both Erica and I have vastly different perspec-

tives on this issue, as there is a large disparity be-tween our levels of involvement in the MES.

One thing we could agree on, however, is the need for the MES to continue to broaden its horizons so as to appeal to a larger portion of the student body. The MES is in a unique position in that older students graduate every year and are replaced by newer students with fresh ideas. This high turnover enables the MES to grow, evolve, and improve from year to year.

There are many incredibly talented indi-viduals within McMaster Engineering that

have not previously considered being involved with the MES.. If we focus on continual growth and improvement, perhaps some of them will be encour-aged to use their skills and talents to benefit their peers through the MES. The Faculty of McMaster Engineering is renowned for innovation, and it is time for the MES to build a similar reputation by engaging the best and brightest students more effec-tively than any other student group on campus.

I hope you enjoy this issue. If you have any com-

ments, questions, or concerns, feel free to email me at [email protected] . Make sure to check the back cover if you are interested in contributing to the January 2012 issue! Regards, -Zachary Strong Eng Phys & Mgmt IV Frequency Editor, 2011-2012

EDITORIAL | ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT?

1 | Frequency September 2011

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

Frequency is published three times per school year by the McMaster Engineering Society. The opinions expressed herein may not reflect those of the Society as a whole.

JHE 121 | 905-525-6140 x23221 | mes.mcmaster.ca

FRQ 09.05.11 - CONTENTS -

Undergraduate Research: Page 9

3 | Official Business 4 | Sound Waves 5 | Top of the Class An Afternoon with Erica Barnes 7 | The Sky is the Limit Pushing the z-Dimension with MECVT 9 | Undergraduate Research 11 | Talk To the Hand Students Oppose Oil CEO’s Convocation Address 13 | Foreign Correspondence Daniela Corsetti’s Summer in Ghana

September 2011 Frequency | 2

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

- CONTRIBUTORS - EDITOR

Zachary Strong

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Emily Reid

OTHER PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGES

Faculty of Engineering, McMaster University, McMaster Engineering Custom Vehicle Team, Engineers Without Borders, Wikimedia Commons, richardheinberg.com, Andrew Toye Ojo, Fabricia Piñeiro, Casey Julich-Trojan, Leah

Kesselman, Daniela Corsetti, Zachary Strong

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Andrew Toye Ojo, Fabricia Piñeiro, Casey Julich-Trojan, Leah Kesselman, Daniela Corsetti, Zachary Strong

SPECIAL THANKS Erica Barnes, Emily Bot, Richard Heinberg, MSU Underground, Matt Wright, Kyla Fisher, Doyin Osuntogun

MES Council 2011-2012

Executive President Emily Bot VP Internal Laurence Rivard VP External Julie Hemily VP Education Giuseppe Del Gobbo Co-VP Socials Paul Jarzecki Justin Panus VP Finance Katie Minor Exec. Secretary Erin Middaugh

Directors Advertising Andrew Macdonald Alumni Affairs Emily Reid Productions Mohsin Kahn Public Relations Lindsay McCauley Sponsorship VACANT Sports Chair Adam Lagrou

Department & Program Reps BEAMS Rep Leigh Bedford B-Tech Rep Richard Elliot Chemical Rep Andrew Toye Ojo Civil Rep Elizabeth Dollimore Elec & Comp Rep Eric Phillips-Sheldon First Year Reps TO BE ELECTED Management Rep Tony Huynh Materials Rep Jennifer Pollock Mechanical Rep Bryan Hebor Mechatronics VACANT Eng Phys Rep Jeanette Moore Society Rep Hannah Deathe Software Rep VACANT

Non-Voting Members BLUE Lnge Co. Jeff Jordison CRO Kristen Thomson Comm. Coord. Alex Aylwin Co-OC’s . Alex Aylwin Teri Lubianetzky Culture Coord. Adam Ross Drain Coord. Mike Kovacs Frequency Editor Zachary Strong Handbook Editor Zachary Strong Plumbline Editors Jaime Maitland Zachary Strong Trailer Coord. Morgan Cunningham Yearbook Editor Jordan Ward

Contact information is available at mes.mcmaster.ca/contact.html

New MES Group Ratified

At the second Semi-Annual General Meeting (SAGM) of the McMaster Engineering Society, the McMaster Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers was ratified as an official MES group. This was an upgrade to their previous position as an affiliate, and allows them to apply for increased funding for their activities. The National Society of Black Engineers was founded in 1971 at Purdue University, and has grown into an organization that seeks to increase the retention of minorities in the Science, Technol-ogy, Engineering, and Mathematics fields. It also helps its members develop themselves personally and professionally. For more information, visit www . n s b em cm a s t e r . c a o r e m a i l [email protected].

Pi Day Recap

McMaster’s first annual Pi Day fundraiser on March 14th 2011 was a great success, raising over $600 for the Ronald McDonald House of Hamilton. Funds were raised by students and faculty volunteering to be Pi’d, and funds donated in order to contributed to the Pi’ing of these individuals. Pi Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated by mathe-matics enthusiasts every March 14th, where the nu-merical date coincides with the common approxi-mation of Pi (3.14).

Fundraising Announcement

The MES is holding several fundraising efforts this year. The most famous of these is the Bus Pull, which takes place on the Friday of every Welcome Week! Bus Pull (Cystic Fibrosis) (September 9, 2011) Santa Hog (Interval House) (December 2, 2011) Pi Day (TBD) (March 14, 2012)


OFFICIAL BUSINESS | NEWS FROM THE MES


SOUND WAVES | THE FACULTY GRAPEVINE

NCWIE Volunteers Needed!

McMaster Engineering has been selected to host the National Conference on Women in Engineering this November 18-20. NCWIE is an annual Canadian-wide conference, whose purpose is to encourage, advance and explore the many academic and social norms that stem from having women in Engineer-ing. Approximately 100 delegates from across the country will be attending this conference, and your help is needed! Develop professional and interper-sonal skills while meeting engineering students from other universities!

Contact Julie Hemily at [email protected] if you are interested.

SELECT Program Launched!

Beginning this September, McMaster Engineering will be piloting an exciting new opportunity for un-dergraduate students. The SELECT (Student En-gagement, Leadership Education, Career Training) program is a multi-level, session-based program de-signed specifically for engineering students who are passionate about, and involved in, any form of ex-tracurricular activity. SELECT will utilize leader-ship-oriented, hands-on training exercises to help students develop skills and confidence that will en-hance their extracurricular leadership experience and future careers. Each session will combine individual assessments, group activities and reflection, and opportunities for students to apply what was learned. Prominent, young McMaster Engineering alumni will facilitate each module - a unique added value for undergradu-ates who want to understand how what they are learning can benefit their future careers. The first module takes place on September 28 and 29! For more information, check out SELECT’s website at:

www.eng.mcmaster.ca/select

Eng & Science Olympics!

The annual Engineering and Science Olympics are taking place from 8-4 on Thursday, October 6th, and will be providing high school students from across Ontario with the opportunity to develop their tech-nical skills and interest in Engineering. As always, volunteers are needed to help make this very popu-lar outreach event a success.

Email [email protected] to help out!

Erica Barnes graduated from McMaster this past June with a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering. She was the re-cipient of numerous awards and honours, including the 2011 Gold Medal Student Award (Engineers Canada), the McMaster President’s Award of Excellence for Stu-dent Leadership, the 2010 Albert Lager Student Initia-tive Award (McMaster) and the Image of an Engineer Award (McMaster Engineering Society). Erica has been an active member of Engineers Without Borders since her second year, having served as the President of the award-winning McMaster Chapter in 2009, and a placement in Malawi as a Junior Fellow of the organization in 2008. If all this was not enough, she also addressed the graduat-ing engineering class as valedictorian. Frequency was lucky enough to be able to talk with Erica about her past accomplishments, future aspirations, and reflections on her five years in McMaster Engineering.

When did you first decide you wanted to become an engineer? Did you have any specific goals in mind with the discipline (department, etc)?

Engineering was actually the last thing on my list in high school because I didn’t associate myself with the stereotype typically associated with engineers. It wasn’t until I came here for the McMaster Engineer-ing & Science Olympics that I began to realize just what an Engineer does. Through some online re-search, I came across the Engineers Without Borders website. That really changed my perspective on Engi-neering as a profession and helped me make my deci-sion on the path I would pursue in my postsecondary studies. So you discovered Engineers Without Borders before deciding to become an engineer?

It was one of the deciding factors for me, actu-ally. When I discovered Engineers Without Borders in high school, I realized there was much more to engineering than computers and math. After graduation, what are your current plans?

I will be working at Halsall Associates Limited with the Structural Restoration Team in Toronto. Beyond that, however, I am also very excited about opportunities to stay involved with the development of the profession. I think there are people that would be incredible engineers, but pass on the opportunity because they do not associate themselves with the engineering stereotype. The impact that engineers have on society is very understated, and by introduc-ing the profession to people in a different way, I be-lieve value could be added to the profession by at-tracting a new demographic with broader outlooks and perspectives. Presenting Engineering in a differ-


TOP of the

ent light would also help mitigate the traditionally low enrolment of female students in the engineering faculties across Canada. What were some of the defining experiences of the overseas placement?

In 2008, I had the opportunity to work with a local water and sanitation non-governmental organi-zation in Malawi, Africa. A few weeks into my place-ment, I identified a significant communication gap in which the front line staff were not receiving the in-formation they needed to effectively and efficiently plan and execute their work. As well, senior manage-ment was not receiving the information they required from the experiences of front line staff to assist in the development of future organizational strategic directions and policy. By working directly with senior and middle management as well as with front line staff, I facilitated the identification of information and communication needs at each level and created a number of forums through which these could be shared across the organization. This resulted in the creation of new reporting and communication prac-tices and a more empowered staff.

Living and working within a new cultural context was an amazing learning opportunity in which I learned as much about myself as those I lived and worked with. Not only is there a focus on personal experience within an EWB placement, but the op-portunity to share these experiences with the McMas-ter and Hamilton community. Over the years, EWB has had many vocal oppo-nents at the Semi-Annual General Meetings held by the MES. Why do you think this is?

The McMaster EWB Chapter has thought a lot about this issue. I believe EWB must work even harder to share information and experience with the entire student body. I also think that the MES and EWB would benefit from a strengthened relationship through which to work on shared goals and common interests. It would be wonderful to see more students participating in both the MES and EWB.

How do you plan to be involved with EWB post-graduation?

EWB is very good at providing opportunities for graduated engineers to stay involved. I have an inter-est in working with our Global Engineering Team and to share my knowledge and experience working with the McMaster Faculty with other EWB chapters throughout Canada. What are some of the things you’ve accom-plished at McMaster that you are most proud of?

The thing I’m most proud of is working with the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster to realize the value in student ideas and opinions. Over my five years at McMaster, I have seen the Faculty of Engi-neering become much more active in seeking out student leaders to provide their insight into high-level strategic planning and curriculum changes. It has been rewarding to be a part of such a positive change. Are there any organizations or teams you wish you had time to be a part of?

There’s always been a part of me that wishes I had been more involved with Welcome Week. I think creating a welcoming environment for incoming first years is very important and it would have been re-warding to be a larger part of it.

Many people that should, in my opinion, be in-volved with Welcome Week choose not to partici-pate for various reasons. Some are turned off by the activities that promote the engineering stereotype.

I would like to see a more inclusive recruiting process for Redsuits. This would expand the Redsuit persona and ensure that a significant subset of in-coming first year students were not left feeling mar-ginalized or alienated by the Welcome Week experi-ence.


CLASSCLASSCLASSCLASS An afternoon with M

cMaster Engineering 2

011 Valedictorian Er

ica Barnes

Further Reading

For more information on Halsall Associates Limited, visit:

http://www.halsall.com/

For more information on Engineers Without Borders, visit:

www.ewb.ca

mcmaster.ewb.ca

s many of the attendees of Hamilton’s annual Santa Clause Parade will tell you, the McMaster Engineering Custom Vehicle Team is one of the most visible stu-

dent clubs in the faculty. Their fantastic fleet of vehicles has made an appearance at football games, parades, car shows, and during Welcome Week. However, constructing vehicles such as the ‘Motorized Shopping Cart’ or the ‘Carpool III’ (a hot tub installed into the back of a car), is not enough for this team of talented students. After sitting in on an ex-ecutive meeting held in late July, I learned about their latest efforts to take things in a new direction – upwards.

This year, as always, the MECVT crew is devoting time to maintaining old favorites, such as the Carpools and the Motorized Shopping Cart. However, new on the agenda at this meeting is their latest work-in-progress: a hover-craft. When finished, this vehicle will be able to carry multiple pas-sengers across a variety of surfaces, including open water.

The team has opted for a two-engine design, which means

that one engine will be devoted to maintaining the cushion of air underneath the hovercraft that keeps it aloft, while another will provide forward thrust. They have made significant pro-gress on the construction of this vehicle over the summer, but there is still much that remains to be done. Most notably, the propulsion system has yet to be fabricated and mounted. They hope to finish this project by the end of the school year, in or-der to have it functioning for next summer and Welcome Week 2012 - provided they can get McMaster’s Health and Safety offi-cials to approve its existence on campus.

Membership in MECVT is open to all undergraduate Engi-

neering and B.Tech students, and no previous automotive ex-perience is required. It is an excellent way to develop hands-on skills in a variety of different automotive-related areas.

Pushing the z-Dimension with the McMaster Engineering Custom Vehicle Team

The SKYSKYSKYSKY is

The lift motor & fan in operation with safety cover temporarily removed.

The polystyrene portion of the body was carefully cut using a superheated wire back in May 2011.

Pictured: Jerry Vo, Co-Captain


A

Hovercraft Specs:

Dimensions: 5.5’ x 11.5’

Body Material: Polystyrene and fibreglass

Skirt Material: Tear-resistant vinyl

Current Weight: 350 lbs.

Est. Top Speed: 60 MPH

Motors:

Lift: 6.5 HP Briggs & Stratton Lawn Mower Motor

26” composite fan

Propulsion: 40 HP 1979 Yamaha RD 350

40” propeller

Passengers: 2-4

www.mecvt.ca

[email protected]

‘McMaster Engineering Custom Vehicle Team’ on Facebook


the LIMITLIMITLIMITLIMIT

The MECVT Executive:

Kelvyn Panici, Co-Captain (Elec & Society III) Andrew Toye Ojo, Co-Captain (ChemBio III) Jerry Vo, Co-Captain (B.Tech Energy IV)

Jason Olynik, Project Manager (B.Tech Auto IV)

Mike Kovacs, Project Manager (Civ & Society III)

Justin Panus, Finances (Eng Phys & Society IV)

McMaster Engineering Alumni Stuart Grodinsky, Co-Captain Jason Olynik, and Murali Kulachandran restrain the floating hovercraft in a parking lot.

On the Cover: Co-Captain Jason Olynik salutes from the functioning hovercraft.

~


UNDERGRADUATEANDREW TOYE OJO Chem & Bio Co-Op III

I have always been interested in problem solving, chemistry and biology. The Chemical and Bioengineer-ing program at Mac is great and allows me to pursue these interests and apply principles learned in the class-room.

This summer I received an NSERC undergraduate

student research award which gave me the opportunity to work with Dr. Shiping Zhu`s PolyMac Research group. The nature of my research project is the value-added conversion of canola oil into an effective emulsi-fying agent through maleination at high temperatures and through the Alder-Ene reaction mechanism. Canola

oil was used as the substrate for the addition of hydro-philic anhydride groups in order to produce an amphi-phillic emulsifying agent. Three reaction parameters were investigated with regards to their impact on the grafting efficiency of maleic anhydride (MAH) and its degree of grafting: (i) Temperature; (ii) MAH Concen-tration; (iii) Reaction Kinetics. The surfactant produced was compared to analogous emulsifying agents in to assess effectiveness in such measures as emulsion drop-let size, foaming and stability in the presence of electro-lytes and upon centrifugation.

FABRICIA PINEIRO Engineering Physics IV

I am working under Dr. Novog’s supervision de-signing and building a new lab experiment for Eng Phys 4L04: Industrial Monitoring and Detection Techniques.

The objective of this course is to instruct students

on real world process engineering applications and to give them hands on experience with some detection and control methods. The new lab consists of a replica (with some adjustments) of a CANDU reactor Liquid Zone Controller. This control unit serves to decrease reactivity of the Core by adding light water to the moderator and thus favoring neutron absorption. The apparatus built replicates all the salient features of an actual liquid zone

controller and consists of a 50’ tall acrylic tube where water and air are constantly supplied. An Arduino mi-crocontroller is used to monitor the differential pressure of the test section (via a pressure transmitter) and a PID controller program is used to automatically (after adjust-ing PID constants) achieve a desired water level. The objective of the lab is to familiarize students with PID controllers and time/frequency responses as well as to recognize the importance of accuracy and repeatability of the instruments tested.

LEAH KESSELMAN Chem & Bio V

This summer, I worked with Dr. Filipe and Dr. Hoare making microgels. Microgels are micron-sized gel particles that have potential to be used for drug de-livery. They can be loaded with drugs and injected into patients, where they release the medicine over a long period of time. This way, patients don’t need as many injections.

My job was to make, purify, and measure drug re-lease from these microgels. I also tried trapping DNA inside microgel particles so they could act as biosensors. This picture I took under a microscope shows microgels being created inside a device called a microfluidic chip.

CASEY JULICH-TROJAN Materials Engineering IV

Welcome back everyone to a new year of school! Many of you either know, or will soon come to realize, how important summer internships are to your educa-tion. They help you learn the skills you will need later on in industry or in post-graduate studies, and they teach you things about your field that classes might not be able to do.

This past summer I worked in the CCEM lab

(Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy); a world-renowned microscopy lab located here at McMaster. I did research primarily on oxide layers forming on steels exposed to supercritical water, in order to explore differ-

ent types of steels that could be potentially used in nu-clear reactors..

I worked a lot with the SEM (Scanning Electron

Microscope) to do a full analysis of oxide layers forming on the steel. The above image is an SEM image of the oxide layer formed on 304SS (20%Cr, 10%Ni, balance Fe) exposed to supercritical water for 100 hours at 550°C.


NDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Contributions Wanted!

If you are an undergraduate Engineering student that is working on an exciting project, (as part of a capstone, MES Club or Team, etc.), Frequency would be happy to feature your work! Drop us a line at:

[email protected]

TALK to the HAND

Editor’s Note: As some undergraduate students may know, it is customary for business leaders or public figures to address them and their peers upon their graduation from uni-versity. At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts, the students discovered that they were to be addressed by Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, an American oil and gas company. This choice was decidedly unpopular among the graduating student body. In a letter written to the president of WPI, they expressed their dissatisfaction; “[W]e, as conscien-tious members of the WPI community and proud members of the Class of 2011, will not give [the Exxon CEO] the honor of imparting ... his well-wishes ... for our futures ... when he is largely responsible for undermining them.”

The students then presented the WPI administration with an alternative speaker – Richard Heinberg, of the Post Car-bon Institute. A compromise was eventually made, and the university allowed Heinberg to take the podium immediately after Tillson’s address. To make a point, many students de-cided to walk out while Tillerson spoke, only returning to hear Richard Heinberg’s address . Here is an excerpt of what Heinberg had to say.

xxonMobil is inviting you to take your place in a fossil-fuelled twenty-first century. But I would argue that Exxon’s vision of the fu-

ture is actually just a forward projection from our collective rear-view mirror. Despite its high-tech gadgetry, the oil industry is a relic of the days of the Beverly Hillbillies. The fossil-fuelled sitcom of a world that we all find ourselves still trapped within may, on the surface, appear to be characterized by smiley-faced happy motoring, but at its core it is monstrous and grotesque. It is a zombie energy economy.

Of course, we all use petroleum and natural gas in countless ways and on a daily basis. These are amazing substances—they are energy-dense and chemically useful, and they yield enormous economic benefit. America started out with vast reserves of oil and gas, and these fuels helped make our nation the richest and most powerful in the world.

But oil and gas are finite resources, so it was clear from the start that, as we extracted and burned them, we were in effect stealing from the future. In the early days, the quantities of fuel available seemed so enormous that depletion posed only a theoretical limit to consumption. We knew we would eventually empty the tanks of Earth’s hydrocarbon reserves, but that was a problem for our great-great-grandkids to worry about. Yet U.S. oil production has been declin-ing since 1970, even with huge discoveries in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Other countries are also seeing falling rates of discovery and extraction, and world crude oil production has been flat-lined for the past six years, even as oil prices have soared. Accord-ing to the International Energy Agency, world crude oil production peaked in 2006 and will taper off from now on.

ExxonMobil says this is nothing we should worry about, as there are still vast untapped hydro-carbon reserves all over the world. That’s true. But we have already harvested the low-hanging fruit of our oil and gas endowment. The resources that re-main are of lower quality and are located in places that are harder to access than was the case for oil and gas in decades past. Oil and gas companies are in-creasingly operating in ultra-deep water, or in arctic regions, and need to use sophisticated technologies like hydrofracturing, horizontal drilling, and water or nitrogen injection. We have entered the era of ex-treme hydrocarbons.

This means that production costs will continue

to escalate year after year. Even if we get rid of oil market speculators, the price of oil will keep ratchet-ing up anyway. And we know from recent economic history that soaring energy prices cause the economy to wither: when consumers have to spend much more on gasoline, they have less to spend on every-thing else.

But if investment costs for oil and gas explora-tion and extraction are increasing rapidly, the envi-ronmental costs of these fuels are ballooning just as

E


ExxonMobil CEO’s Convocation Address Falls on Deaf Ears

quickly. With the industry operating at the limits of its technical know-how, mistakes can and will hap-pen. As we saw in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2010, mistakes that occur under a mile or two of ocean water can have devastating consequences for an entire ecosystem, and for people who depend on ecosystem services. The citizens of the Gulf coast are showing a brave face to the world and understanda-bly want to believe their seafood industry is safe and recovering, but biologists who work there tell us that oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is still working its way up the food chain.

Of course the biggest environmental cost from

burning fossil fuels comes from our chemical altera-tion of the planetary atmosphere. Carbon dioxide from oil, gas, and coal combustion is changing Earth’s climate and causing our oceans to acidify. The likely consequences are truly horrifying: rising seas, extreme weather, falling agricultural output, and collapsing oceanic food chains. Never mind starving polar bears—we’re facing the prospect of starving people. But wait: Is this even happening? A total of nearly half of all Americans tell pollsters they think either the planet isn’t warming at all, or, if it is, it’s not because of fossil fuels. After all, how can the world really be getting hotter when we’re seeing re-cord snowfalls in many places? And even if it is warming, how do we know that’s not because of vol-canoes, or natural climate variation, or cow farts, or because the Sun is getting hotter? Americans are un-derstandably confused by questions like these, which

they hear repeated again and again on radio and tele-vision.

Now of course, if you apply the critical thinking skills that you’ve learned here at WPI to an examina-tion of the relevant data, you’ll probably come to the same conclusion as has been reached by the over-whelming majority of scientists who have studied all of these questions in great depth. Indeed, the scien-tific community is nearly unanimous in assessing that the Earth is warming, and that the only credible ex-planation for this is rising levels of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels. That kind of consensus is hard to achieve among scientists except in situations where a conclusion is overwhelmingly supported by evidence.

I’m not out to demonize ExxonMobil, but some

things have to be said. That company plays a pivotal role in shaping our national conversation about cli-mate change. A 2007 report from the Union of Con-cerned Scientists described how ExxonMobil adopted the tobacco industry’s disinformation tac-tics, and funded some of the same organizations that led campaigns against tobacco regulation in the 1980s—but this time to cloud public understanding of climate change science and delay action on the issue. According to the report, between 1998 and 2005 ExxonMobil funneled almost $16 million to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that misrepre-sented peer-reviewed scientific findings about global warming science.

The oil spill as seen on May 24th, 2010 by NASA’s Terra satellite.

Further Reading

Heinberg’s address in its entirety can be found at:

http://bit.ly/mCljVt

The letter to WPI administration can be found at:

http://wpi2011.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/letter-to-wpi-president-berkey/

The Post Carbon Institute is an organization that “provides indi-viduals, communities, businesses, and governments with the resources needed to understand and respond to the interrelated economic, energy, environ-mental, and equity crises that define the 21st century”.

http://www.postcarbon.org/

Richard Heinberg is a senior fellow at the PCI, and has authored several books that address climate change and Peak Oil Theory, including Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, and The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality.

http://richardheinberg.com/


Ah finally! I survived first year and made it to my first 4 month summer! So many possibilities! Thank-fully, I didn’t have to look too far because when I came to McMaster on Fall Preview day, I ran into this table that said Engineers Without Borders. It didn’t take a long time talking with the volunteers there to figure out I had the opportunity to make the most of my summer, with a Junior Fellowship in In-ternational Development.

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a Canadian non-governmental organization that has chapters across Canada in universities, professional firms and cities. These chapters raise awareness about things like government policy, fair trade, and EWB’s work in Africa. EWB works in four African countries: Ghana, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Zambia. There are volunteers in both the private and public sector, fo-cusing on capacity building, data management and overall investing in people. During the summer, this is where I fit in.

I was selected as one of two Junior Fellows from Mac, and was placed in Ghana where I would be a part of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture team working on Agricultural Colleges Strategy. My role is to evaluate and assess an entrepreneurship project created and implemented by one of the lecturers at

Kwadaso Agricultural College. I got feedback and recommendations from the students to see if there are any improvements that can be made, and to po-tentially scale the project to other Ministry of Food and Agriculture colleges in Ghana. The feedback from the project can also play into the participatory education aspect of my placement. By seeing how students respond to a very hands-on learning ap-proach can feed into improving teaching methods at the school. All in all, I’ve been put in a place that gives me the opportunity to make change happen, and hopefully, I will have left something behind to make impact in the future.

Beyond my work, I’ve gotten to experience a nation that is very different from where I grew up. I’ve gotten the unbelievable opportunity to open my mind and develop skills that will be very useful in the years to come. And I think that’s what attracted me to EWB that Fall Preview day; I saw an organization that allows you to gain communication and critical thinking skills, while getting the chance to impact positive change. Daniela Corsetti Chemical Engineering and Society II

http://danielainghana.blogspot.com/

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE | DANIELA IN GHANA



PHASE SHIFT

| Opinion Pieces Provided there are opinions submitted.

| NCWIE 2011 Coverage Theme: ‘Shaping a Changing and Diverse World’

| Mac Eng Musical Preview Get a sneak peek at this year’s theme!

| Charity Event Coverage Bus Pull and Santa Hog results, plus Pi Day info!

Sept. 9 | Bus Pull

Pull a bus around downtown Hamilton to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Canada. McMaster Engineering is typically one of the best-performing faculties in the Shinerama fund-raiser that takes place every Welcome Week, and makes the CH evening news every year while doing so.

Sept. 15 | EngFest

Come find out about all the great McMaster Engineering clubs and teams you can join! It takes place from 9 AM - 2 PM in front of JHE. Email [email protected]

for more details.

Oct. 6 | McMaster Engineering & Science Olympics

The Olympics and Open House introduces high school students to the exciting world of Engineering and Science through a visit to the McMaster University campus and a day full of academic competitions and engaging activities.

Nov. 18-20 | NCWIE 2011

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Shaping a Changing and Diverse World’. Guest speakers and social mixers will take place over this weekend. Interested delegates and volun-teers should contact Julie Hemily via email at [email protected].

Dec. 2 | Santa Hog

Volunteers dress up in red and disrupt classes with engineering-themed holiday carols in order to raise money for Interval House Hamilton, an abused women’s shelter. Be sure to either donate your voice or your spare change to this very enjoyable - and very loud - fundraiser.

Keep an eye on mes.mcmaster.ca for details on these events, and more!

- JANUARY 2012 ISSUE -

- UPCOMING EVENTS -

WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO

FREQUENCY? You are welcome to send in any opinion pieces or columns!

Frequency is also looking for staff reporters and dedicated writers.

[email protected]

There will also be a meeting for those interested in contributing on

September 14th, 2011 in JHE 121 at 6:30 PM

frequency september 2011

Documents

school year

year of engineering

year of par

mcmaster engineering

large number of students

large groups of students

newer students

older students