mcmaster engineering society semi annual...

McMaster Engineering Society

Semi Annual General Meeting I Agenda Tuesday, October 24th,2016

ITB 137 7:00pm

Prepared by Jocelyn Lee of 15 [email protected] [email protected]

Approved Absences: Quorum Count - Please sit with members of your Department

Department Initial Count Final Count

Bioengineering 11 17 B. Tech 18 13 Chemical 17 14 Civil 15 13 Computer Science 20 17 Electrical & Computer 13 12 Engineering Physics 26 18

First Year 19 10 Management 14 10 Materials 11 16 Mechanical 12 13 Mechatronics 18 12 Society 26 20 Software 17 16

Ratification of the Agenda Presentation 7 removed Names for Kipling coordinators

Motion passes Ratification of Incoming Council Members Coordinators: BLUE Lounge – Nicholas Loomes and Chantal Ullyett Culture – Aveline Pearson and Jennifer Janssen Drain – Linford Rodrigues and Tyson Collins Fireball – Rachel Laurat and Liane Ladouceur Information Technology – Jimmy Nguyen Kipling – Jacqueline Pochowski and Elena Grigoras

Trailer – Francesco Rao SAAP – Sheena Berry and Yih-Jwu Hsaio ARC – Luka Samac

Department Representatives: First Year – Victor Chen First Year – Parsa Beheshti First Year – Maximilian Aoki First Year – Farhan Maqbool Editors: Frequency – Levi Brown and Merat Goharshadi Handbook – Emily Vernon and Lianna Tkach Plumbline – Pooja Srikanth and Max Guan Other: CRO – Matt Vukovic MacLAB Chair – Alex Miles

Note: SAGM must contain a quorum of 3% of McMaster’s Faculty of Engineering population - preferably ≥ 10 members per club/department.



ITB 137 7:00pm


Opposed: Max Guan, Linford Rodriguez Absentions: 3

Motion passed Presentation 1: McMaster Solar Car

Presented by: Kashif Introductions Build and race solar cards Promote sustainable energies Provide avenue for outreach and training 3,000 km race Budget for competitions and running team Approximately $12,000 this year Electrical team runs workshops open to general public Gives introductions to general hobby electronics Introduce people to Arduinos and designing circuit boards Members have two learning sessions a week Community outreach events: represent McMaster and go to many events Two major components: Mechanical team and electrical team Mechanical team: lots of new members, training seminars running, learn basics of how car works, design principles, etc. leadership opportunities for new members to take over major projects Electrical team: undertake various projects, most of the car is manufactured and designed in house (saves money and helps with learning) Media and graphics team: students learn html, css, graphic design stuff, developing new software for team to map sunlight and weather conditions Discussion: Attendee: is it too late to join? Answer: yes, but in January we might have more people to take Presentation 2: Chem-E Car

Presented by: Abdullah Shaikh and Kelly Huyen Introductions Work on getting as close to the finish line as possible Competition on April 7th, 2017 Runs and stops on checmical reactions only Started in 2010 Team has 20 people this year Hydrogen fuel cell – produce hydrogen to power motor Last year’s budget: $1900: $400 goes to purchasing chemicals $1200 goes to actual competitions (shipping, poster) This year: $1200 (change stopping mechanisms) Planning on reusing last years chemicals for testing and doing fundraising Planning on sending 3 people Discussion: Attendee: how big is the car? Answer: Shoe box size. Attendee: when you are experimenting, do things go wrong? Answer: it can, but it hasn’t happened yet.



ITB 137 7:00pm


Presentation 3: SRA Engineering Introduction Presented by: Maxwell Lightstone

Introductions Representing engineering students Eng is the second largest faculty on campus so we have the most amount of representatives Goals: improve communication between MSU, MES, and engineering students, increase access to resources, get more academic support for eng students, reduce financial barriers Contact us on webpage on MES website (macengsociety.ca/sraengineering), facebook, email Goal is to represent engineering faculty to the MSU, if anyone has a problem with any function of the MSU, contact the SRA Discussion: None

Presentation 4: Women in Engineering

Presented by: Alison Bayzat and Erika Greco Introductions Get $1000 every year from the MES Mentorship program: 63 pairs this year, 2 events hosted (pizza mingle, board game night), next event will be late November/early December and will be cookie decorating Ambassador program: during reading week. Female university students go back to their high schools to talk about McMaster engineering and why high school students should consider it. 20 girls participated this year with 52 presentations. Faculty reception will happen next week with feedback and improvements Run for the Cure Outreach: representatives in each engineering department that help run events Recently helped out with GoEng Girl. Reached around 150 girls in grade 7-11 Professional development: early in January will have a wine tour, team in eng competition, next semester will have industry night Confereces: $1000 from faculty to support female students going to WiSE conference (in Toronto this year) email us if you want to participate Social nights: spa night next semester, study sessions during/before exams, serve ping pong in the future Diversity night happening next week. Two panelists coming to represent each of the groups and ask questions about diversity in the workplace, next steps after school, etc. In the grad lounge on November 3rd Discussion: none Presentation 5: McMaster Baja Team

Presented by: Adam Charlton and Paul Pahulje Introductions Student run team that designs and builds a single seat off-road vehicle Compete across North America Competitions have around 90-100 teams Last year: 25 members (10 new members), this year there are 44 members, new members continuously joining New member process implemented this year (have them involved early with member forms, tasks, readings)



ITB 137 7:00pm


125 people fill out new form, 33 people complete readings test, 20 people finished process and joined team this year Results: attended two competitions this summer (Tennessee and Rochester) came 39th overall Recently went to Midnight Mayhem in Kentucky (came 1st in acceleration) Currently have 4 cars (2010-2016 car) 2017 car coming soon Over the year there are a lot of outreach events, unofficial competitions, and official competitions Next competition in February (Quebec City) Two official competitions coming up (California and Kansas) Team goals: top 15th overall, top 25 in each dynamic event, top 15th in design, top 20 in sales Expecting 15 new members (exceeded this goal) Weekly sub-team meetings and a general meeting so everyone is up to date Budget: a lot of help from sponsors Discussion: Attendee: how are you going to fund the trip to California? Answer: there are three official competitions, generally we go to the closest 2. There was an issue in the website so we have to go to California this year. We are looking at raising money through sponsorships, departments, external sponsors, other fundraising events. Attendee: I saw you have a U-Haul. Do you haul the car? Answer: the MES has a trailer we use but we need to rent a truck to pull the trailer. Right now we use the U-Haul and we have to get money to fund that VP Tasty

Presented by: Lava Pizza

Presentation 6: EcoCAR Presented by: Alison Bayzat and John Reimers

Introductions $10,000 from MES to support team Got awards for final year competition (four year competition) Three different competition events over 4 years Last event was in Boston (9 students went) Next workshop is in Texas in late January Last year we won many awards for simulations and system safety Development Challenge: used to have an application process to join EcoCAR, this year we wanted to change that so there was a development challenge. Teams of 3 would group together and do a small scale project using tools that are used on team. Learn how to develop, program, and build an autonomous robot Team organization: 98 students (96 undergrads and 2 master students). Split up into 6 sub-teams (electrical, controls, mechanical, IT, communications, and hybrid energy storage) Involved with CAD Design (using a stock GM engine and mounting electric motors) Student designed parts: designed in CAD, simulate them, then get them manufactured Do lots of composite development with Ancaster shop. Not many schools have composite facilities or experience, hoping to keep knowledge base alive and continue Discussion: None



ITB 137 7:00pm


Presentation 7: McMaster Engineering Musical Presented by: Jose Bonicielli and Francesca Altobelli

Over 1000 people watch every year Around 100 members Take original theme, write a script from scratch, make props, etc. Support other schools by watching their musicals too Theme: Willy Wonka! (Dr. Wonka) Based off of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory At McIntyre Performing Arts Center at Mohawk College March 16th, 17th, 18th of 2017 Discussion: none

Presentation 8: Phase One

Presented by: Tai Tong Introductions (formerly Hackit Mac) Still McMaster’s tech community, collaborating with people from community, outreach, focused on throwing workshops, providing events (well planned and free) and getting feedback from community Provide value with code nights, student run workshops, and speakers from companies Deltahacks is a hackathon we host Discussion: Attendee: Is it on campus? Answer: Yes, ETB

Presentation 9: The Plumbline

Presented by: Pooja and Max Introductions Mac Eng humour paper Have a writing committee – if you have great ideas, submit to [email protected] September preview: number of people who knew about Plumbline was low, so there is a September preview (mini edition) Table during welcome week to raise awareness of what the Plumbline is Maintain a better presence on social media Trying to have an idea bank Possible eng against humanities expansion pack Got $2200 – increased to accommodate for September preview Discussion: Attendee: where do I get the Plumbline? Answer: the lounge just inside the door

Motion 1: MES Constitution Changes for Removed Positions Whereas the positions of AVP Administration and Director of Advertising were deemed to be unnecessary as elected positions within the MES Whereas there is still a need to maintain these roles for MES operations Whereas there are some updates to the Constitution that must be made based on recent Policy Manual changes BIRT AVP Administration and Director of Advertising be removed from Article Five 1b and Article Five 1c, respectively



ITB 137 7:00pm


BIFRT the positions of Administrator, Professional Development Coordinator, and Academic Resource Coordinator be added to Article Five 2b, and the position of SAAP Coordinator (Article Five 2b) be changed to “Tutoring Program Coordinator” BIFRT Yearbook Coordinator be removed from Article Five 2c BIFRT the positions of Administrator and Advertising Coordinator be defined under the MES Policy Manual B.6 BIFRT MES Policy Manual K.11.1 be changed to reflect the new nature of the Administrator role

Motioned by: Andrew Cook Seconded by: Marco Marich

Taking away two voting members from council: AVP Administration and director of advertising. Mainly because if you have a vote, you should have a portfolio (administration doesn’t have a portfolio) It would be nice to appoint an administrator because it is a lot of taking minutes, etc. Director of Advertising is being taken away because its more of a skills position, not a leadership position, looking to create quality designs for MES Discussion: Attendee: when will it take effect if it passes? Answer: since we don’t have to elect new position holders, it doesn’t matter. But quorum for council will go down. Effective immediately.

Opposed 1 Abstentions 8

Motion passes

Motion 2: McMaster Rocketry Team Team Status Whereas the McMaster Rocketry Team (MRT) is now competition oriented and no longer just a student interest group Whereas team status would grant further resources such as build and storage spaces on campus Whereas the MRT intends on participating at the 2017 Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC) next June BIRT the MRT be granted Team status BIFRT the MRT is granted $1500 from the Special Projects Fund to satisfy the proposed team budget requirements

Motioned by: Aaron P Seconded by: Andreas

CRO: clarification for statuses: affiliates can use logos, etc. teams must compete and have access to funding We are a reformed version of the Rocketry club from the past Currently have 20 student members (1 graduate student), faculty advisors Reoriented version of past club Right now there are two main groups: structural and instrumentation team Competition oriented – goal is to compete at IREC Many industries sponsor this event Competition is in New Mexico this June Safety: in talks with Chris Hurley (meetings with Dr. McDermid) Have been approved for theoretical designing and meeting



ITB 137 7:00pm


Next meeting is to figure out if faculty advisor meets requirements for EHOSS From there, working on construction approval and insurance policy Safety is top priority Job is to analyse every design and check contingency plans if something fails Need to report to IREC competition officials to tell them about safety processes we are taking In the past, they were quoted for $5,000 in insurance. This year, it has changed a lot because in the past years, they made the motor. This year, we will be buying an off the shelf motor. They will be re-evaluating the insurance of the motor Budget: Will be asking for $1620 from special projects fund In sponsorships, we have a $1,000 pledge for funding Competition fee is $600 All figures are relatively accurate Cost of rocket will be a lot cheaper Outreach: workshops will be held for coding nights, CFD tutorials, hopefully will have professors to give lectures, bottle rocket competition, movie night, open meetings Sponsorship: over the summer, we have gotten a $1000 pledge from an engineering firm Calendar: intensive learning, designs finished by January, have them checked by professors to get second stage EHOSS approval, goal of competing in June Why rocketry: further develop aerospace program at McMaster Only undergraduate program pursing aerospace design One of the few schools in Canada that don’t have a rocketry program Gives more exposure in an industry that there is very little McMaster presence in CRO: for special projects, you can’t apply if you’re a group or team. If you change it to just being team status then it can be a motion Friendly amendment Discussion: Attendee: EHOSS hasn’t granted full approval, so I would like to see more progress before team status is granted. In my mind, in order to get team status you should have proof that you have competed before and know how to handle yourselves in competition Answer: right now, we don’t have EHOSS approval, but it has been laid out to us that our current plan is looking to have approval at the end of January. It is a slow process but we are heading in the right direction. It’s not we can’t get the approval, but they need to see proof in order to give us approval. I have been sitting down a lot with Chris and laid down the plan, and he thinks that it would be nicer to see a year in, but he believes that we will be able to figure something out next semester to get full approval. Mike: if you get rid of the $1,500 from the special projects fund, then you will only be going for team staus, so you wll come back at SAGM to ask for money then. Is that the plan now? CRO: just to be clear, they can’t get special projects funding so it will have to be a SAGM II motion Mike: so show progress with insurance and EHOSS and that will better your presentation to get money Mitch: I would be more comfortable with a SAGM II presentation to see if EHOSS has given the green light on it Attendee: we are planning on moving forward with motioning to upgrade to team status as of now. We will apply for funding we need to finish our applications Nick: what will be the difference between getting team status now or team status at SAGM II? Attendee: it is more so for funding and storage and build space on campus. We will ask for what we require at the moment, so if we have to apply for $300 to afford the base components, then apply for the difference at SAGM II, then that will be what we do. In addition, November 25th is



ITB 137 7:00pm


when the down payment for the competition is due. If we don’t make that timeline, then we won’t be able to continue Mitch: Can groups apply for funding from the council? CRO: they will have to talk to VP Finance Nick (VP Finance): you can still apply to operating contingency no matter what your status is. It seems redundant that you ask for team status now

Motioned tabled to SAGM II

Motion 3: McMaster NEUDOSE Whereas McMaster NEUDOSE is a team consisting of primarily engineering students, Whereas McMaster NEUDOSE used last year’s funding appropriately, Whereas a ground station at McMaster would allow for experiential learning of students beyond McMaster NEUDOSE, BIRT McMaster NEUDOSE receive $1500 from the Special Projects Fund to create a ground station at McMaster.

Motioned by: Dawson Bonneville Seconded by: Mitch

Introductions NEUDOSE is McMaster’s first satellite that will be going into space When astronauts leave earth, they will increase their chance of getting fatal cancer by 10% We are building a radiation detector system to research the effects of radiation and the intensity of it Trying to discriminate between types of radiation to find source of radiation that affects astronauts Currently we are well into the design phase, and starting construction We are the first project to build a satellite at McMaster It has given students exposure to the space industry (NASA) Wanting to build a solar panel and integrate it, so it is a great chance to develop skills outside classroom Last year we received $1500 from the special projects fund from SAGM II We want to be able to communicate with a communications module This will help send scientific data back to Earth Since last SAGM, we have had an article written about us in NASA tech brief, had first scientific publication that was accepted in Radiation Research All team members are co-authors on that paper The funding was done to build the communications module We also built a pressure vessel with the remainder of the money We want to build a ground station to pick up transmissions from satellite from space We need one to locate the satellite in space, pick up health information and science data There are three antennas and a radome Have plans but we need money to continue progress of this project We want this to be open for everyone If another group wants to look at other satellites that are orbiting earth or pick up other signals, we want the ability to work with other teams in that regard we wont be using the satellite all the time, so we want it open to other engineering students to further experiential learning Can be used for years to come Discussion: Nick: How many people do you have on your team? Answer: 35 total members, 31 are in engineering and 30 are engineering undergrads. 4 grads in total. We are also having a free viewing of The Martian. It will be at the SilverCity in Ancaster. We



ITB 137 7:00pm


are also having a tech show to show what we have built so far. We hope to gain a lot of new members from this. Ryan: From what I know, radio antennas are pretty precise and pretty expensive. I think $1500 might be a little low, but where are your quotes coming from? Answer: Straight from the manufacture. We know it will take more to build the ground station but need to start somewhere Ryan P: Where will the ground station be located? Answer: we were thinking that there is some land in Dundas allocated to McMaster that we have permission to use from the dean. We are looking into somewhere on campus, such as the tops of one of the buildings as it is more accessible. There are a lot of options that we are looking into, and the Dundas location has been confirmed Attendee: Do you manufacture your own parts? Answer: we outsource manufacturing unless it can be done in house, such as 3D printed. But we design everything ourselves. If you want to join, our team member contribute majorly. Paul: How are you launching this into orbit? Answer: there are companies that launch rockets with spots reserved for cube satellites. It costs a lot of money but we will worry about that further down the road (less than $2000 dollars). We are a secondary payload Attendee: how do you join the team? Answer: it is a very personal application process. If you go to our website, there is an email address that you email. We want a list of engineering skills you have to fit you where you are needed and what you can do. Nick: this is your second year in a row. What is stopping you from becoming a McMaster group or team? Answer: we have been considering that for a while. We are not a team because we are not competing with ourselves. It is hard to have an influx of members without the people to teach them. Since it is the first time, it takes a lot of time and effort to get caught up. There is no background for this at McMaster, so in the future it is a goal to become a McMaster group, but we want to make sure we know everything before teaching it to others Eric: This money coming from us, what other sources of revenue are you looking into? Answer: we have been running on company sponsorship, we have over $30,000 from company donations. We are now looking to get official McMaster funding. We have just gotten on McMaster’s Alumni donation list, and we are hoping to have fundraising events Haleigh: if the ground station is built, who will control the use of it? Have you considered sharing the cost of it? Answer: we haven’t learned of anyone else at McMaster that wants to build it as well. We have a faculty sponsor, so he would be in charge of it. If we could split the cost with someone, we haven’t heard of anyone who wants to use the ground station yet. You can apply to use it, but it depends on how and when you will be using it. Haleigh: so if you or the professor are in control, if your group becomes too small, what will happen then? Answer: I don’t think being too small will be an option, because we are growing in a specific way. If our team dissolves, the control will go to the faculty sponsor because they are in charge of overseeing us Aaron: when you say have control over, would it be a sign up sheet? Answer: it would be more administrative control for coordinating the time and usage. During the time of our mission, NEUDOSE would have priority, but coming forth if there is a lot of interest with other groups, we will discuss it then Ryan P: how long would this study go on for? Answer: It is a 9-month long study minimum (between 9-12 months). NASA has an outline for what to do to get your stuff into space. We will launch at the end of 2018 and our satellite will be in space for 9-12 months then it will fall down and disintegrate within the atmosphere.



ITB 137 7:00pm

Prepared by Jocelyn Lee of 15 [email protected]

Attendee: Are you on track to launch by 2018? Answer; yes. There are a few peer reviewed milestones, and we have hit them all so far. The next milestone is the preliminary design, and we are on track Parsa: following up on Haleigh’s question on construction, have you looked into other schools that have a NEUDOSE club that are looking to build something to split the cost? Answer: even though other universities have cube sat, no other teams are collecting scientific data. We need to specialise our data collection systems. Parsa: would it be more expensive to modify pre-existing ground stations to support the s-band communication? Answer: in order to support the S-Band, you need a whole dish, which is essentially a new ground station. Aaron: it is not uncommon for secondary payloads to get delayed if primary payloads have a priority that can’t accommodate. If that is the case, would you consider applying for special projects funding again? Answer: we will continue to applying for special projects with ideas for next satellites, so even if it gets delayed, we have more projects to work on.

Opposed 0 Abstentions 5

Motion passed Executive Accountability Presentations

VP External Relations – Michael Meier

Voice concerns of study body with ESSCO and CFES (provincial and national organization that deals with student affairs) Announce external opportunities through Facebook page and monthly conference mailout Bring student delegates to apply. Congress is the next big conference. Oversee professional development committee, and communicate with ECCS Goals: MES Resource Center Revamp Conference support resources – not everyone can go to conferences. This way you can read through reports that delegates complete Stronger external presence – share our personal history with Mac Eng. Improve coop and career services What have I been up to? Met with ECCS to talk about issues that we have both heard to work together Attended three conferences (two presidents meetings, and ESSCO AGM) Improved conference mailout Collect stats on mailout Distributed funding to delegations There is an open conference fund that you can apply for to get funding If you want to go to your own conference, you can apply for this as well Looking forward: Resource center plans – have everything added in real time ECCS talks – further collaboration, survey will be released soon Surplus projects – execs have distributed initiatives and I am in charge of funding that will be going towards the Makerspace in Thode, and money allocated for machine shop when completed Conducting presentations and conferences Redsuit update – eng reps are active throughout the year. It is hard to pick between good welcome week reps and people that represent the MES. It is still an abstract idea but more talk will be happening soon



ITB 137 7:00pm


Discussion: none

VP Finance and Administration – Nicholas Alvarez I’m here to distribute all the money that comes in and go out, I also do student initiative funds, capstone kickback, long term investments Make sure execs are staying accountable Everything is accounted for (cheques, deposits, tax refunds, etc.) Improvements: last year, budget didn’t automatically update This year, it updates automatically so teams can know how much money there is in real time Plans: optimize VP Finance process – if you want money, the cheque is issued to you in a couple days. This can be something such as a cheque printer Increase MES exec and director accountability and long term plans

- Make sure all AVPs and Directors are accountable for what they say - Keep track of what they are doing on a week to week basis

Make sure there are projects that continue from year to year Student Space Fund

- Last year there was a $200,000 surplus - One of the allocations was a student space fund - Entails ideas for how to make student space better - Now there is an opportunity to double our fund to $120,000 fund if we pair up with the

faculty - We can create a committee to come up with a feasible idea that the faculty will agree

with, and implement within the next two year - Applications will be out next Monday for this committee on the MES page - The exec will go over all the applications and the committee will be created - We want to create something awesome for the MES - Ideas: skating rink/roller derby rink. There is a broad range of what you can do

Discussion: None

VP Academic – Liam McDermott Work on having better MEC: improved branding, over 300 registrants, happened last weekend Eng 101 week: didn’t happen last year. It is a series of events after welcome week to get first years more interested. Had mixed results. 200 people showed up for textbook swap. Zero people showed up for other event. Improved SAAP: we were going to allow students to order vouchers by email and pick them up at the Drain. SAAP is now discontinued and is now the “Peer Tutoring Network”, created by the SSC Cookies and Cram: free help session to work together before midterm. Cookies and coffee will be provided Latec: a more powerful, program oriented Microsoft word. We have advertised through email because it is the first workshop we want to have. If it goes well, we will have a bigger workshop in the future Moving forward: 2nd year info programs to be more academically oriented, have textbook library in the new Drain at Hatch Discussion: Parsa: you said there will be more academic oriented second year info sessions, is that going to be big presentations by upper year students? Liam: either or. I will be working on that because the professional development committee hosted sessions last year. It will be by upper years or professors Linford: how will you implement the textbook library at the new drain?



ITB 137 7:00pm


Liam: Librarica is something I implemented last year, it is easy to make accounts. You have to take information from the MES cards and send emails to get an account for Librarica. The drain would have to log into there and allow students to sign up for books to sign up. Carleton does this Tyson: where would you fit the library? Liam: In the new lounge. Tyson: There's no way that there will be enough room in there. I've seen the dimensions and that won't work. Liam: Well from what I saw it should work. Tyson: It won't. Liam: Well there is also a storage room that could be used in the new building. That's a possibility. Tyson: I don't believe you. Graeme: are you working with profs for cookies and cram? Liam: the first one we didn’t. it was just tutors from the MES. Students had to have a 10 or above in the course to be a tutor anyways. The second one (for 1D04) we had Jessica Anderson from the Eng 1 office advertise that to the profs and they were all for it.

VP Student Life – Marco Maric What’s my job? Oversee positions that oversee clubs, teams, affiliates, social events, wellness Wellness committee started last year. Hoping to foster that in my position Goals: Wellness committee should be prioritized. Hopefully they will have more events and outreach in second term. Implement an event planning guide. If there is a process to follow on the MES website, it would be a lot easier Keep AVP’s accountable. This is an AVP accountability list Preferred suppliers list: great held Successes: Lobby as a social space – board game night, capstone showcase, sports events. The idea is to bring a club or team to see it as a viable place to host an event ESSCO PM – I was a chair for ESSCO PM with Andrew. All the executives got together in Hamilton to figure out how we will move ESSCO forward. It put a high profile by the MES. Oksoberfest – Dani, Ian and Michael were really in charge of that and it was great. Hopefully it will turn into a great fall fair tradition Professional relationships – Hamilton Tiger Cats, Isaac, Prep101, Collective Arts, MSU. Wellness Committee – it’s a new committee but have got a late start on it so will work on building it up to continue momentum from last year Failures: MESsenger – mailout that is supposed to go out every month. I didn’t send one out last month. Hopefully there will be a November email. It has been delayed because I have been thinking of ways to reformat it. Thinking of the charging stations, lobby TV’s, posters around school Ongoing engagement – I tend to not keep an overall profile. In case anything goes wrong, I wouldn’t be right on top of it Slow place on major projects – they haven’t been moving quickly. Hopefully I can get them done by the end of my term Looking forward: MESsenger, Clubs and team guide, website redesign, baseline VP task elimination, storage space generation fund (committee or way to get opinions will be happening shortly) Discussion: Tyson: for the calendar, you might want to try and spread it around to get events happening for things going on



ITB 137 7:00pm


President – Andrew Cook Platform points: MEC (green light!) worked with Liam and Rahul. Huge turnout. Looking to keep momentum going forward. New MEC logo. Committee will be chosen in January. This allows them time to plan out logistics. Website: there isn’t a lot of information out there for different categories. Due to bid on OEC within the next year. This means that we need to be able to run a good competition before we host the OEC. Talk to myself or Michael Meier if you are interested in running this. SAAP (green light): Liam has done a great job with this. Now students have access to this 24/7 KahootsHQ (yellow light): there is a McMster community created. Reached out to them to come to our campus and run events but they weren’t interested. Maybe it is better to look at Forge, because I want to increase entrepreneurial spirit here Student Wellness Committee (red light): late start. Marco and I didn’t speak with them until later into first term. We will continue to work with them and build it up. Professional Development Committee (yellow): introduced professional development committee. Goal was to run events for professional development. Looking to see if we can run electives. They have been in contact with industry contacts (ex. Siemens) to run technical workshops. Marketing Plan for MES (green-ish light): Haleigh has been working on creating a branding package for the MES including a vector logo, official colours, fonts, etc. to have everything in one spot. We also had great videos done for welcome week. They were pretty instrumental in creating content. MEC logo is another part of that. It creates a long term brand so people are aware of what the competition is. We also created advertising committee, and changed the advertising director to the chair of the advertising committee. In years before, we were relying on one person to submit designs. Now, we are able to involve more students and allow them to practice design Industry Case Competitions (yellow): Hannah took charge of this. We had a reverse career fair. It was a clubsfest with industry sponsors come in and meet with clubs and teams. Hopefully networking happened there and clubs and teams were able to make industry contacts. The best way forward for this is to have a capstone project every single year. The Dean is really into this, but they want to see it as a student led initiative. It would be a design project that amalgamates everything you learn to create and design something. For now, we have a sponsor with a project, and will create a package that will be released at the start of second term. These will be second and third year capstones. We have a new reading week. We used to have a four-day break. I found that it pushes my midterms, assignments, and labs into a short time. I want to gauge you to see if this is something the exec should try to stop. Graeme: I talked to some people before, my only concern is that students who go home for reading week might not be able to go home for a shorter reading week. I would like to see some stats for how people use reading week. Michael B: Profs should work better to schedule their course instead of having stuff dumped at either end. Mitch: You will always have profs with tenure that don’t want to change their course schedule. I am in favor of getting rid of reading week Liana: I think there is a moral high, but if you give students time off to recuperate, catch up on assignments, and rest is a good thing for mental illness and give you a break for what is happening at school. Amir: we have only had one or two reading weeks, so profs haven’t had time to adjust their schedule. I don’t think we have had enough years to see what is happening Ryan P: eng is accredited, so there are certain criteria to meet. We still have a lot of material to cover. Some of the time in reading week could be better spent studying or doing assignments Andrew: There is a minimum amount of hours you need to spend in the classroom for accreditation. If we move back to a four-day weekend reading week, we would gain more breathing time just before exams



ITB 137 7:00pm


Jason: I am in favor of the four-day approach. We have a lot of work and procrastinate, and coming back to school you get back into the grind a bit better Max: from a first years perspective, the course load hits you really hard in the first few weeks. The reading week is much needed for recuperation Graeme: instead of reading week, if you have a test ban during the current reading week, you could allow assignments to be due instead of just Parsa: is reading week being adjusted just for the eng faculty? Andrew: Just for the eng faculty. The engineers wont have a reading week, but the rest of the Attendee: there are different research groups that have set up surveys for what students think about reading week so you can talk to them Ryan P: Just to go back to Graeme’s point, with a test ban, a lot of tests will be slammed to the sides of the time period, so perhaps the middle time should have tests and assignments more spread out will be more beneficial Ryan: if you have to travel far distances, having a full reading week is more helpful because you can go home. Rebecca: the reading week makes it worse, but it was still bad beforehand. Emily: If we have no issue with the reading week second semester, why are we having an issue with first term? Marco: we are limited by Christmas for first term, so we can’t stretch anything out in first year. CRO: for concerns, go to Andrew. Discussion: Tyson: can you give us an update on Hatch and its timeline? Andrew: it is a little behind schedule, but it should be done by March. Clean up! Garbage bags will be provided and sent around the room. Please help clean the room and areas around you.

Final Quorum Count - Please sit with your Department Members! Motion to Adjourn Meeting

Motioned by: Michael B Seconded by: Linford

Motion passed



ITB 137 7:00pm


MES Robert’s Rules of Order: Hand Signals Cheat Sheet!

General Rules:

• Raise your hand if you wish to speak • You may only speak if recognized by the chair (CRO) • The chair keeps a running speaker list, so, for the most part, the order in which you put your hand

up is the order in which you will speak • All “quick points” take precedence • All “direct responses” will speak before the next “new point” • Try not to repeat points other people have already made

New Point Do you have something new to say that doesn’t have anything to do with the current discussion? Use this!

Direct Response Do you want to be involved in the current discussion? Do you have a direct response to something that has been said. Is your speaking point a part of the current discussion? Use this!

“Quick” Point Do you have a quick question that will be answered in one sentence? Ex. Clarification (“what does that abbreviation stand for?”), Informational (“How much was budgeted for that?”), etc.

I Agree Instead of repeating what someone else said and making the conversation circular, if you agree, simply put a thumbs up.

Circular Motion (Try to avoid) Make this hand signal if you think discussion is becoming circular (ie. people are repeating the same thing). If the chair recognizes enough signals, the discussion will be ended.

mcmaster engineering society semi annual...

Documents