From left to right: Rachel Miner (Eng Physics), Douglas McKinnon, Kerrie Ye, Connor Gingera (MTRL Eng), Haoyi Yue (Mech Eng), Simon McMillan (Arts).
The 2024 UBC Volcan Team made their mark at the annual Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) Meeting & Exhibition in Orlando, Florida. This year, six student members had the opportunity to participate in the conference, accompanying their debut entry into the TMS Bladesmithing competition. TMS Bladesmithing is a biennial competition that combines the historical art of blacksmithing with modern design and analysis techniques employed across various engineering faculties, focusing on content from materials engineering.
UBC Volcan’s entry, led by Douglas McKinnon (Materials Engineering), designed their entry based on a historical copper dagger artifact native to the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. The team successfully created a damascus steel by forge welding plates of 1095 and 15N20 steel to create an optimal balance between hardness and toughness. The blade was complemented by a diamond willow wood handle, Dall sheep’s horn pommel, and a handcrafted tanned moosehide sheath adorned with family beadwork.
UBC Volcan Team’s final blade design, inspired based on an artifact native to the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.
Their dedicated efforts over several months handcrafting the perfect blade have earned them a prestigious award for Historical Accuracy. This achievement marks the Volcan Team’s debut participation in the event, underscoring the significance of their success.
To learn more about UBC Volcan, please visit the team’s website.
The Materials Engineering faculty members have secured over $8 million in research funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Innovation Fund and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance 2022-23.
An interdisciplinary project, entitled “Materials for Net-Zero: Enabling the Clean Energy Transition”, co-led by Dr. Ben Britton and Dr. Amanda Clifford has been granted $7.4 million. This project is dedicated to pioneering new materials crucial for supporting and advancing the clean energy transition, by fostering the development of a hydrogen economy, transforming carbon dioxide into valuable commodities, and enhancing batteries development.
Additionally, four projects from the Materials Engineering department have been awarded NSERC Alliance Grants:
Graphene-enhanced natural fiber reinforced composites for protective footwear and other high-performance applications Dr. Yasmine Abdin
Thermal modeling of material deposition in melt extrusion 3D printing of fiber reinforced polymer composites Dr. Sergii Kravchenko
Engineered 3D Microstructures for Automotive Aluminum Extrusions Dr. Warren Poole
The Materials Engineering Department and the Materials Student Chapter jointly organized an alumni mixer night at the UBC Engineering Student Center last evening. This collaborative effort provided a great opportunity for alumni, faculty, and current students to come together, fostering a rich tapestry of connections and collaborations within our dynamic materials engineering community. From reminiscing conversations to fruitful networking, the atmosphere was brimming with energy and excitement – it reflected the vibrant spirit of our community.
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all who attended, for their enthusiastic engagement. As we look ahead, we are committed to developing and strengthening these connections through continued events and engagement. Stay tuned for updates on future gatherings and opportunities to further enrich our network of alumni and students, as we collectively strive towards excellence and innovation in the field of materials engineering.
The Materials Engineering Department recently hosted a research showcase day on February 21st, 2024, to present a variety of research efforts within the department. The event served as a platform for faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, current and prospective students to explore a wide range of research activities and collaborative ventures. The showcase delivered 14 presentations and 7 poster sessions, featuring exciting materials research topics such as materials processing and characterization, hydrometallurgy, metallurgy, biomaterials, corrosion, polymers, modeling and simulation, sustainability, and electrochemistry. The day concluded with an awards ceremony honoring outstanding achievements within the graduate student community. We aim to organize similar events regularly, which not only fosters continuous learning opportunities, but also advances diverse collaborations within the academic community.
A huge congratulations to 2022 & 2023 graduate awards winners!
John S. Nadeau Memorial Scholarship ‘23 Maggie Chong Minghui Lin Jose Eric Ortiz Castillo Tianbi Zhang
Keyes Fellowship ‘23 Amanda Pasqualini Joshua Swan Matthew Sztanko
J. Keith Brimacombe Memorial Scholarship ‘23 Shaun Richard Cooke
Four-Year Fellowship (4YF) ‘23 Roozbeh Saneie
John S. Nadeau Memorial Scholarship ‘22 Mohammadyousef Azimi Shaghayegh Kiafar Ayush Suhane
Keyes Fellowship ‘22 Thomas Andrew Ferguson Kresimir Eduardo Ljubetic William Alexander Sparling
J. Keith Brimacombe Memorial Scholarship ‘22 Ronny Winarko
Four-Year Fellowship (4YF) ‘22 Mohammad Amin Razmjoo Khollari
