Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding helps secure Western Canada’s first multi-axis subassembly testing (MAST) system.

The impacts of climate change are necessitating buildings be constructed differently to ensure they are sustainable and disaster-resilient. Earthquakes and wind are just two of the many forces that need to be studied to ensure safety policies and codes stay keep structures sound.

“As we build taller structures, with newer materials, the more complex the sectional forces come into play,” explains Lisa Tobber, an assistant professor of Civil Engineering and principal investigator at UBC Okanagan’s Build Better Eminence Research Cluster. “This newly funded equipment from CFI will provide researchers and policymakers in BC and across the country with more data to ensure new Canadian structures are more sustainable and disaster-resilient.”

The $1.5-million multi-axis subassembly testing system will allow UBC researchers to study and improve the seismic performance of reinforced concrete shear walls, and develop new precast concrete core walls, cross-laminated timber shear walls, and low-damage super-lastic shape memory alloys.

Currently, only École Polytechnique de Montréal and the University of Sherbrooke have similar systems. The acquisition of the MAST system creates new opportunities for studying tall buildings, advancing fundamental knowledge of the seismic response of core walls and creating avenues for developing novel core wall systems. 

According to Shahria Alam, a professor of Civil Engineering and UBC Okanagan’s Principal’s Research Chair in Resilient and Green Infrastructure (Tier 1), it isn’t feasible to test complete structures at sufficient scale, so equipment like the MAST system is crucial. “In the past, we’ve had a rely on our collaborators in Eastern Canada in order to conduct our testing, so this new equipment will enable us to investigate novel concepts faster.”

Working alongside fellow researcher, Solomon Tesfamariam, Alam and Tobber will seek to cement UBC’s position as a leading research excellence hub in green buildings and communities. The MAST system compliments existing resiliency research equipment at the School of Engineering and serves as another step towards a larger plan to make the Okanagan an epicentre of disaster resiliency work in not only BC but across the country.

All three researchers have expansive Canadian and international collaborations, and each have a particular focus that seamlessly align including precast concrete, cross-laminate timber, smart materials, seismic analysis, hybrid buildings, building design and multi-hazard design.

A Civil Engineering PhD student in the Geomaterial Research Laboratory, Shome conducts her research under the supervision of Professor Sumi Siddiqua.

Shome is a 2023 recipient of a John Tiedje Fellowships in Clean Energy and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation. The fellowships are awarded to students whose research  help create and maintain a healthy environment, with preference for research developing clean and renewable energy, advancing the electrification of the economy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or improving the efficiency of energy utilization.

Outside the lab, Shome loves spending time with her daughter, listening to music, and traveling. She also strives to share her passion for engineering with young people and actively promotes STEM to kids across the Okanagan.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I am originally from Bangladesh. After graduating from Jahangirnagar University of Bangladesh, I joined in Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. Encouraged by my family to move to Canada and continue my studies, I completed a Master of Engineering from the University of Alberta. My daughter and family are my strength, they inspire me to challenge myself. I chose to pursue a PhD at UBC Okanagan after connecting with Dr. Sumi Siddiqua. She is a role model for women in engineering graduate students.

Describe your research:

The impact of climate change is real, and we are witnessing its impact all around us. This impact is motivated my research project where I am designing climate-resilient building materials. My goal is to develop industry waste-based low-carbon construction materials to minimize CO₂ emissions from the construction sectors.

One of the key ingredients in my project is biochar. I cast and test lab-scale samples to better understand the strength characteristics of biochar-amended Portland cement and biochar-amended geopolymer cement materials. Through this analysis, I study the materials feasibility, environmental durability, life cycle, and socio-economic aspects along with its CO₂ sequestration ability.

What does the John Tiedje Fellowship recognition mean to you?:

I am humbled and honoured to receive the John Tiedje Fellowship. This recognition gives me courage and opportunity. I am excited to move forward with my project and aim to make a significant scientific contribution.

What are your future aspirations?

My experience at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission helped me establish a passion for policymaking. I hope to meld this passion with my current research in order to contribute to solid waste management and climate change mitigation for environmental sustainability.

Anticipate PhD completion date: April 2026

In a world that is increasingly inter-disciplinary, providing students with an opportunity to collaborate outside their respective disciplines is a new approach to expanding their perspectives.

Two fourth-year leadership courses at UBC Okanagan, one in engineering and the other in nursing, have developed a joint module to provide students with an opportunity to collaborate outside their respective disciplines.

Alon Eisenstein is an assistant professor of technology, entrepreneurship, and professional development at the School of Engineering and was one of the instructors who sought to find some common ground between the two disciplines. “At its core, leadership is about seeing the world from multiple perspectives; especially outside your own,” he says. “Being exposed to different world views in this case health, patient care, and technology provides our students valuable lessons.”

This summer is the third time Eisenstein has taught his Engineering Leadership course but this time around his students were paired with nursing students in Sarah Camacho’s Nursing Leadership course for a module on “leadership ethics.”

Much has been made of the legal troubles of American health care company Theranos and its  now-disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Camacho and Eisenstein saw an opportunity to use Theranos as a case-study to teach their students about ethical leadership.

“We asked the students to discuss within their groups about the ethical considerations around the Theranos case. We specifically instructed the students to consider the case from healthcare perspective, as well as from technological innovation perspective,” explains Eisenstein.

According to Camacho, nursing and engineering students approach the case study from different perspectives and it led to some interesting outcomes. “From student responses, we’ve heard over and over how much engineering and nursing students valued the chance to interact, discuss, and hear from someone else’s perspectives.”

The partnership stems from an idea floated during a UBC Okanagan Interdisciplinary leadership community of practice discussion earlier this year. The community includes faculty members from engineering, social work, education, nursing and management who are working together to uncover new ways to bring their students together to learn from one another.

Both Eisenstein and Camacho say they are excited to build upon the partnership and expand it to the other faculties’ leadership courses. “At the end of the day, providing our students with opportunities to collaborate and learn from one another, especially from different discipline, is an important take-away that will benefit them in their future careers.”

Students interested in learning more about undergraduate leadership courses consult the UBC Okanagan Course Calendar.

Alexander MacGillivray is a PhD Student in Electrical Engineering and UBC Killam Doctoral Scholar at the School of Engineering. He works in the The Integrated Optics Laboratory (IOL) under the supervision of Professor Jonathan Holzman.

MacGillivray is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in electrical engineering and conducting research in the Integrated Optics Laboratory at the University of British Columbia. He began his master’s degree here in 2021 before fast-tracking into a PhD in 2022. “I enjoy solving the challenging problems I face as a researcher!”

His research seeks to develop transceiver technologies in long-range (ground-to-satellite) free-space optical communication links by designing and building a device called a retro-modulator. “The retro-modulator is physically small and requires little power, therefore targeting the core challenges of strict size and power requirements seen in long-range links,” explains MacGillivray. The goal of his research aims to enable connectivity for information accessibility across nations.

“I am extremely grateful that my research has been recognized at this high of level by receiving the Killam Doctoral Award. Also, this award significantly reduces my financial burden and allows me to focus entirely on developing my research,” says MacGillivray.

With a target of graduating in 2026, MacGillivray has his sights set on contributing to the advancement of novel communication technologies. “Specifically, I’m hoping to further develop my retro-modulation technology to allow for high-speed information accessibility to all.”

Klaske van Heusden is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at the School of Engineering at The University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus). Her research enables high performance and high precision in robotics and mechatronics through data-driven and learning control. Her work on emerging applications in agriculture and health care uses sensor and control technology to improve sustainability, safety and health outcomes.

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What drew you to engineering?

I enjoyed math, physics and chemistry in high school, I don’t think I even considered anything other than engineering. I did look at different programs before choosing mechanical. The mech program had such a variety of specializations, from dredging to medical technology, I was probably sold on the latter. I haven’t questioned my choice since then.

What areas are particularly appealing to you? And why?

I work in control systems engineering, which is quite abstract applied math. It is similar to solving a puzzle every time. It’s about the algorithms that work in the background and actually make things work. I love that the same methodology applies across so many fields, from medical technology to high precision mechatronic systems and even precision agriculture. I get to work on projects in all of these fields, at the same time!

What are the positives and challenges of being a woman in engineering?

I often joke that at least people will remember me. Diversity is increasing, I have met a lot more women at the last few conferences I attended than when I first started, which is very encouraging. Most of my work experience has been positive although I am becoming more aware of the impact of implicit bias and how it affects my approach to certain situations.

Do you have role models that inspire you?

This question is surprisingly hard to answer. I’ve had several great mentors over the years, both direct supervisors and others. I think about their advice and their approaches often, they are all role models as such. Two inspiring people that stand out for me recently are Sally Otto, who showed me both incredible attention to detail and a leadership approach I had not encountered before.

The second one is Margret Bauer. She gave the best presentation I’ve ever seen at a conference, and her approach to teaching is very inspiring.

Samantha Krieg is a civil engineering undergraduate student at School of Engineering on the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia.

What drew you engineering?

In high school and until my early twenties, I always thought that STEM wasn’t for me. I was convinced I was not good at math and struggled to pay attention in science class. Instead, I pursued a career as a cook in fine dining for four years. Even though this was a promising career that I loved, I felt something was missing, so I decided to try something new. After researching countless career paths, everything from interior design to urban planning to food science, I landed on engineering. Looking back, it is surprising that it was not my first choice since I come from a family of many technologists and engineers.

The diverse career paths available to engineering graduates first drew me to engineering. I knew an engineering degree would give me skills and knowledge applicable to various industries and sectors. What made me fall in love with engineering is finding creative solutions to real-world problems to help people and the environment. I am inspired by the countless opportunities available for engineering students to get involved, including undergraduate research, design teams, and co-op placements.

What areas are particularly appealing to you? And why?

I am particularly interested in structural engineering and the building sector. As we continue to feel the impacts of climate change throughout British Columbia, it is becoming evident that we need to build more safe, sustainable, and resilient structures.

This summer, I am working as an undergraduate research assistant with Dr. Lisa Tobber to develop a novel self-centering damper for seismic resilient buildings. In this role, I am learning about the impacts of earthquakes on structures and the opportunities for innovation in structural engineering.

What are the positives and challenges of being a woman in engineering?

While the experience of women in engineering is improving, there are still ongoing challenges with a lack of female representation. Although there is more support for women now, we are still struggling with biases in recruitment and promotion, gender stereotypes, limited networking opportunities, and male-dominated workplace cultures.

The best part of being a woman in engineering is the community and support from other women in STEM. We are beginning to break down these gender stereotypes and biases by supporting each other and being unapologetically proud women in engineering.

Do you have role models that inspire you?

My mother inspires my passion for engineering. She began working as an electrical engineer in the 1980s and faced many obstacles in this male-dominated field. She persevered and progressed into management roles because of her strong work ethic. Her drive inspires me to pursue a career in engineering.

She taught me to think critically, work hard to achieve my goals, and be confident in my skills. The support of my mother inspires me, and I hope to follow in her footsteps to empower women throughout my career.

With the goal of improving the efficiency of downtown passenger transit within a hypothetical city, UBC Okanagan’s student aerospace team rose to the challenge during the flying portion of the Aerial Evolution’s 14^th Annual Student Competition in Alma, Quebec. Teams from across Canada participated in the competition.

Avoiding obstacles and completing tasks autonomously were the main objectives for the teams over the course of the weekend.

“Our preparations for this year’s competition started in the previous summer, in which we looked at designing new aircrafts for longer range and more efficient flights for new possible competition scenarios,” says Devon Hawley, the club’s president. “We split our team into three sub-groups focused on a vertical take off and landing plane (VTOL), a helicopter, and a software group.”

By second semester, the team had tested both the VTOL and the helicopter and decided upon the latter.

The competition team includes students from year one to three in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and physics.

While there were plenty of highlights for the team, the biggest one was coming home with a silver medal and the competition’s coveted innovation award. “After Day 1, we were in first place, but we ran into some telemetry issues on Day 2 which dropped us a spot,” explains Hawley, “but overall, we are ecstatic with our result.”

The team is already working on next year by ironing out some of the issues they encountered during the competition, completing a thrust stand to better know the thrust output of their motors, improving code and prototyping new aircrafts.

“Compared to a lot of teams in the competition, our team is relative new, so we are excited to keep pushing for the podium and the sky’s the limit.”

Team Roster:

Kishoare Tamanna is a PhD Student in Civil Engineering and UBC Killam Doctoral Scholar at the School of Engineering. She works in the Applied Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures (ALAMS) under the supervision of Professor Shahria Alam, and is co-supervised by Professor Tony Yang at the UBC Smart Structures Lab.

Originally from Bangladesh, Tamanna began pursuing a Masters of civil engineering at UBC Okanagan in 2016. During her Masters, she explored the prospects of using recycled waste materials to develop green structural concrete. She continued at UBC as a research assistant after graduation in 2018. In 2020, Tamanna decided to pursue PhD with a research focus on developping holistically sustainable and seismic-resilient structures using novel technology and low-carbon building materials.

Tamanna’s research focuses on developing high-performance, seismic-resilient, and low-carbon precast concrete buildings by introducing cutting-edge structural designs and green building materials. Her findings enable the development of low-carbon, sustainable, and seismic-resilient structural precast concrete components, and design guidelines. The structural design aims to minimize damage to principal structural elements facilitating easy repair after an earthquake. This will significantly reduce downtime and economic loss enhancing the resilience of precast concrete buildings. This sustainable approach will also help reduce the carbon footprint of the precast concrete industry significantly by reducing CO₂ and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the cement production and extraction of virgin aggregates. This will facilitate the precast concrete industry to be at the forefront of innovations in the construction industry with low-carbon smart precast structures in Canada and globally.

“I am truly humbled and honoured to receive the Killam Doctoral Scholarship this year. As one of the most prestigious awards available in graduate studies at UBC, the Killam recognition is a major accomplishment in my academic journey,” says Tamanna. “This recognition motivates me to exert myself to live up to scholarly expectations and contribute to society through my work.”

Tamanna hopes to uncover exemplary innovations on a global scale by developing an environmentally friendly novel structural system utilizing sustainable materials. Her research will not only benefit the precast concrete industry but also contribute to the environment and circular economy of Canada by mitigating solid waste disposal issues and reducing the carbon footprint of the construction industry.

Rubaiya Rumman is a PhD Student in Civil Engineering and UBC Killam Doctoral Scholar at the School of Engineering. . She works in the Applied Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures (ALAMS) under the supervision of Professor Shahria Alam.

Born in Dhaka Bangladesh, her father is a civil engineer and was an inspiration for choosing civil engineering as a career. After graduating from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, she was provided with the opportunity to teach at the same university. That experience motivated her to continue to pursue higher studies.

“Being thousands of miles away from my home is a challenge in itself,” says Rumman, “but having my husband and 5-year son with me has made the adjustment much easier.” Rumman’s husband is also doing his PhD at UBC Okanagan. Both expect to complete their studies by the summer of 2025. “My son is my biggest inspiration going forward, and I’m looking forward to having him say one day ‘I am proud of you, Maa!’”

Rumman’s research focuses on concrete materials. Specifically, the sustainability and life cycle performance of construction materials. Concrete is a huge emitter of CO2 and the main responsible ingredient is cement. A 1000 kg of cement production emits about 900 kg of CO2 to the environment. Supplementary cementing materials are used to reduce the amount of cement to some extent. However, the closure of coal power plants worldwide has posed a serious threat to the availability of fly ash in the near future, which is one of the main supplementary cementitious materials used in concrete. Rumman is investigating the feasibility of the use of wood ash, produced in abundance as a by-product of bioenergy in Canada, to be a potential substitute for coal fly ash. Her research aims to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

Working with her supervisor, Shahria Alam, has been a fantastic opportunity according to Rumman. “I have a very friendly working environment and the most helpful supervisor. Dr. Alam’s guidance and support have helped me utilize my potential to the fullest.”

Outside her research, she has nurtured a deep passion for music, particularly in the field of vocal performance. She loves to travel and spend time outside in the beautiful Okanagan Valley.

As Rumman explains the Killam recognition means more to her than the funding. “It means that my hard work is being recognized, my perseverance is getting acknowledged, and my sacrifices of staying so far away from home are being appreciated.”

As she looks to the future, she hopes to serve academia and become a well-known researcher in the field of sustainable and green concrete technology.

New research from UBC Okanagan in collaboration with Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Accountable Finance (ESSAFIN) paves the way to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) values into investment decision-making.

More and more companies around the globe are adopting a sustainable approach to how they conduct business. As a starting point, many companies have turned to ESG metrics as a way to evaluate where they are and where they would like to go.

Over the past year, UBC Okanagan researchers have been evaluating and analyzing ESSAFIN’s ESG risk analysis software application. The software assesses and categorizes ESG criteria and risks associated with projects and investments.

“It isn’t a standard operating procedure to open up your company’s inner workings to be picked apart by subject matter experts, but we felt confident that we had put the work in and that our ESG risk analysis methodology was sound,” says Dr. Darren Brown, the founder and CEO of ESSAFIN.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Haroon R. Mian, under the supervision of Drs. Sadiq and Hewage from the Life Cycle Management Laboratory (LCML) at UBC Okanagan comprehensively reviewed global ESG practices and standards, completed a forensic assessment of the ESSAFIN algorithm and decision tree matrix, and conducted an expert survey to weigh various ESG pillars and criteria.

The overarching finding of the year-long study showed that the ESSAFIN Logic ESG risk analysis tool strongly aligns with globally accepted ESG policies, practices, and expert opinions. The study validated the ESSAFIN algorithm in its current state.

“On behalf of our team at ESSAFIN, we are pleased to see our ESG risk analysis tool was substantiated by the gifted researchers and scientists of the LCML,” says Dr. Brown. “We very much appreciate the professionalism and responsiveness of Dr. Mian and the team at the LCML to carry out this research in a manner that respected business-confidential information and set aside time to understand the DNA of our company. We look forward to establishing the LCML as our R&D hub.”

The LCML report titled “Incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Criteria into investment decision-making: Advancing the Normalization of ESG performance characterization” can be found on ESSAFIN’s website at www.essafin.com