Accolades from February 2015

Faculty of Arts and Science

Department of History

• Time Magazine quoted Elena Razlogova's book, The Listener's Voice, in a December article on media history and the popularity of the hit NPR podcast "Serial." Check out the story. 
• Frank Chalk opened the new year by providing insight into Jean-Thomas Léveillé's February 3 article in La Presse about former military ruler Muhuammadu Buahri's rise in power in Nigeria. You can read the article here. Chalk made his second appearance in La Presse in as many weeks in an interview for a story about Boko Haram's recent actions in Nigeria. You can view the story here. 

Department of Communication Studies

• Winnipeg Free Press published an article about the new game Lisa Lynch and Sandra Gabriele (Chair of Communication Studies) have been working on for the last year. The game was created using our Team Seed grant. The game was developed entirely by students, along with a sex work advocate who was hired as a consultant. Check out articles on their game here and also in the Globe and Mail.

• Charles R. Acland was a featured interview in a BBC 4 Radio documentary on the history of subliminal advertising, specifically related to his book Swift Viewing: The Popular Life of Subliminal Influence. He was also interviewed by BBC World Service business news, where he gave an interview about Hollywood blockbusters on December 19. Listen to the podcast.

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

• Javad Dargahi, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, has successfully obtained an NSERC Collaborative Research and Development grant to work with Dreco Energy on new technology that will improve the design process for the huge drills used in the energy industry. Dargahi and his colleagues will create a simulation software that will better incorporate information about stress and load factors in directional drilling.

Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport has an environmental badge of honour, thanks in part to the ingenuity of engineering grad Thanos Tzempelikos. The airport is Canada’s first to hold Airports Council International’s Airport Carbon Accreditation for sharply reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Mentored by Professor Andreas Athienitis, Tzempelikos, who obtained his PhD from Concordia in 2005, has helped introduce automated window shades and lighting controls throughout the airport, a project ADM has called “ingenious.” Read more.

• Professor Ted Stathopoulos has received an honorary degree from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, to be awarded on April 30, 2015. Stathopoulos is being recognized as a “top researcher in the field of wind engineering and building aerodynamics.” His influential research underpins the wind load provisions of the National Building Code of Canada, and his research and teaching lab in the basement of the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex, unique in the province of Quebec, is frequently used for testing and simulation purposes by companies looking to build in Montreal and elsewhere.

Centre for Engineering in Society

• It’s not every day that an academic turns filmmaker, but that’s the story of Govind Gopakumar, whose movie, The Social Life of a Bus, premiered January 17 at the national conference of Engineers Without Borders, held in Montreal. With his film, Associate Professor Gopakumar examines the issues of safety, equity, and accessibility of public transport in the city of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) in India, home to a population of 10 million. Funded with the support of Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the film will be screened to the general public later in 2015 at Concordia.

Student Success

• At the recent Quebec Engineering Games, held January 3 to 7 and hosted by Université de Sherbrooke, Concordia’s student team notched up one of its strongest performances in the competition’s history. Concordia finished first in several categories and third overall. On the podium with Concordia were Quebec engineering heavyweights, Université Laval and École Polytechnique Montréal. The president of the 40-member delegation that scored such historically excellent results, James Fradette, says, “It was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for more from the delegation.” Find out more.

John Molson School of Business

Student Success

• It’s been a great month of January for the undergraduate students who represent Concordia on the business case competition scene. Concordia has reached the podium eight times in the last month. Read more. 

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