This is the second time this event has been organized by Professor Paul Stuart, holder of the NSERC Environmental Design Engineering Chair in Process Integration in the Pulp and Paper Industry. The holders of the NSERC Design Chairs, which were established to improve the level and quality of design engineering activities in Canadian universities, meet twice a year to discuss and prepare progress reports on the state of design expertise. A key element of innovation, design is an integral part of training and research at Polytechnique. The importance of multidisciplinary research in design has been demonstrated in recent years through various initiatives.

Polytechnique adopts CDIO approach
Last June, Polytechnique Montréal hosted the 6th International CDIO Conference. The CDIO Initiative is an international educational framework for producing the next generation of engineers. Polytechnique was the first French-language educational institution to join the initiative, which includes more than 40 universities worldwide. CDIO - which stands for Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate - provides students with an education that stresses engineering fundamentals. In 2004, when Polytechnique was revamping its undergraduate programs, the Department of Mechanical Engineering naturally adopted the CDIO approach. The undergraduate aerospace engineering program launched in the fall of 2009 was also based on this approach.

Professor Jean-Yves Trépanier's IDEA Chair: R&D in aircraft design
In the future, innovative and more integrated design methods will be essential to fully achieving the synergies between aerodynamics and propulsion systems and pushing the limits of modern aircraft design. The NSERC-J.-Armand Bombardier-Pratt & Whitney Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Design toward Efficient Aircraft (IDEA) will play a decisive role in this scenario by helping to advance knowledge of integrated aerodynamic design in order to reduce costs and improve the performance of future aeronautics systems.

Professor Paul Stuart, a true pioneer in design engineering
Professor Stuart's Environmental Design Engineering Chair was the first to be established in 2000 by NSERC under its new Design Engineering Chair Program. The Chair has certainly helped shape future leaders in Canada's forest industry by giving students the tools they need to support their decisions and produce engineers able to boost competitiveness within the industry. Professor Stuart's research has helped the pulp and paper industry move toward new solutions and processes in the field of biorefining. This transformation is hugely important to Québec and Canada, and the Chair's approach has garnered a great deal of industry attention, as evidenced by its many partnerships with industry stakeholders.The Chair has also forged links of expertise that extend not only from university to industry, but reciprocally as well, and has paved the way for design engineering training by analysing and developing tools for solving practical problems.



























From left to right :
1st row: Alain Desrochers (U. de Sherbrooke), Steve Lambert (U.Warterloo), Monika Michalska (CRSNG)
2nd row: Sâadia  Lakehal (Polytechnique), Sylvain Turenne (Polytechnique), Antony Hodgson (U.BC), David Strong (U.Queen), Ron Britton (U.Manitoba), Paul Stuart (Polytechnique)
3rd row: Clif Johnston (U.Dalhousie), Kamran Behdina (U.Ryerson), Peter Gregson (U.Dalhousie), Abderrazak Elouafi (U. de Rimouski), Warren Stiver (U.Guelph), Dimitri Androutsos (U.Ryerson)
Remon Pop-Iliev (U.OIT) (not on the picture)

To find out more about Professor Stuart's NSERC Environmental Design Engineering Chair: www.polymtl.ca/pate-papier/en/

To find out more about the NSERC Design Chairs:
http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/CFS-PCP/CDE-CGC_eng.asp

To find out more about the NSERC-J.-Armand Bombardier-Pratt & Whitney Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Design toward Efficient Aircraft (IDEA) (in French only):
www.polymtl.ca/idea/