The School of Engineering has embarked on an ambitious expansion strategy that will see a doubling in undergraduate student enrolment and faculty in the coming years.
Phase 1 of the expansion, which is now complete, has added new space to the Thornbrough Engineering Complex in terms of a new student shop, undergraduate laboratories, design studios, an outdoor rooftop lab as well as additional office and administration space. Phase II, currently under way, will see the old labs and offices in Thornbrough refurbished and the Richards Building completely gutted and equipped with dry labs, office space and a 200 seat lecture hall.

The new main entrance and atrium for the Engineering Complex at the University of Guelph
Dr. Brajesh Dubey joined the SoE in December 2011 from the East Tennessee State University. His research focuses on integrated solid waste management issues and on sustainable environmental technologies including beneficial reuse and resource recovery.
Dr. Suresh Neethirajan, P.Eng., joined the SoE in August 2011 from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research focuses on studying the nanoscale aspects of biosystems through bio-instrumentation and bio-imaging through an interdisciplinary approach to research in studies covering diverse topics of food, biological and agricultural systems. Visit www.bionanolab.ca for more details.
The Biological Engineering club has been extremely active this past academic term with field trips to Sleeman’s Brewery and a Niagara based winery. The club has also hosted several guest lectures on campus that focus on careers and opportunities for biological engineers.
SoE students Lindsay Mooradian, Amanda Rhodes, Nirmal Shah and Stuart West placed 1st in the Consulting Engineering category at the Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) held at the University of Toronto, February 3-5, 2012. They will be traveling The Guelph Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has announced that their Junior Fellow is Emily Nickerson, a student in Water Resources Engineering. Emily will be traveling to Ghana this summer to work on EWB's Agriculture Value Chains (AVC) team. The AVC team works to unlock the potential of Ghana's agriculture sector through improving markets. Currently, the team is focusing on the potential of Market Facilitation to connect key actors within the agriculture sector with the end goal to better service farmers.
On October 22, 2011, Ron MacDonald, president of CSBE, was recognized with the Engineering Alumni Volunteer Award. This award recognizes an alumnus that has made a significant difference through longstanding volunteer work and involvement and honours their loyalty and commitment to the School and the larger community.

Dr. Ramesh Rudra, a long time member and fellow of the CSBE, was awarded the Fellowship of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE) in February 2012 in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of agricultural engineering.
Bionanotechnology - What is it? "Bionanotechnology is essentially the study of biological ideas with nanotechnology...a miniaturized version of biotechnology, a field that centers on the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering...an emerging interdisciplinary field..."Got that?
Read on: http://e-ditionsbyfry.com/http://e-ditionsbyfry.com/Olive/ODE/RES/Default.aspx?href=RES/2012/03/01
Article written by CSBE member Suresh Neethirajan, University of Guelph, Ontario. http://bionanolab.ca/
Rebecca Shortt, P.Eng. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at Simcoe, and Andrew Jamieson, P.Eng. at Elora, are working with the Innisfil Creek Water Users Association on an integrated water resources man-agement strategy for the watershed because of critically low water levels in recent years. Innisfil Creek Watershed is north of Toronto, south of Barrie.
Hugh Fraser, MSc. P.Eng., Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at Vineland recently wrote the Factsheet, Wind machines for minimizing cold injury to horticul-tural crops (Order #10-045). It lists many Best Management Practices for operation for the 500 wind machines in Ontario which are mostly used to protect grapes from cold injury. See http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/10-045.htm
No regional activity was arranged for the professional members of the Society this year. It may be good idea to think in this direction by all the regions so that some activity can be planned for society members. Other professional societies have considerable regional activities for its members.
A number of professional activities for biological engineering undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Guelph were arranged throughout the year through Biological Engineering Club working under ASABE/CSBE. A few industrial visits were arranged such as to Sleeman brewery and McNeil Consumer Products. Lectures/seminars were provided by invited speakers on various topics of interests.
Students visited high schools to present Biological engineering program and participated in other liaison activities such as open house and National Engineering week. In March 2010 they participated in College Royal, a university wide open house, where they presented biological engineering activities to visitors.
The University of Guelph's Ridgetown Campus has received more than $2.6 million from the federal government for biofuel research and development. The money will be used to construct an anaerobic digester using manure to generate methane, and a demonstration laboratory. The anaerobic digester will be one of only a few such renewable energy source facilities in Ontario. The technology processes the waste to produce electricity, waste heat and fertilizer, among other things. The money comes from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario through the Community Adjustment Fund.
Ms. Randi Phinney (Biological Engg student) was awarded best co-op student of 2009- 2010 under Science & Engg category. She worked for 3 terms with Tetra-Pack in Lund, Sweden.
The mandate of Dr. Claude Laguë, P.Eng., ing. as Chair of the National Council of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science (NCDEAS) has been extended to April 2011. Claude has been serving in that capacity since 2008. A national organization dedicated to the advancement and promotion of engineering education and research, the NCDEAS is made of more than 40 colleges, schools, and universities that offer undergraduate engineering programs accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB). Claude has been serving as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa since 2006 and he was previously the Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan (2002 – 2006). He is a 29-year member of CSBE/SCGAB and of ASABE.