From new ideas to real-world solutions, our students are putting their research into action.
This year’s Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Showcase was the largest one yet, with 140 McMaster Engineering students sharing the innovative research they’ve spent the summer working on. As one of the largest undergraduate research programs in Canada, with more than 235 participants this summer, students gain hands-on experience, explore their interests and make the most of their Mac Eng experience beyond the classroom.
Scroll through for photos from the event and read what some of the students and their supervisors had to say about their research and experiences this summer.
“I was pleased and proud to be able to attend the McMaster Engineering Undergraduate Research Poster Showcase yesterday and to talk to our students — including those I’m supervising directly — about their research projects. It was an inspiring display of talent and hard work,” says McMaster President Susan Tighe.
“These experiences give students opportunities to build their skills, learn from faculty and graduate mentors, follow their curiosity and explore how engineering research can address real-world challenges,” shares Heather Sheardown, Dean, Faculty of Engineering.
Carlos Filipe, Associate Dean of Research, Innovation and Partnerships, opened the event by saying, “This is truly becoming a marquee event for undergraduate research at McMaster Engineering. To our students displaying their work today: Your dedication, curiosity and hard work throughout the summer has been truly inspiring. By working with faculty and graduate student mentors you are contributing to McMaster’s efforts to tackle complex global challenges and drive solutions with impact.”
The six first-place winners of the Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Showcase celebrate their achievements. Selected by a panel of judges, each first-place winner received a perfect score for their research presentation.
The top three finalists of the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition from July 8 were announced at the Research Poster Showcase. They were recognized for their ability to pitch their research to a non-technical audience. Pictured with Carlos, the winners were:
- Katherine MacNicholas, first place
- Mila Bennett, second place
- Syed Umair, third place
Prabir Singh’s research was on Fine-Grain Clustering for Compressing Floating Point Data with supervisor Kazem Chesmini.
Dina Sarhad stands next to her poster, Improving Program Correctness Feedback through the Sp->Language, research she conducted with supervisor Dr. Wolfram Kahl.
Thomas Brittain chats with an attendee about his research on the Growth of Corrosion Product Films for Laser Spallation Cleaning Applications. Thomas was supervised by Joey Kish.
Owen Bungard poses next to his poster on Temperature Dependence of Plasma-enhanced Atomic Layer Deposited SiO2 thin films conducted with supervisor Jonathan Bradley.
Sienna Anderson and Shajee Raza worked together on Assessment of CO₂-Assisted Co-Pulverization for Critical Mineral Liberation with supervisor Dapo Awolayo.
Ryan Pankoff talks about his research on Calcium magnesium acetate derived from renewable chicken eggshell resource as a road de-icer with an attendee. His supervisor was Duncan Cree.
“Research was really enjoyable for me as it opened up my eyes to various different problems that people normally wouldn’t think about,” says Ryan, reflecting on how his research experience broadened his perspective.
Students from the Higgins Lab, Summer Wang, Razan Shahrouri, Angel Ma, Amber Chen, pose for a group photo.
“There’s a lot of common misconceptions about research. But if you really have an open ear and an open heart, you can learn so much from your PIs and your PhD mentors. They really walk you through the process and there’s much more than just lab work,” says Razan, highlighting the mentorship and learning opportunities that come with undergraduate research.
Wantong Li, President of the McMaster Society for Engineering Research (MacSER) speaks at the close of the Summer Research Showcase.
Throughout the summer, MacSER partnered with the Centre for Career Growth and Experience, the Faculty of Engineering and The Hoare Lab to create robust programming and opportunities for undergraduate researchers during their summer experience.
