About BRIC
BRIC, an abbreviation for Booth Research and Innovation Cluster, imbibes McMaster’s vision and mission of Impact, Ambition and Transformation through Excellence, Inclusion and Community: Advancing Human and Societal Health and Well-being. BRIC is a one stop shop for industry and community for their innovation challenges in the areas of AI/ML, Computational modeling, Biotechnology, eHealth, Environmental Excellence Robotics, and Automation. Our projects have a strong components of ethics, sustainability and social responsibility.
Our Guiding Principle: At BRIC we collaborate, innovate; and disseminate, with Excellence as the sole benchmark.
BRIC for the Society – In collaborating with a BRIC member, the community and industry/government partners will have access to diverse expertise and resources that BRIC can provide. Engaging with BRIC will help the partners explore and solve more challenging problems that require long-term financial and personnel commitments. This could happen by leveraging industry commitments with government and non-government funding opportunities.
BRIC for a Faculty –BRIC helps its members utilize the existing mechanism of building partnership with community members, evolve such relationships and entrench it via long-term commitments to solve larger problems. BRIC serves as a valuable support system to establish impactful research programs offering a diverse set of expertise to do society-focused multi-disciplinary research.
BRIC for a Student – Solving the community, government and industry partners’ problems, participating in the BRIC symposiums and clubs, and contributing to the bulletin, students can participate in a work-immersive environment, and have a transformational learning experience that will advance their careers.
BRIC – Members
Information Box Group
BRIC – Team
Expandable List
Click on the names to visit Google Scholar profiles
Florent Lefevre-Schlick
Mostafa Soliman
Tom Wanyama
Zhen Gao
Greter Amelia Ortega Rodriguez
Syed Rahin Ahmed
Herlys Viltres Cobas
Gaganpreet Sidhu
Ramavtar Tyagi (PhD)
Amirmesoud Lanjan (PhD)
Hadi Mehrtash. (MASc)
Ana Gomez Cardoso (MASc)
Simran Sandhu (MEng)
Masoodhur Rehman (MEng)
Vignesh Natarajan (MEng)
Abinaya Sankarakumarv (MEng)
BRIC – Symposium
Guest Speakers
Giovanni Belingardi

Title for talk: Safety Design of Automotive Vehicles: Recent Advances, Trends and Perspectives
Giovanni Belingardi was born in Torino in 1951, he got his Master degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino in 1975.
From 1995 he is full Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Dept of the Politecnico di Torino.
His present research activity is mainly devoted to structural design and experimental testing in automotive engineering, with particular attention to lightweight design of the car body and to passive safety of vehicle occupants and pedestrians.
He is author of more than 360 papers published in international scientific journals and in proceedings of national and international conferences.
He has recently been the scientific coordinator of the Operative Units of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department for a number of projects of the framework programs of the European Union, of the National and Regional Governments. Research cooperation with industrial partners has been effective as well.
In 2016 he has been appointed as the scientific responsible of the Interdepartmental Center CARS@PoliTo that is fully dedicated to the sustainable mobility and vehicle of the future.
He is the responsible for International cooperation of Politecnico di Torino within the frame of the Automotive Engineering, with particular attention toward Canada, US, Brazil, Poland and Serbia.
Maria Pia Cavatorta

Title for the talk “Exoskeletons and robots to assist human work in the smart factory”.
Maria Pia Cavatorta is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. She received her MSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1995 and a PhD in Machine Design in 1999 at the same University. From 1997 to 1998, she was a visiting scholar at the University at Urbana-Champaign (USA).
In 2008 she was appointed by the Rector as Politecnico representative within the Framework Agreement with FCA (now Stellantis) for activities in education, cooperation and research on ergonomics of manufacturing systems. Member of the international ISO and CEN standardization working groups on ergonomics, her research interest’s focus on the integration of technology and human factors into workplace design to improve operator’s well-being and system productivity (in the respect of gender issues and of people with special needs).
Symposium Chairs
W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON Canada, L8S 4L8
Tel: (905) 525-9140 ext. 20293
Email: septbric@mcmaster.ca
BRIC – Proceedings
BRIC – Bulletin
The Annual BRIC Bulletin is an avenue for the researchers to share their latest findings in the areas of AI/ML, Computational modeling, Biotechnology, eHealth, Environmental Excellence, Robotics, and Automation. In addition to disseminating the research and innovation in these areas, the bulletin also highlights the strides taken by BRIC members in community engagements, and notable achievements.
You can write to the editors at septbric@mcmaster.ca to submit your article in the bulletin.
Bulletin Editors
BRIC – Events
Upcoming Events
1. The 1st annual BRIC Symposium on the theme of Technology and Society will be a virtual event on July 28, 2021. The symposium will feature invited talks from leading researchers, interleaved with a series of ignite presentations. All submitted abstracts will be published as part of the symposium proceedings. Please visit the symposium tab for further details.
2. The 1st BRIC Bulletin will be launched in August 2021 with some spotlights, a feature article, and other research related information.
BRIC – Contact Us
Information Box Group
W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON Canada, L8S 4L8
Tel: (905) 525-9140 ext. 20293
Email: septbric@mcmaster.ca