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The nanoFAB is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 nanoFAB Image Contest. Images were judged on criteria including image quality, technical merit, and overall aesthetic appeal, and voted on by nanoFAB staff members. This year, we also had our inaugural “Community Choice” award, with public voting. Congratulations to the winners,
A Canada Research Chair in Radio Frequency Microsystems for Communication and Sensing, Daneshmand does pioneering work using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and radio frequency. Her discoveries hold promise for a wide variety of smart products, from environmental sensors to wearable health monitors.
She has spent almost a decade developing microwave sensors that can track minute changes in liquids, gases or solids without coming into contact with them.
Mojgan Daneshmand has been awarded one of the two 2018 Martha Cook Piper Research Prizes given by the University of Alberta.
The prestigious award recognizes two faculty members in the early stage of their careers who enjoy a reputation for original research and show outstanding promise as researchers.
“I’m very excited,” said Daneshmand, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Radio Frequency Microsystems for Communication and Sensing. “This award has been given to someone in our department only once before, so I’m very honoured.”
Daneshmand was awarded the prize for her work in radio frequency (RF) microsystems for communication and sensing. She applies RF sensing and communication to energy systems, wireless and satellite payloads, and biomedical devices.
Her research has two distinct real-world applications: sensor and communication technology.
Thomas Jones, Mohammad Abdolrazzaghi, and Zahra Abbasi won 3rd place at the IEEE IMS Student Design Competition: MTT-8 Filters and Passive Components, held during the 2018 IEEE International Microwave Symposium in Philadelphia, PA, on June 2018, with their design of electronically tuned in-band suppressors within a wideband microstrip bandpass filter using varactors.
Thomas Jones won the Award for Excellence in Nanofabrication for “Development of Monolithic Miniaturized Ridged Half-mode Waveguides for the Next Generation of Millimeter-wave Communication Systems” in TEXPO 2017, Montreal, Canada. His work, which has relevance in the design of components for next-generation wireless communications systems and other complex systems, was praised by judges for addressing the challenges in developing and fabricating a working prototype.
Mohammad Abdolrazzaghi received Honorable Mention in the Micro-Nanosystems Design Award for “Microwave Mixer-Sensor for Arbitrarily Shrinking Limit of Detection in Non-Invasive Sensors” in TEXPO 2017, Montreal, Canada.
The M2M team would like to congratulate Dr. Zarifi who will soon start as a faculty member at the University of British Columbia, a world class university. M2M wishes Dr. Zarifi a successful career and a bright future in his new role. "I would like to personally thank Dr. Zarifi for his significant contribution to the group and wish him all the best in his future. This is not only my wish but also from every other group member in M2M at the University of Alberta", said Prof. Daneshmand, M2M PI.
Through-out five years of university, paid co-op jobs in industry, and diverse extracurricular activities, Bertie Chen built a solid foundation, chiseled off unwanted experiences, and carved a career in wireless technologies. ... Now, with a new job in her pocket, Chen is leaving for Silicon Valley to fine-tune her professional skillset as a rotational program engineer with Keysight Technologies, a leader in electronic measurement technology.
AlbertaSat’s very own, John Grey, has been selected as a top 6 finalist in the 8th IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) Antenna Design Contest. ... John is working on the project with PhD student Thomas Jones. John and Thomas applied to the design contest in December 2016, spending the semester before that preparing and planning their proposal. Thomas Jones works for Mojgan Daneshmand’s M2M lab. By March 31st, they are required to have designed and tested the antenna and will then present it at the Symposium in early July. The hope with this project is that AlbertaSat will be able to use it alongside open source hardware, developed here at the U of A, for the transmitter portion of it. This is the load that goes on the end of the transmitter, so ideally, there will be a whole AlbertaSat open source radio system ready to go on the next satellite. John and Thomas’ design is helping AlbertaSat work towards that goal.
The NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS D) provides financial support to high calibre scholars who are engaged in a doctoral program in the natural sciences or engineering. This scholarship is also intended to secure a supply of highly qualified Canadians with leading edge scientific and research skills for Canadian industry, government and universities.
Abstract: Winners will be presented with their awards at the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Graduate Student Teaching Awards Ceremony on April 11, 2017.
The Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award was established in 2013 to recognize the past technical accomplishments and future potential of an outstanding woman of mid-career status in the field of antennas and propagation. The 2016 award was presented to Mojgan Daneshmand “For pioneering contributions to microwave-to-millimeter-wave microsystem-based antenna and microwave technologies for communication and sensing, and being a role model for women in engineering.”
Title: Contactless asphaltene solid particle deposition monitoring using active microwave resonators
Abstract: In this paper, asphaltene precipitation and deposition are monitored in real-time and contactless
fashion using ultra-high resolution active planar microwave sensor. In the core of the sensor, a half-wavelength resonator
is designed at 1.53 GHz whose quality factor is enhanced from 270 (passive mode) by 40 times (in active mode) for ...
Alberta Innovates—Technology Futures and Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education provide support for scholarships that enable academically superior graduate students to undertake full-time research education at an Alberta university, leading to a research -based Master’s or Doctoral degree.
Title: Enhanced Q double resonant active sensor for humidity and moisture effect elimination
Abstract: In this paper, high-resolution ultra-high Q double resonant sensor is developed to eliminate
humidity and moisture effect in microwave chemical sensing in uncontrolled environment. Double uncoupled split-ring
resonators with close resonant frequencies are assisted with active circuitry to increase their quality factor from
51 and 54 up to 150k and 210k at 1.365 GHz and 1.6 GHz, ...
Mohammad Abdolrazzaghi and Dr. Mohammad Zarifi, University of Alberta, were awarded the NRC
Industrial Collaboration Award, for Non-Contact High Resolution Microwave Resonator
Liquid Sensor. Targeting non-invasive sensing of liquids such as crude oil, the students’
technology was described by judges as an inexpensive, robust, contactless technique that
was of clear value to at least three major industry collaborators.
Title: Capacitively-Loaded Half-Mode Waveguides for Miniaturized Guided Wave Applications
Abstract: A new type of waveguide transmission line by loading the open side of a half-mode
waveguide with a capacitive ridge is discussed. Implemented in substrate integrated waveguide
technology, the capacitively-loaded half-mode waveguide is shown to achieve substantial miniaturization
compared to regular waveguide dimensions, becoming one of the smallest single conductor transmission lines
with respect to wavelength so far in the literature today.
Title: MW Sensors and their Applications in Liquid and Gas Sensing and Error Estimation
Abstract: Split-ring resonators (SRRs) are widely known as suitable elements for sensing as
they possess high quality factors as well as sensitivity. Normal microstrip designs, engaging SRRs,
don’t have as much Q-factor as we need for high resolution measurements. New technological modifications
in sensors have improved them to be very efficient in even complex media. Extreme resolutions have higher
orders of error, inherently, which can be mitigated using signal post processing algorithms.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research awards QEII Graduate Scholarships each year. Funded by the Government of Alberta, these scholarships reward the high level of achievement of students pursuing graduate studies in Alberta.
The purpose of the Student Paper Competition is to recognize outstanding technical
contributions from individual students. In general, only one or two authors are
allowed for each Student Paper: The first author must be the student; the second
author would normally be the student's major advisor.
The paper: "A New Type of Capacitively-Loaded Half-Mode Substrate Integrated
Waveguide for Miniaturized Guided Wave Applications"
Alberta Innovates—Technology Futures and Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education provide support for scholarships that enable academically superior graduate students to undertake full-time research education at an Alberta university, leading to a research -based Master’s or Doctoral degree.
The Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) Program provides support to a core of the most promising researchers at a pivotal time in their careers. The fellowships are also intended to secure a supply of highly qualified Canadians with leading edge scientific and research skills for Canadian industry, government and universities.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research awards QEII Graduate Scholarships each year. Funded by the Government of Alberta, these scholarships reward the high level of achievement of students pursuing graduate studies in Alberta.
Nahid Vahabisani, University of Alberta, was awarded the Brian L. Barge Award for
Excellence in Microsystems Integration for her presentation titled "Developing New
Category of Monolithic 3D MEMS Devices for Millimeterwave Communication".
Award presented to Dr. Dileepan Joseph, University of Alberta, who accepted the
award on behalf of Nahid by Dr. Brian L. Barge.