ECE Research Team Receives Distinguished Paper Award at ICSME 2022!

We are excited to announce that Prof. Julia Rubin and ECE undergraduate students Evelien Boerstra and John Ahn have received a Distinguished Paper Award for their paper titled “Stronger Together: On Combining Relationships in Architectural Recovery Approaches” at this year’s prestigious ICSME Conference (International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution).

The paper focuses on the topic of architectural recovery and microservice-based application development. It continues a line of work that investigates approaches of transforming legacy cloud-based software into recently-becoming-popular microservice-based architectures. To learn more about this and other work being done in Dr. Julia Rubin’s group, please visit: https://people.ece.ubc.ca/mjulia/

Congratulations Dr. Rubin, Evelien, and John for this accomplishment!

Student Perspectives – Zitao Chen, Public Scholars Initiative

“Being a public scholar means the opportunity to broaden my PhD experience and to engage in research that would contribute to the public good. This includes building closer connections with the community such as sharing my research with the general audience, bridging the divide between academia and industry, and seeking avenues to transfer academic progress into practical solutions that can benefit the community at large.”

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION

Machine learning (ML) has achieved remarkable performance in many tasks like image classification, and already seen great prospects in many real-world applications. ML can facilitate precision medicine to empower clinical decision making, maneuver the driving vehicle without human intervention. On the other hand, existing ML technology is also brittle and prone to failure that could entail critical consequence: (1) a hardware mistake can translate to a software failure that causes an ML model to exhibit unexpected behavior, such as misclassifying a stop sign as a speed limit sign; (2) the ML model can also be easily fooled by the inputs that have been tampered with; and (3) struggle to provide both high quality of service and strong privacy protection when the model is trained on sensitive data. This engenders serious concern on the trustworthiness of ML. My research concentrates on three prominent challenges (reliability, security and privacy) in trustworthy ML and advocates a multi-faceted solution to improve the reliability, security and privacy of ML to fully deliver the promise of benefits of ML.

WHAT DOES BEING A PUBLIC SCHOLAR MEAN TO YOU?

Being a public scholar, to me, means the opportunity to broaden my PhD experience and to engage in research that would contribute to the public good. This includes building closer connections with the community such as sharing my research with the general audience, bridging the divide between academia and industry, and seeking avenues to transfer academic progress into practical solutions that can benefit the community at large.

IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU THINK THE PHD EXPERIENCE CAN BE RE-IMAGINED WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOLARS INITIATIVE?

The Public Scholars Initiative encourages students to go beyond traditional disciplinary boundary and rethink how our research can make an impact to the community. It also provides a valuable avenue to foster potential inter-disciplinary collaboration among fellow public scholars.

HOW DO YOU ENVISION CONNECTING YOUR PHD WORK WITH BROADER CAREER POSSIBILITIES?

My PhD work has great potential in strengthening existing machine learning technology to become more reliable, secure and private. My research on improving the reliability of machine learning to ensure the system’s correct functioning under the presence of hardware mistake has been adopted by Intel in their deep learning toolkit, which can be used to deliver ML solutions that are reliable against hardware mistake. I will continue to establish close tie with industry partners in my PhD study, which will ultimately create broader career opportunities.

HOW DOES YOUR RESEARCH ENGAGE WITH THE LARGER COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL PARTNERS?

Organizations that aim to delivering machine learning (ML) solutions with high reliability, strong security and/or privacy could potentially adopt my research to improve their products. For example, Intel has incorporated my research work into their deep learning toolkit, which can be used to deliver ML solutions with high reliability and low cost, which would eventually benefit numerous potential users.

HOW DO YOU HOPE YOUR WORK CAN MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE “PUBLIC GOOD”?

My research focuses on three major challenges (reliability, security and privacy) in existing machine learning (ML) technology, all of which could potentially lead to highly undesirable consequences concerned with the public good. An ML product built without reliability or security in mind could be a potential safety risk to the users in domains like autonomous driving; while unregulated use of personal data in training ML models may lead to privacy infringement of the citizens. I hope that with my persistent endeavour, my work can be realized in more real-world ML products to overcome the above challenges and fully realize their potential to serve the users for good.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO PURSUE A GRADUATE DEGREE?

Graduate school provides me a unique opportunity to explore different scientific challenges, and dedicate my effort to contributing new knowledge that would advance the progress of the field. This challenging and rewarding experience is something that I aspire for and hence I decided to go to graduate school.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COME TO BRITISH COLUMBIA AND STUDY AT UBC?

UBC is a vibrant research community and provides numerous support to ensure the students can succeed in their pursuit of knowledge. At UBC, I also have the opportunity to work with a group of excellent researchers and gain tremendous mentorship from my advisor (Prof. Karthik Pattabiraman). Hence, I believe UBC is an ideal place for me to continue my study.

Read the original article here!

UBC Solar – Student Team Perspectives

UBC Solar is a student-led design team comprised of students from a variety of faculties, including engineering (and our own ECE department!), business, and science. The team aims to promote clean energy and sustainable automotive solutions through the development of electric solar-powered racecars. UBC Solar uses their design to compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge. In the 2022, UBC Solar placed 9th in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and will next be participating in the 2024 competition.

ECE has had the opportunity to interview the UBC Solar team! Keep reading to learn more about what the team does, and ways ECE students can participate!

What does your team do if you could sum it up in a few sentences? Give us your elevator pitch!

UBC Solar is a student-led engineering design team dedicated to designing, manufacturing, and racing solar-powered cars. We compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge, where teams from across North America race over 2,000 miles across the United States while harnessing energy only from the sun.

What specifically are ECE students involved in on your team? In other words, what can an ECE student expect to be working on by joining the team/why would an ECE student want to join?

At UBC Solar, ECE students are presented with a plethora of learning opportunities. Our electrical teams are what makes our cars move – members gain experience with industry standard tools and skills which are directly translatable to their future careers. Skills include PCB Design using Altium, software/firmware construction, power electronics design, and more!

Why did you choose to join this team?

I personally decided to join UBC Solar to have a supplemental learning experience beyond the typical classroom environment. I had heard from many of my peers that design teams were a great way to spend weekends and time between studying in a busy engineering degree. Boy, were they right!

How does being part of a student team enhance your experience at UBC and in the ECE department?

The academic experience is enhanced by being able to interact more intimately with different departments at UBC, including ECE! With much of the work we do on the team, we are able to reach out to professors and lab staff in the ECE department for assistance, whether that be to borrow equipment or ask questions about design. This has always been and will continue to be a valuable resource for the team.

I feel as though I have gained just as much valuable knowledge through UBC Solar as I have through my academics. The learning experience on the team has given a deep understanding of how to apply the concepts learned in class with skills that are directly applicable to real-world problems. Furthermore, the team has given me opportunities to develop myself professionally, as there are countless interactions with industry sponsors, UBC faculty, and other design teams.

Is there something you have learned that you wished you had known when you first began your undergrad program? What advice would you give your younger self?

Join a design team! I did not join Solar until my 2^nd year of my undergrad, and looking back I wish I had joined sooner. The sheer amount you learn by being immersed in the project is amazing, and I can not stress enough to any young engineering student how enriching this experience can be.

Do you feel that your experience on the team is helping you prepare for life after university/in your career? How so?

Yes! As I’ve mentioned, there are countless technical skills learned on the team that are directly transferrable to future careers. Furthermore, the team not only designs and manufactures a (super cool) Solar Car, but teaches skills relevant to professionalism and being in the workforce as well. Solar operates similar to a small startup, where we have weekly all-hands meetings to discuss accomplishments and deliverables related to the project, as well as smaller sub-team meetings which are more focused on design. The team also maintains relationships with its sponsors, including industry contacts, individual donors, and UBC staff.

What would you say to someone who is considering joining your team? Why would you recommend someone to join?

Please apply! There are opportunities aplenty on the team for anyone to have a meaningful experience. We love having new members on the team, one of my personal favourite days of the year is our first day with new recruits. Finally, if not Solar, please join another design team – there are plenty of great ones at UBC!

How can others join the team or get in touch with you if they are interested in learning more?

For those interested in learning more, reach us through email at manager@ubcsolar.com or through Instagram @ubcsolar. We love chatting, so please reach out!

What is one funny or random thing about your team that would make someone laugh or unexpectedly say “Wow that’s cool!”?

There is a theoretical speed at which the Solar Car can run forever! As we charge from the sun, we can discharge the same amount of power through our motor and chase the sun.

ECE Professor David Michelson to Chair Working Group Spanning International Telecommunications Organizations

ince the earliest days of telecommunications, international bodies have been in place to resolve disputes, recommend best practices, and develop technical standards. For example, the International Telegraph Union was formed in 1865 to standardize telegraph equipment, establish the Morse code as the international telegraph alphabet, and ensure privacy of communication.

In 1932, the union broadened to include radio communications and telephony, and the name changed to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). In 1949, it became a specialized agency of the United Nations, and now has a membership that includes 193 countries and about 900 businesses, academic institutions, and international and regional organizations, the ITU promotes the shared global use of the radio spectrum, facilitates international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, develops worldwide technical standards, and supports improvements to telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world. The Study Groups of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) bring together researchers to resolve technical questions arising from world and regional radiocommunication conferences, advances in radiocommunication technology or spectrum management, and changes in radio usage or operation.

In 1922, the Union Radio Scientifique Internationale/International Union of Radio Science (URSI) was formed to coordinate international foundational research concerning electromagnetic waves, such as radio propagation and atmospheric interference, antenna design, etc. URSI continues to encourage and promote international activity in radio science and its applications, and the adoption of common measurement methods and instruments. URSI also coordinates studies of the scientific aspects of telecommunications using electromagnetic waves.

Cooperating to Address Complexity

ITU and URSI have always cooperated, with URSI being ITU’s primary scientific partner. Now, with wireless technologies become increasingly complex and urgent demand for wireless spectrum, the work of the ITU-R Study Groups in helping to resolve questions raised at World Radiocommunication Conferences and other meetings has greatly increased. ITU and URSI are looking to make more researchers and research consortia aware of these questions and encourage them to work together to contribute research results that will help resolve them.

To accomplish this ambitious goal, URSI and ITU have turned to UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor David Michelson. He will lead an Inter-Union Working Group mandated to more effectively engage the global community of researchers addressing development, standardization, and deployment of next-generation wireless communications, including 5G and 6G cellular networks. During the next year, the new working group will consult with stakeholders within the URSI, ITU, and relevant member communities as it prepares its initial strategic plan. The working group will present the plan for approval by the URSI Council at the next URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium in Sapporo, Japan in August 2023.

As Michelson says. “By helping ITU-R to engage a broader community of researchers, the new Working Group can accelerate progress in resolving issues relevant to wireless communications system design. For the Rogers-UBC 5G Hub, the Group’s represents a significant opportunity to support the spectrum regulatory activities underpinning the wireless industry and participate in activities that have traditionally been dominated by government labs.”

Professor Michelson leads research sponsored by the UBC-Rogers Partnership on the use of 5G in smart transportation networks, and serves as Chair of the IEEE’s Mobile Radio Standards Committee and as a Member of the Steering Committee of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-sponsored NextG Channel Model Alliance. Given his extensive experience on the both the research and applications sides of radio science, he will no doubt flourish in his new historic role.

About the URSI-ITU Inter-Union Working Group

URSI representatives to the URSI-ITU Inter-Union Working Group chaired by Prof. Michelson include Prof. Sana Salous of Durham University (UK), Prof. Carlo Riva of Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Prof. Terje Tjelta of the University of Oslo (Norway), and Dr. Ivica Stevanovic of the Federal Office of Communications (Switzerland). ITU-R representatives include Sergio Buonomo, the Chief of the Study Group Department at the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Carol Wilson, Chairman of Study Group 3 (SG3) – Radiowave Propagation and David Botha, Counsellor of Study Group 3. Other ITU-R Study Group Chairs and Counsellors will be invited to participate as required.

Read the original article.

Welcome Back, ECE!

Welcome back to ECE to all of our new and returning students! Get in touch with us at help@ece.ubc.ca if you have questions, and we look forward to working with you throughout the term!

UBC Bionics – Student Team Perspectives

UBC Bionics was first formed in 2018 to create a space where students could apply all the skills they learned in class, and further develop their hands-on experience in the advancement of bionics. The group is an undergraduate engineering design team that aims to foster an environment that is readily accessible to students and provide a space for them to apply, strengthen, and hone their technical skills. They take pride in providing a very hands-on learning experience for all of their members, with support and guidance from senior leads.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was fortunate to connect with the Bionics team to discuss their accomplishments, how students can get involved, and some of the exciting work coming up this year!

Hi UBC Bionics! Tell us a bit about your team! How many students do you have, what do they do, and where are they from?

Our team currently has about 40 students, reaching all areas of STEM, including a plethora of engineering, computer science, biology, and chemistry students. We even have students from Sauder, and are open to applicants from all academic backgrounds! Since we operate with a top-down approach, we are able to take on a good number of 1st and 2nd year students who will then be trained and mentored by upper-year students.

ECE students on the UBC Bionics team are involved in a variety of tasks depending on which subteam they join. The Electrical subteam works on circuit design using CAD software, testing and doing plenty of hands-on work. The Embedded Software subteam works on system design, management and prioritization of tasks within our bionic arm, GRASP. ECE students joining the team can expect to gain a lot of experience in a team project setting, applying their technical skills in circuit design, learning new software programs, and relating ECE course content more speciﬁcally to bionics.

Why did you choose to join UBC Bionics in the first place?

We chose to join the team mainly because of the projects involved and its alignment with industry and research. A lot of other design teams do not have the same biology and technical integrations that you get with the bionics ﬁeld. Being able to work with both sides and being involved in a relatively new team was also a signiﬁcant factor in our applications to UBC Bionics.

As a part of the team you get to work on a lot of project development and get to see your impact on the project design clearly. You get a lot of practical experience building diﬀerent aspects and can perform a lot of physical testing as prototypes come together. It is a great way to get into more complex work without the full risk or stress of employment/career and you gain a lot of experience, as well as a positive environment to learn in. It’s also a lot of fun and a great community.

Is there something you have learned that you wished you had known when you ﬁrst began your undergrad program? What advice would you give your younger self?

We have a list of diﬀerent things we wished we had known before we started, as well as advice we would give to our younger selves:

Explore your interests and try diﬀerent technologies, environments, or more broadly research and/or industry
To join design teams earlier to get a sense of how diﬀerent engineering programs work together to complete a project, even if it feels like a long shot
Just try things! Explore it even if it’s outside of your comfort zone.
Don’t be afraid to explore new topics
Be a little stupid, but not over the top
For designing software: Get hung up on the best way, rather than to go with the best solution and see how far it takes you. It doesn’t have to be the best solution the ﬁrst time.
The dumber the question the more important you ask!

Have there been any accomplishments that you and your team are most proud of?

One of our biggest accomplishments was the creation of our ﬁrst prototype of GRASP. Being able to design, print, and test circuit boards as well as seeing everything connect to modules in the arm was an incredible achievement.

For the embedded team, setting up the pipeline communications in the system was a major step in our progress but Raestro is probably the achievement our sub team is most proud of. Raestro is an open source library that we have published on crates.io which controls the motors used in our bionic arm. We’re proud to report that as of August 6th, 2022, it has received 333 downloads.

What is one thing about your team that would make someone laugh or impress them?

One of the coolest parts of our team is our access to opportunities outside of the APSC/UBC space. We have a research subteam that works in collaboration with research labs at UBC and gives students the chance to experience working in academia and network with professionals. Our access to information from APSC and EDT has led to an invitation to the ASEE 2022 annual conference on integrating equity, diversity, and inclusion into our team’s culture-that was a really great chance to network and meet others in the industry and discuss issues that we face in STEM! Of course, there’s a lot of community outreach as well that we can accomplish as a team–we make an eﬀort to attend Open Houses and collaborate with other youth programs on workshops that introduce engineering to younger and even prospective students.

On a sillier note though, for our ﬁrst prototype of the arm we were able to successfully get Netflix and Minecraft running on the graphical user interface (GUI). To explore functional near-infrared spectroscopy (FNIR) from the electrical side, we modeled it using Minecraft redstone mode. We have also made Excel spreadsheets to decide on team lunch options!

Do you feel that your experience on the team is helping you prepare for life after university/in your career? How so?

Deﬁnitely! When applying for CO-OP positions and other jobs, we have been able to carry over practical experience we gained from the design team. We’ve also been able to experience working in a cross-disciplinary team and have networked with individuals in the ﬁeld. Lastly, working in an environment that requires some self-learning has helped us apply new techniques for our learning and use that knowledge during project development.

Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to talk with us! To wrap up, how can others join the team or get in touch with you if they are interested in learning more?

Applicants can ﬁnd more information about our team at ubcbionics.com or on our social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, & Twitter) at @ubcbionicsteam. Interested individuals can also reach out to us at ubcbionicsteam@gmail.com with any inquiries! Our team is active in the UBC and APSC community, and can often be found at Imagine Day, as well as at Open Houses.

UBC Formula – Student Team Perspectives

Founded in 1991, UBC Formula is a student organization that designs, builds, and races a Formula-style race car in the annual Formula SAE competition in Michigan. Each team member contributes their skills in a specialized area such as powertrain, chassis, suspension, electronics, controls, or dynamics. After 27 years of innovation and accomplishments, UBC Formula strives to continue its vision of helping students develop their engineering skills.

ECE has had the opportunity to interview the UBC Formula team! Keep reading to learn more about the team and their work!

What does your team do if you could sum it up in a few sentences? Give us your elevator pitch!

The purpose of design teams is to elevate students’ education by immersing them in a structured organization that resembles real life employment. Students have a large amount of freedom to apply concepts learned in class and take projects through the entire engineering design cycle.

Formula UBC designs, builds, tests, and races a new single-seat race car each year. The team participates in an annual student competition put on by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Every May, the team brings our car down to Michigan and competes against approximately 120 international teams. The competition is not solely focused on racing but rather takes a holistic approach to developing a race car. We are judged on a business presentation as well as the car cost, design, efficiency and a series of performance metrics including cornering ability, acceleration and drivability.

To place well in competition, Formula UBC Racing works year-round to prepare a car for competition. Approximately 60 members across 10 sub-teams use a variety of information sources to design a car, starting as early as June. Throughout the year, students take parts or entire subsystems through all the stages of design. It begins with problem definition and concept generation, simulations and iteration, manufacturing, and testing if applicable, before finally implementing the design.

What specifically are ECE students involved in on your team? In other words, what can an ECE student expect to be working on by joining the team/why would an ECE student want to join?

ECE students are involved in sensor integration, data acquisition, vehicle wiring harnesses, power distribution, and driver-controlled pneumatic systems like paddle shifting and opening/closing the rear wing for the Drag Reduction System (DRS). Anything from a tire temperature sensor to a brake light can be designed by students on the team. Integration into the vehicle and the design process for any individual part often requires inter-disciplinary team communication to make good design justifications like how to mount new parts in CAD so nothing interferes once the parts go on the car. ECE students can expect to learn about most of the electrical modules, sensors, and interconnecting harnessing on the car and in doing this they will be able to learn skills like making a wiring harness, implementing CAN bus communication, C- based STM32 microcontroller firmware, and PCB design in Altium. In addition to learning new skills, you will be in a student-led environment and surrounded by people who have similar interests so it’s a great place to make friends and have the opportunity to work on projects together.

Have there been any accomplishments that you and your team are most proud of? What are they?

Our team is very proud to have achieved 18th in the AutoX competition and 11th fastest in Acceleration. As of May this year, we are the fastest team in Canada. We are also proud to have placed in design finals last year in 2021.

How does being part of a student team enhance your experience at UBC and in the ECE department?

Being a part of a student team allows you the opportunity and budget to work on a complex project and learn skills that you may not get through your coursework. The team also teaches what good communication and leadership looks like, while building critical thinking skills when unexpected problems arise at the last minute. The student team has also provided a strong community to spend time with outside of work hours.

How can others join the team or get in touch with you if they are interested in learning more?

You can reach out to Formula UBC social media on Facebook, Instagram, or contact info on our website: formulaubc.com.

Novel percussion instrument co-developed by ECE professor Sidney Fels to debut at SIGGRAPH in Vancouver

A unique presentation at this year’s SIGGRAPH—the world’s leading computer graphics conference which opens next week in Vancouver—may well inspire future digital content creators and multimedia artists.

Engineer and musician Victor Zappi will play a short rock/electronic piece on August 10 as part of his presentation on the Hyper Drumhead – a futuristic percussion instrument that he co-developed with Sidney Fels, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UBC.

The Hyper Drumhead is like a virtual drum set—no drumsticks are required.

“The Hyper Drumhead is a virtual percussion surface that you can excite by touch. You draw shapes on the touch screen surface and you modify them to change the timbre and create all sorts of unique sound effects,” says Fels, an expert known for his work on new interfaces for musical expression and 3D displays.

To play the instrument, a musician can choose to load pre-recorded sound files into a connected computer, or he can inject live inputs such as vocals or guitar. Each audio source is assigned to a specific area on the screen. Changing the dimensions of the shape changes the pitch or other aspects of the music, and the musician can remix and layer different tracks to create a complete music piece.

Click here to view a demo of the Hyper Drumhead

Conceptually, the technology is not too different from physical drum sets, where the shape and size of the drum largely determines the sound, with larger drums creating warmer tones and smaller drums producing brighter, sharper tones. But what makes it different is that the computer does a simulation of the physics of the movement of sound across the virtual drumhead. This allows any type of surface and sound to be explored.

An early version of the Hyper Drumhead won first place in 2018 at the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, a worldwide competition aimed at discovering new ideas in musical instruments.

“There is a learning curve, but it’s quite intuitive. Even people who have no musical training can learn to play the Hyper Drumhead,” says Zappi, who’s currently an assistant professor in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University.

SIGGRAPH, the most important conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques where companies such as Disney Research, Nvidia and Facebook Reality Labs present their work, runs August 8 through 11.

EDITORS: Victor Zappi and Sidney Fels are available to speak to media about their invention. For more information, contact lou.bosshart@ubc.ca

UBC AeroDesign – Student Team Perspectives

UBC AeroDesign (UBCAD) is an engineering student team founded in 1992. Each year, the team designs and builds a fixed-wing electric-powered remote-control aircraft to compete in the SAE Aero Design competition series. UBCAD’s mission is to allow students to engage with a real-world problem in the field of aerospace, providing them with the opportunity to develop their engineering skills in a team environment. From aerodynamic and structural analysis, to propulsion and controls simulation, to machine learning and computer vision, UBCAD does it all!

ECE has had the opportunity to interview Simon Jobst, Tony Wang, and Bryson Wu from UBCAD. Read on to learn more about the team and their work!

How many students are on your team, and what are the different areas/departments your teammates are from? What year-levels are represented? (Simon)

UBC AeroDesign currently has 53 members, belonging to the Departments of Mechanical, Electrical, Engineering Physics, Integrated, and Materials Engineering. Each year we recruit 10-15 new members from a wide range of disciplines and year levels to join our team. We are proud to have a wide range of year-level representation on our team, ranging from first-year to final-year students, allowing for technical mentorship for more junior members.

What specifically are ECE students involved in on your team? In other words, what can an ECE student expect to be working on by joining the team/why would an ECE student want to join? (Bryson)

ECE students typically choose to work on the avionics (aircraft electronics and software) for our primary aircraft and for a smaller drone that deploys from the Advanced Class
primary aircraft. Avionics work can include:

● Machine learning/computer vision models for target identification and navigation planning

● Embedded programming for aircraft sensing and control

● Full stack programming for data visualization, target verification, and telemetry reporting

● Power supplies sizing/optimization that drive our electric motors and electronics

Additionally, if interested, ECE students have an equal opportunity to learn aircraft and mechanical design techniques!

Have there been any accomplishments that you and your team are most proud of? What are they? (Simon)

Over the past 30 years, our team has competed in the annual SAE Aero Design competition against top universities all over the globe, including schools from the USA, Poland, India, China and many more We placed in the top five 15 times over the years, and placed first in the design component during the virtual competitions in both 2020 and 2021.

During our most recent 2021-22 design season, we designed 3 aircraft and cumulatively manufactured 11 prototypes. Revamping to full-scale capacity and in-person work after the 2 year suspension of physical prototyping was a huge logistical accomplishment that all of us at UBC AeroDesign are
exceptionally proud of!

Moreover, we are proud to announce the following results from the 2022 SAE Aero Design East event held in Fort Worth, Texas between May 20-22, 2022:

● UBC AeroDesign Regular Class: 10th place overall (of 22 teams), with a 2nd place design report and 2nd place technical presentation, and

● UBC AeroDesign Advanced Class: 5th place overall (of 18 teams), with a 6th place design report and 9th place technical presentation.

How does being part of a student team enhance your experience at UBC and in the ECE department? (Bryson)

You create cool things from scratch with raw engineering creativity. You make friends that you can rely on and geek out with. Perhaps more tangibly, being a part of UBC AeroDesign has helped me understand the “why” behind our engineering curriculum and exposed me to an industry-like engineering process outside of our coursework. Many of us on UBC AeroDesign have also found that nothing pushes away imposter syndrome as effectively as seeing our work take flight.

Do you feel that your experience on the team is helping you prepare for life after university/in your career? How so? (Simon)

UBC AeroDesign has excellent potential to prepare you for life after university and career eligibility. We are proud to offer excellent co-op placement mentorship opportunities, and provide each other connections to well-established and reputable employers (e.g. Dometic, Seaspan, Kardium, Tesla, General Fusion, etc.). Moreover, attending competition allows members to connect with competition sponsors, such as Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Skunk Works, and Siemens. Being a member of UBC AeroDesign extends far beyond simply being part of a design team; you join a group of motivated individuals that support each other every step of the way!

What would you say to someone who is considering joining your team? Why would you recommend someone to join? (Tony)

Design team experience is extremely valuable for any aspiring engineer, but also makes you stand out when applying for co-op positions. A design team is essentially a technical club, targeted toward engineering students. You are able to meet numerous talented students and alumni, learn about engineering design, and develop skills as a person. There are so many design teams to choose from, and I would say to choose one not just based on reputation, but to choose a team that designs something you are truly passionate about. Even though AeroDesign consists of over 50 members, every person’s contribution to the team directly impacts the aircraft we send to competition, so your work is just as valued as a team lead’s work!

How can others join the team or get in touch with you if they are interested in learning more? (Tony)

If you are interested in learning more about UBC AeroDesign, we host live information sessions at the end of August and in the beginning of September (Imagine Day, etc.). You are welcome to reach out to us there, or on social media:

Website: https://ubcaerodesign.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UBCAeroDesign

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ubcaerodesign/

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/ubc-aerodesign

Feel free to also email us at ubcaerodesign@gmail.com to learn more about the team, or recruitment.ubcaerodesign@gmail.com if you’re more specifically interested in joining the team!

Simon Jobst is a third-year mechanical engineering student specializing in the aerospace option. Simon is the Regular Class Airfoils lead (focus on aerodynamics, mechanical structures, and electromechanical system integration) and sponsorship lead. He intends to pursue a career in either the aerospace or HVAC industry.

Bryson Wu is a 3.5th year ELEC student and leads UBC AeroDesign’s Advanced Class group. While he would love to work on aircraft systems after graduating, he is also interested in software engineering, mechatronics, and hardware design in non-aviation contexts. UBCAD is looking to expand the electrical engineering work they do on the team. If interested, contact Bryson through his social media platforms or at brysonwu@icloud.com.

Tony Wang is a student in the department of Mechanical Engineering heading into his 3.5th year under the aerospace specialization. He has been on UBC AeroDesign for 2 years, where he is the Regular Class Fuselage Structures Lead and Marketing Lead. He has loved airplanes since he was young, and has developed a stronger appreciation for the design and build of an airplane through being on UBCAD. Tony is looking to focus on aircraft design as a career, but is open to many other industries, particularly in the automotive/EV industry. He has two more co-op terms to complete before graduating, and is looking forward to working in different industries to figure out what he would like to do in the future.

Call for Capstone Proposals

Proposal Submission for 2022/2023 is open!

Please contact Paul Lusina (capstones@ece.ubc.ca) if you have questions about our next Capstone cohort, or check out our Capstone Client FAQs.

Interested in seeing what our students have to offer? Check out our 2021/2022 Design & Innovation Day showcase.

For examples of past capstone projects, we welcome you to view our capstone videos from 2021, 2020, and 2019.

Are you interested in becoming a Capstone partner?

Please watch this 4 minute video to answer:

Why do organizations choose to be partners?

What is your role as a partner?

How do we manage intellectual property?

How can you get involved?

How does Capstone work for clients?

In the Capstone course, senior students in teams of four to six work on projects proposed by industry, or other organizations. Each team is supervised by a faculty member who acts as the technical director, assisting or pointing the student to appropriate technical expertise. You will act as the client.

The projects can be general projects in:

electrical and computer engineering
software engineering
energy
biomedical devices
microsystems
nanotechnology

Benefits of taking part!

**Exploration of research/development opportunities utilizing the expertise of UBC faculty, staff and students**

How to get involved and what to expect!

ECE invites you to propose a project to our students which will prepare them for employment and in turn give you an opportunity to meet the next generation of graduates.

A Capstone instructor assesses each proposal and provides feedback to you (the client). You are invited to revise your proposal based on the instructor’s feedback. Clients with successful proposals have the option to pitch their proposals to the Capstone students in early September. By the second week of September, each student bids on projects by ranking their top 10 preferred projects. This ranking is used to form teams. In 2018, 46 teams were formed from approximately one hundred proposals.

Our students and faculty would be working towards developing potential solutions with you from September and April. You will have ample opportunity to be actively engaged in the development of solutions.

For detailed information about what a project proposal should look like and how to submit a proposal to us, please see our Project Submission Page.

Time Commitment

Partners are expected to support students define the problem and give feedback on their design solution. The amount of time commitment required depends greatly on the type of project you propose. As a minimum expect approximately 10 hours of engagement in September & October and a further 10 hour for the remainder of the term.

Capstone Course Timeline

	September – 1^stweek of class	Clients pitch their project to students.
	Mid-September	Student teams formed and clients are contacted
End of Milestone 1	Mid-October	Project proposals due. Client and instructor feedback
End of Milestone 2	Early December	Design review 1 due. Client and instructor feedback
End of Milestone 3	Mid-February	Design review 2 due. Client and instructor feedback.
End of Milestone 4	Early April	Product review due. Client and instructor feedback
	Early April	Design and Innovation Day public showcase hosted by APSC
	Mid-April	Client receives all project deliverables and signs-off on the project.

Resources

ECE will commit a significant amount of financial resources. To make this a successful partnership and a sustainable model, it is our hope that you and your organization will commit in a similar fashion, feasible for your organization.