Professor Peter Lawrence shares secrets to success upon retirement

“Collaboration is fundamental to success,” says Professor Peter Lawrence proudly.

After 37 years in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Lawrence counts faculty from 10 different UBC departments, numerous industry collaborators and thousands of students — both undergrad and graduate — as essential to his success.

Driven by his interest in improving the human condition, Lawrence focused his research on the interface — the collaboration, if you will — between humans and machines.

“You must consider not only the technical issues involved in the environment — including the machine or computing device — but also the human factors related to the user’s perception and movement,” he says.

Lawrence notes an early collaboration with Phil Cottell and Brent Sauder (BSc ’74, MSc ’80) of MacMillan Bloedel (a forestry company acquired by Weyerhaeuser) that was driven by the desire to improve the life of a grapple-yarder operator. Between 1978 and 1982, with UBC ECE students Kevin Huscroft (BASc ’79 and MASc ’84 and Jim Clark (BASc ’80 and PhD ’85) Lawrence and his team developed equipment to monitor and record the sound and vibration levels experienced by the machine operator. Later, with an expanded team that included Professors Clarence deSilva (MECH), Alan Mackworth (ECE), Tim Salcudean (ECE) and Farrokh Sassani (MECH), and assisted by FERIC (now a division of FPInnovations) and RSI Research Ltd, Lawrence elevated the level of control at which the operator worked in excavator-based machines.

Instead of using several hand controls that governed the individual joint motions on the machine (the standard practice on construction, forestry and mining machines at the time), the team introduced Coordinated Control of machines (a form of robot endpoint resolved motion velocity control), which allowed the operator to push a single new type of hand control to move and orientate the machine’s implement (bucket, grapple or felling head) in the desired direction and feel scaled-down endpoint forces and torques.  The team’s work in this area was transferred to several companies across Canada.

“Peter has an exceptionally enthusiastic commitment to education and research. He has spent countless hours thinking of new ways of engaging students,” says Professor Salcudean. “His legacy —through new courses, the PIP option, and the thousands of students he educated —will be long lasting and a model for us to follow.”

Lawrence’s doctoral students with successful projects and careers include Shahram Tafazoli, who founded MotionMetrics; Craig Hennessey, founder of Mirametrix; Jim Clark, who became a Professor at McGill University; and Nariman Sepehri, who became a Professor at the University of Manitoba.

“Dr. Lawrence always had such enthusiasm for technology and the new possibilities that were coming, and that enthusiasm was infectious in his teaching and research,” says Kevin Huscroft (BASc ’79, MASc ’84, ECE), who co-founded PMC-Sierra after working with Lawrence. “As a research supervisor, he simply encouraged one to explore those possibilities.”

Named as a co-inventor on 30 different technology disclosures and 15 issued US Patents, Lawrence invented a wide range of devices and methods including a handwriting sensor for signature verification, 3-D imaging medical ultrasound, hydraulic machine controls and human eye-tracking for 3-D display interfaces.

Brent Sauder (BSc ’74, MSc ’80), Director of Strategic Initiatives at UBC, adds, “First as my thesis advisor and then as my research colleague and friend, my association with Peter ranks as a highlight of the past 30 years for me. His abilities as an exceptional educator and researcher are eclipsed only by his passion and the respect he shows for his students and their abilities. Peter’s enthusiasm for industry-university partnerships was infective. B.C. and Canada owe Peter a big thank-you for his contribution to their economic growth and industrial diversity.”

Associate Professor of Mining Robert Hall collaborated with Lawrence over the past five years to improve the safe loading of mining trucks. “In many ways, Peter has been my mentor. His dedication to his research and his students is remarkable — it is evident that he truly loves his research, helping students and supporting UBC.”

Considering the extent and range of his inventions, one might assume Lawrence focuses only on research. That is not the case. For him, three undergraduate courses and programs shine as gems.

In 1982 with former graduate student Konrad Mauch (BASc ’77, MASc ’84), P.Eng, (later CEO of AC Statpower, acquired by Xantrex), he launched Introduction to Microcomputers (APSC 380), a one-term elective course open to all engineering students except Electrical Engineering; students would complete the course after a single term knowing how to design a microcomputer-based system for a real-world applications

“I remember when a student from Brazil came to me, worried that she wouldn’t pass the course because the terminology was extremely challenging. She felt that new terms like interface, circuit input impedance and noise filters were completely foreign to her on multiple levels and greatly interfered with her ability to learn the material. I assured her that she would learn enough to be able to design computer-based systems for real-world sensing and device control,” recalls Lawrence.

In her summer job that year, Lawrence’s worried student successfully implemented a working microcomputer-based system to automatically feed fish at a BC coastal fish farm. And, according to Lawrence, she was very proud of her accomplishment.

The second curriculum highlight for Lawrence was the 1999 launch of the Project Integrated Program (PIP), a project-design-based learning approach to engineering education. Designed with six other ECE faculty members, PIP replaced all ECE content in the second-year ECE program. Emphasizing an integrated understanding of Electrical and Computer Engineering principles, the program motivated students to learn academic content through four team-based design projects.

“If you can motivate students to learn, they will ask you for more. Students carry out a project that’s of interest to them, so the motivation is there,” says Lawrence, who notes that every study has shown the benefits of learning and retention from the PIP. “I’d never seen enthusiasm like this in a lecture-only course. It quickly became obvious we had something beneficial going.”

In PIP, each of four six-week modules contains a project, such as designing a self-contained  accelerometer-based digital carpenter’s level, or a microprocessor-controlled jukebox that will sense coins, accumulate deposits and play songs.

“Students want to be engineers because they want to build things; it’s a shame to make them  wait three or four years — while they read texts and listen to lectures — before they get to work on a real-world project,” says Lawrence. PIP helped to address this, and a new unified ECE program building upon both PIP and the lecture-based program will start in September 2011.

Associate Professor Matt Yedlin (PhD ’78 ECE) worked for five years on the first PIP team that Lawrence directed and notes that “in all ways, it was a memorable experience. Peter was able to bridge many obstacles and always did it with a sense of humor.”

“Professor Lawrence was my program leader in my second year,” says Ron Zohar (BASc ’11 ECE). “It was so simple to approach him, with his kindness and patience. His immense intelligence and modesty were simply inspiring. He was always willing to listen, always understanding. I am extremely lucky for the opportunity to have studied with such an incredible man.”

The New Venture Design course shines as the third gem. The yearlong course was piloted in 2003; Lawrence, then the inaugural holder of the Senior NSERC Chair in Design Engineering, collaborated with Sauder School of Business Professor Darren Dahl to co-instruct the course. The goal was to give students an opportunity to work in teams of six (three Business and three Engineering students) to conceive and develop a realistic commercial product. The expected output was an engineering prototype and a business plan.

“Working with Peter on the New Venture Design course we co-created was a highlight of my career,” says Dahl. “His vision in marrying business and applied science at the undergrad level resulted in a course that has inspired students and led to numerous successful start-ups and new ventures. Students in this course often point to Peter as an important mentor and note that the course experience was transformative in their university career.”

At the onset, course critics claimed students wouldn’t graduate with adequate engineering skills. But proof to the contrary shows in the successful new businesses — led by skilled engineers — launched through the course.

“Dr. Lawrence is an incredible professor who really cares about his students and wants to see them succeed…[by] encouraging students to think outside the box and pursue nontraditional engineering paths. He knows how to facilitate a challenging yet supportive learning environment and always made himself available to provide help and support, even outside of the classroom,” says Lauren Kulokas (BASc ’06 MECH), Chief Operating Officer of Energy Aware — a company formed through a New Venture Design course collaboration.

Lawrence gratefully acknowledges the strong support of the program by UBC donor Dr. Ken Spencer and the many industrial and business speakers who provide their valuable time and enthusiasm to speak with the New Venture Design students.

He is also quick to share credit with UBC’s University Industry Liaison Office (UILO), whose staff members have given lectures on intellectual property, helped with patent applications and technology transfer, connected students with companies and ensured that students maintain their intellectual-property rights.

Never short on enthusiasm, Lawrence offers a parting pearl of wisdom: “Find something that turns you on, and share it with colleagues and students to turn them on. Your collaboration will lead to good things.”