February 2020

 

A brand new year, a brand new building – a brand new virus! Yikes!

It’s been a start to 2020 with mixed feelings.

The move to the new Engineering Building is complete, staff and students have been reinvigorated.  Everyone’s excited about the new labs that now enjoy first-rate, world class facilities and this includes both research and teaching labs. New Multi-Disciplinary Learning Spaces (MDLS) have been built for our lab teaching and has inspired staff to create novel learning experiences for our students (for e.g. getting students to make chemical actuators and sensors).​ We have also received generous university support to develop two new research facilities, one for tissue engineering and another for microbiological technology. 

 Of course on the other hand, Covid-19 has been, and continues to be a challenge. The University and Faculty have strategies in place to mitigate the potential issues that may arise for both students and staff and the Department is actively involved.

The semester starts 2nd March. Soon the campus will be filled with people. This is probably a time to be reminded of those wise words from 1933, “the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance​.”

Here’s to the hope that the threat of Covid-19 ends sooner than expected. Here’s to the hope that renewed passions for life can overcome anything.  Happy 2020!

 

Best Wishes,

 

Ashvin Thambyah

Associate Professor & Head of Department

Chemical & Materials Engineering

 

 

Checkout the Chemmat Gold Fund – The fund has been established to help create an inspirational learning and research environment designed to prepare our engineers of the future, for the future.