Sydney Goodfellow

�鶹��Ƶ, Harvard collaborate on substance to repel blood clots and bacteria

sgupta — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 13:15:41 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ, Harvard collaborate on substance to repel blood clots and bacteria sgupta Thu, 12/04/2014 - 08:15

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Glass slides dipped in blood to demonstrate the effectiveness of the nonstick material (photo by Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University)

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Engineering a surface so slippery a gecko couldn't climb it

Engineering a surface that is so slippery even geckos can’t stick to it may sound like a fun science fair project.

But new surface-coating technology developed by materials science and engineering professor Ben Hatton, together with colleagues at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute, does just that – and its slick properties have the potential to save lives.

Published recently in Nature Biotechnology, Hatton’s innovative design prevents blood from clotting on medical devices such as catheters, dialysis equipment and heart-lung machines, which is a common problem and can be dangerous.

Blood clotting is an important process in your body, where platelets and proteins in the blood aggregate to seal a wound. However, blood also clots on foreign objects in the body, like catheter tubing, and this clotting can cause blockage of flow or blood clots flowing elsewhere in the body.

To counteract these negative effects, doctors and nurses often give patients blood thinners, but these medications can be difficult for those who are elderly, sick or severely wounded.

The problem is so significant it is sparking a number of innovative remedies – including award-winning work by Professor Paul Santerre on a method of infusing anti-clotting macromolecules into medical devices during the manufacturing process.

The new coating developed by Professor Hatton and his colleagues matches perfluorcarbons – a liquid that is chemically similar to Teflon – to a uniquely-engineered surface. The result is an ultra-low-adhesion, slippery material that repels blood, stopping the clotting process before it starts.

“Making an inert surface for blood contact is really a huge benefit for a wide range of medical procedures – we really just want blood to ignore that surface and not clot,” said Professor Hatton in a recent CBC Radio Quirks & Quarks interview. (Listen here)

To demonstrate this, the research team tested the coating on over 20 different medical surfaces and with in vivo tests. The results were promising: much less blood clot formation for the eight-hour duration of the experiments, without the use of blood thinners.

In addition to blood, Hatton’s technology has also shown to have profound antimicrobial applications – if liquids can’t stick to it, it turns out bacteria have a hard time as well.

“Most antimicrobial materials function by releasing a chemical that kills bacteria on contact,” said Hatton, explaining that some bacteria become resistant to these products.

“Our approach is different in that the surface of the material is just too slippery for bacteria to adhere to, so no chemical release may be needed.”

Aside from blood and bacteria, the Harvard research team also brought a gecko into the lab to test the coating’s slippery potential. The gecko – a creature whose footpads are known for their ability to scale smooth walls and stick to almost any material – was also unable to get a grip, sliding off when tilted.

“I think this is going to make everybody’s life a whole lot easier in the medical community and for patients as well,” said Professor Hatton. “Everyone but geckos, that is.”

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What nature can teach us about solar energy

sgupta — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:11:26 +0000

What nature can teach us about solar energy sgupta Mon, 09/29/2014 - 09:11

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Solar energy expert Ted Sargent is leading the upcoming symposium, Bio-Inspired Ideas for Sustainable Energy

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Solar energy experts to gather at �鶹��Ƶ

Two thousand metres below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, tiny bacteria survive in near darkness by harvesting the dim light released from hydrothermal vents.

As humans increasingly look to the sun as a renewable energy source, what better model than these bacteria and other remarkably efficient organisms found in nature?

From October 8 to 9, a group of world experts in solar cell research are gathering at the University of Toronto to explore the question: what can plants teach humans about solar energy?

Hosted as part of the $1-million 2014 Connaught Global Challenge, the symposium, Bio-Inspired Ideas for Sustainable Energy, includes invited talks, poster sessions, industry networking and a public talk by special guest Sir Richard Friend of Cambridge University.

To learn more about the event, �鶹��Ƶ Engineering’s Sydney Goodfellow spoke with Ted Sargent, �鶹��Ƶ Engineering’s vice-dean, research.

Finding new solutions to our global energy crisis is no easy task – why is the Connaught Global Challenge symposium unique?

This symposium is exciting because great minds from around the world are converging in Toronto, and it’s a whole new combination of brainpower. These aren’t just leaders from one field, they’re from a whole range of different fields, and they’re coming here to learn from each other, to work towards a common goal.

People in the field of quantum biology and photobiology – specialists in the mechanisms underpinning photosynthesis – have been saying for a long time that we should look to nature to make our energy production more efficient, but nobody’s been asking how. At this symposium, we are coming together to learn from each other. Our goal is to see projects and partnerships emerge from it that will lead to further progress in solar energy – both electricity and stored fuels.

With all of these world experts converging in Toronto, could you share who at the University of Toronto and across the city may benefit from attending?

The symposium is very inclusive. Many of the attendees will be engineering and science graduate students, but it’s open across campus and appeals to a number of different fields. The more people who join from different academic and professional backgrounds the better, from physicists to materials scientists to political and environmental science students interested in energy policy.

Part of the symposium is a public lecture with Sir Richard Friend. Who is Sir Friend and what can we expect from his lecture?

[Sir Richard Friend] is a pioneer in plastic electronics, or flexible electronics. He’s had a tremendous amount of global success with turning flexible plastic materials into active devices for displays, lasing and energy conversion.

Sparked by the ideas of photobiologists, Richard says in the abstract for his lecture that, when it comes to solar energy, nature has us beat every time: they reproduce and propagate naturally with only the power of the sun; they’re extremely efficient at using a broad spectrum of light and they remove carbon dioxide from the air in the process.

He is both inspiring and inspired by the general thrust of the symposium. We invited him to think big, to lay out the vision for the next few decades of energy generation, in particular in the role of renewable resources and natural energy production.

What are the intended outcomes of this conference?

We seek to spark a new field. This symposium is, at its core, a conversation between some of the world’s energy leaders, and the next stage will be to begin collaboration across traditional [research] boundaries to solve problems together. When the conference is done, we’ll set to work towards these goals – advances in clean energy technology that are crucial to society’s future.

In my research group, we create solar cells based on plastic flexible spray coating. We make cells that are particularly good at absorbing more of the sun’s spectrum, from the visible into the infrared. We get our inspiration from nature, because nature is great at harvesting the full rainbow spectrum of sun. Algae, for example, stack themselves in layers – a green layer, a blue layer, and so on – until they make up the full spectrum. They’re extremely efficient in handling the sun’s broad spectrum, and we gain inspiration and learn from them.

In addition, we work with soft materials that you spray down as a coating. But because they’re soft, they have all sorts of imperfections. This makes it hard for electrons to travel across their surface, but plants have these same imperfections and they transport energy very well. We’re trying to improve our electron transport abilities by looking at how nature does it. We’re also looking into antenna technology, modeling again off of plants, which will increase the rate at which our materials are able to absorb light.

Learn more about the Connaught Global Challenge Symposium: Bio-Inspired Ideas for Sustainable Energy.

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Three big ideas from the opening of �鶹��Ƶ’s new advanced materials lab

sgupta — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:01:05 +0000

Three big ideas from the opening of �鶹��Ƶ’s new advanced materials lab sgupta Fri, 07/18/2014 - 12:01

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Not your average ribbon cutting. Indy champ Hélio Castroneves (left) and Professor Doug Perovic carve the name of �鶹��Ƶ’s newest lab on a ribbon at nano-scale (photo by Roberta Baker).

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When three-time Indy 500 winner Hélio Castroneves speeds around the track at this month’s Indy races, he’ll be driving a racecar propelled by decades of materials research that makes it faster, safer and more efficient.

But with the opening of a new $20-million materials lab at the University of Toronto, the technology in Castroneves’ car could soon feel as old-fashioned as your grandma’s station wagon.

On July 17, Castroneves joined �鶹��Ƶ Engineering to unveil the Ontario Centre for Characterization of Advanced Materials (OCCAM) – a high-tech facility that enables researchers to explore and develop novel materials that could be used in electronics, renewable fuels, construction, disease treatment and even futuristic racecar design.

Funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) and Hitachi High-Technologies Canada, OCCAM offers highly specialized tools to understand and manipulate matter at the atomic scale. The centre also emphasizes collaborative and multidisciplinary projects, anticipating over 350 different research programs annually involving academic researchers and private companies.

"This is expensive equipment to purchase and operate, but the new centre makes it available to everyone, from industry to academia,” said Professor Charles Mims (ChemE), a co-principal investigator for OCCAM alongside Professor Doug Perovic (MSE). The facility is a joint initiative between the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) and the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry (ChemE).

To celebrate OCCAM’s grand opening, Castroneves used one of the lab’s high-power electron microscopes to “cut” the centre’s name into a ribbon at nano-scale. The width of each letter was nearly 1,000 times smaller than a human hair.

The MSE logo will also be featured on the front of the racecar of Castroneves – part of the Hitachi-sponsored Penske Team – at this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto races.

“OCCAM is a shining example of how �鶹��Ƶ Engineering, in partnership with industry and government, is pursuing innovative solutions to some of world’s greatest challenges in health, city life and energy,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “We are profoundly grateful to CFI, MRI and Hitachi for their contribution to the creation of this unique world-class facility.”

Don’t miss MSE’s logo on the front of Castroneves’ racecar in the Honda Indy Toronto races this weekend.

Three big (and small) ideas enabled by OCCAM:

1. Car accidents that no longer kill people

“We have the technology today to make vehicles so safe that car accidents no longer kill people,” shared Professor Perovic. But if we have the means, why aren’t we using them? According to Perovic, the answer is cost – cost of materials and cost of manufacturing. That’s why, through OCCAM, he has partnered with Toronto-based Integran Technologies to develop newer, inexpensive methods of boosting vehicle safety and efficiency.

Integran is the only company in the world that can coat plastic and carbon fibre with nano-metals, allowing them to make virtually any material significantly stronger with one coating. While they are continuing to find ways of reducing cost, Integran’s technology has the potential for impact beyond the auto industry, from better spacecraft to lighter and more durable bicycles.

2. Stopping blood clots with non-stick nano-materials

Blood clots are essential in healing cuts, but they can be deadly for those requiring medical catheters (tubes that carry medicine or drain fluids in the body). Dangerous clots can form around the tubes in a process called thrombosis – an affiliction that leads to approximately 50,000 deaths in the United States each year.

To reduce the risk of blood clots, Professor Paul Santerre (IBBME), Jeannette Ho (ChemE/ IBBME MASc 9T7) and a group of other medical scientists and engineers have designed a method of producing catheters that include fluorinate oligomers, the same molecules that make frying pans non-stick. Already commercially available through licensing from Santerre’s spin-off company Interface Biologics, their invention has shown to reduce the rates of thrombosis by up to 75 per cent.

“OCCAM gives us access to tools and expertise that a small lab like us wouldn’t normally have,” said Roseita Esfand, director of research and development at Interface. “Collaborations such as this will help us to bring our technologies and products from bench to human.”

3. Solar fuels – If trees can do it, we can do it

Professor Ben Hatton (MSE) and a group of multidisciplinary researchers are using OCCAM’s advanced equipment to design nano-materials that mimic the photosynthetic processes of plants. While plant photosynthesis uses the sun’s rays to produce sugars and carbohydrates, Hatton’s lab is hoping to make materials that produce methane and other gases.

This technology could be used to power vehicles, houses and more – and to store energy we aren’t using for later consumption. In doing so, they could reduce, and even reverse, the detrimental impacts of fossil fuels. “We’re still in early development stages,” explained Hatton. “But we’re excited by the advances and resources that OCCAM will provide, and we look forward to making our technology better and more efficient.”

“If trees can do it,” he said, “we can do it.”

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Engineering a new kind of rock music

sgupta — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 13:01:52 +0000

Engineering a new kind of rock music sgupta Fri, 07/11/2014 - 09:01

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It is like music, listening to the sounds that rocks release when you apply pressure to them,” says Hamed Ghaffari, pictured above with Farzine Nasseri (photo by Roberta Baker)

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“Earthquakes are complex; understanding the forces behind them can be even more so”

What do Beethoven and a boulder have in common?

They both compose music – while one is enjoyed over dinner, the other could be used to predict earthquakes.

In a recent paper published in Nature Scientific Reports, three researchers from �鶹��Ƶ Engineering unveiled a new algorithm for interpreting the sound waves emitted from rock pieces when they crack and fissure. The groundbreaking research has the potential to predict seismic activity, help extract fossil fuels and more.

In the study, Civil Engineering PhD student Hamed Ghaffari and fellow authors Farzine Nasseri and Professor Paul Young, used the new algorithm to examine how rock fractures in various lab scenarios.

“When you place a log on the fire,” Ghaffari explained, “you hear the snaps and pops of the combustion of the wood. Those same principles apply to rocks and are what we use in the lab. We induce a change in the state of the material and listen to the sound it releases.”

Nasseri said the sounds give clues to where the problems – or opportunities – lie: “Every rock has a unique micro-structure mixed with fissures and pore spaces. When you apply pressure, you can hear the sound of micro-cracking in the rock and by the nature of the crackling sounds they make [you can identify] where they are and how they are moving.”

Labs producing this kind of research generally employ a more conventional method for data collection, which involves the application of force to two sides of a cylindrical rock sample.

Young and colleagues have pioneered a new method known as polyaxial loading conditions, which involves the application of force to six sides of a cubic rock sample. This more closely approximates natural earthquake conditions.

“Our lab is unique,” said Young, who oversees the laboratory where Ghaffari and Nasseri conducted their research, “and [it’s] one of the few in the world that uses three dimensional stresses together with geophysical imaging to study rock fracturing dynamically. We apply a complex series of forces in our tests so that the results more closely resemble what actually happens in nature when a real earthquakes occurs.”

In both methods of force, the applied pressure induces fracture in the rock, which spreads quickly throughout the stone. The fractures release energy in the form of a seismic wave. Ghaffari interprets these wave motions using complex network theory – a method of analyzing intricate relationships using graphical data – to learn more about the physics of micro-earthquake sources.

“Earthquakes are complex; understanding the forces behind them can be even more so,” said Ghaffari. “Our lab comes closer to approximating that complexity through 3D loading.”

Despite the difficulty in understanding these complicated series of data, Ghaffari and his colleagues are passionate about finding results. The research that the lab is conducting elevates our understanding of earthquake sources, which has wide ranging implications.

“What is the motivation behind my research? I live by it,” said Ghaffari. “I can’t separate [myself] from it. It can be frustrating, but finding order in disorder, finding connections in things that initially don’t seem connected – that is perfection.

“I am fascinated by the complex networks associated with rock fracture. It is like music, listening to the sounds that rocks release when you apply pressure to them.”

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Medical research pioneer Molly Shoichet receives �鶹��Ƶ's most distinguished rank

sgupta — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 15:34:53 +0000

Medical research pioneer Molly Shoichet receives �鶹��Ƶ's most distinguished rank sgupta Thu, 06/05/2014 - 11:34

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"An inspirational researcher and passionate innovator"

Nausea, vomiting, hair loss – these are just a few of the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy. Although the drugs are designed to kill cancerous cells and save lives, the potent chemicals destroy tissues and can damage the human body.

Professor Molly Shoichet (ChemE, IBBME) is leading a multidisciplinary team of researchers who are developing new ways to administer drugs that target only cancerous tissues, leaving the healthy ones intact. This week, Shoichet received one of the University of Toronto’s most prestigious titles: University Professor. The distinguished rank is given to just two per cent of tenured faculty, serving to highlight her outstanding contributions to research and teaching.

As a Canada Tier 1 Research Chair in Tissue Engineering, Shoichet’s research tackles a wide scope of medical-related challenges, from healing spinal cord injuries to blindness using stem cell therapy. The impact of her work extends beyond the laboratory, driven in part by her dedication to mentoring, teaching and motivating her students and colleagues.

“Professor Shoichet is an inspirational researcher and passionate innovator in biomedical engineering,” said Engineering Dean Cristina Amon. “On behalf of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, I offer my heartfelt congratulations for this richly-deserved recognition. We are all tremendously proud of her commitment to excellence and her pioneering discoveries.”

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering’s Sydney Goodfellow spoke with Professor Shoichet about her passion for research and education.

With projects ranging from stem cell therapy to treatment of disease, what sort of impacts do you expect your research to have?

I have always thought that we, in academia, should focus on answering big questions and solving difficult problems. I like to think of our research as the interface of applied chemistry and applied biology. Ultimately, we aim to enhance tissue repair and functional recovery in diseases associated with stroke, spinal cord injury, blindness and breast cancer. We’re able to work in diverse fields due to the strength of our graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, technicians and collaborators.

Your diverse research has received attention around the world. Can you share some of the recent projects you and your team are working on?

Currently we are designing polymers – which are essentially long chains of hundreds or thousands of tiny molecules – for use in biology and medicine. We’re excited about many of our projects, like designing novel ways to deliver therapeutic biomaterials to the spinal cord, brain or eye; creating innovative hydrogels that allow us to grow cells in three-dimensional environments that mimic nature; and developing new methods for targeted drug delivery in cancer. From our lab at �鶹��Ƶ, we have the privilege of collaborating with leading experts locally, as well as those in Canada and around the world.

As a University Professor and leader of a lab that has graduated more than 100 researchers in two decades, your dedication to teaching and education is clear. How do you balance the educational and research sides of your career?

Whether it’s for students in the classroom or scientists in the lab, I am fully dedicated to the academic mission of advancing knowledge. I really enjoy bringing research into the classroom and sparking imaginations.

I have received significant support from my colleagues in the Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry [department], which allows me to teach those subjects that I’m most adept at teaching, while providing me with the opportunity to devote meaningful time to research. As a mother of two teenage boys, I’m also blessed with a husband who supports my career aspirations. Balance is something that I strive for every day.

What motivates you to pursue your research?

I also love the pursuit of knowledge. I love working with the brilliant researchers in my lab, attempting to answer questions together – questions that have long gone unanswered, or even unasked. Discovery is fascinating and wonderful.

I also love learning about companies, their products and how they are making a difference in people’s lives. The raison d’etre of biomedical engineering is the same: I aspire to advance our research knowledge towards new applications in medicine. While I understand that many stars must align for this to come to fruition, this is one of my great passions and a significant motivation.

If you could give yourself as a student a piece of career advice, what would it be?

I encourage students to pursue their dreams. If they spend their lives doing what they love, they will spend more time doing it and thus be more likely to succeed. I have been particularly blessed with opportunities and have worked hard to bring them to fruition.

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This car travels 1,152 kilometres on one litre of fuel

sgupta — Mon, 26 May 2014 11:36:57 +0000

This car travels 1,152 kilometres on one litre of fuel sgupta Mon, 05/26/2014 - 07:36

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“When the judges saw our engine – their jaws were locked open. Our design was like nothing they’d ever seen before,” says Jonathan Hamway, co-captain, �鶹��Ƶ Supermileage (Photo by Roberta Baker).

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Why �鶹��Ƶ's Jonathan Hamway believes next year's team is poised to break the record

How much do you think it costs to drive from Toronto to Vancouver in the �鶹��Ƶ Supermileage Team’s new eco-car? Hint: it’s less than a medium latte from your favourite coffee shop.

Unveiled at the international Shell Eco-marathon this month, the tiny car from �鶹��Ƶ engineering students is capable of traveling 1,152 kilometres on a single litre of fuel. For a cross-country trip, that’s $4.70.

In this year’s competition, Supermileage won two design awards and placed second overall, thanks to an engine they redesigned from scratch. Taking place in Houston, TX, the packed weekend saw students compete from across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Guatemala.

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering’s Sydney Goodfellow spoke with Supermileage co-captain Jonathan Hamway about his experiences in this year’s competition, and why he thinks next year’s team is poised to break the record for the world’s most fuel-efficient car.

Your team measured nearly double the mileage of your car last year. Are these the results you expected?

Initially, we predicted the engine would reach around 1,700 kilometres per litre, but we didn’t have time to tune it, and our clutch was causing a lot of friction, so we actually ran a lot faster than we should have considering those set-backs.

All we really wanted was to finish a race so that we could qualify for the awards. When we saw we were in first place for most of the weekend, it was just icing on the cake. We knew there was so much more that we could have achieved.

In addition to placing in second, you also won a Technical Innovation Award and the Pennzoil Tribology Award. Can you share what these awards mean?

The Technical Innovation Award is based specifically on engine design. The award [recognized] how we were able to incorporate different technologies that haven’t been put together in a small engine before.

The Pennzoil Tribology Award was about using tribology principles, like wear and friction, and how we were able to optimize those in our engine for ultimate efficiency. [The judges] based the award on the principles we used for material selection, like lubricants, and how we put everything together to improve overall efficiency.

What was the atmosphere like at this year’s competition?

We changed the competition completely. We were the only team with a completely custom-built engine. When the judges saw our engine, their jaws were locked open. Our design was like nothing they’d ever seen before. We definitely inspired people, and that was the best part of the competition to me.

Next year, we’re going to see a lot of teams trying what we tried. We didn’t hide anything; we told them how we designed it, built it and anything they wanted to know. It’s up to them to actually do it, knowing how much work it is.

Fuel efficiency is a relevant topic around the world today. What impact do you think your innovations could have?

This competition is essentially about pushing the absolute limits of what you can do when you only look at fuel efficiency…the principles we used are very applicable. Small engines in scooters, for example, have a lot of room for improvement and could use some of our principles.

You already see some of our designs in cars, too, like whole or partial engine deactivation in hybrids, causing the engine to switch off when you get up to speed. Our engine was actually off for most of the race.

In terms of the actual geometries we chose – the coatings, how we mixed the fuel and created turbulence in the chamber – those are proprietary to us and haven’t been explored too much [by other small engine manufacturers], but I think they definitely should be.

This is why soon we will be displaying the engine at several other design showcases that are more investor-based. That’s where we’ll be talking about transforming and applying our design for other engine-powered vehicles and machines.

You’ve claimed that next year’s team will break the record for the world’s most fuel-efficient vehicle – how?

For next year’s competition, we are planning to spend more time tuning the engine and making the car’s body lighter and more aerodynamic.

It’s not about breaking the record – that is the easy part.

Our biggest challenge will be transferring knowledge, as a lot of our team members are graduating and leaving the team. Next year is about bringing in new talent and teaching them everything.

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Collaborative learning through better design

sgupta — Wed, 07 May 2014 10:31:40 +0000

Collaborative learning through better design sgupta Wed, 05/07/2014 - 06:31

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Slated to open in 2016, the new Engineering Centre is being designed to foster collaborative learning (image courtesy Montgomery Sisam Architects)

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Engineering a more fuel-efficient engine from scratch

sgupta — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 10:43:01 +0000

Engineering a more fuel-efficient engine from scratch sgupta Thu, 04/24/2014 - 06:43

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The �鶹��Ƶ Supermileage Team (photo by Roberta Baker)

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Last fall, eight engineering students from the University of Toronto crowded around a small leaf-blower engine and argued whether it could power the world’s most fuel-efficient vehicle. Then they tossed it aside and started building a better one from scratch.

Now – after their professors said it was impossible – that engine is at the heart of a new eco-car that’s headed this week to the Shell Eco-marathon in Houston, Texas. Built by the �鶹��Ƶ Supermileage team, the vehicle will compete against other high school and university groups in a worldwide challenge for fuel efficiency.

“They called us crazy. I can’t tell you how many professors said it wouldn’t be possible [to create a new engine], considering we only had eight months and a limited budget,” said Jonathan Hamway, co-president of this year’s �鶹��Ƶ team. “If nothing else, that was a bigger motivator for us: we just wanted to prove them wrong.”

Hamway and the Supermileage team also competed in last year’s Eco-marathon. They didn’t win, but their vehicle travelled 266 kilometres on a single litre of fuel, making it 25 times more efficient than the average Canadian car. In this year’s competition, they aim to travel even farther on less fuel, while bringing a new world record to �鶹��Ƶ.

According to Hamway, they were the only group in North America this year to redesign their engine from the ground up – a task attempted with the help of George Brown student Ryan Billinger and �鶹��Ƶ student Nikita Singarayar, who worked on it as part of a Capstone Design project.

The Supermileage engine, which is unlike any other of its size, also won first prize among mechanical engineering capstone projects and took home the Wallace G. Chalmers Engineering Design Award.

“The number one thing we looked at is keeping as much heat in the chamber as possible,” explained Hamway. “Some engines lose up to 70 per cent of their combustion energy as heat loss through the walls and as exhaust gasses.”

The team combatted the issue of heat loss by finding ways to convert the heat into usable energy, which massively increased the efficiency of the engine and makes it a huge contender in Houston.

In addition to building the motor, this year’s team also redesigned the vehicle body. They replaced last year’s heavy aluminum components with a streamlined, carbon fibre structure. This made the vehicle much lighter, while maintaining strength.

Jonathan said the diversity of his team was the reason they achieved the seemingly impossible: “We all come from different backgrounds, not just academically, but personally, and our experiences in life and in school all come together and complement each other.

“We’ve all been exposed to different things: it’s not just whoever’s in charge in electrical is only doing electrical; we all almost do everything, so that allows for a spread of knowledge. Everybody gets a chance to learn and be part of the team.”

The Supermileage team will compete head-to-head with other teams from across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Guatemala. You can follow the competition on Twitter with the hashtag #SEM2014.

The 2014 team consists of co-presidents Jonathan Hamway and Mengqi Wang, as well as Mayukh Chakraborty, Pooya Tolideh, Pranav Kadhiresan, Jacob Shultis, Monica Lee, and Marcus Tan.

Sydney Goodfellow is a writer with the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto.

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