The prize went to James Opp, co-director of the Centre for Public History; Anthony Whitehead, director, School of Information Technology; and Will Knight, project manager and PhD candidate, Department of History

“The Rideau Timescapes App is a truly collaborative project involving students from Information Technology and graduate researchers with the Centre for Public History,” said Opp.  “It is a tremendous honour to be acknowledged on a national level for our efforts.”

The award recognizes work that achieves high standards of original research, scholarship and presentation; brings an innovative public history contribution to its audience; and serves as a model for future work, advancing the field of public history in Canada.

The Carleton team has given the public a new way to delve into the history of the Rideau waterway. The free app enables visitors to interact with the visual heritage of 26 lock stations along the canal. It is available for download at the Apple App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

App users have access to more than 700 historic photographs through a map interface. Short histories of the canal and its lock stations are available at the tap of a button. Users can also slide through time to see the changing landscape in the unique Timescape view. The app will even detect the user’s current position and jump to the nearest site.

The zoomable images can also be overlaid with contemporary scenes in real time through the phone camera, allowing users to position the historical image within the landscape and adjust the amount of transparency.

Funded in part by the Department of Canadian Heritage, the app is available in both French and English. Click here to read more about the Rideau Timescapes App. To download the app, click here.

Ben Pascolo-Neveu and Gosego Motukwa presented the winning project “Carling Avenue Light Rail Transit” on behalf of the team comprised of Nyishi Muchima (Project Manager), Naser Snobar, Pubudu Herath, and Saeid Matin. Fourteen Canadian universities entered their best capstone project to be evaluated by three judges on reports, posters, quality/efficiency of oral presentations, and quality of answers to questions from evaluators.

When asked why he contributes to his community, the fourth-year computer systems engineering student has a hard time answering the question.

“Normally we are asked how we contribute as opposed to why,” he says. “After much reflection I can only come up with what feels like a simplistic answer – I like to help people.”

Hennessy’s desire to help others is now being recognized. He has been named the second recipient of the Adrian D.C. Chan Award for Volunteer and Community Service.

The award was created by Chan, an associate professor in the the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, to recognize community contributions by Carleton engineering students. Besides maintaining high marks, recipients must display excellent volunteerism outside the classroom.

Hennessy displays these characteristics through an extensive list of community involvement. On campus, he has volunteered more than 2,300 hours to the Carleton University Student Emergency Response Team (CUSERT). He received the 2011 Andrew Dunbar Beyond the Call of Duty award and the 2012 CUSERT Directors Achievement award.

He has also served as a tour guide, summer orientation leader, TA, lab assistant, residence fellow, and research assistant during his time at Carleton.

“I feel that (I should help people) because I am fortunate enough to have the training and the time,” he says.

Hennessy doesn’t only make an impact through his role as a campus leader. He has also done search and rescue response for the Canadian Coast Guard for a number of years.

“There is an immense satisfaction in being able to provide assistance to people in distress,” he says. “I want to be for others what I hope others would be for me if the situation was reversed.”

After he leaves Carleton, Hennessy says he hopes to continue making positive impacts in his community.

In the product design category, winners are:

1st place: Inclusive Moto, Tiziano Cousineau; Carleton University
3rd place (tie): Skate Soccer; Jeff Burgers, Carleton University
3rd place (tie): Harambee, Ruby Hadley, Carmen Liu, Andrew Theobald & Alyssa Wongkee; Carleton University

Fourth-year Carleton student Tiziano Cousineau took first prize in the Product Design category for his Inclusive Moto project. The project aims to make off-road motorcycling accessible for those with lower limb disabilities. Cousineau designed a solution that gives a disabled rider complete control of the motorcycle, as well as the ability to ride independently without an assistant holding the motorcycle upright when starting and stopping.

“I was inspired by people who have been injured and paralyzed riding motorcycles,” says Cousineau, himself a motorcycle enthusiast. “I started to think about how I could give them the opportunity to continue riding. From there, I realized that I could help give this opportunity to those who had never been able to ride a motorcycle because of their disability. So the project evolved toward being universal and inclusive for everyone.”

Cousineau attributes part of the project’s success to the training he received in the Industrial Design program at Carleton.

“Carleton’s Industrial Design program really puts an emphasis on exploring a problem,” says Cousineau. “I was actually able to consult with the disabled community by speaking with adaptive sports participants, so in the end I was able to learn from the people I was designing for.”

Tying for third place was a project by fourth-year students Ruby Hadley, Carmen Liu, Alyssa Wongkee and Andrew Theobald. They developed a variety of assistive devices for users in rural Uganda requiring better mobility so that they can participate in small businesses. Also in third place was Jeff Burgers for his project Skate Soccer.

Barry J. Hobin & Associates Architects Inc. worked with Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation on Beaver Barracks Redevelopment to address the need for affordable housing for families, seniors aging in place and people with accessibility needs in the downtown core. Built to a high environmental standard on a former brownfiled site, the development includes geothermal heating and cooling, a green roof, tenant-run gardens and a high performance building envelope, including triple glazed windows. Beaver Barracks is also wheelchair accessible and smoke free.

With 254 dwelling units in five buildings, Beaver Barracks provides high quality rental housing to many households that would not otherwise be able to afford it.

Faculty of Engineering and Design graduates Dipak Roy, MEng/74, PhD/77, of D-TA Systems Inc. and Vinod Rajasekaran, BEng/05, of HUB Ottawa won in the categories of innovation-oriented enterprises and social enterprises, respectively. Carleton Science grad Obaid Ahmed, BMat/07 took the youth business entrepreneur award for his company OAK Computing.

The work of the 2012 Teron Scholars displays the art and science of architecture.

This year’s Teron Scholars were presented with their awards by William Teron, founder of the Teron Group of Companies and the “father of Kanata.” Five students were awarded prizes with a further three receiving honorary mentions.

To kick off a new academic year in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, provide inspiration to future Scholars, and recognize the achievements of this year’s winners, the awards were presented at the Director’s All-School Welcome on September 4, 2012.

Since the Teron Scholar program began in 2007, the annual awards have challenging students in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism to hone the skills needed to become multidisciplinary lead architects.

Students in any year of study can tailor a studio project identified by a professor as a Teron contender, and submit it for critical review by distinguished members of the Ottawa architecture community. The winners, judged on five critical disciplines (physical, social, environmental and economic dimensions and imagineering), display a holistic approach to architecture.

“I am amazed at the work of these young students,” says Teron, honorary fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and officer of the Order of Canada. “The honourable mentions go to students who show potential, to encourage their talent. The Scholars’ work though, adds magic.”

The winning submissions

Iva Mihaylova design for the Canada Council for the Arts includes an archive tower with large sliding walls through which the general public can see the stored art and a cantilevered auditorium extending slightly over the outdoor public garden.

Inspired by artist Lee Bontecou, Sam Smallwood designed The People’s Eye, a pavilion that twirls skyward. With a dome opening radially and 18 extending solar-panel equipped arms, it evokes the opening of an eyelid, with eyelashes and a pupil for the acceptance of light.

Vance Fok designed ARK 1, the Arctic Centre for Research & Knowledge (Generation 1), as a modular research centre to be shipped and assembled in the ice fields on the border of Yukon and Alaska. The ARK container carries the materials for the building and is then adapted to create the structural frame of the building itself.

Abbi Kusch designed Urban Burrow, a self-dependent, primarily public and environmentally conscious community combining a community centre, library, boat club and residential complex.

Matthew McKenna’s Sussex Drive bookstore plays on the model of an art gallery, featuring a curated book collection for selective exhibitions or sales and gathering space for lectures, forums and public events.

The four-man Carleton Free Flight team placed first at the annual Canadian Aeronautical and Space Institute (CASI) Free Flight Glider Competition this spring. The three-day event challenged teams from Ryerson University, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto and Carleton University to design and build a free flying (uncontrolled) glider, judged on design and presentation (written and oral reports) and flight performance.

Carleton’s glider, the Lammergeier, named after the soaring bird, featured a 2.8-meter wing span and 1.3-m fuselage, both of composite construction. The design utilized carbon fibre, Kevlar, and fiberglass over a foam and balsa core. The Lammergeier reached altitudes in excess of 55 meters and braved strong winds on the first day. After a number of over-spec landings, the team had an opportunity to practice their ingenuity while performing field repairs and returned triumphant on the third day.

The trophy will be on display at the CASI office in Ottawa and a keeper trophy and prize money has been presented to the team.  The team wishes to thank their sponsors and all who helped make the project a success!

Ontario undergraduate students were encouraged to put their minds to work on developing innovative, cost-effective, and practical solutions to accessibility-related issues. The province-wide initiative is organized by the Council of Ontario Universities, with support from the Government of Ontario.