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GGE News - 2006
- Brazil Update 2006
- Celebrating Geography Awareness Week and Geomatics Day @ UNB, November 2006
- GGE Recognized for its Contribution to the Province
- Fall Graduate Seminar
- GGE Alumnus Receives Prestigious Award from NASA
- Faculty of Engineering Awards Evening
- Geomatics Day 2006 at UNB
- GGE Wins the First Annual Staff and Faculty Pumpkin Polooza
- The Heron's Arctic Adventure 2006
- 21 GGE Students Heading to the CIG National Conference
- UNB Makes Its Mark at Navigation Conference
- Run for the Cure Chili Sale Another Big Success
- Annual Pizza Party 2006 and Run for the Cure Bake Sale
- FIG Publishes Sutherland and Nichols in Article of the Month
- Farewell to François Anton
- Department Surveys Historic Gun Battery
- GGE Hosts a BBQ
- Fifteen GGE Undergraduates Make the Dean's List
- Encaenia 2006
- GGE Student Awarded a 2006 Geomatics Atlantic Scholarship
- GGE Students Win Geomatics Canada Scholarships
- GGE Co-authored Paper Receives Best-in-Track Award at IEEE/ION PLANS 2006 Meeting
- Marcelo Santos Elected President of CGU Geodesy Section
- GGE Grad Lovett Lewis in Top 40 Under 40 for 2005
- Former UNB Engineering Professor to Receive Honorary Degree at Encaenia
- Sue Nichols Receives Merit Award
- Summer Fellowship Program for Robbie Kingdon
- GGE Student Wins APEGNB Student Paper Competition
- Graduate Technical Conference 2006
- Artu Ellmann Recognized for Distinguished Contributions
- Old Gravimeter New Again
- We're Number One ... Again
- Four New Scholarships
- Dr. David Wells Appointed Chair of Committee to Study Surgical Wait Times in New Brunswick
- GGE Takes Delivery of GPS Signal Simulators
- John Hounsell, Former Department Survey Technician, Passes
- Dr. Michael Li Speaks on the Saint John Harbour Disposal Site
- Joel Corcoran Receives ANBLS Undergraduate Award
- GGE News Available via RSS
Brazil Update 2006
UNB researchers, Dr. Susan Nichols, Ph.D. candidate Silvane Paixao and research assistant Hazel Onsrud, spent much of June and July of 2006 in Brazil working on the social equity components of the National Geospatial Framework Project, a CIDA project lead by Dr. Marcelo Santos at UNB and our partner institution in Brazil, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Although many of the demonstration project sites were visited on this trip, two highlights of the time abroad were helping to host a workshop in northeast Brazil and visiting Xingu Park, an indigenous reserve in Mato Grosso State in the west of Brazil. In both excursions, the team worked to illustrate the impact that the National Geospatial Framework Project could have on minorities, their access to land, and cross-cutting gender issues.
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Back to the top of the page Celebrating Geography Awareness Week and Geomatics Day @ UNB, November 2006
The National Geographic Society has sponsored Geography Awareness Week since 1987 to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities, and organizations, with a focus on the education of children.
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Back to the top of the page GGE Recognized for its Contribution to the Province
On Friday, November 24, the 10th Anniversary celebration of the New Brunswick Digital Orthophoto Program, GGE faculty, staff and former graduate students were recognized by Service New Brunswick for playing a leading role in the planning, design and execution of this important project.
Those recognized included Prof. David Coleman, Prof. Eugene Derenyi and Ms. Marta Wojnarowska, M.Sc.E. for their early work in prototype testing and in developing the original orthophoto mapping specifications and quality control criteria. Later in the program, Dr. Mohamed Abdelrahim Hosny and Mr. David Raymond, M.Eng. played an important role in assessing data compression alternatives to permit efficient and reliable on-line storage and access to the image files. Finally, Dr. Kevin Pegler was involved in testing, process development and quality control criteria for removal of the ridging effect in the digital elevation models that helped create Service New Brunswick's digital orthophotos.
UNB GGE alumni playing an instrumental role in the program who were also recognized at the event included Mark Doucette of Watermark Industries, Roger Dick of DataQC, and Julie McKay, Bernard Arseneau, Rejean Castonguay and David Finley, all of (or retired from) Service New Brunswick.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 33 KB.
Back to the top of the page Fall Graduate Seminar
On 22 November the Department held the Semi-Annual Graduate Seminar. Congratulations to the conference organizers Silvane Paixao and Miguel Vasquez on a very successful event and as always, special thanks to Sylvia Whitaker for all of her hard work in helping the organizers and in arranging the reception afterwards.
Click here to look at the seminar program.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 31 KB.
Back to the top of the page GGE Alumnus Receives Prestigious Award from NASA
Dr. Attila Komjathy, who received his Ph.D. degree in 1997 from the University of New Brunswick, has received an award for exceptional scientific and technical contributions from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Inventions and Contributions Board. Dr. Komjathy has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a research scientist since 2001.
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Back to the top of the page Faculty of Engineering Awards Evening
On 17 October, the Dean of Engineering, Dave Coleman, hosted the 6th Annual Engineering Awards Evening. Three GGE students received awards. Alex Snyder received the Sir George E. Foster Scholarship, Erin Grass received the Gottfried Konecny Survey Award, and Ivan Detchev received the Brenda Claire Sharpe Memorial Scholarship. Congratulations Alex, Erin and Ivan.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 8 KB.
Back to the top of the page Geomatics Day 2006 at UNB
Geomatics Day, also referred to as GIS Day, is an annual event that is celebrated in over 50 countries including Canada, USA and Australia. Universities across Canada, such as UNB, conduct workshops, have open houses and setup exhibits to recognize this day.
| Event | Geomatics Day 2006 |
| Date | November 30 |
| Time | 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. |
| Location | UNB Campus, Head Hall, Main Foyer (C Level) |
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Back to the top of the page GGE Wins the First Annual Staff and Faculty Pumpkin Polooza
Congratulations to Tracey and Sylvia for winning first place in the First Annual Staff and Faculty Pumpkin Polooza sponsored by the UNB Alumni Office. 23 pumpkins were showcased on October 27 at the Fridays @ Four reception in the Alumni Lounge. For pictures of the competition go to http://alumni.unb.ca/photos.
Tracey carved the pumpkin and Sylvia created the set.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 32 KB.
Back to the top of the page The Heron's Arctic Adventure 2006
UNB's premier research vessel, the CSL Heron, made a successful trip to the Canadian Arctic this year hitching a ride on the side of the CCGS Amundsen, Canada's 100 metre research icebreaker. The Amundsen left port in Quebec City on August 22nd, 2006 and will return on November 10th, 2006. The trip is divided into two six week legs. Steve Brucker, Ian Church, Jonathan Beaudoin (last four weeks of leg) and John Hughes Clarke (first two weeks of leg) manned the first leg of a journey though the Northwest Passage ending in Kugluktuk, Nunavut. Jason Bartlett, Doug Cartwright and Pim Kuus are currently enjoying the second leg which started in Kugluktuk, went into the Beaufort Sea and they are now returning through the Northwest Passage.
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Back to the top of the page 21 GGE Students Heading to the CIG National Conference
21 undergraduate students are heading out on October 24th for Montreal to attend the Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG) national conference. The theme of the conference is "Driving the process".
Nick Bardsley, President of the Survey Society, has been working on this trip for many months and has received funding from the New Brunswick Branch of CIG, Dr. John Hughes Clarke, Dr. Dave Wells, the Engineering Endowment Fund, Terrain Group Inc., and The Association of New Brunswick Land Surveyors. Thank you to all who sponsored this trip and congratulations to Nick on a job very well done. A special thank you to Mark Doucette, WaterMark Industries, who has been an enormous help to Nick.
The students will be holding a brown bag lecture when they get back to share all that they learned at the conference.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 32 KB.
Back to the top of the page UNB Makes Its Mark at Navigation Conference
The University of New Brunswick was well represented at ION GNSS 2006, this year's Institute of Navigation global navigation satellite systems meeting, which was held in Fort Worth, Texas, during the last week of September. Four faculty members and seven graduate students attended the meeting, the best-ever turnout for UNB.
A total of nine papers on various topics related to GPS were presented by UNB authors - quite an accomplishment considering the high-powered nature of the conference. "This year's conference was quite competitive," said Dr. Todd Walter, the program chair. "We received more than 570 abstracts for 288 presentation slots."
Two of the graduate students attending the meeting, Reza Ghoddousi-Fard and Felipe Nievinski, were selected as winning entries in the ION's student paper competition. Submitted papers were judged based on technical content, clarity and presentation. The best papers were selected, and the author of each winning paper was sponsored by the ION to attend the meeting and present their paper in one of the professional technical sessions. Both papers dealt with the effect of the earth's atmosphere on GPS signals - one of UNB's specialty research areas. Mr. Ghoddousi-Fard's paper was entitled "Comparison of IGS and Radiosonde Determination of ZTD in the Canadian Arctic" while Mr. Nievinski's was entitled "Numerical Weather Models for Tropospheric Mitigation in Marine Kinematic GPS."
One of the UNB papers was singled out by the conference organizers. Presented by Rodrigo Leandro and co-authored by Profs. Marcelo Santos and Richard Langley, the paper "Wide Area Neutral Atmosphere Models for GNSS Applications" was selected as one of the best papers at the conference. In the paper, Mr. Leandro discussed the development of the latest UNB model for reducing the effect of the atmosphere in GPS positioning and navigation. Algorithms and software developed at UNB are widely used in GPS applications and the microprocessor firmware in virtually every GPS receiver sold today includes a UNB-developed atmospheric model.
Back to the top of the page Run for the Cure Chili Sale Another Big Success
Thanks to the help of amazing volunteers and all those that came out to buy chili, we declare the 2nd annual chili sale a smashing success. We estimate that 80 bowls of chili were sold, and approximately $370 was raised!
Although there are far too many volunteers to mention by name, thank you so much to everyone who helped with the sale - from those of you who made chili, or desserts, those who picked up rolls, beverages, chili toppers and hot sauce, and those of you who helped with the set up, the sale itself and clean up. The success of the event is certainly a testament to all the amazing volunteers within the UNB community and the rUNBuddies team.
Click on the thumbnail image to look at photos taken during the sale, 58 KB.
Back to the top of the page Annual Pizza Party 2006 and Run for the Cure Bake Sale
On 12 September, GGE welcomed all returning students, new students, faculty and staff to a new school year. There was pizza all around and this year an added treat. Sylvia and Tracey held a bake sale to raise money for the Run for the Cure. They raised, with a little help from their friends, $350 for the cure. Congratulations Tracey and Sylvia on another job well done.
Click on the thumbnail image to look at photos taken during the party, 70 KB.
Back to the top of the page FIG Publishes Sutherland and Nichols in Article of the Month
FIG, the International Federation of Surveyors, publishes on their website an Article of the Month. "This is a high-level paper focusing on an interesting topic to all surveyors" (http://www.fig.net/pub/monthly_articles/index.htm). The article of the month for September 2006 is a paper co-authored by Dr. Michael Sutherland and Dr. Sue Nichols entitled "Issues in the Governance of Marine Spaces." This paper is the introductory chapter of the new FIG publication, Administering Marine Spaces: International issues.
As noted on the FIG web page "Joint FIG Commissions 4 and 7 Working Group 4.3 has been active in the areas of Coastal Zone Management, Marine Cadastre and Marine Governance since 2002. Result of this work is now published in the FIG publication series as publication no. 36. The publication comprises a number of papers that focus on issues related to the administration of marine spaces from regional perspectives. Its purpose is to stimulate further discussion and research in this most important subject area. Whilst it is not possible to deal with all issues, it does underscore the international importance of administering marine spaces."
Michael Sutherland is a Vice-Chair of FIG Commission 4 and head of its Working Group 4.3. He served as editor for the above-referenced publication.
Back to the top of the page Farewell to François Anton
The Department said farewell to Adjunct Professor François Anton on 25 August. François has accepted a position as Associate Professor with the Department of Informatics and Mathematical Modelling of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Lyngby, Denmark.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 27 KB.
Back to the top of the page Department Surveys Historic Gun Battery
The department recently surveyed a historical monument in Saint John, New Brunswick. Red Head Battery overlooks the Saint John River estuary and there were concerns that the site would be lost to erosion of the cliff face below. Construction of the gun battery began during the American Civil War when tensions between the Union states and the United Kingdom almost resulted in military conflict. The battery site was used as a training camp during World War I and as a dummy gun position during World War II.
The field work at Red Head Battery was carried out last summer by Dr. Kevin Pegler, assisted by Tomas Beran and Bessie Liu. The collected data was processed to produce a topographic plan of the site which will be used in the future archeological investigations. The survey was undertaken on behalf of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, an activity of the Military and Strategic Studies Program of the University of New Brunswick.
For further information about the Red Head Battery and its future, see
"University of New Brunswick Researchers Want to Save Redhead Battery"
"Fortress Saint John: Red Head Battery"
"The New Brunswick Military History Project: Saint John City"
Satellite image of Saint John, centred on Red Head Battery site.
Click on the thumbnail image to look at photos taken during the exercise, and the final topographic plan, 129 KB.
Back to the top of the page GGE Hosts a BBQ
The Department hosted a BBQ on 21 July for faculty, staff and students at Sue Nichols' house. Lots of food and fun was had by all. Thank you to Sylvia Whitaker for all of her hard work in organizing the event and the rest of the office staff for their help. Thank you to Sue Nichols for volunteering her home.
Click on the thumbnail image to look at photos taken during the BBQ, 327 KB.
Back to the top of the page Fifteen GGE Undergraduates Make the Dean's List
Fifteen students from Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering have made the Dean's List for 2005-2006. The students who qualified for the list attained a sessional grade-point average of at least 3.7 or A- for the academic year. Congratulations go out to the following students:
| Fredericton, NB | Alexander Snyder |
|---|---|
| Ian Church | |
| Olga Telecka | |
| Mactaquac, NB | George McKessock |
| Botwood, NF | Blair Bridger |
| Yarmouth, NS | Alix d'Entremont |
| Charlottetown, PEI | Brandon Mol |
| Thomas Richardson | |
| Deep River, ON | Ian Cleland |
| Mississauga, ON | Pawel Walczak |
| Toronto, ON | Rory O'Connell |
| Vulcan, AB | Clark Langridge |
| Winnipeg, MB | Robyn Fraser |
| Bulgaria | Ofeliya Popova |
| Malaysia | Suresh Jeyaverasingam |
Back to the top of the page Encaenia 2006
This year's Encaenia, held on Thursday, May 18, 2006, saw 21 undergraduate degrees, 7 graduate degrees, and 1 honorary degree conferred.
The graduate degree recipients and the titles of their thesis or dissertation were:
Tariq Zeyad Al-Shami, M. Eng. (course based)
George Dias, M.Sc.E. - Integrating Canadian Ice Information into Electronic Navigational Charts
Garret Duffy, Ph.D. - Bedform Migration and Associated Sand Transport on a Banner Bank: Application of Repetitive Multibeam Surveying and Tidal Current Measurement to the Estimation of Sediment Transport
Meredith Hutchison, M.Sc.E. - Towards a Consensus Building within Canada's Aquaculture Industry: Design of a Framework for Addressing Conflict, Information Management and Public Consultation
Kristian Llewellyn, M.Eng. - Corrections for Beam Pattern Residuals in Backscatter Imagery from the Kongsberg-Simrad EM300 Multibeam Echosounder
Boipuso Nkwae, Ph.D. - Conceptual Framework for Modeling and Analysing Periurban Land Problems in Southern Africa
Xiaolun Yi, M.Sc.E. - Multiple Representation Data Capture
Dr. Sam Masry, president and CEO of CARIS, received an honorary doctor of science degree at Encaenia. Dr. David Coleman, Dean of Engineering, hosted a reception before the ceremony.
Click on the thumbnail image to look at photos taken during the day, 325 KB.
Back to the top of the page GGE Student Awarded a 2006 Geomatics Atlantic Scholarship
Congratulations to GGE undergraduate student Mark Guest. Mark has been awarded one of four $1,500 Geomatics Atlantic Scholarships.
These scholarships are open to all university and community college students in institutions across the region, so there is a stiff competition for the awards.
Back to the top of the page GGE Students Win Geomatics Canada Scholarships
Congratulations to GGE undergraduates Alex Snyder, Brett Richardson, and Rory O'Connell who have each been awarded a Geomatics Canada Scholarship. These scholarships are funded by Natural Resources Canada and administered annually by the Canadian Institute of Geomatics. They were created to assist students enrolled in a post-secondary institutions in the field of geomatics.
The scholarship program includes four graduate level university scholarships of $2,500, eight undergraduate level university scholarships of $2,000, and eight college/technical institute scholarships of $1,500 which are awarded annually and distributed throughout the geomatics disciplines.
The CIG also presented the scholarship winners with a complimentary one-year student membership, which includes a subscription to Geomatica.
Back to the top of the page GGE Co-authored Paper Receives Best-in-Track Award at IEEE/ION PLANS 2006 Meeting
A paper co-authored by Drs. Richard Langley and Don Kim was awarded one of the four best-paper-in-track accolades at the Position Location and Navigation Symposium 2006 held in San Diego last month. The paper, "Decorrelation of Troposphere Across Short Baselines," was presented by Dr. David Lawrence of Novariant, Inc. in Menlo Park, California. The paper looks at anomalous results from GPS observations during normal rain storms. Drs. Langley and Kim collaborated with Dr. Lawrence and the other paper authors, sharing their extensive background in interpretting and modelling the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on GPS signals.
PLANS 2006 was jointly sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The Institute of Navigation.
Back to the top of the page Marcelo Santos Elected President of CGU Geodesy Section
At the recent meeting of the Canadian Geophysical Union in Banff, Alberta, members elected Marcelo Santos as president of the Geodesy Section. Prof. Santos will serve as president for two years. Congratulations!
Back to the top of the page GGE Grad Lovett Lewis in Top 40 Under 40 for 2005
Lovett Lewis, president and owner of Cansel Survey Equipment Inc., and a graduate of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering (B.Sc.E. 1991) has been named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 for 2005.
Canada's Top 40 Under 40 is a national program founded and managed by The Caldwell Partners to celebrate our leaders of today and tomorrow, and to honour Canadians who have reached a significant level of success but have not yet reached the age of 40.
The program is designed to promote mentorship and professional development by introducing these leaders to the established business community and by promoting them as role models for young Canadians.
In choosing the recipients, the Board considers the nominees' achievements in the following areas:
- Vision and Leadership
- Innovation and Achievement
- Impact
- Community Involvement and Contribution
- Growth / Development Strategy
For more information on the program go to http://www.top40award-canada.org
Cansel is a national distributor of survey and mapping instruments and accessories including Trimble Navigation Ltd. GPS equipment as featured on our department brochure. The company has been a leader in the field for forty years and provides sales, rentals, repair, training and technical support from nine locations nationwide. Lovett graduated with his degree in 1991 and did a bit of graduate work with Prof. Langley then began working for Cansel in 1992 as a sales representative. He was named general manager within a few years and bought the company in 2002. Congratulations on all of your successes Lovett.
Back to the top of the page Former UNB Engineering Professor to Receive Honorary Degree at Encaenia
Dean of Engineering, Dr. David Coleman has announced that former UNB Engineering professor Salem (Sam) Masry will receive an honorary doctor of science degree at this year's Encaenia ceremony on Thursday, May 18, at 2 p.m.
Dr. Masry is founder, president and CEO of CARIS, a Fredericton-based company with offices in the Netherlands and the USA. A professor at in the Department of Surveying Engineering (now GGE) for 20 years, Dr. Masry achieved international recognition in the fields of computerized mapping and geographic information systems (GIS). He developed, or co-developed several new ideas in the field of geomatics, co-invented and patented a technique for laser plumbing in mining, and developed a series of digital mapping courses that became the basis for UNB's GIS program.
Dr. Masry also initiated several digital mapping research projects, including a project to investigate mapping of Canadian coastal waters using photogrammetry. This project led him to found CARIS in 1979. Dr. Masry left UNB in 1986 to devote himself to the management of the company. Today, CARIS has over 150 employees and CARIS software is used in over 50 countries. The company has employed hundreds of UNB graduates since its inception over 25 years ago.
Dr. Masry has received several awards, including the Talbert Abrams Grant Award from the American Society of Photogrammetry and Atlantic Canada's Innovator of the year in 1989.
Back to the top of the page Sue Nichols Receives Merit Award
Congratulations to Dr. Sue Nichols who has been selected to receive a UNB Merit Award for the academic year 2005-2006. This recognition is awarded annually to faculty who have been assessed as particularly meritorious. Its purpose is to recognize and encourage faculty and librarians who have made an outstanding contribution to the University.
"It is a singular honour which is bestowed upon you in recognition of outstanding performance, commitment and service to the University." John McLaughlin, President.
Back to the top of the page Summer Fellowship Program for Robbie Kingdon
GGE graduate student Robbie Kingdon has been granted a Summer Fellowship Program by the National Science Council (NSC) of Taiwan in conjunction with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Robbie will be working with Prof. Cheinway Hwang at the National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu City, located in the northern part of Taiwan, along the Taiwan Strait. The fellowship covers living expenses in Taiwan for two months this summer (provided by the NSC) and travel costs along with a $3,000 supplement (provided by NSERC). A very small number of these awards are granted each year, usually about five.
The purpose of the fellowships is to gain hands-on research experience in a foreign country, and experience a foreign culture and research environment. Robbie will be involved with Prof. Hwang's attempts at geoid modelling, especially over the oceans and in investigations of topographical density effects. Robbie is an M.Sc.E student under the supervision of Dr. Marcelo Santos.
Back to the top of the page GGE Student Wins APEGNB Student Paper Competition
Chris Oyler has won first place in the 29th Annual APEGNB (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick), Fredericton Branch Student Paper Competition, which was held here at UNB on 5 April. Students from each engineering program presented papers and it has been many years since a GGE student has won. Chris' presentation was entitled "Reflectorless EDM Beam Characteristics and Measurement of Inside and Outside Corners." His presentation was based on his technical report for GGE4711 which was done under the supervision of Dr. Kevin Pegler and Mr. Graham Bowden of Marshall Macklin Monaghan Limited in Mississauga, Ontario.
According to Chris:
Reflectorless electronic distance measuring (EDM) devices are becoming a standard feature on most modern total stations. The technology lends itself to error when used in less than ideal conditions. One such example is the measurement of distances to inside and outside corners. The research tested a Leica TCR1203 R300 reflectorless total station in a variety of geometric orientations and at a range of distances. This was done in an attempt to establish and quantify the amount of error associated with using this instrument in reflectorless mode.
The instrument tested preformed better than expected when tested at distances from 25 to 100 metres. The discrepancy in the position of the inside and outside corner was established using a method developed by myself to reduce the influence of errors.
Congratulations Chris.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look at Chris (right) and his co-supervisor Dr. Pegler (left), 43 KB. (Photo: Sheri MacPherson, 2006-April-10)
Back to the top of the page Graduate Technical Conference 2006
The Graduate Technical Conference 2006 was a huge success thanks to some great organizers. The conference took place over March 23 and 24. Thank you to graduate students Steven Brucker and Krista Amolins who together did an incredible job of coordinating 21 undergraduate presentations and 5 graduate presentations including helping to organize the two paper competitions.
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Back to the top of the page Artu Ellmann Recognized for Distinguished Contributions
Dr. Artu Ellmann, a postdoctoral fellow working with Prof. Santos and Prof. Em. Vaníček, has received "Recognition of Distinguished Contributions" for his participation in a series of workshops at the Department of Civil Engineering of the National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Dr. Ellmann was a visiting researcher for four weeks at the invitation of Prof. Cheinway Hwang. The focus of the workshops was a new geoid model for Taiwan.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 87 KB.
Back to the top of the page Old Gravimeter New Again
The Department's Lacoste & Romberg G28 gravimeter has been in use since the 1960's. It was time for a refurbishment, which was possible with contributions from the University, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Science, the Departments of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, and Geology. A truly cross-campus endeavour!
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Back to the top of the page We're Number One ... Again
The Department recently participated in a university-wide Research Ranking Exercise and is proud to announce that it has maintained its number 1 ranking again this year.
In order to achieve a ranking of 1, a department must have a major commitment to research and scholarship. This commitment would be indicated through favorable external recognition involving such factors as an excellent record of adjudicated publications and presented papers, a high level of financial support in those disciplines where such support is appropriate and available, recognition of scholarly expertise through appointment of members to editorships, grant selection committees, and as journal referees. A graduate program would be considered to be of high quality, productive, and attractive to students. [Research Ranking criteria, UNB Vice President Research]
The Department has achieved a ranking of 1 every year since the ranking exercise was initiated. Only a handful of the university's some 40 departments are awarded this rank.
Back to the top of the page Four New Scholarships
Four new scholarships have been added to the list of awards and prizes open to students in Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering. The Association of New Brunswick Land Surveyors (www.anbls.nb.ca), Crape Geomatics (www.crape.com), Focus Corporation Ltd. (www.focus.ca) and Usher Canada Ltd. (www.ushercan.com) have each contributed a new scholarship. This brings the number of scholarships restricted to Geomatics students to 12 with a value of over $16,000 per year.
Thank you to ANBLS, Crape Geomatics, Focus, and Usher Canada.
Back to the top of the page Dr. David Wells Appointed Chair of Committee to Study Surgical Wait Times in New Brunswick
Dr. David Wells has been appointed Chair of the New Brunswick Surgical Care Network (NBSCN) Advisory Committee for a term of three years. The Committee will look at the factors that influence surgical wait times and review the wait-time situation in New Brunswick.
The Advisory Committee will develop a surgical access management program, including a surgical patient registry; a standardized patient assessment process; target times for surgery; public reporting of results; and recommend a structure and process for the implementation, and monitoring of the surgical access management program.
The 14 Advisory Committee members represent all eight NB Regional Health Authorities, the NB Department of Health and Wellness, Nurses Association of NB, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and NB Medical Society. A non-medical lay-person (that's Dave) was deliberately chosen to chair the Advisory Committee.
Back to the top of the page GGE Takes Delivery of GPS Signal Simulators
Late last year, the department took delivery of a pair of multichannel GPS signal simulators. The Spirent Federal Systems, Inc. STR4760s were acquired by Dr. Don Kim who had received a substantial grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation to support his research in the field of machine control and other high-precision GPS applications.
Connected to a receiver by a coaxial cable, a GPS signal simulator generates GPS-like signals which include various user-defined errors as well as the trajectory and dynamics of the receiver under test. With a simulator, the performance of a GPS receiver operating under different scenarios can be tested in the lab before ever venturing out into the real world. Even the operation of a GPS receiver destined for use on board an orbiting spacecraft can be tested realistically with a simulator -- something which cannot be done with live GPS signals on the ground. GGE's new signal simulators are being extensively used for testing the GPS Attitude, Positioning, and Profiling instrument being developed by UNB and Bristol Aerospace for the e-POP mission on the Canadian CASSIOPE satellite now under construction.
Even with the sizeable CFI grant, the simulators could not have been purchased without the generous support of Spirent Federal Systems and Testforce Systems Inc., Spirent's Canadian dealer.
The new simulators will further enhance GGE's strong reputation as a leader in the development of high-precision and high-integrity GPS systems and applications.
Back to the top of the page John Hounsell, Former Department Survey Technician, Passes
Everyone who used survey instruments from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s will be saddened to hear of the death of John Hounsell on 27 February at age 88. John had enjoyed good health and kept up with his gardening and other activities until about a year ago when prostate cancer metastacized to bone cancer. His job as storekeeper in the Department was a second career; he had been in the Army during World War II and for 20 years after the War. John was a "salt of the earth" -- a person of great worthiness, reliability, and honesty. "It was always reassuring for me to know that when John was there the students would be able to get the equipment they needed and that it would be returned in good order without any intervention on my part" said Professor Emeritus Angus Hamilton, long-serving former chairman of the department.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 34 KB.
Back to the top of the page Dr. Michael Li Speaks on the Saint John Harbour Disposal Site
On Thursday, February 23, Dr. Mike Li gave a seminar in GGE on "Stability and Dispersion of Dredged Material at the Black Point Disposal Site, Saint John Harbour". The talk was based on a paper by Dr. Li and Russ Parrott both from the Geological Survey of Canada based at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, NS.
Dr. Li is a specialist in modelling seabed sediment transport. He is one of the principal investigators on a project looking at the fate of dredge spoil off Saint John harbour which has involved the Ocean Mapping Group at UNB. He was in town as the external examiner for the Ph.D. thesis of Garret Duffy who worked on a dynamic sand wave field just east of the harbour's mouth.
Click on the thumbnail image to get a better look, 36 KB.
Back to the top of the page Joel Corcoran Receives ANBLS Undergraduate Award
Congratulations to undergraduate student Joel Corcoran. On 21 February, he was presented with a cheque for $2,500.00 as the recipient of the 2005 Undergraduate Award from the Association of New Brunswick Land Surveyors. This award is given to a senior undergraduate student in the cadastral surveying option who is a resident of New Brunswick and achieves high academic standing.
Beginning in 2006, the award will be replaced by the ANBLS Scholarship to be administered by the University of New Brunswick. We thank the ANBLS for their continuing support of the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering.
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Back to the top of the page GGE News Available via RSS
GGE news items are now available via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). To access our RSS feed, you simply need to download and install an RSS reader on your computer, PDA, or mobile phone and subscribe to our feed. We are the first, and so far only, UNB academic department to offer its news items via RSS.
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