18 December 2016

The NSERC Chair in Design for Aluminium of the Université de Sherbrooke has been renewed for a second five-year term through a grant of $3M, in cash and in kind.

The Chair, whose chairholder is Professor Alain Desrochers, aims to train engineers in designing products—rather than prototypes—through a project-based learning approach in all three undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Chair has several partners: Alcoa Innovation, the Centre québécois de recherche et de développement de l’aluminium (CQRDA), the Centre de recherche sur l’aluminium—REGAL, the Aluminium Association of Canada (AAC), and the Ministère de l’Économie, de la Science et de l’Innovation.

Projects completed with industrial partners at the end of bachelor’s degrees have nearly doubled in recent years—from 36% in 2011-2012 to 65% in 2013-2014. Joint ventures with research centres have also been successfully undertaken, in particular with the Advanced Technology Centre (CTA) BRP-UdeS in the context of a project to develop a hybrid tricycle.

Over the next five years, the Chair will focus its efforts on the training of highly qualified staff, design, development, collaboration, and marketing.

Another major project will be initiated with the CTA: ATLAS, a project using aluminium alloys in recreational vehicle frames to lighten the structure.

Source: Université de Sherbrooke
Photo credits: Michel Caron – UdeS