[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/dofasco_announcement.jpg” caption=”Pictured from left, dean of engineering Mo Elbestawi, Dofasco president and CEO Don Pether and McMaster president Peter George join forces following today’s announcement. Photo credit: Robert Tatlock”]Dofasco recently announced a $1 million community-building gift to establish Canada's first Centre for Engineering and Public Policy at McMaster University.

President and CEO Don Pether, McMaster University president and vice-chancellor Peter George and Mo Elbestawi, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University, announced the partnership during Dofasco's annual general meeting.

The $1-million gift to McMaster University is the second in a series that Dofasco will make to local cornerstone organizations in 2005. On April 14, Dofasco gave $2.5 million in support of the new and expanded Heart Investigation Unit at the Hamilton General Hospital. Dofasco will announce its third community-building gift later this month.

The one-of-a-kind Centre for Engineering and Public Policy at McMaster University is part of the Faculty of Engineering's new School for Engineering Practice. The centre's post-graduate students will study technology's impact on society and how public policy affects engineering solutions.

“Dofasco is proud to support a unique research and academic centre that will give engineers the knowledge to discover and champion sustainable solutions to complex social, political and environmental issues,” said Pether.

“Our collaboration with Dofasco on this unique initiative firmly entrenches McMaster in a strong and rewarding partnership that began many years ago,” said George. “As a founding partner in our School for Engineering Practice, Dofasco brings a wealth of expertise in sustainability and an ongoing commitment to invest in emerging technologies.”

Elbestawi said engineers need more than extensive technical skills. “Engineers need an enhanced understanding of the public policy process and how that process affects technological, social and ecological systems,” he said. “With Dofasco's support, McMaster will significantly expand its role in developing future generations of engineers who are responsive to public and societal issues.”

Dofasco and the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University have a long-standing partnership built on a common belief that people and innovation are at the core of both organizations' continuing success. In 1999, Dofasco committed $2 million to create two permanently endowed research chairs in Process Metallurgy and Process Automation and Information Technology. Since the Faculty was established in 1958, Dofasco technical staff and university researchers have worked together on an ongoing series of research projects.

Dofasco has also established a Student Bursary Fund, invested in the McMaster Steel Research Centre and participated in the university's internship program.