[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/bedeljudd.jpg” caption=”Bedel Ross Judd”]Although he makes his first appearance as the bedel on Friday, Nov. 10, Ross Judd has had considerable experience leading the Convocation
procession. Judd has held the position of pro bedel for the last four years and has, on occasion, led the Convocation procession
when the former bedel, Brian Ives, was unable to attend.

The bedel carries the University mace, symbolizing the authority of the University, which is displayed at the University Convocations. The bedel precedes the Chancellor, who presides over the Convocation, during the Convocation procession to protect him and ward off harm, using the mace if necessary.

The honour of serving as University bedel was bestowed upon Judd by virtue of the fact that he holds the longest continuous
faculty appointment (37 years) at McMaster University. Judd regards the role that he plays in the Convocation ceremony highly and
considers it a great privilege to lead the Convocation procession.

A professor of mechanical engineering, Judd was appointed as lecturer in 1963 and has been teaching at McMaster University ever
since. His teaching career at McMaster began when he was asked to fill in for a faculty member who had departed on short notice and
teach his course in stress analysis. Judd's field of expertise is
boiling-heat transfer and two-phase flow and he has been offering
courses and doing fundamental research in this area ever since. His first doctoral student was Mamdouh Shoukri, McMaster's dean of
engineering, with whom he shares interests in boiling heat transfer and two-phase flow.

Judd's entry into engineering was prompted by the results of an
eighth-grade aptitude test. “When my teacher told me that I had
what it took to be an engineer, I accepted his assessment and set out to pursue this career path.”

A 1958 graduate of the first engineering class at the University of Western Ontario, Judd obtained a B.E.Sc. degree and was
awarded the University Gold Medal.

Subsequently, he worked at Canadian General Electric in Peterborough. He came to McMaster University in 1961 to study for the
first M.Eng. degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering which was awarded in 1963. While he served as a lecturer at
McMaster University, Judd satisfied the course requirements of the PhD
degree at the University of Michigan during the summer.

In 1965, Judd took a two-year leave of absence to do the research, during which time his appointment as lecturer continued, and
was awarded his PhD in 1968.