Daily News

posted on Nov. 28: Social work association raises funds for children, needy students

A fundraiser initiated by social work students at McMaster will brighten the lives of children at McMaster's Children's Hospital and University students in need of financial assistance. The McMaster Social Work Students Association has teamed up with the hospital and its Teddy Bears Picnic program in launching a colouring calendar featuring Clifford's Creatures. Each picture is accompanied by a self-esteem building message. The groups are hoping to raise about $25,000 from the project. Gerald Walsh, president of the McMaster student group, organized the calendar as a community outreach program. He says funds raised from the sale of calendars will also support the establishment of bursaries for McMaster social work students in financial need. The calendars are $6 each and can be purchased on campus (from the hospital's gift shops) or from the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. They will also be sold at the Hamilton Centre Mall and area schools. Sponsors of the program, which includes a colouring contest for kids, include Laurentian, Maple Leaf, McMaster Media Productions, the School of Social Work, and the McMaster Students Union. Laurentian is providing complimentary crayons with each calendar purchased. Illustrations for the calendar were supplied by Hamilton artist J. C. Walsh. Photo: Gerald Walsh with five-year-old Tylor Grant at calendar launch. (End of story)

posted on Nov. 23: A mover’s headache: how to install a giant machine

It's taken almost a week to move a 74,250-kilogram giant into the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute. Physical plant employees, security, machinery movers -- teams of people have been working on moving a new automotive sheet metal forming press into the back end of the John Hodgins Engineering building. The mammoth press has been lying on its side outside the engineering building as movers determine how to ease it through a hole in the wall, tilt it into a standing position, while at the same time positioning it into a 3.6-metre deep pit. Hydraulic lifts and conveyer belts are being used. And yes, it takes a few engineers to figure this out. The $1.6 million press, funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, comes from a company north of Toronto. Mukesh Jain, of the MMRI, said major automotive companies like the Ford Motor Co. would have this type of press in their manufacturing operations, but the McMaster model will be used as a highly refined research tool. "This one is unique, " said Jain, who left Alcan's Kingston operation three months ago to join McMaster. "This is well instrumented and well controlled." Jain said the McMaster operation would be one of the largest among universities in Canada. The press takes a flat sheet of metal and stamps it into a component, with the capacity to punch metal at a force of 900-tonnes. "The research will be working with material suppliers and automotive companies to try and understand the different types of metal forming processes." Jain said researchers will study topics such as how new materials and lubricants behave in the metal forming process. Once the press is ensconced in its new home, it will take a few more months to set up the instrumentation before researchers can begin conducting research using the machine. The new press is the final piece of equipment to be housed in the 15,000 sq. ft. MMRI facility, which houses 13 industrial machines and a robot. The institute is designed to meet the sophisticated research and development needs of leading manufacturers. MOVING DAYS: MMRI researcher Mukesh Jain stands in front of the new sheet metal forming press being installed in the institute. Photo by Shelly Easton

posted on Nov. 22: Arthur Bourns Building employee lounge open for business

The room is bright and airy, with giant poster board art on the walls. It's filled with navy comfy couches, blonde wood tables, plants, a fridge, microwaves and a sleek, black computer. Rather than punch in numbers to a key pad, employees swipe a proximity card to get access to the room 24 hours a day. Quite a change from the janitor's room with its mops and cleaners that constituted the lunchroom for physical plant co-workers Dora Bianchi and Jackie Emery. The two women were guests attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday in the newly-refurbished employee lounge in the Arthur Bourns Building (ABB). "This is nice and bright," said Emery. "It's good to get away from the work area with the janitor supplies. You don't want to see that on your lunch hour. Here you get to meet new people, socialize. That's important. It's good for your health." The ABB lounge (Room 273) is the first designated employee lounge to be refurbished through an initiative that grew out of recommendations from the Employee Lounges Implementation Team. The team is one of four formed in February to work on recommendations from the staff survey. Click on New lounge space for employees in Arthur Bourns, Burke Science to read an earlier Daily News story about the lounges initiative. Karen Belaire, vice-president administration, told yesterday's gathering that the ABB lounge improvement project is the "first of many." She thanked the employee lounge steering committee, led by Ingrid Ellis, for the work put into the lounge renovations and the physical plant projects team, led by Peter Whitaker, for the work that group did on the room. Ceremony guests: (Front L to R) Dora Bianchi, Jackie Emery, Karen Belaire, Ingrid Ellis, Leah Allan, Sandra Sullivan, Mary Williams, Muriel McKay; (Back L to R) Peter Sutherland, Stephen Shurvin, David Kidney, Peter George. Photo by Ron Scheffler