Faculty

Dr. James S. Cotton Professor
Fluid Mechanics; Heat Transfer; Modeling in Thermo-Fluid Systems; Multi-phase Flows; Renewals & Sustainable Energy Systems
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Dave Novog Professor
nuclear safety, reactor physics, thermalhydraulics, multiphysics reactor analysis, nuclear fuel and fuel cycles, severe accident modelling
Department: Engineering Physics
Dr. Thomas Adams Professor
green energy conversion; semicontinuous systems; process design; modeling; simulation and optimization
Department: Chemical Engineering
Dr. Michael Thompson Professor
Particle and polymer processing, manufacturing<br /> ‌<br /> ‌
Department: Chemical Engineering
Dr. Marilyn Lightstone Professor
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Heat transfer; Turbulent flows<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Stephen Tullis Professor
Fluid mechanics and turbulent flows; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Wind Turbines; Combustion Multi-phase flow
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Rong Zheng Professor
Mobile computing, wireless networking, cyber physical systems, active machine learning<br /> ‌
Department: Computing and Software
Dr. John Preston Professor
Pulsed Laser Deposition, Self-Assembly of Epitaxial Nanostructures, Photovoltaics<br /> ‌
Department: Engineering Physics
Dr. Saeid Habibi Professor
Automotive Applications; Control Systems; Hybrid Vehicles; Mechatronics; Renewal & Sustainable Energy Systems
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Ali Emadi Professor
Transportation Electrification; Electrified Vehicles; Renewable and Efficient Energy Systems; Energy and Sustainability
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Adriaan Buijs Professor
reactor core physics, reactor modelling, reactor design, Monte Carlo methods, data analysis<br /> ‌
Department: Engineering Physics
Dr. Igor Zhitomirsky Professor
biomaterials, nanomaterials, energy storage, electrochemical technologies, functional materials<br /> ‌
Department: Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. Mark Lawford Professor
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Department: Computing and Software
Dr. Alan Wassyng Professor
Safety and certification of software-intensive systems<br /> ‌
Department: Computing and Software
Dr. Vladimir Mahalec Professor
Optimization of plant operations (production planning, scheduling, real-time optimization) and supply chain management
Department: Chemical Engineering
Dr. Ray LaPierre Professor
solar cells (photovoltaics), photodetectors, quantum information processing (quantum computers)<br /> ‌
Department: Engineering Physics
Dr. Rafael Kleiman Professor
solar energy: photovoltaics and solar thermal, concentrator photovoltaics, solar testing and instrumentation, solar materials
Department: Engineering Physics
Dr. Adrian Kitai Professor
fundamental luminescent materials, new luminescent devices, optical fiber liquid crystal display technology
Department: Engineering Physics
Dr. John Luxat Professor
Experimental Studies in Nuclear Safety Thermalhydraulics, Theoretical Modelling Studies in Nuclear Safety Thermalhydraulics
Department: Engineering Physics

Leadership Team

Kelton Friedrich Operations Manager
Kelton Friedrich, P.Eng., received his B.Eng in 2009 and M.A.Sc in 2011 in Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University. He continued his professional career at the Faculty of Engineering developing research projects on integrated energy systems at the community scale, including the current ICE-Harvest project. He has project administration experience for multi-million dollar projects, including the integration of the Energy Harvesting Lab within the construction of the Gerald Hatch Centre. His technical background includes all aspects of the energy sector, from resource extraction and harvesting to energy conversion at the device level for thermal, electrical and transportation needs. As Operations Manger, he will provide administrative oversight as well as technical oversight to both industry partners as well as students.
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Jeff Girard Lab Manager
Jeffrey Girard received his M.A.Sc in Mechanical Engineering in 2016 at McMaster University. Throughout his academic and professional career, he has been active in the field of waste heat recovery for over 8 years through both small and large scale projects, ranging from feasibility studies to system integration and commissioning. As the Waste Recovery Research Laboratory Manager, his experience will be applied to support all levels of student-based research within the unique Energy Harvesting Research Laboratory located in the Gerald Hatch Building at McMaster. In addition, he will be tasked with maximizing the utilization of the five million dollar research facility to support next generation ideas surrounding community level energy systems.<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Vickram Lakhian Post Doctoral Fellow
Vick Lakhian received his B.Sc. in a Mathematics and Physics in 2006, his M.A.Sc in Engineering Physics in 2010 and his Doctorate in Civil Engineering in 2016. His early work during his MASc and PhD focussed primarily on experimental methods to treat airborne and waterborne contaminants using radicals produced through high voltage discharges. He is now working with Dr. Jim Cotton on Thermal Management systems - to develop energy harvesting technologies at the bench level as well as design tools to allow for community wide energy harvesting to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.<br /> ‌<br /> ‌<br /> ‌<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Technical Lead: Systems Design
Saber Mohamed Post Doctoral Fellow
A professional Research Mechanical Engineer with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering offering over eleven years of teaching, research and professional experience in different engineering fields with a focus on heat transfer, HVAC, thermo-fluid sciences, building energy models, aeroacoustic, fluid-induced vibration and CFD.<br /> ‌<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Technical Lead: Communities
Mohamed Abdelsalam Post Doctoral Fellow
Mohamed Abdelsalam received his BSc. and MSc. from the Mechanical Engineering department in Ain Shams University, Egypt. During his MSc. studies he worked as a part-time technical analyst and CFD software developer in Optumatics, LLC. In August 2017, He received his PhD. degree from the Mechanical Engineering department at McMaster University. He joined the ICE-Harvest team as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2018.
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Technical Lead: Storage

Graduate Students

Nina Monteiro PhD Student
Nina Monteiro received her B.Eng degree in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis on Industrial Processes from Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba, Brazil in 2016. In 2014-2015 she was granted the Science Without Borders scholarship, which was developed by the Brazilian Education Ministry to promote the expansion of science and technology through international exchange. During this period she joined McMaster Advanced Control Consortium as undergraduate research assistant, which promptly led to rejoining it in 2017 as PhD candidate. She is currently involved in the design and optimization of energy systems, as well on the identification of communities and where to implement them.<br /> ‌
Department: Chemical Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. Adams
Sayyed Faridoddin (Farid) Afzali PhD Student
Farid Afzali received his B.S. and M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Petroleum University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology, Iran, in 2010 and 2012, respectively. From 2013 to 2014, he worked as an engineer of the reliability centered maintenance and scheduling project in Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, Iran. From 2014 to 2015, he worked as an engineer in Petro Imen Sharif company, Tehran, Iran. From May 2016, he joined Dr. Mahalec’s research team at McMaster Advanced Control Consortium as a PhD student at McMaster University. His research interests include Community energy system design, optimal operation of the energy systems, Real-time operation optimization, optimization under uncertainty and Optimal planning and scheduling.
Department: Chemical Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. Mahalec
Ryan Rogers Masters Student
Ryan Rogers has recently graduated from Mechanical Engineering and Management, has contributed to the McMaster Engineering Community through various key roles. Most notably Ryan has worked for the McMaster Engineering Society and the Thermal Management Research Laboratory before starting his Masters on the ICE Harvest Project. Ryan’s area of research focuses on optimizing the distribution system used in Integrated Community Energy Systems. Beyond his research Ryan was also initially involved in the design process for both the Gerald Hatch Centre and the ICE Harvest Facility throughout his undergraduate. He continues to aid this endeavour by being involved with both communication and outreach aspects of the project.
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. Cotton and Dr. Lightstone
Brianna Harris PhD Student
Brianna Harris received her BEng and MASc in mechanical engineering from McMaster University. Currently, she is a PhD student at McMaster under the supervision of Dr. Lightstone and Dr. Cotton. She joined the ICE-Harvest team in January 2018, where her research focus is on geothermal storage.<br /> ‌<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. Lightstone and Dr. Cotton
Chantel Millar Masters Student
Chantel Millar received her B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University in May 2018. Chantel continues at McMaster University as a M.A.Sc student in Mechanical Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Cotton. Chantel's main research interest is in seasonal geothermal borehole storage.<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Brendan Sullivan Masters Student
Brendan Sullivan graduated from Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University. He is currently completing his M.A.Sc at the same school under the supervision of Dr. James Cotton. Brendan is involved in energy storage with a focus on control systems and demand management. His primary interests are in thermal systems, heat transfer, and software applications.
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. Cotton

Undergraduate Researchers

Liam Sykes Researcher
Liam Sykes is going into his third year Civil Engineering at McMaster University. He is currently undecided on which sub-stream he will focus on within the program. Outside of class, Liam is the engineering caucus leader of the Student Representative Assembly, a Residence Orientation Representative, and a volunteer for the Student Walk Home Attendant Team.
Department: Civil Engineering
Michael Farquharson Researcher
Michael Farquharson is currently working towards his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering with Management. He begins his fourth year of his degree in the fall sub specializing in thermofluids. In his spare time he is a team captain for the MAC Formula Electric car team helping design and build a one quarter scale working model of an electric Formula One vehicle.
Department: Mechanical Engineering
James LeMoine Researcher
James LeMoine is going into his fourth and final year of Mechanical Engineering. He is specializing in thermofluids and is looking into going to graduate studies in this field.<br /> ‌<br /> ‌<br /> ‌<br /> ‌
Department: Mechanical Engineering