Career Planning
Everything's coming up ACEs at UOITA farmer's passion for crafting horse-drawn carriages and his young son's passion for wheels came together more than 100 years ago, leading to General Motors (GM) of Canada and defining Oshawa as an automotive city. LINDA WHITE -- Special to the Toronto Sun |
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An artist's rendering of GM's new Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa. The facility is under construction and set to open late next year.
The automotive industry has experienced turbulent times since auto baron R. Samuel McLaughlin began producing "horseless carriages," but GM's new Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa promises to drive innovations forward.
"Our vision has been to create a new advanced automotive technology cluster centered at UOIT that links together our best Canadian companies, universities, students and engineers with companies in the Canadian automotive supply chain," GM of Canada president Arturo Elias says of the $120-million facility.
GM BEACON PROJECT
ACE will be attached to UOIT's OPG Engineering Building. It will house state-of-the-art research and development tools in vehicle dynamics, noise and vibration, thermal climatic wind tunnel, structural durability testing and the ability to accommodate future automotive fuels like hydrogen.
The centre will be part of GM's Beacon Project, which is intended to support new vehicle and engine programs, employment and skills training, and automotive engineering, research and development, and manufacturing in Canada.
For students in UOIT's automotive engineering, and automotive engineering and management programs, ACE is a classroom unlike any other. "It will be a particular benefit to graduate students who need to work on significant research projects," says Dr. Greg Rohrauer, academic director of ACE.
"Because industry is on site doing work, it opens up a world of opportunities for them ... They can work in a more industrial setting that extends to undergraduate students, especially in their final year projects."
The facility, currently under construction and set to open late next year, had been in the planning stages for several years. It's ready to drive a century-old industry that is at a significant turning point -- thanks largely to the growing power of the battery.
"Over the past 10 years, the battery industry has made great strides ... so it's now possible to incorporate batteries into cars," Rohrauer says. "That's the direction the industry is moving toward quite quickly. Two years ago, we decided this would be a focus of the centre of excellence ... We now know we made the right decisions."
Rohrauer will head a five-person
research team with the funding provided by AUTO21, a national automotive research initiative supported by the federal government and more than 240 industry, government and industrial partners.
'TECHNOLOGICAL SHIFT'
The design of the future is called "electrified vehicle architecture," with the electricity coming from a fuel cell, battery or combination of the two. "I see it as a huge technological shift," he says.
"There's a steady move away from vehicles powered solely by fossil fuels and the combustion engine and a shift toward electrical. We're not technically there yet to make it the only source of power, but you can do a significant amount of your driving -- like city driving -- on electricity."
It's an exciting time for automotive engineering students at UOIT, Rohrauer concedes. The curriculum includes such courses as automotive system design, vehicle dynamics and control, and automotive noise.
A 12- to 16-month optional engineering internship program is available for students completing third year. Students can also take part in work placements through the engineering co-op program. The Bachelor of Engineering and Management (Honours) program allows students to complement their engineering knowledge with accounting, finance, operations, human resources and marketing skills.
WHERE THE JOBS ARE
Graduates of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology's automotive engineering, and automotive engineering and management programs are prepared to work in automotive companies and many other industries that service the automotive sector. Automotive engineers may find employment at major automobile, truck, bus, and motorcycle companies, as well as within racing teams, parts manufacturers, and research and development organizations.
linda.white@rogers.com
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