Engineer on the rise
LIBBY OSGOOD IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON HER PHD IN DESIGN ENGINEERING – BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! SHE ALSO TEACHES AT UPEI AND MAKES ANNUAL TRIPS TO DO VOLUNTEER WORK IN KENYA.
Libby Osgood is an engineer who is really moving up in the world. She’s teaching design and dynamics courses at UPEI. She runs a Robotics Club on the Island for students aged 9-14. She makes annual trips to Kenya to help deliver basic health services to this east African nation. And she’s working on her PhD under Dr. Clifton Johnston, the NSERC Chair in Design Engineering. That’s a lot to take on at once, but Osgood is up to the challenge, and each of her pursuits seems to enrich the others. Take her PhD, for example. “What I really love is that I am able to immediately implement the research I’m doing with Clif into my classes at UPEI,” she says. “Many of my engineering diploma students here go on to complete their degrees at Dal. It’s a great feeling knowing that I’ve played a role in laying some of their foundational skills in design.” Osgood earned her foundational skills at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, where she specialized in Aerospace Engineering. She followed that with a Master of Science in Aerospace from Texas A&M University. It was Dr.
Johnston’s work that led her to Dalhousie for her PhD. “Dalhousie has a strong reputation for engineering, and to be able to work with Clif, who is focusing his research on how to do design better, is really exciting. I want to deliver teaching in a more effective way, so it just seemed natural to work with him.” It was equally natural for Osgood to start a Robotics Club at UPEI. As if to prove everything in her life is connected, Osgood says the inspiration for the venture came to her through her annual trips to Kenya with Mikinduri Children of Hope, a group that offers medical, dental and vision clinics to Kenyans. “At the time of my 2013 trip, I was taking Professor Mae Seto’s autonomous robotics class at Dalhousie. There was a fair bit of homework (to control a robot), so I brought my robot with me.” She began teaching eighth graders in Kenya a little bit about robotics, physics and engineering and, on returning to UPEI, realized there were no robotics initiatives for students on the island. Supported by Engineers PEI, she launched
Young entrepreneurs embrace the solar revolution EMPOWERED HOMES FOUNDED BY 2013 ENGINEERING GRADS Long time friends and ambitious Dal engineering grads Joshua Green Co-Founder and President (BEng’13 Mechanical) and Riccardo Ciccarelli Co-Founder (BEng’13 Civil) have joined forces to create Empowered Homes, a solar energy company. “Our idea to create a solar panel business stemmed from my senior design project that I did in my final year of mechanical engineering, says Green. The summer after graduation Riccardo and me set out to develop the project even further. We successfully installed four panels on my Dad’s house in Nfld., and In January 2014, we decided to turn our venture into a full-time business.” Green explains. Green continues, “At Empowered Homes we provide our clients with a Solar
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Thermal Heating System. Our panels serve as a supplementary heating system and provide an innovative way to reduce the amount of energy consumed at the residential level, specifically for space and water heating. The system consists of 2-4 solar thermal air collectors, depending on the size of the home, which offer a sustainable way to lower residential utility bills.” Based out of Green’s hometown St. John’s, the ambitious founders of Empowered Homes have plans to expand throughout Canada as the business grows. Green and Ciccarelli didn’t waste any time getting started. They wanted to jump in and launch their company right away. Fortunately for the pair, they had a great support system to help them along.
“We’re very lucky in that we had a lot of support from both of our families to help us get started. Josh’s Dad especially believed in us and helped us out in a really big way. He funded the $8000 to let us put up the four test panels on his newly built home. That helped us out immensely and allowed us to perfect the product we have now,“ explains Ciccarelli. Green and Ciccarelli credit their engineering education in teaching them how to collaborate with others. They both share a love of coming up with a concept, finding out it doesn’t work and coming up with a solution to fix the problem. Green deals with the thermo dynamics, while Ciccarelli handles the structural side of things.