Times are changing
Students work around the clock to tackle real-world engineering problems in Summerside
High above downtown Summerside, atop City Hall, sits a 103-year-old clock tower.
The clock, which has its four original faces and clockworks, is still keeping time thanks to a collaborative project completed by junior clinic students at the UPEI School of Sustainable Engineering.
Mike Thususka, the city’s director of economic development, said Summerside has been working with the School of Sustainable Engineering since 2016 on their junior and senior projects, allowing students to gain practical experience on realworld engineering challenges.
“(City staff) look at the partnership with UPEI as a way for us to tap into some really innovative knowledge, new energy and collaboration with educational institutions. We think that’s a key pillar of growing our community,” he said.
“UPEI, through their industrialized partnerships, reaches out to various organizations in the public and private sector. They then contact us and ask for a list of projects, so we have (internally) what we call ‘a little competition’ on who can come up with a project and engineering challenge.”
A university committee reviews the submissions from city staff.
“We give them the problem, the challenge and what we’re looking for in terms of a solution.”
The committee examines the projects to see how they might fit in with their programming and the students, and then selects one project to move forward on.
Teams of four to five students work with the city to address
“It was quite a complicated process. They developed the solution and they gained the practical experience of dealing with mechanical systems and accuracy. It seems to be working, and it saves us from having to find someone to climb up the clock tower every Friday.” Mike Thususka
the challenge with an engineering solution.
There have been many projects submitted by Summerside city staff, ranging from municipal infrastructure challenges to community awareness, including an automated clock winder for the City Hall clock.
“In order to set the clock to the correct time, we had employees go up every Friday to manually wind it. It’s quite a challenge to get up there because you have to go through the attic and walk up these narrow and winding stairs to the tower,” explained Thususka.
But, students came up with a device that automatically winds the clock.
“It was quite a complicated process. They developed the solution and they gained the practical experience of dealing with mechanical systems and accuracy. It seems to be working, and it saves us from having to find someone to climb up the clock tower every Friday.”
This year, a senior clinic project for UPEI students in their third or fourth year is currently being developed.
“This year’s project is a renewable energy interactive display for the community. The engineers are designing a display booth to educate the community on what we’re doing with renewable energy.”
The interactive unit will show energy consumption and energy conservation in an educational way.
“It’s not only the engineering side that they have to focus on but also the business side of engineering. There are business relationships that have to be developed, costing, networking, so that’s all part of the process,” added Thususka. “But it’s a great opportunity for us to help young minds get real-world experiences.
“Success is not measured with success or failure of the invention or service, it’s measured by our new relationships and our ability to embrace innovation with tomorrow’s engineers.”
The city has done other collaborative work with educational institutions. It includes a Living Lab program and the floating manhole initiative with UPEI, as well as independent testing with Holland College to validate product claims of a local business.