100th Anniversary of the Iron Ring

Lecture: The Iron Ring at 100 - Trust, Transformation, and the Future of Canadian Engineering

Gosia Brestovacki (mbrestov) — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:16:00 +0000

Lecture: The Iron Ring at 100 - Trust, Transformation, and the Future of Canadian Engineering Gosia Brestova… Mon, 04/07/2025 - 14:16

The Iron Ring at 100 - Trust, Transformation, and the Future of Canadian Engineering

Join the Faculty of Engineering and TVO to celebrate 100 years of the Iron Ring with a conversation on the future of engineering in Canada. The panel of speakers will explore how ethics, public trust, and responsible innovation can shape the next century of engineering for the benefit of society.

This free public lecture is part of the TRuST network lecture series. Learn more about the TRuST Scholarly Network.

Event Details

📅 Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2025
⏰ Time: 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 pm)
☕️ Post Lecture Reception 8:30 p.m.
📍 Location: 2nd Floor Event Space, Engineering 7, University of ��ݮ��Ƶ
💲 Cost: Free

SPEAKERS

Hamid Arabzadeh
Chairman & CEO
RANOVUS

Mr. Hamid Arabzadeh has been the Chairman and CEO of RANOVUS, www.ranovus.com, a leading technology provider of photonic interconnect solutions for AI/ML workloads, since its inception in 2012. Ranovus is headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Canada with European R&D center in Nuremberg, Germany, and business development presence in Sunnyvale CA USA.

Prior to RANOVUS, Mr. Arabzadeh was the Chairman and CEO of CoreOptics, an innovative provider of photonic subsystems for high-capacity networking applications based in Nuremberg Germany, before being acquired by Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) in 2010. Formerly, Mr. Arabzadeh held various senior management positions at Nortel Networks in Brazil, Mexico, England, and USA. Mr. Arabzadeh’s last role at Nortel Networks was VP & GM of Metro Optical business unit. Prior to joining Nortel, Mr. Arabzadeh was the President of UNICAD information systems, a custom CAD/CAM software development company in Montreal, Canada.

Since his return to Canada in 2010, Mr. Arabzadeh has co-Founded several Canadian scaleups in fields of AI Sovereign Cloud, Security and Healthcare with an eye to benefit Canada in a competitive Data and IP driven global economy.

Mr. Arabzadeh holds a B.A.Sc. from University of ��ݮ��Ƶ in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an MBA from McGill University. He resides with his family in Toronto and enjoys soccer, tennis, and downhill skiing.

Stephanie Hazlewood
Distinguished Engineer, Chief Data Office
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

Stephanie Hazlewood is an RBC Distinguished Engineer with the Chief Data Office at the Royal Bank of Canada. In this role, she drives enterprise data management and governance products, advising and enabling RBC business and technology teams to accelerate data & AI solution delivery with security and privacy by design and default. Stephanie is a recognized technical expert in the areas of data privacy, master data management, and security automation orchestration and response technologies.

Prior to joining RBC, Stephanie was an IBM Distinguished Engineer for IBM Security where she was Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Data Privacy and Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) technologies. She has been a trusted advisor to several Fortune 100 financial, health care and telecommunications institutions throughout her career.

She is a member of the RBC FinSec Incubator advisory board, a partnership with Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), an initiative to empower early-stage companies by enhancing product security and resilience.

Stephanie is an active member of the IEEE Standards Association Synthetic Data Industry Connections Expert Group, and was appointed to the NSERC-CSE (Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada – Communications Security Establishment (NSERC-CSE) evaluation committee for projects focused on robust, secure and safe AI for Canada.

Stephanie can also be found on LinkedIn here.

Professor Ashley Mehlenbacher
Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts
University of ��ݮ��Ƶ

Professor Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Science, Health, and Technology Communication in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ. She is also the inaugural Co-Director, with Donna Strickland, for the Trust in Research Undertaken in Science and Technology (TRuST) network.

Professor Mehlenbacher’s research investigates how genres of scientific and science communications emerge and evolve, how aspects of expertise and ethos interact and relate to trust in scientific and technical domains, and the ethical aspects of specialist/non-specialist relationality in the communication of complex information.

Professor Mehlenbacher is the author of On Expertise: Cultivating Character, Goodwill, and Practical Wisdom (Penn State University Press, 2022), Science Communication Online: Engaging Experts and Publics on the Internet (The Ohio State University Press, 2019), and co-editor, with Carolyn R. Miller, of Emerging Genres in New Media Environments (Palgrave, 2017).

Molly Thomas
Host, Big [If True]
TVO

Molly Thomas is the Host of TVO’s newest show, Big [If True] which exposes misinformation and disinformation in everyday life. An award-winning Anchor, Correspondent and Producer, she has worked for all three major networks in Canada.

In 2023, she received the Michener-Deacon Fellowship for her pitch on the loss of school for Afghan women and girls, which resulted in her 3-part podcast series 'Dear Taliban'. Prior, she worked as an Investigative Correspondent at CTV's flagship documentary program W5. She joined CTV National News in 2019 as a parliamentary reporter after working as a national news anchor for CTV News Channel, YOUR MORNING and the national faith-based current affairs show Context.

Molly has completed an MA in Global Affairs from the Munk School at the University of Toronto and a BA in Journalism from the University of Regina. Her commitment to social justice stories has taken her to Iraq, Somalia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Haiti, Rwanda, Uganda, France, the United States, and England. Molly has been recognized for multiple awards, including a National Labour Reporting Award (CAJ 2021), a National Award in Sports Excellence (RTDNA 2021), and a Bronze Telly Award after the 2015 Paris attacks.

Her 2022 reporting on 'Flight 752', a follow to the Iranian plane crash impacting more than a hundred Canadians, was nominated for 3 Canadian Screen awards, including 'Best News or Information Program'.

Professor Mary A. Wells
Dean, Faculty of Engineering
University of ��ݮ��Ƶ

Mary Wells is Dean of Engineering at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ (since July 1, 2020), the ninth dean since the Faculty was founded in 1957. From 2017-2020, she was Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Guelph.

Prior to her time in Guelph, Wells was a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ for 10 years. She received awards for graduate supervision from both the Faculty and the University in 2017.

An accomplished materials engineer, Wells also served as the Associate Dean of Outreach for ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering between 2008 and 2017, and chaired its Women in Engineering committee for many years. She chaired the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering from 2013 to 2018.

Wells began her academic career as a professor in materials engineering at the University of British Columbia from 1996 to 2007, and has worked in the steel industry in Canada and internationally.

The co-author of two books including one on Canadian women innovators and the second on Canadian women in materials, her research focuses on the relationship between processing, structure and properties for advanced metallic alloys used in the transportation sector.

Connect with Mary Wells on LinkedIn.

Centennial Cheers: Ring Road Lager Launch Party

Gosia Brestovacki (mbrestov) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 23:01:18 +0000

Centennial Cheers: Ring Road Lager Launch Party Gosia Brestova… Wed, 03/26/2025 - 19:01

This year, engineers are proudly celebrating 100 years of the Iron Ring tradition — a uniquely Canadian symbol of the engineering profession’s commitment to integrity, humility, and service to the public good. For many engineers, this small ring remains a powerful reminder of the promise they made as engineers and the values they uphold in their work and communities.

The ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering Community (alumni, staff, faculty, students, and friends) are invited to a celebratory evening hosted by two alum-founded companies, Vidyard and Elora Brewing Company, for the exclusive launch of Ring Road Lager, brewed in honour of the Iron Ring centennial. Mary Wells, dean of ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering, will provide a special centennial cheers to the Iron Ring.

��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering alumnus Jim Murphy (BASc ’95, chemical engineering), chief executive officer of Elora Brewing Company, will chat briefly about his career journey from tech to craft beer and provide a tasting note about the Ring Road Lager.

Special thanks to Michael Litt (BASc '10) and Devon Galloway (BASc '10), co-founders of Vidyard, for hosting the event!

The registration fee is $20.00 per person, which includes light refreshments and the opportunity to be among the first to try Ring Road Lager.

Please note: No physical tickets are required to attend this event. Once your registration is completed, you will be added to the guest list. Please check in at the door upon arrival at the event location.

CHEERS TO THE ENGINEERS!

Ring Road Lager - crafted by alumni, brewed for engineers.

Cannot make it to the event? Want to buy Ring Road Lager as a gift? Live too far away to attend? Want to celebrate the Iron Ring's centennial with Ring Road Lager at home?

We've got you!

Commemorate this Iron Ring centennial milestone with a limited edition Elora Brewing Co x University of ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering beer - packs of six, 12 and 24 are available - as well as a commemorative t-shirt!

Ontario residents can purchase Ring Road Lager directly from Elora Brewing Company - or gift it to friends and family in the province.

Orders can be picked up at Elora Brewing Company in Elora, at the May 8 alumni event at Vidyard in Kitchener, or at Reunion on June 7 in E7 (main campus). Shipping is available in Ontario for a fee.

A portion of the proceeds from all Ring Road Lager beer pack sales will be donated to the Faculty of Engineering's 100 Years of Canadian Engineering Fund to support educating the engineer of the future. Want to support the fund directly? Make a donation online. Under 'other', please add "100 Years of Canadian Engineering Fund".

SPEAKERS

Jim Murphy
BASc 1995, Chemical Engineering
Chief Executive Officer
Elora Brewing Company

Jim Murphy is a serial entrepreneur, software engineering leader and advocate for hand crafted, locally produced food and beverage. He graduated from ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering in 1995 and spent the next 13 years in tech hot spots from Boston and Texas to New York and the California Bay Area before returning home to Ontario. Jim's companies have spanned technical simulation software and Internet infrastructure to enterprise software and multi-sided marketplaces.

In 2016, Jim sold his company, Boltmade to Shopify to help lead Shopify's ��ݮ��Ƶ office. He and his team bolstered the explosive growth of high volume, complex merchants on Shopify e-commerce platform in the years since.

In 2015, Jim and his partners founded the Elora Brewing Company, a craft brewery in the heart of beautiful Elora, Ontario. Today, beer from Elora Brewing Company is available at LCBO stores across the province and at select bars and restaurants and of course at the brewery itself!

Connect with Jim Murphy on LinkedIn.

Professor Mary A. Wells
Dean, Faculty of Engineering
University of ��ݮ��Ƶ

Wells began her academic career as a professor in materials engineering at the University of British Columbia from 1996 to 2007, and has worked in the steel industry in Canada and internationally.

Connect with Mary Wells on LinkedIn.