the journal Queen’s University
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Vol. 153, Issue 17
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F r i day , J a n ua ry 9 , 2 0 2 6
Design teams report decreased funding from Dean’s Donation Fund
Engineering groups claim financial difficulties associated with the fund will impact planned operations Jonathan Reilly Senior News Editor
received $4,300 despite requesting $10,000. QSET Rover Captain, Ilse Kloosterman, Sci ’25, also confirmed The Deans Donation Fund, a yearly the numbers shared were accurate fund from Smith Engineering in an interview, explaining QSET provided to Queen’s engineering requested $54,000 but only groups, is facing criticism received $23,000. as design teams speak out Both Khan and Kloosterman against apparent underfunding. explained they’ve heard about According to an anonymous cuts across many of the teams source that’s involved in design this year, adding how this lack of teams at Queen’s, multiple teams funding could present barriers received under half of the funds in their own respective teams. they’ve requested. The source Kloosterman explained that it provided data that alleged has even presented difficulties aQuatonomous received $8,700 returning to a competition despite requesting $18,000, that that their rover team has been Queen’s Rocket Engineering Team participating in since 2016. “We’re really trying now to get (QRET) received $23,200 despite requesting $53,500 and being everything done in time for our granted $35,000 the year prior, submission to the competition and Aerospace received $24,600 to get in, but definitely with the finances, it’s taken us a lot longer despite asking for $75,000. The Journal reached out to the to figure out what we’re actually aforementioned teams to confirm capable of,” Kloosterman said. “We the numbers, but didn’t receive a had [also] been considering looking at launch contracts for a satellite to response relating to their validity. The anonymous source also get it into space, but we just know provided data on Qlean and Queen’s we won’t have the funding to do Space Engineering Team (QSET). that ourselves now.” Qlean co-captain Ahnaaf Khan, Sci Khan explained that while ’27, confirmed the numbers shared the team is still re-budgeting were accurate in an interview and figuring out what they need with The Journal, claiming they to change, they had a goal of
attempting to capture one kilogram of carbon dioxide—a goal which now has to be scrapped. He later added that this feels like a larger issue within Queen’s, explaining that the University has a strong and well-organized Engineering Society with the most design teams out of any University in Canada, but instead of it being celebrated, “it’s kind of treated as a burden or a weakness.” “We don’t really celebrate it unless it’s for a tour or something. We flaunt it only when it’s actually convenient, but we don’t actually put in the money or the time or the effort to actually support it,” Khan said. “That’s kind of what it feels like from the administration.” Both captains repeated that the prevailing sentiment within design teams is that they would get roughly 80 per cent of the funding they requested, whereas most teams this year only received between 30 and 50 per cent. Kloosterman explained that in previous years, there were two deans’ donations a year. However, starting last year, they changed it to only one donation a year, which took a hit to their funding. “When there were two of them,
we would also get the same amount [that we got this year] for the fall, but then there would be another one in the winter. So, we would, historically, always get 80 per cent of what we asked for.” The Journal contacted Smith Engineering to inquire about various claims, including the previous Dean’s Donation Fund process and if it was changed, but didn’t receive a response specifically on whether it was changed and why. However, in its statement Smith Engineering did explain that total annual requests for the Dean’s Donation Fund have ranged from $245,000 to $650,000, with the faculty allocating, on average, $225,000 to support the fund. “The total amount available for distribution each year is informed by previous years’ allocations and interest earned on the fund, rather than a predetermined annual cap. Fundingdecisionsaremadethrough a review process that considers the quality of each proposal, a team’s history of requests to the fund, alignment with Smith Engineering priorities—such as safety, equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenization (EDII),
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and reimagining engineering education—and demonstrated financial need,” Smith Engineering wrote. In its statement, Smith Engineering also encouraged design teams to “pursue funding from multiple sources,” adding that they hold workshops to assist teams with securing funding. In response, both Khan and Kloosterman explained that they’ve found it difficult to secure funding, with Kloosterman explaining they’ve received sponsorships in the past, but the money often falls through, explaining the donation is their only source of secure funding. The faculty also added that the fund supports outreach programs, conferences, clubs, and more, explaining that the “number and diversity of requests each year directly affect the funding available to individual projects.” Both captains called for greater transparency in the donation process, with Smith Engineering explaining in its statement that students with feedback are encouraged to contact the faculty’s Director of Finance and Reporting, Renee Tulk, adding “the Faculty welcomes continued input to ensure the fund best supports student learning and engagement.” “The Faculty is committed to transparency and continuous improvement and has revised the Dean’s Donation Fund process in response to student feedback,” Smith Engineering wrote.
Queen’s bids for future of supercomputing with proposed national facility and new faculty hire
for the computer, and then there’s the computer.” Grant said the goal is to house what he described as “a top 10 time outside of academia have world supercomputer,” capable built and worked on here.” of supporting research at Karlin said his role at a national scale. Queen’s includes teaching “This isn’t a Queen’s and research, with a focus on supercomputer,” Grant applying advanced computing said. “It’s a Canadian systems to real-world problems. supercomputer.” “I tend to approach a lot of Under the MOU, Bell my research from an application would be responsible perspective,” Karlin said. “What for the physical are people actually running on the infrastructure of the facility. machine and using that to motivate “What Bell is responsible how you make it go faster and how for in the MOU is building you improve their quality of life.” the actual bricks,” Grant said. Karlin said his experience “What we’re responsible in industry informs how for is designing, building, he works with students operating, maintaining, and approaches research. and helping users with “It enables me to talk to them a large supercomputer [Queen’s students] about what that goes inside that careers could look like,” he said. building,” Grant said. Ryan Grant, professor Grant said this division in electrical and computer PHOTO BY JASHAN DUA allows Queen’s to prioritize engineering and head of The CAESER laboratory, located in Walter Light Hall. Computing at the Extreme Scale seen how those things work,” investing up to $926 million in AI computing power. “Bell building us a facility means Advanced Research (CAESAR) Grant said during an interview and computing infrastructure. “If we get selected, the facility that we can spend more money on Laboratory, said bringing faculty with The Journal. Alongside Karlin’s arrival, that we’ll be bringing to Queen’s chips,” he said. with industry experience into the Continuesd online at Queen’s has signed an MOU is two parts,” Grant said. “There’s classroom benefits students. www.queensjournal.ca “All of us who’ve spent some with Bell as part of a federal the building that’s special
The initiative hinges on Queen’s securing federal support to host a national supercomputing facility Emmet Paradis Assistant News Editor Advanced supercomputing infrastructure may soon be coming to Kingston following a new agreement between Queen’s and Bell. Queen’s is advancing its role in Canada’s supercomputing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape through plans for a national supercomputing facility and the hiring of new industry expertise. That effort includes the recent appointment of Ian Karlin, an assistant professor with prior experience at NVIDIA and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed between Queen’s and Bell supporting the bid to host the facility in Kingston, announced on Dec. 15. “I wanted to move back into research, and this was kind of the right opportunity at the right time,” Karlin said in an interview with The Journal. “I knew what was being
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application to host a national supercomputing facility. According to Grant, the project is contingent on Queen’s being selected for funding through a federal program
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