view . summer 2011
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HELPING MANUFACTURERS REMAIN
COMPETITIVE
For manufacturers to maintain their competitive
edge, they need to respond quickly to increased
consumer demand for greater customization of their
products.
Dr. Hoda ElMaraghy, director of the UWindsor
Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Centre, will open a new
lab in the University’s $112-million Centre for Engineering
Innovation to help manufacturers achieve that goal.
The “iDesign Studio” and “iFactory” will house
technology for faculty members and students to develop
their product concepts, prototype them, design virtual
assembly systems and actually build them in a real-world,
reconfigurable factory.
“We’re trying to create an environment for them to
excel and foster this ability to innovate,” says ElMaraghy.
“Customers are becoming more personally involved and
managing their desire for variety is a huge challenge.”
PROMOTING DIGNITY IN PALESTINIAN
COURTROOMS
Law professor Reem Bahdi is helping enshrine the
concept of human dignity in the court rooms of the
occupied territories.
Bahdi works with lawyers and judges in Gaza and the
West Bank on a $7-million project named, “Karamah”,
the Arabic word for “dignity”. Funded by the Canadian
International Development Agency, the project trains
judges to consider human dignity in the cases they hear. By
the time it wraps up, the team expects 160 judges will have
attended an intensive, three-month training session.
“The bar association is very excited about the concept
of human dignity and we’re working with lawyers on how
they can effectively incorporate it into their arguments,”
Bahdi says.
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