Title

Company
University of Calgary
Bio
After obtaining his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, Ron Hugo started his professional career as a research scientist with the US Air Force Research Lab in Albuquerque, NM where he performed basic and applied research in support of the Airborne Laser program. He worked within the Atmospheric Characterization Group and was responsible for data integrity during four around-the-world data collection campaigns. In this role, he was able to spend his days flying in a Gulfstream II business jet while addressing the challenge of performing sub milli-Kelvin temperature fluctuation measurements using a sensor smaller than one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, all while moving at 85% the speed of sound. After 10 years in the United States, he returned home to his native Alberta and became a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Calgary. During his seventeen years at the University of Calgary, fifteen years have involved some form of administrative service including Associate Head, Department Head, Associate Dean, and Director of the Pipeline Engineering Centre. His research focus is currently split between pipeline engineering and engineering education. As Pipeline Centre Director, he coordinates research activities of approximately 15 professors and oversees the process of highly-qualified personnel development through the PEC’s graduate courses. As the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation Chair in Engineering Education Innovation, he explores the ever-changing landscape of higher education. This includes the following: a 5-week accelerated product development course taught to teams of Canadian and Chinese students in the Guangdong Province of China each year; YouTube lectures that have been viewed by tens of thousands of students from around the world; and co-directing an international engineering education reform initiative that now includes over 120 collaborating post-secondary institutions from seven global regions.