The 2024 Annual Conference hosted by the Department of Biosystems Engineering in July 2024 was an overwhelming success. In terms of attendance, there were a total of 219 attendees comprised of 138 undergraduate and graduate students, 2 retirees and 79 professionals from academia, government and industry. The Local Arrangements Committee selected a conference theme of “Engineering Responses to Wicked Problems” with the intent of focusing on several hot topics. Five plenary sessions were organized on the topics of i) plastic pollution, ii) the role for engineering in healthcare, iii) sustainable agricultural production, iv) generative AI, and v) the role of engineering in truth & reconciliation. The plenary sessions featured a number of invited presentations and were well received. During the afternoons of the two-day conference, there were 19 technical sessions scheduled featuring approximately 120 technical presentations (five concurrent sessions). There were an additional 40 posters presented on Tuesday afternoon. Thanks to all presenters for concisely presenting within the 15 min allocation, and thanks to all poster presenters for the effort devoted to preparing these eye-catching posters. The Local Arrangements committee planned ample opportunity for networking that included a Valour FC soccer game at Princess Auto Stadium, a welcome reception at Canad Inn Fort Garry, a BBQ at Princess Auto Stadium, and an awards banquet at the Pinnacle Club.
Hosting this conference on campus at the University of Manitoba was beneficial to raise the profile of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering in the eyes of our engineering colleagues. The Dean of the Price Faculty of Engineering was excited by the buzz in the building. We appreciate the financial assistance from the University of Manitoba (various academic units) as our primary sponsor with additional sponsorship funds received from MacDon, AGCO, PAMI, and DGH Engineering. Overall, the conference generated a profit of approximately $11,000 for CSBE. Thanks to our volunteers in green shirts, with special thanks to Caitlin Jacques and Jen Beaudoin who were instrumental in making this conference run smoothly!
Conference Proceedings now available on the CSBE/SCGAB Library
