Leading US Engineering Undergraduate Programs Use Quanser Technology

Being recognized for the excellence of its programs is important to universities – and to the students who are deciding which university to enroll at. Every year U.S. News and World Report magazine draws the attention of thousands of educators as they assess which engineering program to recommend to the young women and men destined to form the next generation of global engineers.  

Looking back at the engineering programs that U.S. News has spotlighted in 2012, we are pleased to note that Quanser controls technology can be found in the teaching and/or research labs of a great many of them, including the five undergraduate programs ranked at the top.

The Top Five U.S. engineering undergraduate programs for 2012, by U.S. News and World Report.  (Please note the two ties):

1.      Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

2.      Stanford University

3.      California Institute of Technology (tied for #3)

4.      University of California, Berkeley (tied for #3)

5.      Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) (tied for #5)

6.      University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (tied for #5)

MIT: Quanser’s Wireless Ethernet Embedded Control System (WEECS) is used to control robots in a Robotics course.

Stanford University: Quanser’s QUARC software was employed at Stanford University’s Aerospace Robotics Lab, where students were able to run a QUARC controller on computers that were over 10 years old and get closed loop sampling rates in the kilohertz. Using QUARC, they were able to design the controller in MATLAB®/Simulink® on a regular Windows® PC and an older computer running the QNX operating system. This has many benefits for real-time and reliable control and experimentation.

University of California, Berkeley: Dr. Masayoshi Tomizuka and his students are using a Quanser 3 DOF Gyroscope with added high accuracy encoders to develop controllers /estimators for Inertial Navigation Systems (INS).

Georgia Institute of Technology: Sterling Skinner of Georgia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering Department supervises a large lab that features over 20 Quanser Rotary Servo workstations, with 10 of those stations using Quanser QNX QUARC targets.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign:  Dr. Soo Jo Chung of the Department of Aerospace Engineering is using a Quanser 3 DOF Helicopter in his research laboratory. To see more about what Dr. Chung is working on, click here.

Quanser salutes these educational institutions for their leadership in controls teaching and research. For the complete list of U.S. News and World Report-ranked engineering schools, click here.

Building Your Dream Lab with Quanser

Today’s engineering systems are highly complex but the typical university curriculum in engineering is often encumbered by mid twentieth century convention. For many professors, a significant part of the answer is better, richer hands-on education, and the undergraduate laboratory is one of the most important targets of their attention. Quanser has been collaborating with leading engineering universities to bring new life and relevance to the modern engineering lab.

Quanser systems are more than high performance devices. They are designed to support a pragmatic strategy of hands-on education innovation. At the core of this is a well-earned reputation for delivering flexible, cost-effective solutions through modular design of its product.

A Modular, Cost-Effective Educational Strategy

The modularity of the Rotary Servo product line is a great example of how a sound design can drive effective educational strategy. By adding one of ten unique add-on modules to the base servo motor, professors can extend the reach of their labs well beyond the traditional experiments. 

The Rotary Servo product line is a prime example of Quanser's modular, cost-effective strategy:  it features simple components that can be combined to create complex experiments that offer students new challenges.

Students can explore the complexities of flexible beams, or gyroscopic effects, or the dynamics of a multi-DOF system, and so much more. Overall, the design makes it easy to increase the number of stations while exponentially increasing the range of exercises and even courses through the add-on modules. In all, this is a highly cost-effective framework for an institution’s lab road map.

The Quanser Driving Simulator – a HIL Automotive “Video Game”

For Quanser, however, modularity is more than add-on hardware components. Recently, at the annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in San Antonio, Texas, we demonstrated a unique application of the Rotary Servo system. Called the Quanser Driving Simulator (QDS), this concept demonstration presented a rich automotive application layer via the QUARC® software and its standard library of 3D visualization tools.

The Quanser Driving Simulator is a rich and creative application of the modular Rotary Servo system. A true Hardware-in-the-Loop automotive control system, it is  presented within a video game-like framework.  

The concept, on the surface is, “a video game on steroids”. But there is a profound difference. The servo motors have been programmed to represent the speed and position control of a real car. Through software, these motors are then connected to a model of the vehicle dynamics, a racetrack, and a driver model. In essence this is a true Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) automotive control system, and the control theory runs through all of these components and the actual relevance of very theoretical concepts become clear and intuitive. Additionally, that video game aspect can increase the motivation aspect as it adds a very familiar and often fun dimension to a lab, all from out-of-the-box components and readily accessible accessories.

The Quanser Driving Simulator received a great deal of enthusiastic attention at the recent annual conference of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Build Your Own Dream Lab

In many ways, the QDS begins pointing to the proverbial dream lab. It combines accessible hardware with meaningful applications and it illustrates how modularity extends into the software aspects within the context of the rotary product line. Beyond the rotary product line, however, is the potential growth via Quanser’s extended line of products that reaches into some of the most exciting and important application areas.

The Shake Table series allows you to conduct research or help students comprehend structural dynamics and control principles that can minimize damage from earthquakes.  

The Shake Table series for earthquake simulation, the Helicopter series for aerospace applications, or haptic experiments for biomedical applications, are examples of Quanser products that can bring a teaching lab, literally, to state of the art overnight. Additionally, these advanced devices are fully capable of supporting advanced research, further increasing the benefits to the institution.

The Helicopter series is just one example of Quanser's wide range of products and experiments that can lift a teaching lab to state of the art quality overnight. Like so many of Quanser's products and experiments, they are also capable of supporting advanced research.

The Quanser dream lab is fully realized by accessing all the necessary accessories and utilities – DAQ, power supplies, courseware, system models, and more. Quanser fundamentally believes that the best labs are ones that are easy to deploy, maintain, and readily scale, giving instructors and students the time to do what they do best – creatively explore complex concepts.

 - Tom Lee

As Chief Education Officer at Quanser, Tom Lee is focused on spearheading the development of Quanser's global academic community. He is closely involved with Quanser's technology and solution development process and the company's partner and alliance programs. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and an MASc and BASc in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Quanser Driving Simulator Demo Draws Enthusiastic Response at WEEF 2012

This past month, I had the pleasure of attending the World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) in Buenos Aires. The conference is meant to bring together stakeholders from around the world in an effort to address the major challenges that are faced in engineering education through global strategies and partnerships.

As with many of the conferences that are centred on engineering education, the thought is that if you can get the right people together into a room to share their ideas and experiences, the engineering education community can begin to work together to solve both individual and shared problems.

I have been to several conferences over the past few months and though it sometimes seems like my contribution as a booth engineer is somewhat limited in the context of global engineering education strategy, there are advantages.

Above: the poster announcing the Quanser Driving Simulator Demonstration at WEEF 2012. The Driving Simulator is a recent example of the controls education advances Quanser is developing to improve the educational experience engineering students have at university.   

While traditional attendees have opportunities to meet new people and share mutual interests, I would suggest that the majority of interactions are with established long-standing colleges. I would conservatively venture that though I was tied to a booth for the majority of the conference, over a three day period I probably interacted with 90% of the attendees. Though I would like to believe that this was largely due to my stunning good looks and charm, it was honestly probably due to the exciting driving simulator demo that I was in front of.

Despite the relatively small size of the WEEF conference, I think we had more students and professors drive the simulator on the first two days of the conference than the previous two conferences combined. Though I don’t have the most comprehensive Spanish vocabulary (freno, acelerador, rápido!, etc.), I believe that the sheer number of people who stopped by our booth offered an invaluable opportunity for Hans Fernandez and me to share information about the innovative engineering education products and approaches that Quanser offers.

Over one hundred eager engineering students from South America and around the world took the Quanser Driving Simulator for a test drive and enjoyed an exciting, hands-on educational experience. 

The WEEF conference in particular was a fantastic opportunity for us to put the driving simulator experience into the hands of over a hundred engineering students from all over South America and the world. Their reaction to the platform was very exciting, with several students returning day after day to try to improve their times or share the system with their friends.

It’s always reassuring when a professor really latches onto the driving simulator concept, immediately grasping the benefits of the platform. More than anything, however, it was the students’ interest in the guts of the system and the interaction between the controllers, simulation, and hardware that proved to me that we are on the right track.

As a curriculum engineer, my day-to-day job is to try and improve the educational experience that students have while at university. At the end of the day, all of the strategies and partnerships that come from these conferences are in the hands of the students. By interacting with students directly and meeting organizations like Student Platform for Engineering Education Development (SPEED), I firmly believe that we have a chance to fundamentally improve the educational experience for engineering students from the bottom up.
- Peter Martin

Peter Martin is a Curriculum Developer at Quanser.

Gangnam... Quanser Style

Last week as part of a broader Asian tour, I visited Korea. This country has experienced more recent economic transformations that many have called miraculous. Brands such as Samsung and Hyundai now compare well against more seasoned names as Sony and Toyota. The average income is approaching those of the so-called “developed” nations. It has hosted the Olympics and co-hosted the World Cup. And it has begun to seriously influence global pop culture in the form of TV dramas and music. Indeed, upon my return, the most frequent questions that I’ve gotten are “How was Gangnam? Did you do the dance?”. Gangnam was fine. I did not do the dance. And in fact, I couldn’t even find a Psy CD for my daughter. But I did get a better idea of some seemingly remarkable trends in the national psyche, especially in the area of education.

안녕하세요. 저는 1963 년에 한군에서 태어났습니다. 하지만 1971 년에 캐나다로 이민갔습니다. 한국말 잘못함니다. 미안합니다.

The above phrase exactly translates to “Hello. I was born in Korea in 1963. But in 1971, I emigrated to Canada. I cannot speak Korean well. I am sorry.”  This is the phrase that I start pretty much every conversation in Korea. Whether it’s a renowned professor, a taxi driver, or the lady selling street food, it has always been my primary defense to the direct probing question (Koreans can be very direct and probing … especially those ladies selling street food), or the “to self” question implied by puzzled looks on people’s faces, “Why does this old guy look Korean but speak like a tourist with a bad phrase book?”

A floral display in Seoul, Korea highlights a more traditional Gangnam Style.

A Visit To TechPlus Forum 2012

On November 7-8, 2012, in the Gangnam area, Korea celebrated its newly discovered tech entrepreneurial spirit with Tech Plus Forum 2012. A very slick and bouncy production consisting of successful Korean tech entrepreneurs and invited international guests sharing their experiences in commercializing innovation. The style of the talks was very Ted Talk and the program was an interesting mix of “how I made a bazillion dollars” stories and artists promoting the virtues of raw creativity. The audience was largely young people: students from high schools and universities. The ultimate goal was to get these kids to begin dreaming about transforming their smarts to economic and cultural success and the organizers did not hold back.

Several of the speakers were expat Koreans like myself, including Michael Yang of mySimon.com (a pioneering web site for online price comparisons), and professor and roboticist Daniel Lee of the University of Pennsylvania. Both presented very inspiring and entertaining accounts of their success. And they both started their presentations with “Hello. I was born in Korea in _________. But in _________, I emigrated to America. I cannot speak Korean well. I am sorry.” Instantly I realized that I was no longer alone in my illiterate though over-educated universe. If there were two others who butcher our mother tongue so proficiently at a single conference, there must be more of us. It also was made clear to me just how far reaching and deep the Korean economic, cultural and intellectual diaspora could be in the modern world.

K-Pop star Eun-Mi Lee closes TechPlus Forum 2012.

People often compare Korean economic development with that of Japan separated by about a generation’s worth of time. Indeed, today, “Made in Korea” is no longer something you want to hide from your friends. Samsung and Hyundai produce products of global Tier One quality and on par with Sony and Toyota. But the most intriguing observation for me at TechPlus Forum was that choice that the country is making to not follow the Japan path of growing through multinationalization but with a largely unchanged framework of quality, efficiency, and technical excellence. Everyone is now realizing that Japan’s past success is also a major part of its current challenge and it seems like Korea is not interested in blindly following that model. In fact TechPlus Forum was the exact opposite. It was about starting small, dreaming big, and taking risks. 

You have to trust me when I say that these three phrases are as un-Korean as can be. In fact, the modern Japan story is much closer to the natural Korean value set than the Silicon Valley story. But here was the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy (the fact that they have such a ministry is also telling), funding a major feel-good conference, complete with lights, contemporary K-pop stars (except Psy … sigh), and free lunch for everyone, to encourage young people to think like people that their parents always warned them about! This is big time change.

Sitting beside me was my friend Dr. Won-Jong Joo of Seoul National University of Science and Technology. He introduced me over a year ago to the well-funded national initiative to reinvigorate and modernize engineering education in Korea. This established a national network of universities collaborating to essentially leap frog over Japan and indeed most other developed regions with a more progressive and effective engineering education process. I had originally perceived that initiative as an admirable one but still saddled with the vestiges of traditional scholarship. As we were grooving to songstress Eun-Mi Lee’s soulful (Seoulful? ha ha) ballads at the end of the conference, it did seem like the changes were more than an academic exercise. Best wishes Korea (I really wish I knew how to say that in Korean).

 For more information on TechPlus Forum 2012, see www.techplusforum.com. You can also see presentation samples on their YouTube channel.  Most presentations were in Korean (there was a translation service) but a few are in English. Most of the videos on this channel were from Day 1 of the conference. I attended Day 2.

 - Tom Lee

As Chief Education Officer at Quanser, Tom Lee is focused on spearheading the development of Quanser's global academic community. He is closely involved with Quanser's technology and solution development process and the company's partner and alliance programs. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and an MASc and BASc in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Quanser Flexibility Deliver High Functionality

Dr. Tom Lee highlights the teaching and research flexibility of Quanser's Rotary line of experiments. The Rotary Servo Control Lab accepts a wide array of add-on modules, including the inverted pendulum module seen here.

A high degree of flexibility is one of the benefits that controls professors can expect when putting together a lab based on Quanser solutions. 

The reason: Quanser labs are composed of a small number of versatile, high quality, modular components and peripherals—elements you can easily mix and match to teach a wide range of control concepts and courses, from the most fundamental to the most advanced. You can also use these same modular elements to conduct advanced research.

Above are some of the Quanser add-on modules from the Rotary lineup.  This high degree of flexibility and functionality continues in our Linear, Mechatronic, Specialty, Custom and Unmanned System devices.

Watch as Tom Lee, Quanser’s Chief Education Officer, discusses Quanser’s flexibility from a unique location: inside the National Instruments (NI) Campus Tour vehicle that is currently touring North American campuses and demonstrating the functionality of some of Quanser’s and NI’s joint offerings.

What Makes Our Linear Experiments a Popular Choice For So Many Professors?

Over the years Quanser’s linear motion experiments, modules and workstations have been the first choice for many professors teaching controls. Their popularity is due to a number of reasons. One key factor is the number of linear experiments available. Professors can choose from over 14 experiments to help them teach fundamental control concepts including modeling, position and speed control. 



A basic control concept is being learned here with the Quanser Linear Flexible Joint Experiment. Courseware included with this workstation covers such fundamentals as modeling and position control. Also shown is the NI CompactRIO with Quanser Q1-cRIO module and the Quanser VoltPAQ-X1. Quanser linear experiments can be flexibly configured to run with MATLAB/Simulink or with LabVIEW and NI CompactRIO.

The wide choice of experiments is possible in part because all of the products in the linear motion family are modular in design and become simple add-ons to our IP02 linear position base unit.

Like our other product lines, our linear controls family is flexible and adaptable. It utilizes a “building block” approach to learning and courseware. Students are more likely to grasp an array of concepts when they build on each other progressively. The available courseware also saves massive amounts of teaching prep time, a tremendous benefit for professors who have to balance their roles as teachers and researchers.
 
These experiments are integrated with National Instruments components and NI LabVIEW™ control design software. As a result, linear experiments can be configured to run with LabVIEW™ and the NI CompactRIO data acquisition platform as well as MATLAB^®/Simulink^®.

Last but far from least, because our linear system is open architecture in design, its components and peripherals can be flexibly re-purposed and used to conduct research.

These are among the reasons our linear motion control products have been selected as teaching tools, research tools or both by such renowned and diverse engineering educators as Professor Nejat Olgac of the University of Connecticut; Professor and Chair (EECS) Stephen M. Williams of the Milwaukee School of Engineering; Professor Victor Nasini of the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology (ITBA); and Professor Mohammad Elahinia of the University of Toledo, to name a few.

Clearly, whatever level of controls course you're teaching, you'll be able to rely on the captivating, hands-on Quanser approach that truly suits your course and your students. To find out more about what you can teach with our linear controls lineup, click here.

Scaling Earthquakes - the Quanser Way!

Our Shake Table users are familiar with the earthquake scaling file called q_scale. This file has been around a long time, but it has been refined over the years. Special thanks to Dr. Eduardo Jausel from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his suggestions on the 'baseline' method and revised the source code.

So what does q_scale do exactly? Given an earthquake acceleration record, q_scale computes the position that the shake table must track in order to obtain the same accelerations - while keeping it below the maximum position specified. This enables an earthquake to be replayed on a bench top shake table and still obtain the same accelerations as recorded.

Take the Northridge earthquake for example. As with many other tremors, the recorded acceleration record can be downloaded from the PEER Ground Motion Database. At a certain measurement station, the peak acceleration and displacement of Northridge reached 0.60 g and 16.9 cm. The trajectory recorded at that station is shown in the two left-hand plots in the figure below under 'Recorded Acceleration' and 'Recorded Position'. 

When processed by q_scale, the acceleration amplitude is maintained (notice the peak acceleration is kept at 0.60 g) and the displacement is scaled-down to 3 cm (i.e. the specified maximum position). The position and acceleration records from q_scale are shown on the right-hand side in the above figure under  the Table Acceleration and Table/Scaled Position plots. Notice that in order to keep the same acceleration, the duration of the tremor is shrunk down from 40.0 sec down to 16.8 sec.

Using ground motions from actual earthquakes makes the lab more interesting. Motivation is key and students would rather see their building stand up to the Northridge earthquake then a pre-defined sinusoidal.

- Mitch Levis, Manager, Curriculum

A New Paradigm in Time Delayed Systems Research Is Validated with a Quanser Linear Workstation

For more than 10 years, Dr. Nejat Olgac from the University of Connecticut has focused his research on time delayed systems and specifically on a unique paradigm called the Cluster Treatment of Characteristic Roots (CTCR). Using key mathematical features of Linear Time Invariant Time Delayed Systems (LTI-TDS) first recognized under a CTCR paradigm, Dr. Olgac and his team can now identify stability islands of multiple-delay structures in the time-delay domain. Basically, if a linear time invariant time delayed system is contaminated with multiple, rationally independent delays, the researchers from the University of Connecticut can tell what delay composition will cause stability of the system.

Quanser's Linear Inverted Pendulum (IP02) system was utilized by Dr. Nejat Olgac of the University of Connecticut in his ongoing research on Time Delayed Systems. The IP02 system was used to validate a unique paradigm called the Cluster Treatment of Characteristic Roots. (CTCR).

To validate the CTCR Paradigm, Dr. Olgac used Quanser’s Linear Inverted Pendulum (IP02) system. With four patents already issued and a fifth one on the way, the research of Dr. Olgac and his team from ALARM Laboratory has a wide range of applications that extend from the machine tool industry to high speed milling and jet engine design.

At the 2012 American Controls Conference, Quanser hosted Dr. Olgac and his colleague Dr. Rudy Cepeda-Gomez, who presented their Inverted Pendulum Stabilization with Two-Delays and CTCR Paradigm research. Watch the video below to learn more.

First passage to India

There is a reason why Christopher Columbus, The Beatles, and Julia Roberts all wanted to go to India. It’s a very funky place. For one incredible, intense week in October, I was introduced to the modern India.

The purpose of my visit was to attend National Instruments Educators’ Day in Chennai, followed by a series of visit to several prominent universities including three of the renowned Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) network. And for the most part, I consider my trip to have been successful. My presentation at the conference went well and I had very stimulating discussions with prominent Indian professors in various control specializations. But I could have said the same thing about pretty much every business trip I make. What was really special about this particular trip was exploring and discovering the cultural dimensions of this unique place. A place that seems a little bit more unique among all of the unique places in the world.

Over a thousand professors attended the NI Educators Day conference.

The strongest memory from my first impressions of the country was the traffic. Rome, Seoul, Boston pale in comparison to the ferocity of Indian metropolitan traffic. It’s truly a study in Brownian motion as vehicles squeeze into impossibly small gaps at full speed. Oh yes, and there’s occasionally a cow that wanders on to the street at which point the traffic flow parts in a very laminar fashion and life goes on.

The engineer in me was also fascinated by the famed “auto” three-wheeled taxis. Based on the motor sounds, I suspect that there is a small two stroke engine puttering beneath body. For about a dollar you can cross a pretty impressive distance on one of these marvels. And because they are tiny, they can easily zip in and out of those fleeting traffic gaps. The business guy in me, pondered whether we could import these beauties then refit them with electric motors and make a killing driving tourists around Toronto’s tourist districts.

“Auto” cab scoots along in Mamallapuram, a small town near Chennai.

But it all works! Even with TWO flat tires in an auto cab, I made it to my meeting with time to spare. This phrase probably describes my first India experience best … it all works. At first encounter, it’s so easy to interpret the blistering pace and machinations of this country as utter chaos but beneath that visibly hectic layer lies a strange order that, to be honest, I think only Indians fully comprehend and command. Whether it was a horribly cumbersome process of getting an entry visa, missing parts in our demo equipment, serpentine queues at the airport, random or possibly scheduled national power shortages several times a day, or full contact haggling with souvenir vendors, it all works out. This is the magic of India.

But it makes so much sense. India, with over a billion people, is the largest democracy in the world. This means, somehow, this country constantly reconciles the voices of its immense population to do anything. Of course this often begets a bureaucracy of cosmic proportions, but the fact remains that the modern India has achieved some pretty spectacular things. It has redefined the global computing segment producing roughly the same number of software professionals as the US within a single generation. Tata Motors have become a global company with legendary marques such as Jaguar and Land Rover in their portfolio. And its entertainment industry has produced Bollywood … and now Collywood (the Chennai-based film industry) and collectively, they constitute the most prolific film region in the world.

Closer my own heart, and very indicative of India’s emerging role in the world stage are the renowned Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) – a network of 16 internationally ranked research universities located in most of the country’s key metropolitan areas. My hometown of Waterloo is a “college town” similar in vibe to Berkeley in the US and Cambridge in the UK (and the US), and with the university’s reputation in engineering and computer science, we have a very vibrant and healthy local population of scholars from India. My Indian peers at university were often some of the brightest and the best and I always wondered what kind of an education system produces such consistent talent. On this trip, I got closer to the answer as I had the pleasure of visiting three IITs on this trip IIT Madras, IIT Jodhpur, and IIT Delhi.

From the campus of IIT Madras!

During these visits, I had a chance to chat with professors about this and that in research and teaching and other topics that typically comprise a nondescript academic discussion. I am happy to report however, that I got a fascinating glimpse into some of the more current trends in Indian Academe. One very happy discovery was the seemingly universal desire to develop interdisciplinary, or system-centric engineering methodologies. As in many places, Indian engineering is discovering that the traditional disciplines of engineering are not capable of addressing the increasing complexity of modern engineering systems. Those who know me, also know that the systems approach has been a key part of my own education and professional life. It’s good to know that these methodologies are increasing in importance throughout the world.

There was also a noticeable tendency towards highly theoretical frameworks for both research and teaching. This is, of course, very consistent with the grand traditions of mathematics in the culture. This fully explains why Quanser products appeal to so many faculty in the country. The “Quanser Method” – a term coined by Founder, Jacob Apkarian, stresses the harmony of the theoretical and the practical. Our devices provide efficient and creative platforms for exploring very challenging engineering concepts -- from fundamental models, to advanced controller prototyping, to testing and data acquisition, the Quanser method provides a holistic framework for modern control systems.

An IIT Jodhpur researcher with a Quanser Active Suspension.

As the week went on, this country so full of exotic contradictions made more and more sense … or at least stopped making me nervous. This was definitely one of the more action-packed itineraries that I have had in a very long time but once I and my travel colleagues got into the groove and the rhythms of India, things became much easier. We were never late for meetings. There was always a cab near by. The hotel bar tender Vipin always had a cold glass of Kingfisher beer ready at the end of the day. Even the domestic airport experience became tolerable if not enjoyable. Ha! I pity you tourists struggling with the 15 extra steps that you need to clear security at the airport.

In the end, I felt sad to leave. Ironically, this country that is so challenging and different from home, that drains you daily, physically and mentally, also connected with me in a way that so few countries have done. Although I had an opportunity to use up all of my cash supply at the hotel on the last day, I left 800 Rupees in my wallet, hoping that it will be useful the next time I visit and continue my education.

Danyavadh India. Nandri Chennai.

- Tom Lee
As Chief Education Officer at Quanser, Tom Lee is focused on spearheading the development of Quanser's global academic community. He is closely involved with Quanser's technology and solution development process and the company's partner and alliance programs. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and an MASc and BASc in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.