Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome

inside western banner

This Q&A series offers an opportunity for the Western Engineering community to learn more about the incredible staff across the faculty and the outstanding work they do. 

Meet the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Dome team located at 2535 Advanced Avenue, London, Ontario.

windeee-ins 

The WindEEE Dome is one of three experimental laboratories within the WindEEE Research Facilities. Its mission revolves around fostering climate-resilient and sustainable communities through innovation in wind engineering and the training of highly skilled professionals. The facility specializes in simulating complex wind systems, including tornadoes, downbursts, and hurricanes, to study their impact on the built environment. WindEEE is open to Canadian researchers and international collaborators, thanks to the support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

-- Girma Bitsuamlak
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Director, WindEEE Research Facilities (The Dome + BLWTL + 3LP)
Director, WindEEE Research Institute
Site Leader Sharcnet Advanced Research Computing

Team Members

  • Adrian Costache, Operations Manager 
  • Tibebu Birhane, PhD – Research Scientist
  • Kimberley Adamek (PhD Candidate) – Research Architect
  • Tristan Cormier, BEng – Research Engineer
  • Maksim Faronov, PhD – Research Technologist
  • Elisa Yaquian, MSc – Research Coordinator

Engineering Communications (EC):What do you enjoy most about your work at Western Engineering?

Girma Bitsuamlak: Working closely with motivated students, being supported by an outstanding tech/research support team and having access to exceptional experimental and computational wind engineering research facilities.

EC: What's your go-to way to unwind or relax after a busy day?

Adrian Costache: A long walk around the neighborhood or a bike ride around Springbank Park in good weather, sometimes while listening to a podcast or whatever happens to play on the radio. It is more or less a leftover from the pandemic days, but I’m glad to be sticking with it now :)

EC: What's a challenge you've overcome that has shaped who you are today?

Tibebu Birhane: After completing my BSc studies, I worked as a structural engineer. When assigned to carry out the structural design of an irregularly shaped office building, I noted that the building code required an elaborate dynamic analysis for earthquake effects. At that time, I hadn't studied advanced structural dynamics necessary to conduct the analysis as per the code requirements. Subsequently, I pursued graduate studies in structural dynamics for earthquake and wind actions. I believe this was a pivotal moment in defining my career.

EC: Can you share a fun or interesting fact about your hometown or where you grew up?

Kimberley Adamek: I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. According to the Smithsonian, Hamilton is considered to be the waterfall capital of the world. We have approximately 100+ waterfalls due to its location on the Niagara escarpment.

EC: What do you enjoy most about your work at Western Engineering?

Tristan Cormier: As a Research Engineer at the one-of-a-kind WindEEE facility, I enjoy having the opportunity to work flexibly in designing experiments, implementing instrumentation, strategizing development, executing projects and much more. I always feel like there is something both professionally and personally satisfying about completing tasks at work.

EC: What's the most memorable travel experience you've had and why?

Maksim Faronov: A long time ago, when I lived in Russia, I watched a show named Road to Avonlea, loosely based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book Anne of Green Gables. At that time, I didn’t know I would immigrate to Canada, but when I did, this memory inspired me to visit Prince Edward Island (where the story took place), and, in particular, the house where the author lived and wrote the book. During that trip, I traveled all the way from London to Newfoundland through Quebec and all Atlantic provinces, using only public transit. It was a great experience that allowed me to see many different parts of Canada.

EC: Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself that your colleagues might not know? 

Elisa Yaquian: In the Fall of 2023, I completed my first Triathlon at Lakeside. It was a huge personal challenge to overcome the open water swim portion of the competition! My new goal is to continue training to complete a longer distance one this year.