Able to advise ACE Project Space projects

Contact: ebergen@rrc.ca

Summary

Ernst is a Professional Engineer, and has a passion for solving problems by designing new solutions using multiple fields such as mechanical, electrical and computer technologies. The words “can’t be done” carry no meaning for Ernst. In fact, a good portion of his career has been spent doing things that he was told were impossible, always loving a challenge, especially one where others have given up. Ernst has endless patience for disassembling a problem into its fundamental elemental components and then building a solution one step at a time until a fully functional solution emerges. If that means he has to build things that don’t exist yet to solve the problem, so be it.

His skills span multiple related fields of engineering, providing Ernst with a palette of technologies to choose from when solving a problem. Never limited to one specific field, he enjoys weaving together all the components of a complex project into a beautiful functioning solution.

Currently, Ernst’s professional interests include learning about PLC automation systems, Raspberry Pi and ESP microcontrollers and all the technologies that are available for that. There are tens of thousands of components available that could make the next project easier, so he strives to become proficient with the product range available. He enjoys Python programming to write useful technical apps. In teaching others, Ernst has a unique way of breaking down a complex subject into parts that can be easily understood by others.

Going beyond solving technical problems, Ernst equally enjoys solving business-related problems such as working through lean manufacturing and six-sigma projects to remove waste from company processes. It is satisfying to see a business operating at optimum efficiency. Ernst’s goal is to become the “go to” guy for problem-solving in his fields of expertise by always learning new skills and sharing those skills with others.

Research

Ernst Bergen is able to supervise research projects in:

• General business application development & automation
  • e. QuickBooks, Salesforce, Microsoft Office, etc…
• Specialized applications automating complex engineering related tasks for industry
  • e. Solidworks automation, electrical instrumentation (oscilloscope) automation
• Data acquisition and control systems
• PostgreSQL database design and implementation

Education

• Sc. Mechanical Engineering (1999)
  University of Manitoba
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Visual Basic Level 1, Level 2 & Level 3 (2000)
  Red River College Polytechnic
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Database Management Systems & Design for Windows Style Interfaces (2000)
  Red River College Polytechnic
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Solidworks Basic & Advanced Training (2003)
  Automated Design Systems
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• CosmosXpress & CAMWorks Training (2003)
  Automated Design Systems
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Professional Engineer Designation, P.Eng. (2004)
  EGM
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Project Management (2007)
  Red River College Polytechnic
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• ISO9001 Internal Auditor (2006)
  IQ9000 Ltd.
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Six Sigma Green Belt (2006)
  SAI Global
  San Francisco, California, USA
• e!Cockpit PLC Training (2017)
  Wago Automation Technology
  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Linux Foundation Certified SysAdmin (In Progress)
  Linux Foundation
  USA
• Linux Foundation Certified Engineer (In Progress)
  Linux Foundation
  USA
• Certificate in Adult Education (In Progress)
  Red River College Polytechnic
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Teaching

Current Courses:

• Python Essentials – ab introduction to the Python programming language

Past courses:

• Programming 1 – foundational basics of logic and objects using Java
• Introduction to Programming Logic – core concepts in programming and applying concepts using visual coding
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow & Green Belt – removing excess from processes and applying Six Sigma for defect reduction

Publications

• Patents on Toroidal Plasma Assisted Catalytic Combustion Chamber (TPACCC) issued or pending in 48 countries.
• Toroidal Plasma Assisted Catalytic Combustion white paper.

Able to advise graduate and undergraduate students

Contact: jziprick@rrc.ca

Summary

Dr. Jonathan Ziprick is a faculty member in the ACE (Applied Computer Education) department at Red River College Polytechnic. He has a PhD in Physics from the University of Waterloo, and more than 10 years experience doing research across both academia and industry, in the varied fields of computer science, mechanical engineering, physics and mathematics. Dr. Ziprick has supervised both undergraduate and graduate students in research projects leading to publications in high impact journals.

Research

Dr. Ziprick is able to supervise research projects in:

• machine learning
• precision farming and digital agriculture
• image processing
• mathematical modelling
• numerical methods for partial differential equations
• quantum information/computing
• quantum gravity

The following projects have open student positions:

1. Plant Phenotyping: There are two different streams of research required here:
2. Robotics: Students working on this aspect will build an automated camera system, installed on a greenhouse bench seeded with a particular plant species, capable of capturing images of plants from a variety of angles, at a variety of light frequencies and at all stages of growth
3. Machine learning: Students working on this aspect will train deep neural networks on a large set of labelled images of plants. The goal is to develop software capable of identifying a particular plant from an image and to evaluate the health of the plant
4. Peer-to-Peer Learning: Students working on this project will use a decision tree to determine which teaching techniques are most effective for different types of learners
5. Deep Neural Networks: The goal of this project is to build a deep neural network from the bottom up and quantitatively test different constructions that are commonly in practice, and to innovate in order to improve on existing models

Students who would like to work on these projects are encouraged to contact Dr. Ziprick by email at jziprick@rrc.ca.

Education

• PhD Physics (2014)
  University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
  Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• MSc Physics (2009)
  University of Manitoba
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• BSc Physics (2007)
  University of Winnipeg
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• BSc Mechanical Engineering (2001)
  University of Manitoba
  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Awards

• 2014, $35,000, AARMS Postdoctoral Fellowship (for 2 years)
• 2009, $70,000, NSERC PhD Canada Graduate Scholarship (for 2 years)
• 2009, $20,000, University of Waterloo President’s Graduate Award (for 2 years)
• 2009, $15,000, Government of Ontario Ontario Graduate Scholarship
• 2007, $35,000, NSERC MSc Canada Graduate Scholarship (for 2 years)
• 2007, $15,000, Government of Manitoba Manitoba Graduate Scholarship
• 2007, $12,000, University of Manitoba University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship
• 2006, $825, University of Winnipeg Dr. H. Shubin Memorial Scholarship in Physics
• 2006, $6,300, NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
• 1994, $2,250, Government of Canada Canada Scholarship

Teaching

Current Courses:

• Programming 1 – first year course on coding with Java.
• Database Management Systems 1 – first year course on databases and SQL.

Past courses:

• Numerical Methods – third year course using Matlab to solve equations numerically.
• Linear Algebra – first year course on vectors and matrices.
• Quantum Mechanics – third year course on mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics.
• Mathematical Physics – second year, two term course on advanced topics in mathematics.

Summer Schools:

• Gravity Summer School – Three day summer school for graduate students; gave lectures on general relativity and black holes.
• International Summer School for Young Physicists – One week long summer school, guiding six first year students through a research project.

Publications

1. M. Hassan, V. Husain and J. Ziprick, Quantum gravitational collapse as a Fermi system,” Phys. Rev. D 97 104032 (2018), arXiv:1707.02585 [gr-qc].
2. Ziprick, J. Gegenberg and G. Kunstatter, Polymer Quantization of a Self-Gravitating Thin Shell,” Phys. Rev. D 94 104076 (2016), arXiv:1609.06665 [gr-qc].
3. Ali, V. Husain, S. Rahmati and J. Ziprick, Linearized gravity with matter time,” Class. Quant. Grav. 33 105012 (2016), arXiv:1512.07854 [gr-qc].
4. Husain, S. Rahmati and J. Ziprick, Linearized 3D gravity with dust,” Phys. Rev. D 93 024039 (2016), arXiv:1509.06091 [gr-qc].
5. Ziprick and J. Gegenberg, Discrete Hamiltonian for general relativity,” Phys. Rev. D 93 041502(R) (2016), arXiv:1507.07591 [gr-qc].
6. Husain and J. Ziprick, 3D gravity with dust: classical and quantum theory,” Phys. Rev. D 91 124074 (2015), arXiv:1506.00725 [gr-qc].
7. Ziprick, Point particles in 2+1 dimensions: general relativity and loop gravity descriptions,” Class. Quant. Grav. 32 045005 (2015), arXiv:1409.7455 [gr-qc].
8. Freidel and J. Ziprick, Spinning geometries = Twisted geometries,” Class. Quant. Grav. 31 045007 (2014), arXiv:1308.0040 [gr-qc].
9. Ziprick, Point particles in 2+1 dimensions: toward a semiclassical loop gravity formulation,” Canadian Journal of Physics 91(6) 467 (2013), arXiv:1209.1344 [gr-qc].
10. Freidel, M. Geiller and J. Ziprick, Continuous formulation of the Loop Quantum Gravity phase space,” Class. Quant. Grav. 30 085013 (2013), arXiv:1110.4833 [gr-qc].
11. D. Leonard, J. Ziprick, G. Kunstatter and R.B. Mann, Gravitational collapse of K-essence Matter in Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates,” JHEP 10 028 (2011), arXiv:1106.2054 [gr-qc].
12. Ziprick and G. Kunstatter, Quantum corrected spherical collapse: A phenomenological frame- work,” Phys. Rev. D 82 044031 (2010), arXiv:1004.0525 [gr-qc].
13. Ziprick and G. Kunstatter, Dynamical singularity resolution in spherically symmetric black hole formation,” Phys. Rev. D 80 024032 (2009), arXiv:0902.3224 [gr-qc].
14. Ziprick and G. Kunstatter, Numerical study of black-hole formation in Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates,” Phys. Rev. D 79 101503 (2009), arXiv:0812.0993 [gr-qc].
15. Kunstatter, J. Louko and J. Ziprick, Polymer quantization, singularity resolution, and the r^{-2} potential,” Phys. Rev. A 79 032104 (2009), arXiv:0809.5098 [gr-qc].
16. G. Daghigh, G. Kunstatter and J. Ziprick, The mystery of the asymptotic quasinormal modes of Gauss-Bonnet black holes,” Class. Quant. Grav. 24 1981 (2007), arXiv:gr-qc/0611139.

Selected Presentations

1. Gravitational waves: a new window to the universe,” University of Winnipeg, Physics Colloquium (Nov. 2017).
2. Polymer quantization,” University of Winnipeg, Physics Colloquium (Jan. 2017).
3. Basic elements of loop quantum gravity,” CAP6 Congress, Ottawa, ON (2016). (Invited talk.)
4. Cosmological constant in loop gravity,” Loops, Erlangen, Germany (2015).
5. Spinning geometry = Twisted geometry,” Loops, Waterloo, ON (2013).
6. Twisted triangulations,” Theory Canada, Sherbrooke, QC (2013).
7. Relating the kinematics of loop gravity and general relativity,” CAP Congress, Calgary, AB (2012).
8. Continuous formulation of the loop gravity phase space,” quantum gravity seminar at Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, ON (2012).
9. Geometric operators in loop quantum gravity,” Loops, Madrid, Spain (2011).
10. Singularity and event horizon formation with loop quantum gravity corrections,” CAP Congress, Quebec City, QC (2008).