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Brent Lievers

@wblievers.bsky.social
206 followers 150 following 139 posts

educator of future engineers | researcher of the biomechanical | lover of pie in all its many forms

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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
The most recent XKCD comic has *two* northern Ontario references: CFB North Bay and @snolabscience.bsky.social !
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
On his PhD: "The meaning of this degree is that the recipient of instruction is examined for the last time in his life, and is pronounced completely full. After this, no new ideas can be imparted to him." Stephen Leacock Preface to "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town" (1912)
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Reposted by Brent Lievers
CROSH @crosh.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Congratulations to CROSH members Dr Brent Lievers Lievers and Dr Katie Goggins on their recent publication "An analysis of doctoral prestige and faculty composition in Canadian mechanical engineering programs", now available on PLOS One. Read it now: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0344491
doi.org
An analysis of doctoral prestige and faculty composition in Canadian mechanical engineering programs
Faculty positions at institutions of higher education are limited resources for which there is a high level of competition. Previous studies have shown that a hierarchy of prestige exists within academia which leads to 80% of those positions being filled by the doctoral graduates from only 20% of institutions. The goal of the current study is to determine whether such a hierarchy also exists within Canadian mechanical engineering programs and to consider other demographic differences within their faculty complements. Information on over 1100 faculty members from the 38 accredited Canadian...
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Went out for Indian food last night. Everything was delicious but, as Canadian, I am a bit conflicted about their spice-rating system...
Photo of a menu from an Indian food restaurant encouraging you to select your spice level along the following scale: Canadian mild, mild, medium, spicy, Indian spice.
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Reposted by Brent Lievers
Laurentian University / Université Laurentienne @laurentianu.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Congratulations to Laurentian University Mine Rescue on winning 1st place overall at the Intercollegiate Mine Emergency Response Competition (IMERC 2026)! We’re so proud of this outstanding achievement. Way to represent Laurentian! 💙💛
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Here's a Sudbury.com article on the 2026 Intercollegiate Mine Emergency Rescue Competition (IMERC) that our Laurentian mine rescue team hosted last week with the help of Ontario Mine Rescue. Thanks to all the students who helped organize and volunteer! www.sudbury.com/local-news/s...
sudbury.com
Students rappel into the depths during mine rescue competition
Nine teams from eight post-secondary institutions from throughout Canada and the United States participated in this week’s Laurentian University-hosted competition, for which the home team ended up pr...
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
One of our colleagues, Tracy Fleury, is the third on Team Homan and is currently at the Winter Olympics competing in women's curling. They have the 🇨🇦-🇰🇷 game streaming on the screens on campus.
The Olympic women's curling match between Canada and South Korea being shown on the campus screens.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
🎶 I want a hippopotamus for Christmas Only a hippopotamus will do One to mark exams And enter final grades I'd hug that hippopotamus and throw it a parade! 🎶
Piles of exam booklets beside a laptop.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Our Laurentian University Mine Rescue club (LUMR) is organizing the next intercollegiate competition that will take place in February 2026. We're looking forward to having teams from nine different mining schools competing here in just a few months! #IMERC2026 laurentian.ca/about/news/l...
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
This year's #ENGR1501 Intro to Engineering design challenge was called Ramp-Bin-Up. Teams had to build a device, using only materials from Staples or Dollarama, that could push a bin of earplugs up a ramp at each of four different slopes. Here's a video of their final designs: youtu.be/WYLvGisaCL0
youtu.be
Ramp-Bin-Up 2025: final designs
YouTube video by Brent Lievers
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
An AI writing tool that I can get behind: Formalizer (goblin.tools/Formalizer)! Have Formalizer reword your text to make it “more professional”, “easier to read” or “less snarky”. You can also set the level of spiciness. Here are some examples based on a simple email.
The text:

"As per my previous email, you are behind on your deliverable for this quarter. Please provide the requested documents by day's end."

is converted to:

"I am utterly fed up with the continued disregard for this urgent matter! As I warned in my previous email, you are WEEKS behind on your deliverables for this quarter, and yet here we are, STILL waiting! This is completely unacceptable. I demand that you *immediately* provide the necessary documents—no excuses—by the end of the day. This level of neglect cannot, and WILL NOT, be tolerated!"

by making the text "angrier" at maximum spiciness.The text:

"As per my previous email, you are behind on your deliverable for this quarter. Please provide the requested documents by day's end."

is converted to:

"Oh, no rush at all — I mean, take your sweet time. Just a gentle reminder that your adorable little deliverable for this quarter is *way* overdue. Whenever you get a chance (no pressure), could you kindly send over those oh-so-critical documents by the end of the day? Thanks a million!"

by making the text "more sarcastic" at moderate spiciness.The text:

"As per my previous email, you are behind on your deliverable for this quarter. Please provide the requested documents by day's end."

is converted to:

"Hey, just a heads-up from my last email—you’re a bit behind on your deliverables for this quarter. Can you send over the required documents by the end of the day?"

by making the text "more informal" at moderate spiciness.The text:

"As per my previous email, you are behind on your deliverable for this quarter. Please provide the requested documents by day's end."

is converted to:

"As per my PREVIOUS email,

you are BEHIND on your DELIVERABLE for this quarter.

Please PROVIDE the requested DOCUMENTS by the END of the day."

by making the text "easier to read" at moderate spiciness.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
I am not excited to be scraping my car windshield in October, but the frost on this wooden railing this morning almost made up for it.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
The @laurentianu.bsky.social School of Engineering & Computer Science is looking to hire a master lecturer (teaching-stream faculty position) in mechanical engineering: laurentian.ca/about/career... The deadline for applying is November 14, 2025.
laurentian.ca
Faculty Vacancies | Laurentian University
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Congratulations to Dr. MC Lau and our Snobots team for their great performance this summer in South Korea! laurentian.ca/about/news/s...
laurentian.ca
Students excel at robotics competition in South Korea | Laurentian University
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Spotify's shuffle gave me what seemed like an ominous message on my commute home: "Bring me to life! (Your ex-lover is dead, for what it's worth.)" So now I am trying to think of better messages that could come from three song titles…
A scren shot of the shuffle cue on Spotify showing three songs:

"Bring me to life" by Evanescence
"Your ex-lover is dead" by Stars
"For what it's worth" by Buffalo Springfield
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Fall 🍎🍎🍎 means apple cake with carmel sauce!
A slice of apple cake on a plate, in front of an open jar of caramel sauce with a spoon in it.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Thanks to the Laurentian University Engineering Student Society (#LUESS) for organizing yesterday's successful Purple Day events! We trust all the first-year engineering students enjoyed themselves. Hopefully, everyone's skin & hair will be (almost?) back to its normal hue by Monday.
A group shot of the first-year engineering students, each having their clothes, hair and skin dyed a varying level of purple. Clouds of purple smoke drift into to the frame from the left and right edges of the image.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
We uncovered an envelope of old drawings in the engineering office this morning, all related to old mining practices. My favourite is this one on how to lower a mule down a mine shaft. No record of the mules' response is given. (We believe the English was translated from the French text.)
This drawing has six illustrations with captions underneath. There is also a block of text explaining the preparation of the animal. All text is in English and French, but only the English text is as follows:

My sweetheart's a mule in the mine

1. Preparing the mule for lowering into the mine required heavy webbed harness with rope attachments.
2. Placing the ropes under the hind legs forced the animal into a sitting position.
3. The hind legs were pulled into position and tied.
4. The front legs were then secured.
5. From a hook under the cage, the mule was attached and swung into the shaft for lowering.
6. The holding hook was built so as to place the mule diagonal in the shaft compartment. This was necessary due to the small compartment size.

Lowering and hoisting was done by a three man crew. Prior to moving, the animal was "gounted" for three days. The animal went without food or water for this period. If not done, the was the danger of a ruptured bladder or suffocation.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
An article from The Local about the state of higher education in Ontario: thelocal.to/ontario-post...
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Not much of a dancer normally, but a "Pulled Pork Dance"? Sorry I missed it.
Sign outside a Royal Canadian Legion building which reads:

DANCE PARTY
LIVE MUSIC
PULLED PORK
SUNDAY 1 TO 5Electronic sign which reads:

Pulled Pork Dance
1 to 5 today
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
The fall term doesn't start until after Labour Day, but the barrage of emails has already begun. Attentive visitors to Missouri's Belton Cemetery can undoubtedly hear Dale Carnegie rolling over in his grave. #IBeforeE
The image shows four sample email introductions, each taking creative liberties with the poster's surname. They read:

"Hi Dr. Livers"
"Hello Dr. Levers"
"Dear professor Brent Lovers"
"Hi, Professor Brent Livevers"
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Exciting @thestar.com article on our Snobots team competing in the HuroCup robotics competition in South Korea🇰🇷. Good luck to Dr. Lau and our students! www.thestar.com/sports/amate...
thestar.com
Canadian robots are beating the world in Olympic-style sports. There’s a greater goal in mind
Those involved in the HuroCup say the ultimate goal is to drive research that may produce useful humanoid robots to help with things such as eldercare.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Congratulations to @crosh.bsky.social senior researcher Dr. Katie Goggins for receiving an NSERC discovery grant to fund her occupational vibration research. 🎉 Well done! Congratulations also to the other awardees. laurentian.ca/news/researc...
laurentian.ca
Laurentian University | Laurentian University researchers awarded significant NSERC funding
(July 28, 2025) - Laurentian Universi
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Impressed that these Canada geese are waiting for a city lifeguard to arrive before entering the swimming area. #Sudbury
Photo of the Bell Park Main Beach in Sudbury, Ontario at sunrise. Canada geese are lined up along the water's edge within the swimming area marked off by a buoyline. An empty lifeguard tower is visible.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Not a meteorologist, but I feel Iike the folks at Environment Canada are being non-committal with that icon: 🌞 + 🌧 + ⛅️ + 🌩? (At least it doesn't include ❄️ + 🦈 + 🌪.)
Screen shot of some of the Environment Canada forecast for today in Sudbury, Ontario. At 6pm there is a high of 19°C and 70% probability of precipitation. Weather conditions described as "Chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms." The icon for the weather is combination of the sun, rain and rain clouds, plus dark thundercloud and lightnight.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
To my Dean: Is it too late to add catching & releasing this grackel as "service" on my annual report?
Bird on the floor of the Fraser Auditorium foyer.Bird on the wrong side of the Fraser Auditorium window.A somewhat traumatized bird finally outside!
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Final year capstone projects are an important part of engineering education, but they're even better when they're inspired by real-world problems. Hat tip to Markus & Greg for the great job they do finding these projects and guiding our students. www.sudbury.com/local-news/v...
sudbury.com
Vale superstack demolition inspires Laurentian engineering project
Students develop innovative way to demolish large industrial stacks
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Happy Mother's Day! A special shut-out to all those who have to work today so that others can celebrate. My SIL is a chef at a fancy hotel. They are expecting 700-800 for brunch across two dining rooms! Be sure to tip your servers well today!
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
My final marks are all submitted, so my winter-term course work is officially done! 🎉🥳🎈 Enjoy these renderings of some of the group projects completed by my 1st-year #ENGR1017 computer aided design (CAD) class, where they had to recreate digital models of a commercial product. Colour me impressed.
Rendering of a CAD model of an ice auger, with a detailed view of the engine and handle.Rendering of a CAD model of a bicycle.Rendering of a CAD model of an office chair.Rendering of a CAD model of a vacuum.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
The calm before the storm. My second and final exam of the winter term starts soon… Best of luck to the students writing #ENGR3566 tonight!
Sign indicating the row for those writing ENGR-3566 in the exam hall.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
“We are the Knights Who Say…”
Grocery store sign which reads:

NNNI
PEPPERS
SWEET
MIXED 2.5L 
$8.00

where NNNI == No Name® "Naturally Imperfect".
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Spring is having a hard time spring-ing in our part of the world. *sigh*
Weather advisory on April 6 warning of roughly 24cm of snowfall over the next 48 hours.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
A lot of dessert was made — and eaten! — in our house this weekend. The pavlova disappeared in a day. The layered blueberry cheesecake lasted until tonight.
Pavlova covered in kiwi, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. There is a lemon curd beneath the cream.Three layered blueberry cheesecake on an oatmeal cookie crumb base.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
We heard from 3 of Dr. Mariana Kersh's (UIUC) students to close out our #ENGR3566 guest lectures for this year: Melany Opolz, Michael Focht & Mikayla Hoyle. A great overview of their multidisciplinary research, applying a variety of imaging, testing, & modelling approaches to bone & tendon in 🚶& 🐎.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Huge thanks to Aiden Dillon & Brett Brouse, from the Taylor Lab @uoregon.bsky.social, who tag-teamed yesterday's #ENGR3566 guest lecture about fractals, neurons, & their potential for helping restore lost vision. It was a great mix of math, computing, physics, material science, & biology.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Enjoyed an amazing guest lecture this morning by Dr. @melodyoungg.bsky.social from Duke University. She covered her doctoral work on climbing mechanics in various species (🐸🦜🦥🚶‍♀️), plus her post-doctoral studies on latch-mediated spring actuation in trap jaw ants & snapping shrimp! #ENGR3566
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Yesterday we kicked off this year's series of guest lectures in #ENGR3566 with Dr. Emily Rogers-Bradley from @ucalgary.bsky.social. She spoke on gait and her work with semi-active prosthetics. A great talk with lots of quality questions from the students!
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Congratulations, Dr. Dorman!
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
My daughter has experienced two big milestones this week. She voted for the first time in yesterday's Ontario election. Today, she's gotten to experience her first university reply-all storm. (William: She hopes you get your bursary!)
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
I love my children
Screen shot of an email titled "I forgot my phone at home". The body of the email reads as follows:

Dearest Mother and Father,

It appears I am so unattached to my cellular device that I failed to bring it with me to my place of post-secondary education to-day.

As a result, electronic mail is the only forum through which you may be able to reach me until the afternoon.

Please be advised it may take me 3-4 business hours to respond.

Sincerely,
Your daughter.

P.S. Mother, if you would be so kind as to unplug my device from its charging port so it does not overcharge, that would be most appreciated.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
I've doubled my chocolate eating efficiency recently after discovering these beauties. To think that I used to eat my Dairy Milk and MiniEggs *separately*. Thanks to Cadbury, those days are behind me now. Follow me for other productivity hacks.
Pacakge of Cadbury Dairy milk & MiniEggs.Hand holding a chocolate with a bite out of it, revealing the MiniEggs within the DairyMilk.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Our annual series of mock interviews for @laurentianu.bsky.social Engineering & Computer Science students is underway! Three days, 16 companies, & 85 interviews where students get feedback from industry professionals. A great way for them to prepare for their careers!
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Daughter & I arrived home from university to find my wife had picked up three Spiderman beans babies on clearance. We immediately set out to recreate this meme:
Photo of the pointing Spiderman meme recreated with beanie baby Spidermen.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
What do masonry & bone have in common? We'll try to answer that question as we discuss our recent JBMR Plus paper based on Britney Lamarche's MASc thesis: <https://doi.org/10.1093/jbmrpl/ziae143>. A paper🧵 1/
Title information for the article titled “Trabecular bone structural units and their cement lines change with age, bone volume fraction, structure, and strength in female human vertebrae” listing the authors, affiliations, and publication information.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Between Jolabokaflod and sörur, I think my wife might be ready to fully adopt Icelandic Christmas.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Not to brag, but I occasionally dabble in the stock market.
Grocery shelves lined with beef, chicken, and vegetable stock.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
In the midst of a fascinating thread on Prof. Lubert Stryer — well worth a read — Dr. Berg's daughter (after a “Take your daughter to work” day) drops this nugget:
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
🎵 Can't beat em, I know you'd eat em Son & I made a pail for his bake sale Brownie mixture round a cherry core Can't stop at one so you must have more All wrapped up inside a chocolate shell Looking tasty & designed to sell Won't last long, get one or they're gone Cherry, chocolate brownie bombs! 🎶
Tray lined with parchment paper, and brownie bombs laid out in rows.Cross-section of a brownie bomb revealing the maraschino cherry center, the brownie middle layer, and the solid chocolate outer shell.
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Brent Lievers @wblievers.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Final exam for #ENGR1501 starts soon. Good luck to everyone writing today.
Empty exam hall with rows of desks. A sign in the foreground marks one row for students in ENGR-1501.
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