Pioneering Toronto professor Comondore (Ravi) Ravindran, who is developing casting processes for aluminium and magnesium alloy components for the transportation sector, was elected recently as a fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Ravindran was honoured for being in the forefront of a drive to bring lighter, greener materials to the road. He is an industrial engineering professor at Ryerson University.

As stringent fuel consumption regulations loom in both Europe and North America, the automobile sector is shifting from iron and steel to aluminium engines and suspension components.

Ravindran founded the first university-based and interdisciplinary applied research for lost foam (near-net-shape) casting of aluminium alloys and technology transfer in Canada, in a facility on Ryerson’s downtown campus.