George Fares attended the W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology, from the Engineering Faculty of McMaster University. He graduated with a B.Tech. degree in Automotive & Vehicle Engineering Technology from McMaster, an advanced diploma in mechanical engineering technology from Mohawk College as well as a certificate in business management from Mohawk College. George joined the McMaster Automotive Resource Center in January of 2023 directly after finishing his undergraduate studies. He began as a master’s student but began pursuing Ph.D. studies in September 2023 under the supervision of Dr. Ali Emadi.
His current research includes topics such as vehicle dynamics, vehicle structure design, driveline design and integration, vehicle driveability and calibration, as well as thermal management in traction inverters for switched reluctance motors.
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For as long as he can remember, George was a car fanatic ever since his father, Maher Fares, would tell him all the names of the cars they would see when they were out. His first toy was even a Porsche Carrera. He also grew up playing lots of racing games like Forza Motorsport on the Xbox his father bought him when he was 5 years old. Ever since, George has had a passion for anything with four wheels.
George enrolled in the B.Tech. Automotive program at McMaster University and completed his degree December of 2022. During his second year, he accepted a position as a COVID security officer at the Ford Oakville Assembly complex. While not the most ideal job thanks to the slowing job market during the pandemic, this role exposed George to automotive manufacturing and quality control. In his later years, George would accept a co-op at Promach creating manufacturing steps and assisting in parts creation for packaging machinery. All of these experiences exposed George to manufacturing and the importance of efficient design for assembly, disassembly, and design for transport. While this experience was great it didn’t quite scratch the itch he had for leaning more into his passion for automotive. A motivator that would then lead him to apply to graduate studies in mechanical engineering. During his undergraduate degree, George would also get involved in student government. For his final two years of his undergraduate studies, he would be the 3rd and 4th year representative for the Bachelor of Technology Association. This position also helped him develop interpersonal skills and qualities that would help him later on.
Upon graduation, George received the honour of becoming the Valedictorian of the McMaster Engineering class of 2023, and was the first B.Tech. Valedictorian in the university’s history. George saw this as the representation that the B.Tech. program needed in the faculty and among all his peers.
Shortly after, George began his graduate studies at MARC on the McMaster Engineering EcoCAR team where he was thrust into the role of SDI Technical specialist. He would go on to work on the reintegration of a 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ and convert it from a RWD EV, to an AWD EV using a rare earth metal free architecture. During his role as rear-powertrain lead, him and his team would design and integrate a brand new switched reluctance motor (SRM) into the rear of the Cadillac LYRIQ. Since beginning his PhD studies, George has also begun work on calibrating the vehicle using industry standard tools, studying vehicle dynamics, and working on CFD for thermal management of traction inverters for SRMs, as well as overall vehicle aerodynamics.
