Dean's Message
It’s been an exciting year at U of T Engineering. We recently wrapped up our year-long celebration of 150 years of innovation here at the faculty. Now, we are left feeling inspired, energized and ready to tackle the next set of global challenges.
With the Defy Gravity campaign well underway, we have renewed our commitment to creating sustainable & thriving global communities, promoting healthy societies, designing intelligent machines for good and enhancing the development of the 21st century engineer.
As you go through this report, you’ll see shining examples of all this, and more. You’ll meet students and researchers who are creating inclusive spaces to support collaboration or leveraging data science and artificial intelligence to alleviate bottlenecks in overburdened healthcare systems. You’ll read about partnerships with industry leaders that are generating solutions in sustainable energy, urban air quality, neonatal health and many other worthy pursuits.
But it’s not just about the science — as always, I take the most pride in the supportive and inclusive community we’ve cultivated at U of T Engineering. My experiences here as a student, faculty member and leader have reaffirmed my belief that by making space for a range of experiences, perspectives and voices at the table, we can develop the best solutions.
I hope you enjoy this report, which highlights some of our favourite moments from the past year and speaks to the accomplishments yet to come. As I continue as Dean for a second term, it is a privilege to join you all in shaping a better, more sustainable, more inclusive future for everyone.
– Chris Yip, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Engineering For The World
Berlin, Germany
In November, Ambrish Kumar (MSE MEng student) headed to Berlin, Germany for the Falling Walls competition to make the pitch for net-zero hydrogen production. He earned a first-place finish at the Falling Walls Lab in Toronto with the idea for Nanodes, which reduces the high cost of net-zero hydrogen produced through electrolysis.
Rabat, Morocco
Researchers led by Professor Amy Bilton (MIE) are partnering with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas in Morocco to measure the effectiveness of a newly-implemented passive irrigation controller to support subsistence farmers. This is one of many projects underway at U of T Engineering’s Centre for Global Engineering.
South Korea
In January, U of T Engineering welcomed graduate students from across South Korea for a focused training program on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These students will return home ready to drive the innovative use of AI in their fields.
San Jose, California
Brian Chu (Year 3 CompE) spent this past year at the Intel headquarters in Silcon Valley, building design automation tools for field programmable gate arrays. He is one of 1,022 students who gained practical job experience through U of T Engineering’s Professional Experience Year Co-op program this year.
Delhi and Bengaluru, India
Last summer, Professor David Meyer (CivMin, ISTEP) published new work on the complexities of water supply systems in two Indian megacities: Delhi, with a population of more than 32 million, and Bengaluru, which has more than 13 million people. This work sheds light on inequities in clean water supply.
Walandi, India
Recent graduate Vishakha Pujari (IndE 2T3 + PEY) was U of T’s first recipient of a Karta Catalyst Scholarship, which enables talented, low-income students from rural India to study at the University of Toronto. Hailing from the small Indian village of Walandi, Pujari will continue to stay involved with the Karta Initiative by promoting its mission to enable young people from India to access global opportunities.
Yokohama, Japan
In May, Sandro Papais (UTIAS PhD student), Robert Ren (Year 3 EngSci) and Professor Steven Waslander (UTIAS) presented the concept of the Sliding Window Tracker (SWTrack) at the 2024 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Yokohama, Japan. This new methodology could enhance the reasoning ability of robotic systems, such as autonomous vehicles, with the goal of increasing their reliability and safe operation in changing environments.
Miskha Mayu, Bolivia
In May, five members from the U of T Chapter of Engineers in Action traveled to Miskha Mayu, Boliva to construct a new footbridge that provides year-round access to economic opportunities and education. Spanning 62 meters, the structure connects two sides of a community that were previously separated by a river considered impassable for approximately 120 days of the year.
Pachacamac, Peru
As part of their capstone project, undergraduate students Dina Bernstein (Year 4 MechE), Esme Bonnell (Year 4 MechE) and Selena Chen (Year 4 ChemE) travelled to Santuario De Amancay de UNACEM in Peru to test out a new design for a fog-harvesting apparatus. The trip was part of several ongoing collaborations between the Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN) and Permalution, a Quebec-based startup dedicated to reducing water stress through fog collection.