Engineering at U of T emerged a winner on Thursday when its researchers received several funding awards from Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation.
No fewer than four Engineering faculty members received Early Researcher Awards (ERA), which provide significant financial support to emerging leading researchers to build their research teams.
Mansoor Barati (MSE) received an award for his novel approach to energy recovery from slag, turning waste heat from metal production into an energy source. Metal manufacturing produces a high-temperature liquid waste, known as slag, which must be cooled in the air or in water, releasing a vast amount of heat in the process. Professor Barati is investigating a new approach for harnessing the energy of the waste heat. Energy recovery from slag presents a tremendous potential for both energy savings and carbon dioxide emission reduction.
Philippe Lavoie (UTIAS) took an award for his research on reducing harmful emissions from aircraft through active flow control. His work will seek more effective ways to control the flow of air over civil aircraft by manipulating the dynamics of airflow around airplanes to produce improved flow characteristics that can reduce drag, structural vibration, noise and harmful emissions. His findings hold great potential for reducing the environmental impact and cost of operating airplanes.
Matthew J. Roorda (CivE) received an award to support his research using global-positioning system data to develop models of commercial vehicle operations in urban areas. This research intends to provide policy makers with better decision-support tools to analyze and predict the impact of public sector decisions on the freight transportation network. This research could provide policy makers with better tools to analyze and predict the impact of public sector decisions on the transportation network, leading to more responsive and effective solutions.
Lidan You (MIE) hopes to one day grow living replacement bone tissue that could treat osteoporosis-related fractures, which affect more women in Canada than breast and ovarian cancer combined. Her Early Researcher Award will support her work on rational mechanobiological-based design of tissue-engineered bone by first establishing what a “healthy bone cell” is, then testing different biomaterials for their ability to direct adult stem cells to become bone cells.
Engineering researchers also received several Ontario Research Fund-Research Infrastructure (ORF-RI) program awards.
Dionne Aleman (MIE) will study high-performance computing infrastructure for large-scale healthcare optimization; using mathematical modelling, Professor Aleman’s goal is to ensure that Ontario’s health care system delivers medical care as accurately as possible through quantitative analysis.
Tom Chau (IBBME) will further his work in helping severely disabled children interact with other people and their environment. Working in the Paediatric Rehabilitation Intelligent Systems Multidisciplinary (PRISM) Lab, Professor Chau is studying body signals with the goal of equipping the children with the tools they need to direct their own care.
Craig Steeves (UTIAS) will develop lightweight materials for the aerospace industry which can reduce environmental effects and minimize damage from fatigue and impact. Professor Steeves’ work could give the aerospace industry a significant advantage over its competitors, and has important applications for other transportation industries including auto and rail.
“We are delighted that the hard work and outstanding research of our faculty members have been acknowledged through these prestigious awards,” said ProfessorStewart Aitchison, Engineering’s Vice-Dean of Research.
The University of Toronto will receive $4.2 million through ORF-RI to support 25 projects and the work of 29 principal investigators (PIs), and $2.5 million through ERA to support 18 projects and the work of 18 PIs.
Follow the links to learn more about the ORF-RI program and to read the story on the U of T website.
