Eight of the U of T students selected nationwide for 2012‘s The Next 36 come from engineering. Making this accomplishment an even greater one is the fact that U of T represents one-third of the total 36 chosen internationally.

The Next 36 is a prestigious entrepreneurship leadership initiative that helps launch the business careers of promising Canadian undergraduates. Throughout the eight-month program, they will work in multidisciplinary teams of four to innovate, launch and sell a product or service for the mobile or tablet market. They’ll also receive in-class instruction on entrepreneurship from world-class business leaders.

Several celebrated U of T Engineering alumni are involved in the initiative, including Board of Directors members Anthony Lacavera (CompE 9T7), Chairman and CEO of WIND mobile, and Francis Shen (EngSci 8T1, AeroE MASc 8T3), the Chairman and Co-CEO of Aastra Technologies Ltd.

The winning candidates from U of T Engineering are: Zerzar Bukhari (ElecE 1T3), Freddy Chen (CompE 1T3), Cheryl Cui (EngSci 1T1 + PEY), Rafal Dittwald (EngSci 1T1 + PEY), Layan Kutob (IndE 1T2 + PEY), Alexandru Litoiu (ElecE 1T2), Donnie Yee (MechE 1T2 + PEY) and Ji Zhou (EngSci 1T3).

“On behalf of the Faculty, I would like to congratulate our outstanding engineering students,” said Cristina Amon, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “I have every confidence that they will utilize the engineering education and business acumen we provide to become leaders in the chosen areas. They are examples of the ever-broadening scope of what it means to be an engineer.”