Department news

Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) news

Christine Gabardo, co-founder and technology director at U of T startup CERT Systems, is using electrochemistry "to tackle one of our world’s biggest challenges, which is climate change.” (Photo: Schatzypants Inc)

Turning CO₂ into shampoo and lawn furniture? U of T startup doing what ‘no one has done before’

CERT Systems, which grew out of research at U of T Engineering, is using water and electricity to turn waste CO₂ into ethylene and other valuable products

Researchers from U of T’s Centre for Social Services Engineering are helping to develop a platform that harnesses AI to improve wayfinding for Canadians seeking social services (Photo: iStock/Ankit Sah)

Using AI to help Canadians find social services: U of T researchers team up with industry and government

Researchers from U of T’s Centre for Social Services Engineering are helping to develop a platform that harnesses AI to improve wayfinding for Canadians seeking social services

This soft robot is made of a common polymer combined with carbon nanotubes, and acts like an ‘artificial muscle’ that contracts in response to electric currents. New materials for soft robotics is the focus one of three U of T Engineering projects funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation this week. (Photo: Mihai Duduta)

From soft robotics to treating neurological disorders: Three U of T Engineering projects supported by CFI

Funding from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund will help develop new technologies and train highly qualified personnel

Dr. Xue Wang, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Ted Sargent (ECE) installs a new electrocatalyst, made of copper doped with silver and ruthenium, that can efficiently convert waste carbon into 1-propanol. The innovation could offer a new path to upcycling captured carbon. (Photo: Geonhui Lee)

Bridging the propylene gap: Electrocatalyst offers new path for converting captured carbon into valuable products

A new electrochemical process transforms carbon monoxide into 1-propanol, a precursor to propylene, one of the world’s most widely produced industrial chemicals

As part of the Climate Positive Campus initiative, the area beneath Front Campus will be used for a large-scale ground source heat pump — a technology pioneered in part by Professor Frank Hooper (MIE). (Illustration: Nicolas Demers, courtesy of U of T Facilities & Services)

Canada’s largest urban geoexchange system builds on legacy of Professor Frank Hooper

Hooper’s research on ground source heat pumps helped inspire the sustainable Geoexchange Project at the heart of U of T’s historic St. George Campus

Left to right: Professors Aimy Bazylak (MIE), Vaughn Betz (ECE) and Frank Vecchio (CivMin) have been elected 2022 Fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada.

Three professors elected Fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada

U of T Engineering faculty recognized for their contributions to advancing clean energy, computing hardware and safer infrastructure

(L-R) Andrew Gillis, CEO of Aurora Hydrogen, Professor Erin Bobicki, University of Alberta, and Professor Murray Thomson (MIE), University of Toronto. The three have developed a new method for generating emissions-free hydrogen, and are seeing interest in their technology from the energy sector. (Photo courtesy: Murray Thomson)

Spin-off company co-founded by U of T Engineering professor creates hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions

Novel approach to hydrogen production could help decarbonize energy consumption

PhD candidate Peter Serles (MIE) places a sample of magnetene in the atomic force microscope. New measurements and simulations of this material show that its low-friction behaviour is due to quantum effects. (Photo: Daria Perevezentsev)

Graphene-like 2D material leverages quantum effects to achieve ultra-low friction

Magnetene could have useful applications as a lubricant in implantable devices or other micro-electro-mechanical systems

U of T Engineering and Hitachi High-Tech Canada partnership has led to scientific discoveries and commercialized products

NSERC Synergy Award celebrates decades of collaboration on nanoscale electron microscopy and robotics

U of T Engineering and Hitachi High-Tech Canada partnership has led to scientific discoveries and commercialized products