On March 4, U of T Engineering released its new Strategic Academic Plan, 2026–2031. The document sets out the faculty’s goals and priorities for the next five years.

Engineering Strategic Communications sat down with Dean Chris Yip to find out more about then plan and what it will mean for the U of T Engineering community.

How did this plan come together?

The heavy lifting was done by Professor Heather MacLean (CivMin), our Vice-Dean, Strategic, as well the Strategic Academic Plan Steering Committee. I’m grateful for their hard work on this project.

Consultation has been an important part of this process. We talked to our students, professors, staff, alumni, units across U of T and of course the many organizations that partner with us. We identified what makes U of T Engineering special, and what makes it stand out in a globally competitive marketplace for engineering education and research.

We’re leaning into our strengths, but we’re also pushing ourselves to the next level. We know the world is changing fast, with socio-economic pressures, evolving models of education and growing demands in areas like AI and cybersecurity. Those could be viewed as obstacles, but we see them as opportunities.

Our mission is to be a global leader, convener ​and partner of choice in advancing transdisciplinary engineering research, ​innovation and education.

The strategic academic plan is built around four pillars that are closely interconnected. Can you walk us through each? Let’s start with the first one: Educating adaptive thinkers to address complex challenges.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that we can’t always predict what challenges will arise. What we do know is that these challenges — pandemics, climate change, effectively deploying AI — don’t confine themselves to any one sector, domain or area of expertise.

We are dedicated to cultivating adaptable, globally minded engineers who collaborate across and within disciplines to address complex ​societal challenges. That means prioritizing skills like leadership, career readiness and global perspectives.

It also means hands-on experiences from day one, and throughout all years of study: design courses, capstone projects and programs such as the Professional Experience Year Co-op, which is already one of the largest of its kind in Canada.

I really believe that engineering is for everyone, and I want everyone to be able to see themselves in what we do.

Research Excellence

We’re already producing world-class research. From next-generation autonomous vehicles to new medical treatments to greener infrastructure, I can’t help but be blown away by the work our students and professors are publishing.

Our researchers will continue to have unparalleled access to multidisciplinary research centres, industry partnerships and collaborative programs.  We also plan to modernize our research infrastructure and streamline support for new initiatives. All this will enhance our research excellence, innovation and impact.

Community, collaboration and resilience

I said before that I truly believe engineering is for everyone, but the fact is that if you look at our profession today, it still doesn’t reflect the full diversity of the societies we serve.

We’ve made progress — our student body is now about 40% women across the board — but we have to keep going. We’re going to continue advancing the integration of equity, diversity and inclusion across our academic programs, practices, policies and infrastructure.

That includes strengthening connections between Indigenous knowledge systems and engineering education, and also supporting community well-being and professional growth for our students, staff and faculty.

Building transformative partnerships

Strategic partnerships enable us to address the really big, complex challenges of our time. Our industry partners get early access to student talent, and to the expertise that our professors have been accruing over their long and distinguished careers. This enables them to develop innovative solutions that they couldn’t necessarily achieve on their own.

In return, our undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to work on real products and challenges that will make an impact in industry. It’s a fantastic way to apply and consolidate what they’ve learned in their courses.

Many of these partnerships also have an international component, creating opportunities for our community members to gain the global perspectives that are so crucial to engineering.

But most importantly, partnerships help us see that engineering is a human discipline. Whenever you design a new tool, technology or approach, you need to start with the end users in mind. If it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t work, period.

We are going to strengthen the partnership pathways we already have — research collaborations, co-location opportunities in our Engineering Partnerships Office, exchanges, Master of Engineering Co-op — and build new ones. This will enhance the global network of partners we already have and increase the impact of our work.

That’s a long list. How are you feeling about it?

Incredibly optimistic. I’ve experienced the U of T Engineering community as a student, a professor and now as Dean, and I’ve never stopped being impressed with the quality of our people. It’s a community that is truly unique, and indeed stretches all over the world — more than 60,000 alumni in almost any country you could name.

We have a strong track record: Times Higher Education ranked U of T 14th in the world for graduate employability last year. Add to that our global reputation as Canada’s #1 engineering school and among the best worldwide and you’ve got a network that opens doors everywhere.

Our vision for the future is ambitious, but I have faith in the ability of this amazing community to bring about lasting, positive change.

University of Toronto students are addressing one of Mexico’s most urgent health-care challenges: equitable access to life-saving diagnostic tools. Through a cross-border collaboration with Mexico-based GSE Biomedical, and with support from Kolab Ventures, researchers from the Reach Alliance — including students from U of T Engineering — are working to advance medical device manufacturing and distribution in the country. 

The Reach Alliance is a global consortium of cross-sector partners developing student leaders to co-create climate, public health and economic solutions with hard-to-reach communities. As part of this project, a team from the Reach Alliance is conducting a social impact market analysis to assess barriers and opportunities within Mexican medical device markets. At the same time, another group of students enrolled in a capstone course offered by U of T’s Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN), are working to design and prototype a self-sampling device for cervical cancer screenings. The two teams come together for joint workshops and collaborative activities throughout the process. Both were recently in Mexico for research purposes. 

“Collaborating across disciplines has highlighted how different approaches to problem-solving can complement one another and lead to engaging conversations and new insights,” says Samantha Unger (EngSci2T3, BME PhD student), one of the Reach Alliance team researchers.  

By bridging the gap between research and practice, the two teams are finding solutions that fill critical gaps in care. In many regions across Mexico, where health infrastructure is limited, the availability of essential self-collection, diagnostic and treatment tools are scarce. As a result, many people in these regions experience delays in diagnosis and treatment, leading to increased morbidity and mortality rates. 

Researchers are analyzing how GSE Biomedical, a medical engineering startup, can advance and innovate amidst medical barriers including financial constraints, under-resourced health infrastructure and high costs of imported medical equipment.  

“University partnerships with private companies like GSE give real life exposure to real life problems,” says Ramses Galaz, CEO of GSE Biomedical.  

“Both the university students as well as our organization, GSE, have learned from each other.”  

As part of their work, the teams were invited to present their research to representatives at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City, who were keen to engage on the international collaboration. The discussion underscored growing opportunities for student-led research to contribute to cross-border innovation, health equity and partnerships. 

Faculty mentor Professor Sarah Haines (CivMin) is inspired by the ways in which a research collaboration between the Reach Alliance and engineering can catalyze meaningful global change.  

“This marks the beginning of a much larger conversation about equitable access to healthcare and lifesaving technologies, whether it’s through cervical cancer screenings or non-pharmaceutical disease prevention interventions,” says Haines.  

“By co‑developing solutions together through these strong partnerships, we can create lasting, meaningful change for hard‑to‑reach communities.” 

With both universities and cross-sector partners in their global network, the Reach Alliance has provided key support to the students. Faculty mentor Jorge Membrillo-Hernández, a professor in the School of Engineering at consortium partner Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC), facilitated introductions between the teams and biomedical engineers and health professionals at TEC’s Mexico City campus. These connections offered the teams unique access to local technical expertise and sector insight. 

This joint project opens the door for future cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary collaborations and provides opportunities to prepare students to create equitable and sustainable solutions. 

  

 

For nearly five decades, Paul Acchione (MechE 7T1, MEng 7T6) has been a champion of engineering across Ontario — and at his alma mater.  

A respected leader in Ontario’s energy sector, Acchione’s work helped shape the province’s nuclear power infrastructure. Through his advocacy with the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, he has also advanced policies that promote sustainable, reliable and affordable energy. 

His commitment, along with that of his wife Anna, to supporting future engineers has been equally inspiring. From his first gift to U of T Engineering’s Annual Fund forty-five years ago to the creation of the Paul & Anna Acchione First Year Engineering Award in 2025, he has consistently and generously paid forward the support he himself once received. 

For U of T Giving Day — a 24-hour fundraising campaign on March 26 — writer Kristina Kazandjian spoke with Acchione about his journey, the power of engineering and why investing in future students is one of the most meaningful legacies we can create. 

What initially drew you to engineering, and to U of T?   

From the time I was a child, I was captivated by how things worked. I was the kid who took my toys apart to see what was inside, who built a crystal radio at 12, and who disassembled my father’s car engine piece by piece. It didn’t run after I put it back together, but that failure taught me something important: I needed to learn more. Engineering wasn’t just an interest; it felt like something in my DNA. 

I began studying mechanical engineering but ultimately gravitated toward control systems, a field that demanded both mechanical and electrical expertise, and satisfied my lifelong curiosity about how complex systems function. I started university in my hometown of Windsor because, at the time, my family simply couldn’t afford for me to attend the University of Toronto, even with a first-year scholarship. 

But life has a way of opening doors. At a family wedding, I met Anna, who lived and worked in Toronto. We married after my first year, and I transferred to U of T. To this day, Anna jokes that my pension belongs to her because she helped me through school — and I’m happy to admit she’s right. 

Do you have a favourite memory from your time at U of T Engineering?  

Because Anna and I were married and living off campus, I wasn’t deeply involved in student social life. But my experience was rich in other ways. The friendships I formed during classes, labs and late nights working on projects, became some of my most meaningful.  

Many of those friends worked alongside me later in my career designing and building Ontario’s nuclear power plants. Others ventured far beyond Canada. A few, sadly, are no longer with us. But the shared memories of those formative years remain profound.

You spent your career in the energy sector and advocated for better policy and accessibility. What role do you believe engineers play in issues like sustainability and affordability? 

Engineers bring a practical, evidence-based perspective to energy policy. We understand the mechanics behind sustainability, reliability, affordability and abundance. Through the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE), our profession helped shape provincial policy, contributing to Ontario having one of the cleanest, most reliable and most affordable electrical systems in the world. 

But the work is far from finished. Right now, we waste more heat in generating electricity than it would take to heat every home in the province. Other countries with climates similar to ours have successfully integrated the electricity and thermal energy sectors, dramatically reducing overall energy consumption. Engineers must continue advocating for policies that enable this kind of sector coupling.  

Your first donation to the faculty was to the Annual Fund, and you’ve continued giving for 45 years. What inspired you to start giving back? 

Winning a scholarship helped me afford my first year of university, and that generosity stayed with me. When I graduated, I wanted to do the same for someone else. 

At the time, Anna and I were raising a young family, so large gifts weren’t possible. But the Annual Fund offered a way to make smaller contributions that, combined with others, created meaningful support for students. 

It felt good to be part of something larger, a collective effort to open doors for the next generation of engineering leaders.  

You and your wife recently established the Paul & Anna Acchione First Year Engineering Award. What impact do you hope it will have? 

Our hope is simple: to help one student each year begin their engineering journey with confidence and possibility, and to build a better future not only for themselves and their community.  

Engineers design the future we will live in. By supporting students, we’re investing in problem-solvers who will confront the challenges of tomorrow. 

What advice would you give to engineering students today who are just starting out?  

Seek out the challenges. In my career, the most rewarding moments came from tackling the hardest problems. 

Find what you love and pursue the difficult questions within it. One day, you’ll look back with pride on the people you worked alongside and the projects you had the good fortune to be part of. 

If there’s one lesson you’d like readers to take away from your journey, what would it be?  

Engineering offers a deeply rewarding career that makes life better for others. If you are in a position to help a student begin that journey, why not do it? Whether it’s a small gift to the Annual Fund or a larger commitment to a named award, every contribution has the power to change someone’s life. 

Many young people struggle with the rising costs of education. If we can ease that burden, even a little, we should. Let’s pass our good fortune forward. 

And finally, if you are able, consider supporting the causes you care about in your will. For Anna and me, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering is one of ours.

Professor Giuliano Pretti has joined the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering as an assistant professor.

“We wholeheartedly welcome our newest faculty member to the department,” says CivMin Chair Professor Marianne Hatzopoulou. “Students will benefit from the exciting new elements Professor Pretti brings to the department in teaching and research. Join us in offering our newest professor a warm welcome to CivMin.”

Writer Phill Snel spoke with Pretti to learn more about his research direction, passion for teaching, and what attracted him to Toronto. He has relocated from Italy to join the department.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Let me start by first saying that it is a great pleasure and honour to be at the University of Toronto, and I’m very much looking forward to working in such a vibrant and stimulating environment. That said, my name is Giuliano, and I’m originally from Italy. I began my educational journey in my hometown of Brescia, in northern Italy, where I earned both my Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and my Master’s degree in structural engineering. It was during this time that I became passionate about numerical tools and analyses, particularly when applied to geotechnical problems. I’m primarily motivated to design new computational models that help us better understand complex engineering phenomena.

I was fortunate to continue developing these interests during my PhD at Durham University in the UK, where I worked extensively on the Material Point Method (MPM), a specific numerical technique. The MPM method is particularly well-suited to modelling solids undergoing extreme deformations, such as those encountered in landslides or during the installation of driven piles. Later, I continued this work as a postdoctoral researcher still at Durham, and I’m now grateful for the exciting opportunity to carry my research forward here in Toronto.

Could you explain the focus of your research?
My main area of expertise is computational geotechnics, especially when soils subjected to extreme deformations start to deform consistently and behave more like liquids. These topics have a wide range of applications in soil mechanics, since basically all infrastructure is either founded on soil or, in some cases — such as earth dams — entirely made of it, and soil is not a standardized material, which can make it particularly unpredictable.

Much of my recent work has been applied to power cable risk assessment in the offshore wind industry. These cables are typically buried in the seabed and are exposed to hazards such as anchor strikes. Together with the team at Durham, I’ve helped develop tools that support industry decisions on appropriate cable burial depths, accounting for soil conditions and maritime traffic. To do this, we created a physics-based software capable of realistically modelling the anchor embedding process across different types of soil.

Why did you choose U of T?
I believe the University of Toronto embodies everything a leading research university should offer: outstanding people and exceptional infrastructure. Both are essential for producing impactful, forward-looking research. Even though I’m still at the very beginning of my time here, I’ve already found my colleagues to be incredibly welcoming and supportive and I see great potential for meaningful collaborations.

U of T is widely recognized as a global centre of excellence, and I will try my best to contribute to that reputation with my own expertise. I’ve also been impressed by the postgraduate students I’ve met so far — they demonstrate all the qualities needed to succeed. From an infrastructure standpoint, being part of such a large and well-resourced institution opens up tremendous opportunities, and I fully intend to make the most of what U of T has to offer.

What are you most looking forward to in your new position?
I’m particularly eager to further develop my research through collaborations and student supervision. I’m deeply passionate about my work, and I enjoy challenging and being challenged on ideas, discussing them in great detail, and leveraging all the inputs to create new models that can make a contribution.

At its core, engineering is about exploring solutions that haven’t yet been explored and translating them into tangible impact. More broadly, I think I am simply looking forward to doing my job as a researcher and as an advisor.

As a new professor, what one piece of advice would you give to students?
It’s always hard to give general advice, as I believe that anyone has their own path and experience. As a general suggestion, I would circulate back to passion and intrinsic motivation. When you’re driven by something that genuinely resonates with you, something that pushes you to go the extra mile with a bigger purpose in mind, I believe you’re doing more than just studying or working; you’re growing as a human being.

This kind of motivation can move mountains (with appropriate geotechnical caution), and as we move into the future, we will need people equipped to face unexpected challenges with curiosity and resilience.

Finally, is there anything fun, or unusual, about yourself you’d like to share with our CivMin audience?
I played football — or soccer, depending on where you’re from — for 19 years. Through the sport, I learned a great deal about teamwork and the importance of individual contributions within a collective effort. Although I stopped playing some time ago, I still fondly remember the thrill before matches.

With my alma mater’s team in Brescia, we won a gold medal at the Italian National University Championships in 2013. I certainly wasn’t the star player, but I look back with great pleasure on the journey and the shared experience that led to such an unexpected and rewarding outcome.

Professors George Eleftheriades (ECE) and Yu Sun (MIE) have been elected as international members of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The NAE provides engineering leadership in service to the United States and globally; its members rank among the world’s most accomplished engineers. 

Eleftheriades is a pioneer in the field of metamaterials, which are artificial electromagnetic materials that can bend waves and process light in ways not found in nature. He has not only created new classes of metamaterials, but has also applied them to invent a whole range of groundbreaking electromagnetic devices. The applications for this technology are wide-ranging, and include sub-wavelength imaging for medical diagnostics, very small and efficient antennas for communications, wireless power transfer and light harvesting, and even “cloaking,” where incident waves are bent around an object in a way that renders it transparent.   

Eleftheriades was also a trailblazer in the early development of metamaterial antennas. These antennas, with extremely wide-scan angle coverage, are used in wireless communications, defence systems, and collision avoidance automotive radar systems. For example, metamaterial antennas have been used to implement ground terminals for broadband internet through low-earth orbit satellites to provide internet access to remote and impoverished regions. Several innovations by Eleftheriades have been transferred to the commercial sector through collaborations with industrial partners such as Dell Canada, Google, Nortel, RIM, Intel, Qualcomm, Huawei Canada and Mitsubishi Electric.   

Eleftheriades is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Royal Society of Canada, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has received many of the most prestigious awards in his field, including the IEEE Electromagnetics Award, the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Distinguished Achievement Award, and the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Technical Field Award. 

Sun has made seminal contributions to our ability to manipulate micro- and nanometer-sized objects, which is critical for both scientific discovery and industrial applications. He invented the world’s first fully closed-loop controlled robotic nanomanipulation system that can operate inside the high vacuum chamber of electron microscopes for automated single transistor probing and in-situ electromechanical materials testing. His nanomanipulation instruments have been licensed to industry for semiconductor failure analysis and materials testing, and are now used worldwide.  

Sun has also applied his expertise in nano-instrumentation to make breakthroughs in robotic surgery at the cellular level. He developed the world’s first robotic system for performing precision surgery on single moving sperm and ovarian cells. His robotic cell surgery technique resulted in the first human robotic fertilization and has significantly improved clinical outcomes in infertility treatment. To tackle tumour surgery at the single-cell level, he spearheaded the development of magnetic cell manipulation instruments generating multi-modal magnetic fields to mechanically kill cancerous cells from the inside. 

Sun is one of only a handful of Canadians to be elected to all three of the national academies — the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is also a fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Academy of Inventors, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and IEEE. 

“On behalf of the faculty, congratulations to Professor Eleftheriades and Professor Sun on this significant recognition,” says Christopher Yip, Dean of U of T Engineering.  

“Their election to the NAE demonstrates the international reputation of our faculty members and the global impact of their research.”  

A new strategic partnership between the University of Toronto and Ericsson will advance the technological capabilities that underlie cell phone networks — leading to faster, more efficient and more cost-effective service in Canada and beyond. 

The initiative officially launched on U of T’s St. George campus on February 18, highlighting possible topics for future collaboration and identifying opportunities for recruiting students. It brings together Canada’s preeminent research university with one of the largest players in telecommunications research and development in the world. 

The partnership was awarded to U of T after a national Request for Proposals, in which Ericsson invited Canadian universities to demonstrate how they could help develop deep fundamental insights and advances that will eventually lead to the next generation of products. 

It follows more than a decade of previous collaboration between Ericsson and researchers at U of T, and will set the framework for a deeper relationship that could extend into the next decade. 

While it will strengthen the research and development ecosystem within the Greater Toronto region, its impact will be felt at a national level, contributing to better connectivity and stronger infrastructure to support future technologies 

“This partnership will foster cutting-edge research, develop world-class talent, and support the creation of secure and reliable technologies for the future of wireless communications,” said Marcos Cavaletti, Head of Ericsson’s Ottawa site. 

“As 5G continues to drive profound changes across industries and societies, Ericsson and the University of Toronto are committed to tackling these challenges together.” 

U of T Engineering professor Ben Liang (ECE) and his team have been working with Ericsson since 2013. 

“One of my PhD students started an internship with Ericsson, and that’s how we got started,” says Liang.  

“After that, they had a national call for proposals, and our team was successful with that. Every year since then, I’ve had some collaboration with them.” 

Liang says he’s worked on both the software and hardware sides of wireless communications infrastructure. 

“A lot of it relates to questions about how to optimize the allocation of resources, and that includes both spectrum resources and power resources,” says Liang. 

“Power is expensive, so if you use less, you lower the cost of the service. And improving the use of spectrum means you can move more data through the network, which leads to faster download and upload speeds.” 

“We are also investigating longer-term challenges, such as enabling multiple network service providers to share the same hardware infrastructure in crowded venues, and how artificial intelligence and wireless networking can be tightly integrated in future systems.” 

Another U of T Engineering professor, Ravi Adve (ECE) has also had long-standing collaborations with Ericsson. 

“We started in about 2017, through a collaboration with another professor who is now at Ontario Tech University,” says Adve. 

“We’ve been looking at a lot of the same things as Ben and his team, but we’ve also been looking at things like system architecture.” 

“Right now, the model is to have a big base station that covers a large region. An alternative approach would be to deploy more, but smaller stations. They would use less power and be more efficient, because users are closer to a station on average. However, this approach brings up new challenges that need to be addressed, so that’s what we’re working on.” 

Both Liang and Adve hope to continue collaborating with Ericsson under the new partnership agreement, and additional faculty members from across U of T are expected to join them. 

Another key aspect of the partnership is a talent development stream. This initiative will include contributions from a number of centres and programs across U of T Engineering, including the Centre for Analytics & Artificial Intelligence Engineering (Carte), the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice (ISTEP) and the new MEng Extended Full-Time Co-op program, which launched last fall. 

The talent development stream will train highly qualified personnel who are not only well-versed in the development of new wireless communications technologies, but who have the sector-wide perspective and leadership training to oversee their future implementation. 

“We’re very proud that U of T has been successful in this process,” says Professor Leah Cowen, U of T’s Vice-President, Research & Innovation. 

“We have a long and positive track record of catalyzing next-generation technology with Ericsson, and with these types of industrial collaborations in general. It’s a win-win proposition, enabling us to apply the expertise of our researchers, enhance the skills of our students, and elevate the global competitiveness of a major global technology innovator with major R&D operations right here in our own backyard. This strategic partnership is a great opportunity to take things to the next level,” she says.

“Ontario is proudly home to a robust sector of researchers whose ground-breaking discoveries cement the province as a global innovator in technology,” says Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security.

“Our government proudly supports this partnership between Ericsson and the University of Toronto, which will equip our researchers with the cutting-edge tools they need to design, drive and lead the future of mobile communications technology.”

Looking to establish a partnership with U of T? Come in through the Blue Door!