This story is Part 4 of an eight-part series, Global Engineering Impact, running throughout fall 2015.
Three U of T Engineering students enhanced their technical skills and immersed themselves in Chinese language and culture last May as part of an exchange program organized by Huawei, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies.
The three were among 20 engineering students chosen from across Canada to participate in the Seeds for the Future Work Experience Program, which took them from the company’s Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ontario, to Beijing and Shenzhen over the course of two weeks.
It was “one of the biggest experiences of my life,” said Eric Flim (Year 3 ECE). “It wasn’t just an educational experience that added to my understanding of technology and culture — rather it changed my understanding of them.”.
“I thought the opportunity was incredible,” said Raymond Ly (Year 3 EngSci). “It was a chance not only to visit China for the first time, but also to get a tour of a company at the forefront of technological advancement.”
The trip began at Huawei’s Canadian headquarters in Markham, where the students toured the facilities and got to know one other. “We came from all across Canada, with very different backgrounds,” said Ly. “Some of us spoke French, and a few of us were Chinese. Over the trip, I grew to know and bond with everyone.”
Alice Ye (ECE 1T5) also enjoyed the social aspect of the program. “It was great getting so close to a group of people, and we were pretty good friends by the end of it,” she said.
The next day, the group flew to China. They spent the first week at Beijing Language University, learning Mandarin and taking classes in Chinese culture. Although some of the students could already speak the language, most were beginners. “Our teachers often found great humour in our inability to even make the most basic sounds,” said Flim with a laugh. The students also studied calligraphy and painting and visited many landmarks, including the Silk Market, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace and the Great Wall of China.
During the second week, the students travelled to Shenzen, home of Huawei’s main campus. They attended daily lectures on topics such as the “Internet of Things” and next-generation communications networks. They also participated in hands-on projects in the company’s advanced computer labs and practiced presenting their ideas to a business audience.
Flim credits his studies at U of T Engineering for preparing him for the technical aspects of the program. “I was at a different school in a different country and yet I was on the same page as the instructors there,” he said. “It gave me a sense of how immune technology is to a lot of the cultural barriers that limit other professions.”
Some of the most memorable moments came outside the classroom when the students attempted to use their new command of Chinese to interact with locals — not always successfully. They recounted trying to order a scorpion dish, and being directed instead to a shoe store.
For Flim, who grew up in a rural area east of Toronto near Kendal, Ontario, being immersed in a new culture was a profound experience. “China is different,” he said. “Looking at your country from the outside is always fascinating because you feel like you’re learning about yourself and what you look like to other nations.”
“If breaking down cultural barriers was the goal of the program, it was successful. They made us feel more connected with the rest of the world, and they made us more powerful by demystifying a place like China,” said Flim. “I’m very thankful for the experience I had with them.”
All three students say their experiences will stay with them in their future careers. Ly plans to pursue graduate studies in electrical engineering, and Ye is already doing so at the University of California, Berkeley. Flim is less certain about his path, but said the exchange has opened exciting new doors.
“It made me more brave about following risky or unknown paths. I’m no longer motivated to just take the safest route. Instead, I’m eager to find and consider as many options as I can.”
This story originally appeared on U of T News
The University of Toronto can help the world meet the climate change challenge by undertaking targeted and principled divestment from specific companies in the fossil fuels industry, according to a presidential advisory committee headed by environmental engineering professor Bryan Karney (CivE).
The committee, after a year of consultations with the university community, financial and environmental experts, and others, presented its consensus report to U of T President Meric Gertler this week.
“Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, matched in its urgency only by its complexity,” Gertler said. “The divestment committee tackled its mandate with the same intellectual energy and integrity that so distinguishes our academic community and I wish to thank them personally for their efforts on my behalf and on behalf of the entire University of Toronto.”
Karney said the committee is recommending a targeted rather than a blanket approach to divestment because some fossil fuels still offer society indispensable benefits that currently cannot be gained through other sources. However, certain fossil fuel companies “engage in egregious behaviour and contribute inordinately to social injury,” he said. “These are the companies whose actions blatantly disregard the international effort to limit the rise in average global temperatures above the 1.5-degree threshold set at the recent COP21 conference in Paris. In our view, such companies are properly the focus of divestment action.”
The committee recommends U of T determine a method to evaluate whether a given fossil fuels company’s actions blatantly disregard the 1.5-degree threshold. Once that method is determined, the university should instruct its investment managers to divest immediately any direct holdings in such companies.
Divestment is only one way U of T can help lead efforts to meet the climate change challenge, according to the report. “Divestment should be placed within the larger context of the university’s most valuable and effective contributions to the global effort to avert, mitigate, or meet the worst consequences of climate change. These contributions flow first and foremost from the university’s fundamental role as an academic community,” especially its teaching and research, the report says.
Karney said U of T’s investment holdings aren’t large enough to have a direct impact on the fossil fuel industry, but the committee called on the university to make an impact by investing in two new funds. One would be targeted at building on the university’s academic strength in research, education and entrepreneurship related to climate change. The other would build on what the committee calls ‘the university’s strong work’ in operational sustainability.
Gertler struck the advisory committee in November of 2014 after Toronto350.org, a student-led group, submitted a petition under the terms of the University’s Policy on Social and Political Issues With Respect to University Divestment, calling on the university to “fully divest from fossil fuel companies within the next five years” and to immediately stop investing any new money in the industry. The committee of 10 included faculty members from law, medical biophysics, philosophy, economics, political science and earth sciences, as well as student, staff and alumni representatives.
Gertler said the process of reviewing the report and its recommendations will begin immediately. “I will conduct due diligence as appropriate, and I will respond to the report sometime in the new year. In the meantime, I hope and expect that the report will draw attention and close study across our broad community.”
The committee met with a wide range of groups and individuals from within and outside the university, including Toronto350.org, students, faculty, staff and financial experts.
This story is Part 3 of an eight-part series, Global Engineering Impact, running throughout fall 2015.
For North Americans, it can be easy to take emergency medical services (EMS) for granted. But in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh there is no EMS system, no centralized ambulances, and no 911 service. Justin Boutilier, a PhD candidate in industrial engineering working under the supervision of Professor Timothy Chan (MIE), hopes to close this health-services gap in developing countries.
In Toronto, simply calling 911 gets an ambulance to the scene in approximately six minutes. From there, the ambulance takes the fastest route to the hospital — sirens blaring — as cars on the road yield or move out of the way. In Dhaka, the 11th largest city in the world where the population is five times larger than Toronto’s, the situation is very different.
In September, Boutilier spent three weeks in Dhaka working with local collaborators. Among his findings were the following:
- 34 per cent of patients took a rickshaw, 25 per cent took a CNG (a three-wheeled cab that runs on compressed natural gas), while only 8 per cent took an ambulance;
- Ambulances are by far the most expensive method, costing anywhere between 500 to 5,000 Taka (BDT), which is approximately $9 to $87 CAD;
- The average response time for ambulances is 60 to 80 minutes; and,
- Some patients spent more than 5 hours to get to the hospital.
These results are alarming when considering that more than 33 per cent of deaths in developing countries are attributed to time-sensitive medical emergencies, from cardiac arrests to maternal or child health issues.
Boutilier and Chan, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health aim to vastly improve these numbers — and save lives — by optimizing emergency medical response.
“Our goal is to reduce ambulance response times by developing a software system leveraging existing infrastructure that optimizes ambulance pre-positioning locations, and provides real-time travel estimation and route optimization information to drivers,” said Chan.
“Our research has two components: first, locate the ambulances throughout the city, and second, routing them to the patients,” said Boutilier. “If the city of Dhaka is going to implement an ambulance service, where should these be stationed around the city, how many are needed, and what are the most effective routes?”
To find the answers, Boutilier and local collaborator Moinul Hossain, a traffic engineer and professor from Islamic University of Technology (IUT), collected data through a patient survey and created a GPS device with an android app to put into rental cars. They then had the cars drive around the city throughout the day in order to collect their locations and learn about the traffic patterns.
With traffic congestion being a constant issue in Dhaka, finding an optimized route is a big hurdle in Boutilier’s research. “Once it took me three hours to drive 11 kilometres,” said Boutilier. “Even if cars wanted to move out of the way [for an ambulance], there is no space to move aside.”
That is why implementing a North American system in a developing country is not an option.
“Some people think, why can’t you just use the existing system from North America and bring it there? But the challenge is the cultural differences. A lot of the assumptions we make in North America are not valid there,” explained Boutilier. “For example, it is not the norm to yield for ambulances, a common assumption that allows ambulances to quickly reach the scene in North America.”
“Because people are not able move out of the way, location actually becomes more important because you want to avoid really busy roads and route accordingly,” said Chan.
With these kinds of challenges, Boutilier and Chan are focusing on the policy side of the Dhaka ambulance system. “We hope we can use our model to go to private companies to recommend spatial positioning for better service,” said Boutilier.
In addition to developing an optimization model for ambulance services, Boutilier and Chan will be evaluating other forms of transportation, such as CNG or Rickshaw ambulances, in order to address issues with reaching patients in areas without adequate access to ambulance transport, such as slums.
In the long term, Boutilier hopes to bring health optimization to other cities in developing countries. “North America is already quite optimized, so the gains made by optimization are marginal,” he said. “But in developing countries, operations research can make a huge impact.”
This story is adapted from an article written by Cynthia MacDonald in Re:New, the New College Alumni & Friends Magazine 2015.
Sylvia Mwangi, a second-year U of T Engineering student, was raised in the mountainous central highlands of Kenya, and developed a passion for science and math early on. But in sub-Saharan Africa, where education beyond high school is rare, her odds of being able to fulfill her ambitions were low.
Fortunately, Mwangi discovered an initiative that could help her do just that. While interning at a bank in Nairobi, she learned about the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, which has given her the education that had once seemed unlikely.
The MasterCard Foundation has committed $500 million over ten years to provide disadvantaged students, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa, the opportunity to study at universities around the world. In addition to covering tuition and books, MasterCard also supports Mwangi’s living expenses, and helps her source internship, volunteer and social activities. She is now in her second year with the program, and one of 23 such Scholars currently studying at U of T.
With 60% of its citizens under the age of 25, sub-Saharan Africa is rich with the potential and promise of youth. Unfortunately, fewer than 7% are ever educated beyond high school. Within that small group, far fewer than half are female. Which is why brilliant students like Sylvia Mwangi are true trailblazers.
Now in residence at New College and studying industrial engineering, she also considered programs in law or pharmacy. But as a result of her experience in Toronto, she is newly motivated by the prospect of working in health care or the relatively new area of oil and gas exploration back home.
“I’m not just interested in mining, but in community development,” she says. “How do we make sure we give back? We must always remember that the resources belong to the people, and that they should see benefits, too.”
Giving back is a theme that recurs in conversation with Mwangi. A key program requirement is that she will spend the summer after her third year interning in her home country. After graduation, her ultimate plan is to return to where she came from.
This is no small point, as sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a “brain drain”: for example, even though few people living there can take advantage of medical training, in many African countries, the majority of locally-trained doctors ultimately take their skills elsewhere — instead of staying home where they are often badly needed.
This situation reflects both the good and bad news emanating from countries like Kenya. On the one hand, government funding and newly booming economies have resulted in greater school enrollment at early levels (the MasterCard Foundation also funds secondary education). But lacking teachers, school buildings, transportation and money for school fees, there is a limit to how far education can currently go for most students. This is especially true for girls, who are often forced to give up school in favour of domestic responsibilities.
So it is up to the brightest of these students to create change. Because Canada has a well-established mining industry, Mwangi knows that many in the burgeoning resource sector in Kenya can profit from the lessons she will bring back from her classwork and internships. In a way, teaching her means teaching many other Africans as well.
“Canada has the resources, and we students have the skills,” she says. “This program gives a perfect opportunity to match the two. I really look forward to going home and sharing what I’ve learned.”
MasterCard Foundation Scholars are also offered counselling and mentorship, to help her adjust to the culture and climate shock of their home away from home. Though she’d never travelled from her infinitely warmer homeland before, she didn’t have much trouble fitting in.
Gregarious, kind and funny, she’s adjusted easily to her “home away from home” (while admitting she could certainly do without the cold of winter). On top of studying and volunteering, Mwangi has tried her hand at martial arts and leadership opportunities through the Rotoract Club.
She has found Canada to be safe and friendly, and appreciates the range of viewpoints on offer in a diverse city like Toronto. This is something Mwangi has absorbed through the frequent group work in her engineering classes, something she’d never done in Kenya: “That was a whole new concept for me,” she says.
Mwangi has already learned a great deal in Canada — but Canada has much to learn from her, too. Her courageous journey is a powerful reminder that North Americans should never be complacent, bored or cynical about the rewards of education. And that even a young person is capable of taking on the biggest challenges.
Following the horrific attacks on Paris and other cities in November, speculation swirled that the plotters may have been using smartphone apps to encrypt their communications. Thanks to support from a Connaught Global Challenge Award, Professor Amr Helmy (ECE) is leading research that could break open such encryption while ensuring the security, privacy and confidentiality of legitimate communications.
The Connaught Global Challenge Award — funded by the University of Toronto’s Connaught Fund — was established in 2011 to support interdisciplinary approaches to problems of global significance. . As more people and businesses move crucial operations online, digital security has become one of these key challenges.
Moderns encryption ciphers can only be broken with powerful computers, much faster than those commercially available today. Quantum computing and quantum cryptography harness the physical laws of quantum mechanics to provide both speed and security improvements many orders of magnitude better than today’s state-of-the-art.
“A technological platform that provides a significant leap forward is sorely needed,” says Helmy. “My personal vision is for a quantum Internet that can go farther beyond quantum-based security — that can afford distributed quantum information processing, where quantum computers are connected by quantum communications.”
Helmy is leading the effort to gather a critical mass of quantum Internet researchers and identify pressing research questions in this field. The group includes investigators from across the University of Toronto, including in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry, as well as industry partners from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in Japan and Burnaby, B.C.-based quantum-computing company D-Wave Systems.
One of the group’s first objectives, says Helmy, will be to study how quantum states encoded in light, as photons, can robustly exchange information, with quantum states generated and manipulated in matter, as ions.
“Currently there’s no robust way to couple quantum states of the two systems—photons and ions—whereby one can share the generated quantum states between different network nodes,” says Helmy. “While there are promising approaches out there, they mostly lack the practical finesse, which propels them to fuel demonstrations out of the lab and into the field.”
The Connaught Fund was founded in 1972 when U of T sold the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories for $29 million. It is the largest internal university research funding program in Canada.
On November 21, 2015 Dean Amon and three U of T Engineering alumni were honoured at a gala dinner hosted by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) and Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO). The Ontario Professional Engineers Awards honour outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and the wider community.
Learn more about each of the winners through the video vignettes below.
U of T Engineering Dean Cristina Amon received the Gold Medal, Ontario’s most prestigious engineering honour. The award recognizes public service, technical excellence and outstanding professional leadership.
Alumnus Michael Butt (CivE 6T3) received the Management Medal for innovative management practices that have contributed significantly to the engineering profession.
Alumna Claire Kennedy (ChemE 8T9) received the Citizenship Award, recognizing engineers who have made significant contributions to society.
Alumna Jeanette Southwood (ChemE 8T6, MASc 8T8) received the Engineering Excellence Medal, recognizing those who have contributed substantially to advancing the engineering profession.