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From smart sensors that limit driver distraction to new tools that convert methane into useful products, researchers at U of T Engineering got a major boost this week with a $3.5 million investment from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

NSERC is kick-starting eight new projects in the Faculty through Strategic Partnership Grants for Projects—a program designed to fund industry-related research and training in early-stage, high-risk projects that might otherwise have trouble attracting the funds needed to carry out their research.

Professor Cathy Chin (ChemE) is co-leading a project alongside professors Charles Mims (ChemE) and Doug Perovic (MSE) that received $288,425 to explore new methods of transforming greenhouse gases into valuable products.

“We’re developing a range of nanoparticles—what we call ‘catalyst materials’—that can convert methane and carbon dioxide into ‘syngas’,” said Professor Chin. “This syngas is a fuel-gas mixture that can later be used to generate energy or make agricultural fertilizers.”

The research project will be housed within Chin’s Multidisciplinary Laboratory for Innovative Catalytic Science in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, and it will make use of the Faculty’s microscopic and spectroscopic tools in the new Ontario Centre for Characterization of Advanced Materials (OCCAM) that are unique to Canada.

“In its most basic sense, we are fabricating nanoparticles that allow new chemistry to happen for producing clean fuels, energies, and chemicals,” she said.

Other successful investigators in the Faculty include:

Grant Allen (ChemE), $472,000 awarded for: “Developing biofilm-based microalgal bioreactors for the efficient production of fuels, chemicals and clean water”
George Eleftheriades (ECE), $495,948 awarded for: “Field-discontinuity metasurfaces for electromagnetic wave manipulation”
Ramin Farnood (ChemE), $447,700 awarded for: “Developing novel elecro-spun nano-fibre membrane adsorption systems for water treatment.”
Peter Herman (ECE), $444,621 awarded for: “Quantized structuring of transparent film and plates with ultrafast laser interference and filamentation.”
Charles Jia (ChemE), $482,245 awarded for: “High performance, low-cost porous carbons from oil petroleum coke.”
Frank Kschischang (ECE), $432,371 awarded for: “Error control for terabit links: spatially-coupled staircase codes.”
Konstantinos Plataniotis (ECE), $438,500 awarded for: “DREAMs: Enhancing driver interaction with digital media through cognitive monitoring.”

Across the University of Toronto, 12 project teams received funding through this round of NSERC’s Strategic Partnership Grants for Projects, including the eight engineering teams, totalling more than $5.3 million. (Read more about other U of T projects)

“These 12 projects have the potential to bring great benefit to society in coming years, and we are extremely grateful to NSERC for championing this kind of work, and for its continued investment in U of T research,” said Professor Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation.

With files from Sarah McDonald and Jenny Hall.

The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering extends its warmest congratulations to the remarkable athletes who competed with the Varsity Blues swimming team in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships on February 5 and 6, 2015.

Nine Engineering students competed, and both the male and female swimming teams took home gold medals.

The Blues women won their second consecutive OUA title, accumulating 887 points as a team.

The men’s team claimed their 12th consecutive OUA title, finishing with a combined score of 986.5 points. Engineering student Oliver Straszynski was honoured as male rookie of the year.

To learn more about the Engineering students who participated, visit their Varsity Blues profiles:

A first-time donation of $3.5 million by alumnus Henry Wu (EngSci 7T5, ChemE MASc 7T9) will help support the construction of the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CEIE).

In recognition of the gift, and in honour of Wu’s late father who was an instrumental figure in Hong Kong’s business landscape, the top floor of the CEIE will be named the Dr. Woo Hon Fai Innovation Floor. It will house conference rooms, a terrace and new spaces for the Institute for Sustainable Energy (ISE) and the Institute for Water Innovation (IWI).

“We are profoundly grateful for Henry Wu’s generous gift, which will help position U of T Engineering as a leader in global water innovation and sustainable energy research,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “First-time gifts to the Faculty at this level signal the deep pride our alumni feel in being a part of our community and their confidence in our world-class researchers. Mr. Wu’s commitment to the CEIE serves as a tremendous example to his fellow alumni and will enable us to address some of the world’s greatest challenges.”

The IWI will be a focal point for research and industry collaboration in water sustainability, treatment and management. Led by the Departments of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, Civil Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, researchers at the IWI will also collaborate with the Lassonde Institute of Mining, the Pulp and Paper Centre and the Drinking Water Research Group.

The ISE will be an inclusive, multidisciplinary institute with a goal to increase energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of energy use and conversion. It will bring together researchers, students and teachers from across the university, along with partners from industry and government.

Wu, who is the executive director at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers Ltd., is also actively engaged in public service in Hong Kong. He is the honourary president of the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong, an organization he has served since 1989, and the president of the Hong Kong Elite Athletes Association.

U of T Engineering’s Jamie Hunter recently spoke with Wu about his longstanding connection to U of T Engineering.

Your $3.5-million gift towards the CEIE is incredibly generous. What inspired you to give back to your alma mater at this time?

The $3.5 million gift is a first for me. It was much more than all of my previous donations to other organizations and charities. The simple matter is that I wanted to support U of T, in particular the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, in moving forward and staying ahead of the competition. I’m glad that I can help.

Looking back, I was able to apply what I had learned during my undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering to another role in finance. It was a good training experience for me and I really appreciate what I was taught. This is only a token of appreciation to the Faculty and the University for giving me the chance to learn and for making me a better person.

My donation also gives me an opportunity to commemorate my late father, who passed away in 1985. He gave me the support, both financially and spiritually, during what I call the ‘difficult years’ of study. It was a hard time and his support was really important to me.

You graduated from U of T with a degree in engineering science and a master’s degree in chemical engineering, specializing in nuclear energy. So why did you decide to support water innovation and research?

When I first looked into supporting the University in 2012, I wasn’t aware of all of the different centres and institutes. The one that I was most familiar with was the Institute for Sustainable Energy. Obviously, that was more aligned to what I had been trained for when I was studying at U of T Engineering. But afterwards, I discovered the Institute for Water Innovation. And this is another area that I think is very important and I was really happy to provide my support.

I care about water sustainability. I have visited the remote mountainous regions in China to help them out, and I have experienced first-hand how difficult it is for them to access water. U of T is doing a great thing, and I’m happy to support water innovation research.

Were you involved in the engineering community when you attended U of T?

Unfortunately, I was not. At the time, I had to work a few part-time jobs. Every week, I’d work in the computer centre or the library. And of course, I had my studies. But I also had to do laundry, grocery shopping and housework. I didn’t live in a dorm. I had to live away from campus by myself. And I didn’t come from a well-off family, so I had to basically support myself—especially during my senior years—and work full-time during the summer months. I didn’t have the time to involve myself in the engineering community. But I tried to take part as much as possible to celebrate with the others at more significant Skule™ events.

How do you see your relationship with U of T Engineering continuing to evolve in the next few years?

There must be other ways for me to be involved once the CEIE opens—and alumni outreach has really improved. We actually have regular visits in Hong Kong and around the world with faculty and staff from U of T Engineering. And we’ve developed a much closer relationship. I’m looking forward to future communications about the institutes and centres at U of T Engineering to see what kind of research they are doing.

What does “giving back” mean to you?

There’s an old Chinese saying that literally means: ‘When you drink water, remember the spring.’ Giving back is part of the culture I was raised in. It’s about showing appreciation for what one has been provided.

There is no limit to giving back—it’s boundless. It could very well be a simple ‘thank you’ or a smile. That’s what I was taught in growing up. It could also be in the form of a donation or volunteering your services. Giving back is never too big or too small, and it applies to all ages.

On Sunday, Feb. 22, 500 rookie coders descend on MaRS when Canada’s largest learn-to-code event—The HTML500—comes to Toronto for the first time.

The HTML500 is a one-day crash-course on programming basics, teaching those with little coding knowledge how to build their own website from scratch. With U of T Engineering’s Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering as the event’s official Toronto education partner, The HTML500 encourages the coder in everybody.

First launched in Vancouver to a packed hall of 500 people, with another 1,000 on the waiting list, in 2015 The HTML500 has taken its programming know-how across Canada with four events this year in Calgary, London, Toronto and Vancouver.

To explore why everybody should learn to code—and why it’s often more art than science—ECE’s Marit Mitchell sat down with computer engineering Professor Belinda Wang (ECE), who teaches the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering’s mandatory first-year programming course.

How did you first learn to code?

When I first came into the University, we were in the era where the computer was a giant mainframe sitting somewhere at the University of Toronto, and we were at the level of punching cards. It was very primitive then. So coding was punching holes and putting them in the right order. Back then it wasn’t even possible to afford a so-called ‘personal computer’—the whole institution had one! Then we moved very quickly into personal computers, and now it’s everybody’s business to program. Before it was only the elite.

I’m not an engineer—why should I learn to code?

We are living in the age of the computer—for anyone who wants to walk around feeling comfortable living in this environment of modern technology, we have to have some basic understanding of how to use our devices. We have to look not just at the application side, but the under-the-surface design aspect.

Lots of students arrive in my class with no coding or programming experience, completely blank. It’s time-consuming to learn to code, but I tell them every minute you spend with it, it will benefit you. Because this thing is not going away! You can’t avoid it, you may not be doing this for a living, as a professional programmer, but this knowledge and this training of how to explore on your own, makes you resourceful—that’s a skill you will need in any field.

Is there any room for creativity in coding?

Programming is an open-ended thing. And there is often no fixed answer—it’s not just 1+1=2, rather, I can achieve the goal by going this way, but you might do it another way. So it’s not just a single thing to say ‘I’m teaching programming.’ You want to lead the way for students to discover, explore by themselves, and to find their own style going into it. There’s a lot of creativity involved, and it’s a very individual thing—each person writes it differently than the next person, and can all be correct in terms of syntax, but maybe some solutions are more effective, maybe some are more efficient, some are more elegant.

A culture of entrepreneurship is exploding across Canada, and particularly in Toronto. Do you see a dovetail between learning to code and starting your own business?

Absolutely—if you run any business, and especially if you’re running a start-up, you can’t afford to have all these professional resources lining up for you. You have to do things yourself, solve your own problems as much as possible. You’ve got to get yourself into this IT world—you can’t run any business without IT these days. And now an online presence is a must, so the more of that advertising and marketing you can do yourself, the better.

Ten years ago, no one was walking around with computers in their pockets—the way we interact with digital devices has changed dramatically. What platforms are next for coders?

We absolutely haven’t seen the end of what computers are capable of—we’re merely at the beginning stages. People are now trying to make computers to work like the human brain, to do things we can do, but better and faster and to perform tasks impossible for humans. Depending on your lifetime, when you were born, you will grow up in a different society, different environment, and you will need to have different skills to thrive in this environment. We’re certainly moving into the era where we’re exploring more and more computer intelligence—what human beings are capable of will eventually be unlimited. And now we’re just trying to create more things to come help us!

U of T Engineering alumnus Shawn Qu (MSE PhD 9T5) believes in a bright future for home-grown solar technology—and he’s helping create it.

Dr. Qu is founder, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, North America’s leading photovoltaic module manufacturer and one of the world’s largest solar power companies. Canadian Solar recently committed $400,000 to support solar cell research at U of T Engineering, where Dr. Qu earned his PhD in 1995.

Professor Francis Dawson (ECE) is the principal investigator supervising the project. His team will conduct two-dimensional simulations to optimize solar cell performance with the goal of realizing higher-efficiency and lower-cost photovoltaics.

“This funding gives our students a chance to sink their teeth into some challenging real-world problems,” said Professor Dawson. “It’s a great platform for us to train the next generation of bright young engineers, in concert with industry.”

This support comes through the TalentEdge program, a research funding collaboration between the University of Toronto and Ontario Centres of Excellence. TalentEdge provides fellowships for post-doctoral researchers to undertake projects of pressing interest to industry in the province. Canadian Solar previously contributed to the program in 2012.

“As Canada’s leading university, the University of Toronto plays an important role in scientific research and development,” said Dr. Qu in a release. “Not only are we pleased that we had the opportunity to give back to my alma matter, we are also certain that this donation will help advance solar research.”

“We in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering are conducting research with real relevance to industry,” said Professor Ted Sargent, vice-dean, research for U of T Engineering. “Dr. Qu is an international leader in photovoltaics, and his generous support demonstrates both the strength of our alumni community, and our continuing ties to engineering enterprise.”

Founded in 2001, Canadian Solar is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions. The company has successfully deployed over eight giga-Watts of high-quality modules in more than 70 countries in the past decade.

Engineers are shining new light on an emerging family of solar-absorbing materials that could clear the way for cheaper and more efficient solar panels and LEDs.

The materials, called perovskites, are particularly good at absorbing visible light, but had never been studied in their purest form: as perfect single crystals.

Using a new technique, researchers grew large, pure perovskite crystals and studied how electrons move through the material as light is converted to electricity.

Led by Professor Ted Sargent of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto in collaboration with Professor Osman Bakr of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the team used a combination of laser-based techniques to measure selected properties of the perovskite crystals. By tracking down the ultrafast motion of electrons in the material, they have been able to measure the diffusion length—how far electrons can travel without getting trapped by imperfections in the material—as well as mobility—how fast the electrons can move through the material. Their work was published this week in the journal Science.

“Our work sets the bar for the ultimate solar energy-harvesting performance of perovskites,” says Riccardo Comin, a post-doctoral fellow with the Sargent Group. “With these materials it’s been a race to try to get record efficiencies, and there are no signs of stopping or slowing down.”

In recent years, perovskite efficiency has soared to over 20 per cent, very close to the current best performance of commercial-grade silicon-based solar panels you see mounted in Spanish deserts and on Californian roofs.

“In terms of efficiency, perovskites are perfectly comparable or better than materials that have already been commercialized,” says Valerio Adinolfi, a PhD candidate in the Sargent Group and co-first author on the paper. “The challenge is to make solar attractive from the business side. It’s not just matter of making it efficient—the point is to make it efficient and cheap.”

The study has obvious implications for green energy, but may also enable innovations in lighting. Think of a solar panel made of perovskite crystals as a fancy slab of glass: light hits the crystal surface and gets absorbed, exciting electrons in the material. Those electrons travel easily through the crystal to electrical contacts on its underside, where they are collected in the form of electric current. Now imagine the sequence in reverse—power the slab with electricity, inject electrons, and release energy as light. A more efficient electricity-to-light conversion means perovskites could open new frontiers for energy-efficient LEDs.

Parallel work in the Sargent Group focuses on improving nano-engineered solar-absorbing particles called colloidal quantum dots. “Perovskites are great visible-light harvesters, and quantum dots are great for infrared,” says Professor Sargent.

“In future, we will explore the opportunities for stacking together complementary absorbent materials,” says Dr. Comin. “There are very promising prospects for combining perovskite work and quantum dot work for further boosting the efficiency.”