Planning a flight during the winter holidays? Sometimes Canada’s frigid winters can leave you waiting in the airport for hours – or even days – longer than you anticipated.
One of the biggest culprits for these delays is the additional time required to melt ice off airplane wings – something that Jason Tam (MSE 1T2 + PEY, MASc 1T4) hopes to eliminate with the development of new water-repelling materials technology.
Tam was one of 11 graduate students visiting the University of Tokyo this month for the 13th annual UT2-COSM-GMSI (Tokyo/Toronto – Consortium on Sustainable Materials – Global Centre of Excellence in Mechanical Systems Innovation) Graduate Student Workshop.
The workshop, themed Materials for Sustainability, explored more than 20 graduate-level research areas tied to the processing of eco-friendly materials, as well as the recycling and recovery of materials from waste. Industry applications ranged from cleaner transportation – like Tam’s – to advanced medical technologies.
U of T Engineering spoke with Tam about his recent research and his time at U Tokyo:
What research are you currently working on?
My current research is focused on producing a composite coating that has exceptional hardness, strength and wear resistance. We combine a nickel-based material with Teflon – which makes the coating hydrophobic [meaning that it repels water] and reduces friction.
Due to these characteristics, there are many potential applications. For example, we could use the technology for aerospace components where high-strength and high wear resistance material is desirable. In addition, its ability to repel water will eliminate the need for aircraft de-icing in winter conditions.
How did the theme of this year’s workshop relate to your current research?
Currently, we use chemicals to de-ice airplane wings; chemicals that could eventually reach soil and water bodies and cause harm to the environment. If we were to coat all airplane wings in our composite material, we would no longer need to use these harmful sprays.
This would not only save time for travellers, but it would make air travel – already an industry with harmful side effects and a large carbon footprint – a little bit more sustainable.
What were some valuable activities you took part in at U Tokyo?
Apart from learning the current research carried out at the University of Tokyo, we toured some of their materials engineering undergraduate laboratories to experience a few of their teaching methods and techniques. This provided me with a few ideas for me to continue enhancing the learning experience for U of T Engineering undergraduates.
Furthermore, during the research laboratory tour, I found a research group that has similar research interests as the Nanomaterials Research Group at U of T. I think it’s possible for us to collaborate on a project in the near future.
What did you take away from your experience at U Tokyo?
It was truly a great experience to exchange ideas and build connections with the research groups at the University of Tokyo – which will likely facilitate collaborations on materials research in the future.
Professors Uwe Erb (MSE), Charles Jia (ChemE), and Tobin Filleter (MIE) were the faculty leads on the visit to U Tokyo, with three additional faculty members from all three departments joining them.
The workshop was supported by the Department of Materials Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Industrial Science, the Global Center of Excellence for Mechanical Systems Innovation (GMSI) at the University of Tokyo, the Consortium on Sustainable Materials (COSM), along with the three participating engineering departments from the University of Toronto.
The workshop will return to U of T Engineering next summer.
How do you design an inexpensive stove that’s better than open fires or rudimentary appliances, and then convince people halfway across the world to use it?
That’s what a multidisciplinary team of students and professors from across the University of Toronto – including U of T Engineering – went to South India to discover.
“According to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, nearly three billion people are using solid fuels for cooking,” said the team’s lead, Mimi Liu, an undergraduate student in economics and peace, conflict and justice.
“Exposure to smoke from traditional cooking practices causes four million premature deaths per year,” she said, “and women and children are the most affected. Household fuel combustion also contributes to climate change, [and] poor households often spend a significant portion of their income on cooking fuel.”
Prakti Design, an award-winning social enterprise based in South India, is trying to do something about these issues. They’ve developed a line of household and institutional clean cookstoves that use biomass fuels from wood, charcoal and briquettes that lessen fuel consumption by up to 80 per cent, potentially eliminate air pollution and cut down cooking times by up to 70 per cent — compared to traditional three-stone fires.
“Reducing emissions in the home can improve respiratory health outcomes, especially for young children,” said Hayden Rodenkirchen, an international relations student who participated in the trip. “For families or institutions that have to buy wood, the fuel efficiency of these stoves can save them money over time. For those who have to gather wood, the fuel efficiency means fewer trips into the woods and lighter loads to carry.”
Prakti invited U of T’s Global Innovation Group — a network of professors interested in poverty and innovation in developing countries — to help research and address challenges related to clean cookstove technology, distribution and adoption. The team included: Yu-Ling Cheng, a chemical engineering professor and director of the Centre for Global Engineering; political science professor Joseph Wong, Canada Research Chair in Health and Development; Stanley Zlotkin, a nutritional sciences and pediatrics professor; and, Poornima Vinoo, a research associate at the Rotman School of Management.
Liu brought together a student research team for the trip, including chemical engineering student Tameka Deare (ChemE 1T3 + PEY), as well as Kay Dyson Tam of psychology and peace, conflict and justice, Seemi Qaiser of global health studies and Hayden Rodenkirchen.
For months before the trip to India, the student team gathered secondary research, conducted phone interviews, wrote briefings and made presentations on clean cookstove technologies, distribution models, adoption patterns and impacts.
The group then travelled to South India for approximately one week in March 2014, visiting Chennai, Puducherry and Auroville to conduct interviews with diverse stakeholders, such as users, designers, manufacturers, distributors, funders and researchers.
One memorable series of interviews involved speaking with women in their homes in villages near Puducherry. One of the students asked about the women’s experiences with wood collection, a task that occupies many women in rural areas of India for many hours a week.
“They all erupted and started shouting,” said Rodenkirchen. “All that our translator could say was ‘they really, really hate it!’”
“Women also recommended larger openings in the stoves, so they wouldn’t have to chop wood into such small pieces,” said Liu. “Clean cookstoves need to be iteratively designed with more input from end-users and sustained testing in homes.”
The group found that clean cookstoves have the greatest potential to provide cleaner cooking solutions for households in low-to-mid-range incomes. Their findings are published on the Munk School of Global Affairs website.
Wong is thrilled to have been able to give the students a global experience: “The students are able to recognize that they can, in fact, make a difference,” he said. “There are careers to be made out of social innovations like this.”
Qaiser agreed. “I wanted a chance to apply my skills and learn to evaluate a health intervention in a real-world context, and I got to do just that. It was incredible.”
The students’ research received support from the Centre for Global Engineering, the Dean’s International Initiatives Fund at the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs.
When it comes to washing dishes, the verdict may be out for “sponge versus washcloth” – but for cleaning oil spills, engineering PhD student Ali Rizvi (MIE PhD 1T4) is all sponge.
Rizvi has designed a cost-effective commercial sponge, similar to the one you’d find in your kitchen sink, which can be used in disastrous oil-spill cleanups. Using light foam, it absorbs 24 times its weight per gram in oil, and doesn’t absorb water.
Rizvi’s research and entrepreneurial acumen recently had him named as one of the “Top 30 under 30 Future Leaders in Manufacturing” by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (MSE). The prestigious title recognizes exceptional talent and leadership in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).
Conducting his research under the supervision of Professor Chul B. Park (MIE), Canada Research Chair in Microcellular Plastics, Rizvi’s sponge technology involves a manufacturing method that is inexpensive and easy to scale.
“I pursued manufacturing engineering to facilitate the commercialization of scientific breakthroughs. If a product cannot be mass manufactured cost effectively, it will fail,” said Rizvi.
In 2013, Rizvi received funding from VentureStart through the Research & Innovation Commercialization Centre, which supports entrepreneurs in STEM fields in southern Ontario. The seed funding helped support his startup, Flarian Inc., where he is co-founder and director of manufacturing.
“Ali Rizvi is an inspirational researcher and entrepreneur, and I offer my heart-felt congratulations for this tremendous honour,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “His early career achievements demonstrate the remarkable innovation and impact of U of T engineering students as they tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”
In addition to creating a sponge that outperforms others in the market, Rizvi is also working on a proposal to design a device – similar to a mobile phone – that can diagnose tuberculosis in remote, electricity-free areas in third world countries.
Among his recent recognitions, Rizvi is a 2013 recipient of the NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship. In 2012, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology (QEII – GSST), DuPont Canada Scholarship in Science and Technology and was awarded the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) PerkinElmer Award Composites Division for best paper.
Read more about Rizvi at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers website.
What do Beethoven and a boulder have in common?
They both compose music. While one is enjoyed over dinner, the other could be used to predict earthquakes.
In a recent paper published in Nature Scientific Reports, three researchers from U of T Engineering unveiled a new algorithm for interpreting the sound waves emitted from rock pieces when they crack and fissure. The groundbreaking research has the potential to predict seismic activity, help extract fossil fuels and more.
In the study, PhD student Hamed Ghaffari and fellow authors, Farzine Nasseri and Professor Paul Young (all CivE), used the new algorithm to examine how rock fractures in various lab scenarios.
“When you place a log on the fire,” Ghaffari explained, “you hear the snaps and pops of the combustion of the wood. Those same principles apply to rocks and are what we use in the lab. We induce a change in the state of the material and listen to the sound it releases.”
Nasseri said the sounds give clues to where the problems – or opportunities – lie: “Every rock has a unique micro-structure mixed with fissures and pore spaces. When you apply pressure, you can hear the sound of micro-cracking in the rock and by the nature of the crackling sounds they make [you can identify] where they are and how they are moving.”
Labs producing this kind of research generally employ a more conventional method for data collection, which involves the application of force to two sides of a cylindrical rock sample.
Young and colleagues have pioneered a new method known as polyaxial loading conditions, which involves the application of force to six sides of a cubic rock sample. This more closely approximates natural earthquake conditions.
“Our lab is unique,” said Professor Young, who oversees the laboratory where Ghaffari and Nasseri conducted their research, “and [it’s] one of the few in the world that uses three dimensional stresses together with geophysical imaging to study rock fracturing dynamically. We apply a complex series of forces in our tests so that the results more closely resemble what actually happens in nature when a real earthquakes occurs.”
In both methods of force, the applied pressure induces fracture in the rock, which spreads quickly throughout the stone. The fractures release energy in the form of a seismic wave. Ghaffari interprets these wave motions using complex network theory – a method of analyzing intricate relationships using graphical data – to learn more about the physics of micro-earthquake sources.
“Earthquakes are complex; understanding the forces behind them can be even more so,” said Ghaffari. “Our lab comes closer to approximating that complexity through 3D loading.”
Despite the difficulty in understanding these complicated series of data, Ghaffari and his colleagues are passionate about finding results. The research that the lab is conducting elevates our understanding of earthquake sources, which has wide ranging implications.
“What is the motivation behind my research? I live by it,” said Ghaffari. “I can’t separate [myself] from it. It can be frustrating, but finding order in disorder, finding connections in things that initially don’t seem connected – that is perfection.
“I am fascinated by the complex networks associated with rock fracture. It is like music, listening to the sounds that rocks release when you apply pressure to them.”
The information available today, between books, the Internet and more, amounts to approximately 1,200 exabytes – that’s 1,200 billion gigabytes – of data. If all of that were stored on CDs, the discs would form five stacks, each tall enough to reach the moon.
Big data – sets of information that are too large to process using traditional computing methods – offers new opportunities for researchers, equipping them with new insights and processes to tackle new challenges.
To discover new applications for these massive data sets, nearly 200 researchers, graduate students and staff from a variety of fields joined forces last week for a one-day workshop called ‘Tools to Tackle Big Data’.
“As academics, we are often called upon to help develop solutions for many societal and environmental problems that the world faces today,” said Professor Farid Najm, ECE chair, “what some have called the ‘grand challenges’ in such areas as health, economic development, sustainability and the environment.
“These problems often require more than just ‘point solutions’ to specific technical problems, but a synthesis of a variety of solutions and approaches from across the many disciplines of engineering and science.”
Speakers from across the Faculty, as well as industry partners from IBM, highlighted many parallel initiatives employing big data and their inherent challenges. The datacentres we rely on to store and process this deluge of data, for example, are physically huge, inefficient and energy-expensive.
“I have been working on this for a long time,” said Professor Cristiana Amza (ECE), who pointed out the growing gap between the rate at which technology is improving and the ratewe’re collecting data. “The success stories have been scarce.”
ECE’s Professor Brendan Frey opened his talk by asking the audience to consider why each was there—what they wanted out of the day, and what they knew or wondered about big data. Responses ranged from “What is it?” to concerns over privacy and security.
“One of the big problems with big data is that, if you’re not careful, you’re going to generate a lot of stuff that nobody cares about,” said Professor Frey. His talk focused on the data science he and his group use to decipher parts crucial in regulating the three-billion letter-code human genome.
Graduate students presented posters over coffee and lunch breaks, while attendees networked. Professor Tony Chan Carusone, ECE’s associate chair of research, connected engineers and computer scientists with those who could benefit from employing data tools to solve problems in their fields.
Download presentations from each session at the Tools to Tackle Big Data workshop.
Albert Einstein is said to have been unable to balance a chequebook or ride a bicycle. And yet, he is credited with some of the most important ideas and discoveries of the 20th century, including the Theory of Relativity.
Is it possible for one person to contain all the skills necessary to turn ideas into successful inventions or companies? The University of Toronto’s Impact Centre hopes to foster such well-rounded individuals, or pair them with teammates who possess complementary skills.
Just one of the University’s many entrepreneurship hubs, the Impact Centre is set to graduate the latest cohort of scientists-turned-entrepreneurs this week from its four-week summer incubator program, Techno.
The graduates – who include two U of T Engineering alumni this year – took part in a variety of sessions, from talks on intellectual property strategy, fine-tuning their value proposition and management 101 to networking events. They also had opportunities to work with experienced mentors to apply the lessons to their own emerging companies.
Here’s a look at two Techno participants from U of T Engineering and their innovative projects:
Oleg Chebotarev (MechE MASc 1T2): Human tissue and blood simulator
Oleg Chebotarev, a recent master’s graduate, developed a research tool that simulates human tissue and blood. He believes it can help pharmaceutical companies reduce the development costs for new drugs.
“I am excited to be part of a community of experienced entrepreneurs who are willing to help in my business plan development,” said Chebotarev. “Their network will help in my search for additional team members as well as ensure I have the best plan and pitch to raise funds to support my prototype development.”Chebotarev says he enrolled in Techno with an established technology and a desire for hands-on training in business fundamentals and a network of experienced individuals who would be able to support his technology’s development.
In recognition of this work and its far-reaching commercial potential, Chebotarev was recently awarded a $32,000 U of T Heffernan Commercialization Fellowship, which supports researchers turning technologies developed in university labs into businesses.
Richard Medal (ECE 1T2+PEY): Custom electronics lab kit
Alumnus Richard Medal participated in Techno to develop and refine the product he and his two co-founders developed: a custom electronics lab kit that allows users to experiment with various circuits and electronic components.
“I was excited by the Techno program because it offered the full range of business education programs, mentoring, prototyping facilities, and a supportive community all under one roof,” said Medal.
After graduating from electrical engineering in 2013, Medal’s team and their project caught the interest of leaders in U of T’s electrical engineering department, which was interested in modernizing their undergraduate laboratory courses.
Medal soon realized that although his team had technical expertise, they lacked the business experience to become truly sustainable. While speaking with a friend who knew participants from a previous Techno session, Medal learned about the Impact Centre and the programs it provides to U of T students and graduates.
For Medal – and the rest of his Techno cohort – the four weeks spent developing their startups with The Impact Centre could mean the difference between a short-lived idea and a sustainable company.
“Participating in Techno will allow my team to focus on developing our business to ensure that we identify the best market opportunity and have the tools to expand.”