On a cold winter morning, waiting for the ferry on Toronto Islands can be a miserable experience. With no heated shelter, few benches and little protection from the elements, many of the 750 island residents are left shivering outdoors.

To tackle this issue, first-year engineering students at U of T found new ways to design the docks. Their ideas – along with solutions for seven other challenges across the GTA – were showcased at a packed public event this month.

From swirly mops to freezable freezers, the one-day event was the finale of Praxis II, a unique hands-on course from the Engineering Science program that encourages students to collaborate with communities throughout the GTA.

“The term ‘praxis’ refers to the process of integrating ideas and actions, which is central to engineering design,” said Professor Jason Foster (EngSci), one of the course organizers. “In their first year, students already learn how to transform their ideas and classroom knowledge into designs that address real-world challenges.”

“Before we even started thinking about our solution, we visited the Islands and talked directly with residents,” said student Sara Maltese (EngSci 1T7), who shared her team’s ideas with CBC Radio. “We then designed an inexpensive fabric structure for shade, and a separate structure with button-activated heat.”

See some of their ideas:

Filled with enthusiasm, wit and charisma, Professor Glenn Gulak‘s (ECE) teaching has inspired generations of U of T engineering students. His popular approach to learning has made him a sought-after supervisor, and many alumni credit him for having a major impact on their career paths.

For this and more, Professor Gulak recently received the Faculty’s Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award – one of nine awards honouring U of T Engineering faculty and staff for their continued pursuit of excellence.

“This year’s award winners have made exceptional contributions to the Faculty’s achievements in engineering research, learning, recruitment and student experience,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “I offer my warmest congratulations for their richly deserved recognition.”

This year’s winners:

Learn more:

Tomas Bernreiter (MIE)
Innovation Award

This award recognizes staff members who have developed an innovative new method, technology or system.

Tomas Bernreiter is a laboratory manager and engineer for MIE. Tomas was recognized for overhauling the outdated Heat Engines Lab to create the Multidisciplinary Energy Laboratory. He created an innovative laboratory layout that allows up to eight different experiments to be running simultaneously and maximizes safety and energy efficiency. Currently shared by MIE, ChemE and EngSci, the lab allows students to access equipment not available through their departments and encourages cross-disciplinary work. Tomas garnered a U of T Excellence Through Innovation Award in 2013 for developing this lab.

 

Lisa Camilleri (Office of the Dean)
Influential Leader Award

This award is for a staff member who demonstrates exemplary support for the U of T Engineering’s endeavours and has made significant sustained contributions to the Faculty.

Lisa Camilleri is the assistant dean, administration. Lisa’s experience and institutional knowledge have made her a valued colleague to everyone from department chairs to junior administrative staff. For the past five years, she has provided leadership and guidance in the area of academic HR, demonstrating interpersonal and problem-solving skills in addition to her understanding of complicated guidelines and regulations. The responsibility she carries in her new role is a testament to the trust she has earned through her outstanding service to the Faculty.

 

Greg Evans (ChemE)
Faculty Teaching Award

This award is for a teacher who demonstrates outstanding classroom instruction, develops and uses innovative teaching methods, and goes above and beyond to ensure the best possible learning experience for students.

Greg Evans has made extensive contributions as an educator and academic leader since joining the Faculty in 1990. From 2003-2005 he served as chair of first year, overseeing the first-year curriculum for over 1,000 students. He then served as vice-dean, undergraduate from 2005-2007, providing overall direction to the undergraduate curriculum and student experience. Evans is the co-founder of the Faculty’s Leaders of Tomorrow program, and serves as associate director of the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering. He has received the American Society for Engineering Education Outstanding Teaching Award, the Engineers Canada Medal for Distinction in Engineering Education and the University of Toronto Northrop Frye Award.

 

Susan Grant (ECE)
Quality of Student Experience Award

This award recognizes a staff member who has made significant contributions to the quality of student experience in the Faculty.

From the time Susan joined ECE in 1995 as high school liaison to her recent retirement, she had a profound positive impact on the department’s students. Susan’s enthusiasm for engineering and for our Faculty has been a key factor in attracting the best and brightest to ECE. She has consistently gone above and beyond the requirements of her role to connect with students on a personal level, make them feel welcome and involve them in the life of the Faculty. Her dedication to the department has also inspired many ECE alumni to remain involved and continue to give back.

 

Glenn Gulak (ECE)
Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award

This award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching over a sustained period of time.

Since joining the Faculty in 1988, Glenn Gulak has maintained a standard of excellence in his teaching, which has inspired generations of students, as well as his fellow educators. His passionate and enthusiastic teaching style, as well as his ability to clearly communicate complex ideas, has made him one of the Faculty’s most popular educators. Gulak is also a sought-after supervisor, and many of our alumni credit him with having a major impact on their career paths. In addition, he has served as a mentor for junior faculty members, a number of which have gone on to be award-winning teachers in their own right. Glenn Gulak has won the ECE teaching award eight times and the Computer Science teaching award twice. He received the Faculty Teaching Award in 1999.

 

Javad Mostaghimi (MIE)
Research Leader Award

Established in 2013, the Research Leader Award recognizes leadership in interdisciplinary and multiple investigator initiatives that have enhanced the Faculty’s research profile within the broader community.

Javad Mostaghimi is the founding director of the Centre for Advanced Coating Technologies (CACT), one of the world’s leading research centres in the area of thermal spray technology. He has collaborated with researchers from other departments in the University, as well as research institutions in Canada and internationally, to create models of plasma sources and thermal spray coatings which are widely applicable across a number of fields. Mostaghimi has also worked extensively with industrial partners in several disciplines and commercialized his work through patents and spin-off companies. In addition, he has raised the Faculty’s research profile by hosting conferences and meetings in Toronto and serving in leadership roles in professional organizations. In 2009, Mostaghimi and his colleagues at the CACT received the NSERC Brockhouse Canada Prize, for achievement in collaborative interdisciplinary research. Other awards he has garnered include the Engineering Institute of Canada’s Julian C. Smith Medal, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Heat Transfer Memorial Award and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering’s Robert W. Angus Medal.

 

Luke Ng (MSE)
Harpreet Dhariwal Emerging Leader Award

This award, which was renamed last year in honour of the late Harpreet Dhariwal, recognizes a staff member who demonstrates potential to assume a more senior leadership role.

Luke Ng is the external relations and student life officer for MSE. Luke’s accomplishments include a total redesign of the department’s website, increased outreach to alumni and industry, and the creation of IMPACT, MSE’s new magazine. His efforts have yielded a substantial increase in undergraduate applications, a continuous rise in traffic to the website and improved alumni engagement. Luke’s many initiatives in the area of student life include creating a MSE student council, the IMPACT Student Choice Awards and the IMPACT Speaker Series. Most recently, Luke oversaw the very successful MSE Centennial celebrations in 2013.

 

Oscar del Rio (MIE)
Agnes Kaneko Citizenship Award

Named in memory of a valued staff member, this award recognizes staff who have served with distinction and made contributions to the Faculty’s mission above and beyond their job description.

Oscar is the computer systems administrator in MIE. Over the years, Oscar has developed a stellar reputation among his colleagues, based on his in-depth understanding of the systems he oversees, his approachability and his dedication to the department’s mission. Whether tackling large projects like the development of MIE’s new website, or small problems like an individual computer issue, colleagues know they can rely on Oscar’s technical knowledge, work ethic and professionalism to keep things running smoothly.

 

Farzan Sasangohar (MIE PhD 1T5)
Teaching Assistant Award

This award recognizes TAs who demonstrate outstanding performance in classroom instruction, effective teaching methods, and the development of course material.

Farzan Sasangohar is a Ph.D. candidate in the industrial engineering program, specializing in human factors engineering. In 2011, he began working for the Engineering Communication Program as a TA, teaching MIE Capstone Design and Design Portfolio courses, as well as Engineering Strategies and Practice. In these courses, Farzan served not just as a teacher but as a mentor for his students, working with them to develop their communication and professional skills. He has also mentored other TAs and offered a training workshop on efficient communication and constructive feedback. Farzan is co-author of a paper on “Engineers Teaching Engineering Communication” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Engineering Education Association.

Last fall, eight engineering students from U of T crowded around a small leaf-blower engine and argued whether it could power the world’s most fuel-efficient vehicle. Then, they tossed it aside and started building a better one from scratch.

Now – after their professors said it was impossible – that engine is at the heart of a new eco-car that’s headed this week to the Shell Eco-marathon in Houston, TX. Built by the U of T Supermileage team, the vehicle will compete against other high school and university groups in a worldwide challenge for fuel efficiency.

“They called us crazy. I can’t tell you how many professors said it wouldn’t be possible [to create a new engine], considering we only had eight months and a limited budget,” said Jonathan Hamway (MechE 1T3 + PEY), co-president of this year’s U of T team. “If nothing else, that was a bigger motivator for us: we just wanted to prove them wrong.”

Jonathan and the Supermileage team also competed in last year’s Eco-marathon. They didn’t win, but their vehicle travelled 266 kilometres on a single litre of fuel, making it 25 times more efficient than the average Canadian car. In this year’s competition, they aim to travel even farther on less fuel, while bringing a new world record to U of T.

According to Jonathan, they were the only group in North America this year to redesign their engine from the ground up – a task attempted with the help of George Brown student Ryan Billinger and U of T student Nikita Singarayar (MIE 1T3 + PEY), who worked on it as part of a Capstone Design project.

The Supermileage engine, which is unlike any other of its size, won first prize among mechanical engineering capstone projects.

“The number one thing we looked at is keeping as much heat in the chamber as possible,” explained Jonathan. “Some engines lose up to 70 per cent of their combustion energy as heat loss through the walls and as exhaust gasses.”

The team combatted the issue of heat loss by finding ways to convert the heat into usable energy, which massively increased the efficiency of the engine and makes it a huge contender in Houston.

In addition to building the motor, this year’s team also redesigned the vehicle body. They replaced last year’s heavy aluminum components with a streamlined, carbon fibre structure. This made the vehicle much lighter, while maintaining strength.

Jonathan said the diversity of his team was the reason they achieved the seemingly impossible: “We all come from different backgrounds, not just academically, but personally, and our experiences in life and in school all come together and complement each other.

“We’ve all been exposed to different things: it’s not just whoever’s in charge in electrical is only doing electrical; we all almost do everything, so that allows for a spread of knowledge. Everybody gets a chance to learn and be part of the team.”

The Supermileage team will compete head-to-head with other teams from across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Guatemala. You can follow the competition on Twitter with the hashtag #SEM2014.

The 2014 team consists of co-presidents Jonathan Hamway (MechE 1T3 + PEY) and Mengqi Wang (ElecE 1T3), as well as Mayukh Chakraborty (MechE 1T3 + PEY), Pooya Tolideh (MechE 1T4), Pranav Kadhiresan (MSE 1T3 + PEY), Jacob Shultis (CompE 1T3 + PEY), Monica Lee (MechE 1T4 + PEY), Ryan Pan (MEng 1T7), Ashmith Raju (Mech 1T6), Prashanth Murali (MechE 1T3 + PEY), Kristine Confalone (ChemE 1T6) and Marcus Tan (ElecE 1T7).

Whether we aspire to be a leading academic or a corporate tycoon, very few of us could travel our career path without a bit of navigational guidance from those who have gone before us – leaders who inspire or motivate us, merely be example.

Last month, the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering asked female engineers in Ontario to identify outstanding role models who have influenced their careers. Nearly a third of the thirty women selected for an online feature were alumni or faculty from U of T Engineering:

• Adrian Coombs (CivE 8T9)
• Diana Facchini (MSE 0T2, MASc 0T5)
• Linda Gowman (MechE 8T7, MIE PhD 9T6)
• Jessica Li (ChemE 1T3)
• Rachelle McCann (ChemE 1T3)
• Sarah Oliveira (ElecE 0T5)
• Associate Professor Milica Radisic (ChemE, IBBME)
• Marisa Sterling (ChemE 9T1)
• MIE Chair and Professor Jean Zu

Like many of women profiled, Professor Milica Radisic encouraged young girls to join her field: “As an engineer, you will never be bored, there is always something new going on and new things that one can learn.”

Other role models said that potential mentors are all around us, and sometimes it had to be up to a mentee to establish a productive relationship with them.

“What was difficult for me was how to ask for help,” said alumna Marisa Sterling, who has run for provincial office and seeks to be the first female engineer elected in Ontario. “This went against what I had been taught at a young age – to solve my own problems and prove my abilities myself.”

Browse all 30 female engineers chosen.

Interested in becoming a mentor yourself?
Find out how you can help guide U of T Engineering undergraduates in the Skule Mentoring Program.

First-year Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) wunderkind Deep Prasad (ElecE 1T7) could have studied anywhere. The Surrey, B.C., native received scholarship offers from universities across the country, but U of T Engineering’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery sealed the deal.

An inventor at heart, Prasad spent two weeks last year with his brother at his parents’ kitchen table developing a technology to reduce vampire power (also known as standby power) consumed by electrical appliances — from concept to working prototype. He knew he was behind something special and The Hatchery promised the tools and the mentorship to take the prototype from pipe dream to marketable product.

“Deep’s curiosity and eagerness to explore is very inspiring,” says Joseph Orozco, director of The Entrepreneurship Hatchery. “We are proud that The Hatchery factored into his decision to study at U of T.”

U of T Engineering’s Jamie Hunter sat down with the budding entrepreneur to learn more about Prasad’s Hatchery project, first-year experiences and how he convinced his brother to join him at U of T.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in engineering?

I did have the typical childhood dream of becoming an astronaut or a doctor — then I became really interested in neuroscience and the way that the brain works, and until Grade 11, wanted to become a neurosurgeon. I had everything planned out. But then I realized that what I always wanted to be was an inventor.

One of the things about inventing is that you need the knowledge and skill to bring your ideas to life, and engineering was the perfect program for that.

Why did you choose U of T Engineering?

I looked at the [U of T Engineering] booklet and I realized there were two things setting U of T apart: the fact that [Engineering] has a co-op program [Professional Experience Year (PEY)] and The Hatchery. That was amazing. I realized that this is actually a place where I can foster my needs for innovation. This university understands that if I want to make something, I can, and that’s exactly what’s happening right now.

How has your first year been? Did it meet your expectations?

For sure. The first months were really difficult … but there was actually a lot of help: facilitated study group sessions that the university organizes and then other study sessions that I organized myself because I’m the ECE rep. I had the power to email everybody and say, ‘Hey, if you’re struggling with this or if you’re good at that, let’s meet up because our skills complement each other.’ I used that to my advantage and I was able to figure it out.

Can you share some details about your involvement with The Hatchery?

One of the things we completely overlook in the average household is something called vampire power [the electric power consumed by electronic and electrical appliances while they are switched off]. Every single electronic appliance creates vampire power, even when you aren’t using it.

But who has the time to go around in the morning, before they leave for work or for school, to unplug all of those things? I decided with my younger brother to create something to battle this vampire power … so over spring break last year we did some research and got to work.

After two weeks we were really happy with the prototype [specific details about the project cannot be disclosed at this stage.] We had never worked so hard. I remember the first time we got it to work, when I pressed that off button on my phone and three of my lamps turned off in my room at once, it was probably the coolest experience ever. We’ve actually been able to reduce our electricity bill by 25 per cent just by getting rid of all the vampire power.

We really hope that through The Hatchery, we can get this product out to as many people as we can. Maybe on just a one-house scale, we save, like, $5-$10 — big deal — but when you have millions of households, that’s tens of millions of dollars saved, literally, on wasted energy.

I understand your brother, Amrit, is joining you at U of T Engineering in the fall. How did that come about?

He’s in grade 12 right now, and he had the same problem about deciding what university to go to, because we had scholarships everywhere. So it was just a matter of where we were going to fit in best; what we were going to like the most. When he saw all of the opportunities I’d been given, he realized that he wants to do a lot of things that I want to do because we have very similar goals.

Before I got into The Hatchery it was really like a pipe dream, in a way. We didn’t have the money or the resources to realistically give [the prototype] out to an entire country, a city or a neighbourhood. But when we heard that there are things like The Hatchery that are ready to help, and the fact that we had a chance at it, I think that was enough for him. That was the tipping point.

What sort of legacy do you want to leave behind at U of T Engineering? What do you want to be remembered for?

Definitely innovation. I have hundreds of really crazy ideas and I want to be known as the guy who actually made those possible. A dream that both my brother and I share is that by the time we graduate we want to be able to completely control everything in our house with our thoughts. I know that’s very much like an X-Men kind of thing, but there are these things called EEGs [electroencephalography] that basically read your brainwaves. You can use those brainwaves and convert them to a digital and analogue input, and use those inputs to program something. At some point, I want to be able to walk inside my home and think: close blinds. And the blinds will shut.

Prasad is already on his way to realizing the dream of automating his entire house. He plans to work on developing a video game this summer that is controlled completely by thought. He’s already organized a team interested in working on the project.

Today it’s mostly our smartphones and tablets that are touch sensitive, but soon it could be our desks, car dashes or even our kitchen counters. That’s the technology behind XTouch, a new app from U of T Engineering students.

“XTouch extends the tactile environment beyond the surface of that mobile device,” said app developer Amin Heidari (ECE MASc 1T1). “Two taps in different spots act as two different buttons on the table.” The technology is already in use in two games available on the App Store, with more coming soon.

XTouch was crowned ‘Top App’ in a recent U of T Engineering app competition. It was one of 10 apps selected from more than 100 developed over the past year under the supervision of Professors Parham Aarabi and Jonathan Rose, both of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. The top 10 most innovative and exciting apps went head-to-head for a $1,000 grand prize, furnished by the Mobile App Lab.

The 10 groups demonstrated their apps Thursday night to a crowd of industry representatives, professors and students, including three judges: Darrell Etherington from TechCrunch, Lenny Freilich from Ontario Centres of Excellence and Arshia Tabrizi (CompE 9T5), technology lawyer and founder of the social video platform Vidoyen.

“The quality of presentations tonight was extremely high,” said Tabrizi. “It’s amazing what these students achieved in a relatively short period of time.” Added Freilich: “I like the interdisciplinary aspect of it—they’re working on, and solving, real problems.”

One contender was Baton, an app that enables teachers to harness the power of the ubiquitous smartphones for good. It invites students to participate in more productive classroom discussion. High-school teacher and M.Ed candidate Zack Teitel, in collaboration Victor Chen, a master’s of information student, and Fiona Zhao, a master’s student studying applied computing, developed the app.

“I’ve worked in inner-city environments and very affluent schools, and in every classroom I’m in—I can’t stress this enough—every single student has a smartphone,” said Teitel. “We need to start presenting opportunities to use the technology in a positive way, rather than a distracting way.” [Listen to an interview with Zack Teitel on CBC’s Metro Morning]

Apps such as Face2Name help doctors and nurses, working in enormous hospitals with rotating staff, find their patient’s caregiver in a hurry. Critter is a virtual pet that stops us from staring at our phones like zombies, sending out barks and purrs whenever we pass another person running the app. SkinLens uses photo-filter technology to keep tabs on that scary-looking mole, checking for symmetry and colour changes.

The runner-up app, called Surgical Trainer and Navigator, or STAN, helps surgeons in training get empirical feedback about their proficiency in the operating room by tracking hand motions during surgery. Competition was fierce—at the end of the night, only a single point separated each of the top six apps.

“It’s thrilling to see this focus on interdisciplinary development really coming to fruition,” said Professor Rose, founder of The Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Mobile Software and Hardware. Professor Rose created a graduate course, ECE1778, to unite non-programmers, or “appers,” and students with programming skills to build mobile apps that solve a real-world problem in the apper’s field. It’s a new research area, built entirely on harnessing the power of the tiny computers we all carry around in our pockets and the sensors that come with them.

“To me, I think we’ve seen perhaps one of the greatest surges of creativity in human history in the last six years,” said Professor Rose, “It spans all different areas of endeavour. One of the beliefs that I think Parham and I share is the insight that there are lots of great ideas to come.”

More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997 | marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca