New mobile applications developed by U of T Electrical Engineering students could change the way we treat addiction, teach kindergartners and even how we experience a night at the theatre.
Students from Professor Parham Aarabi’s Mobile Applications Lab and Professor Jonathan Rose’s interdisciplinary app design class demonstrated nine new Android and iPhone apps at a showcase on Thursday, April 25. About 100 people came to see the demos and try the apps out for themselves.
The apps included Snap’n’Dose, that helps parents figure out how much medicine to give their children, MindfulME, which helps people recovering from addiction disorders, and LunchTIME, which helps children learn to tell time on analogue clocks.
Other apps demonstrated at the showcase included an iPhone ‘heart tricorder’ that can record your heart rate using a photo of your fingertip, forehead, and recording your heartbeat with the phone’s microphone, a personalized service to record and control strenuous activity for patients with congenital heart conditions, an app that turns any surface into a touch-sensitive device, augmented reality for theatregoers and an object tracking system for phone cameras.
Four U of T Engineers were honoured by the Faculty at the 6th Annual Celebrating Engineering Excellence Reception for their world-leading research. Professor Joyce Poon (ECE) was announced as the 2013 recipient of the McCharles Prize for Early Career Research Distinction. The BioZone team of Elizabeth Edwards, Radhakrishnan Mahadevan and Emma Master (ChemE) received the inaugural Research Leader Award.
Professor Joyce Poon is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Integrated Photonic Devices. Already considered a thought-leader in her field, her research focuses on the creation and exploration of novel photonic devices. While the most immediate application of these devices is reducing the energy requirements of data centres by replacing electronic signals with light signals, her breakthrough discoveries in optical switches and lasers could eventually lead to new kinds of computers which would run on optical rather than electrical systems. Joyce received an Early Researcher Award in 2009. She garnered IBM Faculty Awards in 2010 and 2011 – the only Canadian to receive this prestigious award in either year. In 2012, Joyce was named one of the world’s Top 35 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review. She is the third recipient of the McCharles Prize, which was established in 1907 by Aeneas McCharles and re-established in 2007 as an award for exceptional performance and distinction in early career research on the part of a pre-tenure member of the Faculty.
Elizabeth Edwards, Radhakrishnan Mahadevan and Emma Master are the inaugural recipients of the Faculty’s Research Leader Award, for a faculty member (or team of faculty members) who has made significant contributions to enhancing the research profile of the Faculty. They are being recognized for their leadership in the creation of BioZone, a unique multidisciplinary centre conducting leading-edge research at the intersection of biology and engineering. The original impetus for BioZone was a series of successful major funding applications by this team, including two CFI/ORF projects and the first environmental engineering project to be funded by Genome Canada. With Elizabeth serving as Director and Radhakrishnan and Emma serving as Associate Directors, BioZone now unites nine research groups (including approximately 80 students) working towards a common goal: to use innovative biotechnology to address some of our most urgent societal needs in energy, environment and health.
“The accomplishments of these exceptional colleagues demonstrate the originality and impact of the research conducted in our Faculty,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “I congratulate them for this well-deserved recognition and for their many achievements.”
Five engineering educators across all stages of their careers have been honoured by the Faculty for excellence in teaching.
PhD candidate Aaron Persad (MIE) received the Teaching Assistant (TA) Award, which recognizes TAs who demonstrate outstanding performance in classroom instruction, effective teaching methods and the development of course material.
Assistant Professors Jason Anderson (ECE) and Timothy Chan (MIE) both garnered an Early Career Teaching Award, which recognizes an instructor in the early stages of his career who has demonstrated exceptional classroom instruction and teaching methods.
Associate Professor Evan Bentz (CivE) received the Faculty Teaching Award, 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.
Professor Tarek Abdelrahman (ECE) was the inaugural winner of the Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award, recognizing someone who has demonstrated excellence in teaching in the Faculty over a sustained period of time.
Aaron Persad received his Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degrees from U of T and is currently a PhD candidate in MIE. While Aaron’s research field is thermodynamics, his varied interests have led him to teach across a number of areas, including mechatronics and communications. Aaron has served as a TA for MIE’s capstone mechatronics course for the past five years. In his first year, he successfully lobbied for 24-hour student access to the lab and supervised several extra lab sessions on his own time. Due to his efforts and his unique one-on-one approach to instruction, the robots designed by the students had a 100 per cent success rate for the first time in this course. Aaron had a paper on his teaching methods published in the Proceedings of the 2012 Engineering Education Association Conference.
Jason Anderson received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from U of T in 2005 and joined the faculty in 2008. Since that time, he has won four ECE teaching awards, one in each of his first four years as a professor. This unprecedented achievement is particularly notable as he teaches large compulsory first- and second-year courses. In 2009, Jason was nominated for the TVO Best Lecturer Competition. Most recently, he received the Gordon R. Slemon Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Design. In addition to his outstanding classroom teaching, Jason has been an exceptional mentor for undergraduate student theses and summer projects. He has co-published five refereed conference papers and one refereed journal article with his undergraduate mentees.
Timothy Chan joined the faculty of the Industrial Engineering program in 2009, after spending two years in a global management firm. He has used his industrial experience to place the concepts he teaches in a “real-world” context, applying the material to areas such as health care and sustainable design. As a result, his courses are extremely popular – enrolment in the Facility Planning course he teaches has doubled in the last three years. Tim also uses a number of innovative teaching methods; a paper on the game he created to teach students decision making under uncertainty has been accepted for publication in the premier educational journal in his field. Tim organizes the annual Operations Research Challenge and serves as Faculty Advisor for the U of T Operations Research Group.
Evan Bentz received his PhD from U of T in 2000 and immediately joined the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering. Since that time he has received three teaching awards from the Department and won the Faculty’s Early Career Teaching Award in 2005. Evan’s contributions to the Faculty’s educational mission go beyond his excellent classroom teaching. He was instrumental in establishing the structural engineering curriculum for the Infrastructure Engineering option (one of EngSci’s most popular options), and designed one of its fundamental structures courses. Evan has also developed five computer programs that are used around the world for teaching. One of these programs, Response-2000, has been downloaded by more than 36,000 engineers, students and educators.
Since joining the Faculty in 1991, Tarek Abdelrahman has established himself as one of the Faculty’s most dedicated and talented teachers. He is particularly known for his interactive lectures and superb ability to generate class discussion. Tarek has received the ECE teaching award five times (a record in the Department) and won the Faculty Teaching Award in 2008. A leader in curriculum development, he created two fundamental undergraduate courses which have significantly improved the programming skills of ECE students and are now integral to the Department’s curriculum. Tarek has also been a role model and mentor to his junior colleagues; setting a high standard and helping young professors to improve their teaching skills.
“These outstanding educators share a passion for teaching and mentoring which inspires not only their students but their fellow teachers as well,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “I congratulate them and thank all our teaching staff for their efforts in creating an exceptional learning environment for our students”.
Robots of all shapes and sizes crawled, swam and flew at U of T’s Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and York University recently as the NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN) field trials came to town.
The field trials took place from April 17–23 and featured talks and presentations, workshops, networking events, and opportunities for collaborative fieldwork and demonstrations. Experts in sensory perception, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, autonomous robots, and advanced control systems technology came to UTIAS and York from across the country for the trials, said NCFRN researcher Professor Tim Barfoot (UTIAS), Canada Research Chair in Autonomous Space Robotics. Attendees came from 11 research labs based in eight different Canada universities, along with representatives from 11 industrial partners and three government partners.
Several robots were showed off during the trials, ranging in size from tiny flyers to hulking planetary rovers. First up at York University were the bright yellow Grizzly units, developed with the support of industry partner Clearpath Robotics. Equipped with advanced sensory equipment, these land covering vehicles can be used in surveillance or convey roles where it is costly, impractical or unsafe to send people. One unmanned Grizzly leads the pack, and the rest of the fleet intelligently follows, autonomously choosing the safest and most sensible paths for the task at hand.
Next came Eddy, a dual-hulled sea-faring vehicle which can be used to explore places that are expensive, repetitive, or dangerous to access. This intelligent craft can be programmed to execute repeated search and analysis patterns, never missing a quadrant, never complaining about the weather, and can send back data on-the-fly. This craft avoids obstacles and dangers, and can operate in cooperation with a fleet of smaller boats it controls remotely (nicknamed “minnows”) or with other land- or air-going surveillance robots to assess the full picture in any given situation.
The final performers at York were two agile three-wheeled robots, equipped with a 360-degree field of vision, and intelligent stereoscopic sensing technology. Developed in partnership with CrossWing, they are designed to facilitate virtual visiting, for example, for monitoring geriatric patients.
The demonstrations then shifted to the UTIAS MarsDome, a 1,100m2 enclosed testing facility which has been modified to simulate an extraterrestrial surface. First up was the Juno Rover, a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) research robot, which was tasked with finding a hidden target among the hills and valleys of the alien landscape, returning on its own using advanced autonomous navigation abilities developed at UTIAS.
The largest robot of the day was the hulking white Lunar Exploration Light Rover, with its towering array of sensors, built by MDA McDonald Dettwiler Space and Advance Robotics as part of an effort by CSA to prototype future planetary rovers.
Next on display was the Artemis Jr. rover, built by Ontario Drive and Gear for CSA. The Artemis, with unique autonomous navigation algorithms developed by Barfoot was designed to have reduced reliance on sensors, and therefore to have less risk of technical failure.
Next, the small and amphibious Aqua robot, built by researchers at McGill and York, demonstrated its climbing abilities by scaling ramps, hills, and walking over all small obstacles in its path.
The final rover of the day was UTIAS’s own Husky A200 – a small yellow rover built by Clearpath Robotics – which ably demonstrated its autonomous navigation technology.
The crawlers were followed by the flyers, including the Pelicon quadcopter, eight-propellor flying machine air surveillance units demonstrated by McGill, and a pair of quadrotor flying robots from Simon Fraser University which showed their human interaction and facial recognition technology.
The day rounded out with a group demonstration ‘free-for-all’ which resulted in the largest number of tele-operated robots ever roaming and flying at once in the MarsDome, Barfoot said.
The field trials were important, he said, because for the first time, all the significant field robotics capabilities in Canada (universities, companies, and government organizations) were brought together in one place.
“It showed researchers the common problems we are working on and sets the stage for much greater collaborations over the next five years,” he said. “I think the NCFRN marks a critical milestone for the future of robotics in Canada because by working together we will accomplish a lot more than in isolation.“
U of T Engineering’s new Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship has moved one step closer with the selection of Toronto-based Montgomery Sisam Architects (MSA) and U.K.-based Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios as architects for the new building.
The CEIE will serve as the hub of U of T Engineering’s collaborative learning and interdisciplinary research, housing interactive spaces for learning and design, as well as a number of multidisciplinary research centres and institutes. The building will also serve as a home for the Faculty’s recently launched Entrepreneurship Hatchery, which encourages and supports engineering students interested in launching entrepreneurial ventures.
Located on St. George Street, adjacent to iconic Convocation Hall, the 15,000 square metre CEIE is targeted to open in 2016.
The new building “will encourage informal and spontaneous interaction; for it is often through chance encounters that innovation occurs and entrepreneurial thinking flourishes,” said Robert Davies of Montgomery Sisam Architects. “Such encounters most often happen in the ‘spaces in between’, the halls, stairways, lobbies and passages. Set teaching spaces should be standardized and flexible to allow for change in the future whereas the shared public spaces; lounges, club space should be unique, dynamic and memorable environments.”
The Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship is the central component of U of T Engineering’s $200 million fundraising effort, part of Boundless: the Campaign for the University of Toronto. Through its interdisciplinary and collaborative intent, the Centre encapsulates Engineering’s campaign goals and future, including developing global engineering leaders, nurturing engineering innovation and entrepreneurship, transforming biomedical engineering and human health, advancing information communications technology and reshaping the future of energy, the environment and sustainability.
U of T Engineering Dean Cristina Amon said she is looking forward to working with Montgomery Sisam Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios on the project. “These two firms, with their experience in designing innovative research, learning and teaching spaces, have shown they have the vision to create a signature building that will foster the boundless energy and creativity needed for the future of engineering in Canada,” Amon said.
Founded in 1978, Montgomery Sisam Architects (MSA) is a mid-sized architectural firm based in Toronto. MSA has designed such buildings as the Island Yacht Club and the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Centre and has won more than 65 provincial, national and international awards, including the 2011 Architectural Firm Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. The firm has extensive ties with the University of Toronto. Many of its architects – including Davies – are U of T graduates. MSA has worked on other U of T projects, including the revitalization of the St. George Campus Exam Centre, and the Arts and Administration building and Joan Foley Hall at U of T’s Scarborough campus.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, also founded in 1978, is based in London, England, and has an international reputation for design quality, for pioneering environmental expertise and a radical architectural approach. It has designed more than 60 educational buildings, in England and around the world.
Engineering Professor Emeritus Ron Venter (MIE), who chairs the project planning committee for the Centre, said the joint proposal from the two firms was very impressive. “We’re excited to be working with a local company that understands our vision and an international firm with a global reputation for sustainable, groundbreaking educational buildings.”
He noted that MSA has developed several projects in similar urban settings and has particular strengths in addressing community concerns. “The architects and the university will work closely with the university community, our neighbours and the City of Toronto as the Centre is designed and built. The end result will be a signature building that we can all be proud of.”
More information about Boundless: The Campaign can be found here.
April 24, 2013
U of T Engineering’s new Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship has moved one step closer with the selection of Toronto-based Montgomery Sisam Architects (MSA) and U.K.-based Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios as architects for the new building.
The CEIE will serve as the hub of U of T Engineering’s collaborative learning and interdisciplinary research, housing interactive spaces for learning and design, as well as a number of multidisciplinary research centres and institutes. The building will also serve as a home for the Faculty’s recently launched Entrepreneurship Hatchery, which encourages and supports engineering students interested in launching entrepreneurial ventures.
Located on St. George Street, adjacent to iconic Convocation Hall, the 15,000 square metre CEIE is targeted to open in 2016.
The new building “will encourage informal and spontaneous interaction; for it is often through chance encounters that innovation occurs and entrepreneurial thinking flourishes,” said Robert Davies of Montgomery Sisam Architects. “Such encounters most often happen in the ‘spaces in between’, the halls, stairways, lobbies and passages. Set teaching spaces should be standardized and flexible to allow for change in the future whereas the shared public spaces; lounges, club space should be unique, dynamic and memorable environments.”
The Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship is the central component of U of T Engineering’s $200 million fundraising effort, part of Boundless: the Campaign for the University of Toronto. Through its interdisciplinary and collaborative intent, the Centre encapsulates Engineering’s campaign goals and future, including developing global engineering leaders, nurturing engineering innovation and entrepreneurship, transforming biomedical engineering and human health, advancing information communications technology and reshaping the future of energy, the environment and sustainability.
U of T Engineering Dean Cristina Amon said she is looking forward to working with Montgomery Sisam Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios on the project. “These two firms, with their experience in designing innovative research, learning and teaching spaces, have shown they have the vision to create a signature building that will foster the boundless energy and creativity needed for the future of engineering in Canada,” Amon said.
Founded in 1978, Montgomery Sisam Architects (MSA) is a mid-sized architectural firm based in Toronto. MSA has designed such buildings as the Island Yacht Club and the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Centre and has won more than 65 provincial, national and international awards, including the 2011 Architectural Firm Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. The firm has extensive ties with the University of Toronto. Many of its architects – including Davies – are U of T graduates. MSA has worked on other U of T projects, including the revitalization of the St. George Campus Exam Centre, and the Arts and Administration building and Joan Foley Hall at U of T’s Scarborough campus.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, also founded in 1978, is based in London, England, and has an international reputation for design quality, for pioneering environmental expertise and a radical architectural approach. It has designed more than 60 educational buildings, in England and around the world.
Engineering Professor Emeritus Ron Venter (MIE), who chairs the project planning committee for the Centre, said the joint proposal from the two firms was very impressive. “We’re excited to be working with a local company that understands our vision and an international firm with a global reputation for sustainable, groundbreaking educational buildings.”
He noted that MSA has developed several projects in similar urban settings and has particular strengths in addressing community concerns. “The architects and the university will work closely with the university community, our neighbours and the City of Toronto as the Centre is designed and built. The end result will be a signature building that we can all be proud of.”
More information about Boundless: The Campaign can be found here.