On March 27, U of T recognized students for their outstanding extra-curricular contributions to improving the university’s community with the 2012 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Awards. The Faculty of Applied Sciences & Engineering is pleased to present the 17 U of T Engineering students who were celebrated for their leadership.
As President of Engineers Without Borders at the U of T, Amir has been involved in key issues such as international development and poverty. He has played a major role in supporting new leadership programs in engineering and Engineering Science.
As Founder and Chair of the Social Change and Youth Challenge, Michelle organized a two-day conference to educate young people about the complexities of global challenges and their capacity to create change in their local communities. She was also Co-President of Engineers Without Borders.
Janice piloted the Engineers Without Borders Volunteer Program, which recruited more than 60 students to commit to a minimum of 10 hours of volunteer work. She organized activities for young children to help demystify engineering, especially for girls.
As President of the Engineering Society, David represents 4,800 students and helps administer a budget of more than $1 million. He spearheaded the development of a website that allows all students to view past exams and courses, which is now used by most U of T Engineering undergraduates.
As Chair of the Industrial Engineering Club, Stephanie oversees all academic, social and professional events run by the club. As a volunteer she helped raise $50,000 for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, including organizing its Walk of Smiles event.
Damian’s motto of “getting involved, taking risks and being committed” is exemplified by his many activities, including Ombudsman for the Engineering Society, co-editor of the Frosh Handbook, a senior worker during orientation week and as a paddler for the Dragonboat team.
Tulika has organized Women in Science & Engineering workshops dealing with scholarships, and working with Engineers Without Borders, she has educated high school students on issues of poverty and water scarcity.
Moontasir considers Innis College his home-away-from-home. He was elected to the Residence council as Senior House Representative, then as Vice-President and is now Executive Social Director. He founded the Innis engineering mentorship program and helps to organize numerous extra-curricular activities, including house Olympics, Film Club and the College’s Christmas fundraiser.
Sami has created a real sense of community as Chair of the Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Council by participating in the Leaders of Tomorrow program that included a university-wide debate on a carbon tax. He also founded the Chem Book Program for first-year students.
Wayne co-founded a non-profit group called Nspire Innovation Network which held a national business and technology conference where inspirational leaders such as Harry Rosen and Isadore Sharp spoke. And he helped create Skule™ Points, an incentive system for Engineering students.
Graham is an innovative volunteer and organizer for the Chemical Engineering Graduate Students’ Association. He was a key contributor to the success of the graduate-student recruitment weekend and both his commitment and enthusiasm are contagious in the department.
Andrew’s extra-curricular activity is as diverse as it is extraordinary. He’s head of the U of T chapter of World Vision, musical director of the Engineering jazz band, plays in the brass quintet and hockey on the Innis College intramural team, and volunteers at a weekly soup kitchen.
Marc has made the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering a more inclusive place. He chaired a national conference on women in engineering and as president of the LGBTQ group in the faculty, has brought visibility to a marginalized sector of the engineering population.
Wen led the design team for Tetra, a volunteer organization that develops assistive devices for the disabled. And in her role as Director of seminars for the Sustainable Engineers Association, she spearheaded a series for students on sustainable development.
As the director of Skule™ Nite, Jonathan led a team of more than 100 students and helped nurture their creative contributions. He was the writer and creator of the Engineering Science Dinner Dance video and has organized orientation and Godiva week events.
Kathryn has been a student ambassador for the mechanical engineering program and is currently the only female engineering Don at New College. She has been an advocate of the Professional Experience Year (PEY) internship program, an executive member of Skule™ Orchestra and a writer for The Cannon newspaper.
Sabrina co-founded the Curriculum Enhancement program at Engineers Without Borders, which reached 2,100 students to promote critical thinking and design of appropriate technology in the curriculum. She has been class representative for two years and was a member of the Academic Board.
With the lights up and curtains parted, March 14 meant it was time to get Skule™ Nite 1T2 started.
From opening night to March 17, bursts of laughter and loud cheers emanated from the Hart House Theatre. The room was brimming with students, faculty, staff, alumni and proud parents – all brought together to watch the cast and crew pour their hearts out on stage.
Skule™ Nite has become a much-beloved U of T Engineering tradition, and one of the biggest annual events on campus. This year marks the 91st anniversary of the student-run musical revue and comedy sketch show, and they most certainly did not disappoint.
Cast and crew – most of whom were from U of T Engineering, but also included students from Law and Arts & Science – weaved together a show that featured students in programmable glow-in-the-dark suits, 10 expertly conducted musical numbers and 22 hilarious sketches that even saw engineering programs battle each other as super heroes.
As the program pamphlet warns viewers: “Skule™ Nite is written with the sole purpose of making laughs and dropping jaws,” the show saw them making fun of engineering students’ fear of failing exams, the seemingly impossible deadlines, the rivalries between programs and light-hearted jabs at Arts & Science students.
Skule™ Nite is a remarkable feat, considering students were balancing heavy course-work while undertaking a large production that had them attending to every minute detail, from sketch writing, orchestra arranging, to light designing, to choreography, to costume sewing, and even vocal directing.
“It’s honestly like nothing else I’ve ever experienced,” said Jonny Sun (EngSci 1T1 + PEY), Skule™ Nite Director. He and the Skule™ Nite members had been crafting the show since last May. And on the weekend before their big debut, they performed four run-throughs of the two-and-a-half hour show.
After nearly a year’s worth of work to get Skule™ Nite perfect, it was no wonder that the highlight for Sun was the curtain going up on opening night. “There’s something really special about hearing the audience react to something you’ve worked on for so long, for the first time,” he said, adding, “The opportunity to do something this creative is so great and valuable in engineering, and I loved every minute of working on this show.”
The Faculty is pleased to announce that three members of the U of T Engineering community will be serving on the University’s Governing Council in 2012-2013.
The incumbents are:
Full-time Undergraduate Students (Professional Faculties): James Bateman(EngSci 1T3),
Graduate Students, Constituency II: Chirag Variawa (MSE 0T9, MIE PhD candidate), re-elected
Teaching Staff, Constituency IV: Professor Steven Thorpe (MSE)
The Governing Council oversees the academic, business and student affairs of the University. It is composed of 50 members, with 25 members comprised of U of T administrative staff, teaching staff and students.
Dr. Todd Reichert, who was the first person to successfully fly a human-powered ornithopter and recently completed his PhD at the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies, has debunked claims by a Dutch man that he created a “semi-human-powered” flying machine.
In a series of videos posted on YouTube, Jarno Smeets constructed and appears to fly in a suit featuring fabric wings attached to a small motor to amplify his arm movements. Though the results look impressive, it’s nothing more than a hoax, something Smeets now admits.
Speaking to Popular Mechanics , Dr. Reichert explained that while the wings appeared too short and the power unit too small, what made it evident that the video was a fake was the takeoff. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Dr. Reichert said that Smeets just wasn’t moving fast enough. “Unless this guy can blow by Usain Bolt in a sprint, he’s not going to reach takeoff speed by running,” he explained.
You can read more about the controversy by following the links above.
Rehabilitation is crucial after a stroke. Yet patients don’t always do their exercises because they’re boring or difficult to do at home.
But what if you could make them easy and fun?
Enter Associate Professor Alex Mihailidis (IBBME) and his intelligent, table-top robot.
“This new robot will help to advance the use of robotics in stroke rehab,” said Mihailidis, “as it will provide an affordable and accessible technology that can be used in hospitals, clinics and in the home.”
Associate Professor Mihailidis knows the speed and intensity by which stroke patients begin rehabilitation exercises greatly increases patients’ neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to reorganize itself around damaged areas by forming new neural connections – and mobility. But rehab exercises are often neglected in a home environment, either because those exercises are repetitive and boring, or because attendants and rehab machines are needed to oversee exercises.
With his team of researchers, Mihailidis, the Barbara G. Stymiest Research Chair in Rehabilitation Technology at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, used interviews with focus groups and therapists, along with questionnaires from more 200 respondents to design a new, more cost-effective rehabilitation robot. Working with industrial partner Quanser Consulting Inc., they developed a lightweight, portable robot. Approximately one-tenth the cost of rehab robots currently available, the robot is designed to go home with patients.
And it’s intelligent.
“The fact that it can automatically learn about a user and adapt its exercises accordingly makes this robot unique,” Mihailidis said.
Patients interact with games and other visual stimuli displayed on a computer screen as part of their exercises, making these repetitive movements fun and interactive. Meanwhile, the robot’s artificial intelligence, an integral part of its design, allows the robot to operate independently, tracking a patient’s progress and recalling how the patient did during previous sessions. It adjusts the difficulty of the exercises according to the user’s needs and fatigue-level, while a camera system – also a unique characteristic – records patients’ posture and movements.
IBBME post-doctoral researcher Rajibul Huq, designer of the robotic intelligence, explained that “the system can record video or any other data” that attendants can then access remotely.
The rehab robot technology may also help patients suffering from spinal cord and brain injuries, osteoarthritis, or address other types of upper body rehabilitation needs. A second round of clinical trials of the robot is scheduled to begin next month, with the goal of distributing the technology by early autumn.
Read the story at U of T News .
Materials Science & Engineering alumnus Andrew N. Forde (MSE 1T1) has been named the recipient of the 2012 Harry Jerome Young Entrepreneur Award by the Black Business & Professional Association. The Young Entrepreneur category recognizes a distinguished professional between the ages of 18 to 35 who embodies entrepreneurial spirit and success, the proven ability to turn business vision into reality and possesses personal integrity as well as the ability to influence others to action.
Forde is a budding, young entrepreneur with an eye for innovative solutions. His first start-up, Sommerfeld Solutions, operates in three broad areas: mining, information technology and health care. One of Sommerfeld Solutions’ top accomplishments is The Electronic Chat (TEC), a product designed to streamline charting, logistics and patient care in the healthcare industry. Currently, TEC is being prototyped with support of more than $750,000 from the Canadian government to further expand this technology. Forde has also established The Forde Institute, a non-profit global centre for research, focusing on technological innovations and their resulting impact on humanity to promote responsible innovation, research and entrepreneurship.
“The leadership taken by Mr. Forde shows that he excels at outreach to the community, provides a catalyst for development of new product/technology initiatives while maintaining a humanitarian approach centered very much on the assistance and success of others,” says Professor Steven J. Thorpe, Associate Chair of Graduate Studies for the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and one of Forde’s principal award nominators. “Mr. Forde is just the type of role model that our Faculty strives to create in our graduates and is a most deserving recipient of this recognition.”
Forde will be honoured with his award at this year’s BBPA gala to be held on April 28, 2012. This year’s gala marks the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of this award, named after Harry Jerome, a Canadian premier track and field athlete from the 1960s.