As city council gets set to meet Wednesday to debate Toronto’s transit plan, U of T’s Cities Centre, led by Professor Eric Miller (CivE), has issued an open letter to councillors urging them to consider a plan that answers the needs of commuters.
The letter contains more than 100 signatures – from former Toronto mayor, the Honourable David Crombie, to faculty members at U of T, Ryerson and York University.
“Transit is the lifeblood of our city,” reads the letter. “After several false starts and radical shifts in direction that have disastrously impeded progress, recent events have put the ball squarely back in your court. With up to 1.7 million riders per weekday, the City could not function without an efficient, comprehensive transit system.”
Cities Centre then outlines three recommendations on how to “restore transportation planning in [Toronto] to a sensible path”:
- Return the eastern section of the new Eglinton Avenue rapid transit line to an at-grade alignment;
- Restore other key transit projects to fast-tracked implementation; and,
- Reinvigorate long-range transit planning within the city.
Cities Centre is a multidisciplinary research institute at U of T, which aims to encourage research on cities and on a wide range of urban policy issues, both in Canada and abroad.
Associate Professor Tom Chau (IBBME) has been appointed Vice President of Research and Director of the Bloorview Research Institute at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, effective April 1.
“He is recognized as a bright and accomplished leader, who has achieved success and recognition for his research at Holland Bloorview,” stated Sheila Jarvis, President and CEO of Holland Bloorview. “He demonstrates passion, tenacity and commitment to children and youth with disabilities and their families.”
Associate Professor Chau, who has been at Holland Bloorview since 1999, will be a member of the senior management team guiding Holland Bloorview in achieving its vision of a world of possibilities for children and youth with disabilities. As Director of the Bloorview Research Institute, he will lead a team of scientists advancing new knowledge in innovative treatments and technologies, as well as models of participation and inclusion.
“Holland Bloorview’s decision to appoint Associate Professor Chau as their new director is a win-win for everyone in the rehabilitation science community in Toronto, as his leadership skills in team building and ambitious goal-setting are outstanding,” said IBBME Director Professor Paul Santerre. “We anticipate continued growth in IBBME’s relationship with Holland Bloorview under his leadership.”Associate Professor Chau’s term as Coordinator of the Clinical Engineering Program at IBBME ended with his leading the establishment of a PhD concentration in Clinical Engineering at IBBME, a program unique to the University of Toronto.
His research focuses on intelligent systems to maximize possibilities for children and youth with disabilities, with a focus on enabling access for those who would otherwise have no means of communication or interaction with the environment.
He leads the Infinity Centre for Access Innovations, a multidisciplinary research initiative to equip children and youth in Canada and around the world with a means of communications. Associate Professor Chau holds a Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Rehabilitation Engineering. Since 2000, he has held 51 funded grants totaling more than $12 million, has published 115 articles in peer-reviewed journals and was the lead editor of Pediatric Rehabilitation Engineering: From Disability to Possibility, the first book in a new rehabilitation science research series.
From February 3 to 5, more than 230 engineering students from across Ontario gathered at U of T to put their engineering skills to the test at the 33rd annual Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC).
OEC challenges students in design, innovation and communication in six competition categories. This year’s event focused on issues relevant to urban and suburban areas, both close to home and around the world. Students were asked to engineer innovative, sustainable and adaptable solutions to these issues while considering political, economical and societal repercussions. A panel of faculty and industry professionals then decided on which winning teams would advance to the Canadian Engineering Competition in Vancouver, BC.
U of T Engineering students had a strong showing, with eight teams competing. By the end of the day, U of T came away third in the Engineering Communication and Innovative Design categories. Lorne Mlotek (CivE 1T3), who competed in the Communication category, also picked up the Social Awareness award for his “green building” design.
During the competition, Mike Del Balso (ElecE 1T2) and his senior design team were tasked to create an automated truck that could collect garbage, cross a bridge and drive around a curb to dispose of the garbage. Before presenting to the judges and a packed room of observers and competitors, Del Balso was nervous and running on little sleep.
“We finished at 4 am,” said Del Balso. “But it’s fun to see what ideas you can come up with in just eight hours. We used some creative engineering to make things simpler. Other teams opted for a forklift in their design, but we’re using a lever.”
Although it was the third year of competing at UTEK and OEC for Del Balso, it was the very first OEC experience for Jenny Yao (IndE 1T5). She and her team in the Junior Design category had to engineer a solution to storing nuclear waste before it seeps into houses.
Yao is already hopeful to participate again next year. “This event lets you see new ideas and explore problems that we face today and the problems we’ll face in the future,” she said.
That was the take-away Andy Chen (MechE 1T3), this year’s OEC Chair, was hoping for when he and his committee came up with the focus. “Not only is this event an opportunity to interact with students in Ontario, industry and faculty, we’re having engineering students think of ways to make cities and suburbs sustainable. By doing that, we’re redefining the challenges and opening up possibilities of engineering design,” he said.
Professor David A. Steinman (MIE/IBBME) has been elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Fellowship is the highest elected grade of membership within ASME, the attainment of which recognizes exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession.
Professor Steinman’s research focuses on the integration of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and medical imaging to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases.
Professor Steinman has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers, and served two terms as Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. He currently holds a Career Investigator Award from the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada.
“The Department is delighted that Professor David Steinman has been recognized by his colleagues of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering,” said Professor Jean Zu, Chair of the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering. “Professor Steinman is at the forefront of biomedical engineering research, and I congratulate him on this tremendous honour.”
Professor Steinman will receive his award at the Society’s Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC) June 20 to 23 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. He is the Technical Program Chair of SBC 2012.
Crowded emergency rooms and long waiting lists are just a few of the many “bottlenecks” that affect the efficiency of healthcare delivery.
Professor Michael Carter (MIE), of the Centre for Research in Healthcare Engineering (CRHE) at U of T, was recently on Business News Network (BNN) to discuss how engineering can be used to improve the healthcare system. One way is by identifying waste, he explained.
“People in healthcare are putting in 110%, but they’re not working together, they’re not coordinated… there’s a lot that we can learn about process and having the right person at the right place and time, with the right equipment,” said Professor Carter.
Since 1989, he has been researching healthcare resource modeling with a variety of projects in hospitals, home care, rehabilitation, longterm care, medical labs and mental health institutions. He has supervised more than 160 engineering students in more than 100 projects with healthcare institutions.
Professor Andreas Mandelis (MIE) has received the 2012 American Physical Society’s Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science for his seminal contributions to photothermal science and the application of innovative techniques to a variety of real-world problems.
A Canada Research Chair in Diffusion-Wave Sciences and Technologies, Professor Mandelis has authored more than 300 refereed papers as well as the acclaimed textbook, Diffusion-Wave Fields: Mathematical Methods and Green Functions.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was the inaugural recipient of the Premier’s Discovery Award in Natural Sciences and Engineering in 2007. In 2010, he received the Killam Research Fellowship, one of Canada’s most prestigious research awards. His research includes developments in dental imaging and instruments for the early detection and monitoring of osteoporosis.
“We are grateful that Professor Mandelis has been recognized by his colleagues of the American Physical Society,” said Engineering Dean Cristina Amon. “Professor Mandelis is a world-leader in his field and on behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate him on this honour.”
The American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy and international activities. APS represents 48,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories and industry in the United States and throughout the world.
Professor Mandelis will give a lecture on his research and receive his award at the Society’s meeting in Boston, from February 27 to March 2.