The University of Toronto tops Re$earch Infosource Inc.’s 2011 list of Canada’s leading research universities.

Re$earch Infosource Inc. is a division of The Impact Group, one of Canada’s leading consulting firms specializing in strategic planning, research and evaluation, and more, for organizations concerned with science, technology and innovation.

In ranking the universities, the firm took into consideration a university’s sponsored-research income, the number of full-time faculty, as well as research intensity. U of T is the only Ontario university in the top five, and has been ranked first since 2001.

“U of T Engineering is doing its part in keeping the university at the forefront of innovation by focusing on our strategic research themes,” said Professor Stewart Aitchison (ECE), Vice-Dean, Research. “As a result, our research funding has increased by 30% over the last three years.”

For more information on this year’s rankings, visit Re$earch Infosource Inc .

Nancy Ho (MechE 1T4), Engineering Society’s Community Outreach Director, wanted to find a creative way for engineering students to give back.

“So that’s when I found out about CANstruction,” said Ho. CANstruction, which was held at Simcoe Place on November 5, is a design competition that challenges the Toronto community to build structures out of canned goods. The structures are on display for a week, before being donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

As if the challenge at hand wasn’t already difficult enough, Ho and her team of engineering students decided to build a structure inspired by Angry Birds. With the help of a $1,000 donation from one of CANstruction’s sponsors, the team was able to purchase more than 1,000 cans.

“But that wasn’t enough to build it,” said Ho, “So we ran a food drive at U of T with the help of the Engineering Society and Professor Susan McCahan (MIE, Vice-Dean, Undergraduate).” The team managed to collect 1,700 cans in total, and successfully built their ode to Angry Birds, which stood alongside three other structures created by Ryerson University teams.

“I’m so proud of the work we did,” said Ho. “It was a big project, a cool idea, and we managed to pull it off for a good cause. It’s community outreach at its finest.”

Professor Shaker Meguid (MIE), Director of the Mechanics and Aerospace Design Lab at U of T, and his team are looking to improve the ability to monitor an aircraft’s primary sources of failure.

The team are converting polymeric thermoset adhesive resins into multifunctional materials that perform multiple “structural” and “non-structural” functions simultaneously. The development of such smart adhesives will provide early warning of impending catastrophic failures in next-generation aircrafts.

The group is currently investigating the effect of carbon nanotubes on the electrical conductivity of multifunctional nanocomposites.

Their work is currently published in this month’s Nanotechnology  journal. And for an overview of their research, visit Nanotechweb.

On November 16, the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute unveiled 13 new state-of-the-art labs, where researchers will mimic environmental challenges faced by seniors and people with disabling injury or illness.

The iDAPT Centre is a $36-million collaboration with U of T and is largely funded by the federal and provincial governments.

“Everywhere you look there are problems that need solving,” said Professor Geoff Fernie (IBBME, MIE), Vice-President of Research at Toronto Rehab.

iDAPT will focus on three areas: preventing injury or illness; restoring independence and quality of life after injury or illness; and, supporting people in their homes so they don’t need to enter hospitals or nursing homes.

Researchers are tackling various challenges that come with age, disability and disease: how to fight hospital-acquired infections, diagnose sleep apnea and regain movement in paralyzed limbs.

iDAPT’s centrepiece is the Challenging Environment Assessment Lab (CEAL). There, scientists are researching falls, one of the most debilitating and costly causes of personal injury.

“If you fall and break your hip [on ice], around 50% do not recover from it and will pass away within a year,” said Jennifer Hsu (MechE PhD Candidate), a researcher at WinterLab, which is one of the 13 new labs.

“We’re already doing a lot of this [research] but iDAPT will help us do it much better and much faster,” said Professor Fernie.

Fernie is a Professor in the Department of Surgery with cross-appointments in the Institute for Biomedical & Biomaterial Engineering and the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering.

To learn more about the iDAPT labs, visit the Toronto Star  and the Globe and Mail .

More than 300 students graduated from U of T Engineering on November 10 in a ceremony held at Convocation Hall.

At a reception held prior to convocation, Dean Cristina Amon congratulated graduates and their families on their accomplishment.

“The practice of engineering takes place in a collaborative and multidisciplinary environment,” Dean Amon told the assembled guests in the East Common Room of Hart House. “We are proud that your time here at U of T Engineering has prepared you for all of the challenges that lie ahead.”

Among the graduates was James Chong, who earned a Master of Applied Science degree from the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, where he studied under Professor Ridha Ben Mrad (MIE). Chong’s research focused on micro-electrical systems, which are very small devices that are used in a variety of electrical devices, including inkjet printers or automobiles.

Chong had completed his undergraduate degree at Ryerson University and was drawn to U of T Engineering by the calibre of the faculty he would have the opportunity to work with.

“There was a lot of independence, and I did learn a lot,” said Chong reflecting on his experience. Currently Chong is working as a researcher in Professor Ben Mrad’s lab while deciding whether to pursue further studies.

Those graduating included 24 undergraduates and 291 graduate students, including 99 who received MEng/MHSc degrees, 141 obtained MASc degrees and 51 earned PhD degrees.

At the ceremony, University Professor Michael Collins (CivE) served as the Convocation Speaker. In his remarks Professor Collins stated, the U of T “is a university to be proud of, to be proud to be part of. But it’s not just very great, it’s very good. This University has a strong heart, and it has been a very pleasant place in which to work.”

This fall, NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) Magazine tells the success story of U of T Engineering’s ENGage program.

ENGage, a unique partnership between U of T’s NSBE chapter and the Engineering Student Outreach Office, allows black youth – in grades seven and eight – to explore engineering through week-long, hands-on projects.

The program was conceived by engineering students Mikhail Burke (MSE 1T2) and Ayokanmi Falade (MechE 1T1 + PEY) in 2009, when they were President and Vice-President, respectively, of U of T’s NSBE chapter.

In its two years of existence, ENGage has grown from a week-long summer program with 25 participants in 2010, to a two week-long program, with 50 participants in 2011. This year’s ENGage was coordinated by U of T Engineering students, Oti Agbeyegbe (IndE 1T3), Andrew Brown (MechE 1T3) and Dimpho Radebe (IndE 1T4).

ENGage, which hopes to expand from a summer program to one that runs throughout the academic year, is the only Canadian camp of its kind that is led by an NSBE chapter.