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.

Seven members of the U of T Engineering community will be honoured by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) and Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) with Ontario Professional Engineers Awards at a gala on November 12.

In June 2011, it was announced that Dean Emeritus Michael Charles (ChemE) received the Gold Medal, Ontario’s most prestigious engineering honour. Professors Elizabeth Edwards (ChemE), Doug Perovic  (MSE) and David Zingg (UTIAS) were awarded the Research and Development Medals. Professor Milica Radisic (IBBME/ChemE) is recognized with the Young Engineer Medal. Alumnus Anton Davies (MechE 7T2 MASc 7T4 PhD 7T7) received the Management Medal, and alumna Anna Dunets Wills (CivE 7T6) with the Citizenship Award. The Ontario Professional Engineers Awards recognize outstanding individuals for engineering excellence and community service. Eleven awards in total were given this year.

Michael Charles served as Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry from 1975 to 1985 and as Dean of the Faculty from 1993 to 2001. He currently serves as President of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). His many achievements include leadership in the creation of Ontario’s first Centres of Excellence, his expansion of the Faculty’s PEY program, and his founding of the Canadian Association for Internship Programs. He is a Fellow of CAE, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Chemical Institute of Canada, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College.

Elizabeth Edwards is the Director of BioZone, a new centre for collaborative bioengineering in the Faculty, and has achieved international recognition for her pioneering research on how biological processes affect pollutants in the environment. Most notably, she developed a microbial culture called ‘KB-1’ for anaerobic biological reductive dechlorination of chlorinated solvents, a widespread class of groundwater contaminants, which has been used in more than 200 sites worldwide. Professor Edwards received a NSERC Synergy Award in 2009 and was recently inducted into CAE.

Doug Perovic is the Celestica Chair in Materials for Microelectronics. He served as MSE Chair from 1998 to 2008, and during that time led the development of the world’s first undergraduate degree program in nanotechnology. Professor Perovic is recognized internationally for his innovative work in the fields of scanning and transmission electron microscopy of advanced semiconductors and metallic alloys, thin film nanostructures and failure analysis. A CAE Fellow, his distinctions include the Canadian Materials Physics Award and the NSERC Synergy Award.

David Zingg is the Canada Research Chair in Computational Aerodynamics and Director of the University of Toronto’s Institute of Aerospace Science (UTIAS). He has made seminal contributions to computational fluid dynamics and aerodynamic shape optimization for aircraft design. The focus of Professor Zingg’s current research is the aerodynamic design of more environmentally friendly aircraft – he garnered a Guggenheim Fellowship for this research in 2004.  He received the University of Toronto Faculty Award in 2009 for excellence in teaching and research, and was inducted into the CAE in 2010.

Milica Radisic’s research is in the field of cardiovascular tissue engineering; her long-term objective is to enable cardiac regeneration through tissue engineering and biomaterials. Professor Radisic demonstrated for the first time that stimulation of contractions using an electrical field improves functional and structural assembly of the heart tissue in vitro. In 2008, she was named one of the Top 35 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review. Her work was recently featured on the cover ofToronto Life, and she was named one of 2010’s People to Watch by the Toronto Star.

Anton Davies is Vice-President and co-founder of Rowan Williams Davies and Irwin Inc. (RWDI). As one of the Principals in charge of RWDI’s Environmental Team, he has directed many of the firm’s major environmental projects worldwide. Mr. Davies has been instrumental in leading this Canadian success story to its current status as one of the world’s premier engineering consultancies. His expertise on wind engineering and air quality has been sought by countries around the world to help make their large-scale public engineering projects safe and sustainable. He was recently inducted into the CAE.

Through her work with planning Alliance and rePlan Inc., Anna Dunets Wills has dedicated herself to the development of best practices for international organizations operating in developing nations; assisting them in the building of sustainable and culturally appropriate infrastructure such as transportation and sanitation systems and housing. She also volunteers extensively with a number of organizations in Canada and internationally to improve living conditions and infrastructure in remote First Nations communities and in developing nations.

“I am delighted that OPSE and PEO have recognized so many outstanding members of our community for their accomplishments through research, leadership, professional service and service to the community,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “I would like to congratulate all the recipients and thank them for their remarkable contributions to the Faculty, to the profession and to society.”