Even before he officially enrolled, Jimmy Lu (CivMin 1T0, MASc 1T3) knew that U of T Engineering was for him.
“The summer before my first year, I attended a reception for students who had received an offer of admission, but not necessarily accepted it yet,” he says.
“They had us doing all kinds of challenges, some of which were pretty silly. But they also required you to use math, science and creative thinking to solve problems, which is just what engineers do.”
“I liked that mix of being able to have fun, but also to do real things — it just felt right.”
Lu, who was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Toronto, quickly threw himself into all aspects of Skule™. One early highlight was during his second semester, when he won the Ultimate F!rosh competition, one of a series of Skule™ spirit events that take place during what is known as Godiva Week.
“One of the things about being named Ultimate F!rosh is that for the next year, any member of Skule™ can ask you to jump up and down, and you have to do it,” he says.
“People would yell it across campus, or in the hallways. It got to the point where if I heard those words, I just assumed people were talking to me.”
The experience did not tire him out; instead, Lu took on even more roles with the Engineering Society (EngSoc). By April of his first year, he was editing the F!rosh Handbook for incoming students.
In his third year, he was named Mr. Blue and Gold, while his close friend Jenn Eversley (CivMin 1T0, MEng 1T7) was named Lady Godiva. Together, these two characters led many of the spirit activities that take place during F!rosh Week and throughout the year.
Lu went on to serve as the EngSoc’s vice president of student life. In his final year, he was elected president of EngSoc, and helped organize the 2010 Canadian Engineering Competitions.
After finishing his undergraduate degree, Lu went on to complete an MASc under the supervision of Professor Bryan Karney (CivMin). It was during this time that he met his life partner, Lisa Ye, a fellow U of T student in the Faculty of Nursing. They have now been together for 14 years.
From there, Lu moved into a series of roles that leveraged his passion for fighting climate change, including positions at The Atmospheric Fund, an environmental NGO, and at Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator.
But in 2023, Lu faced a challenge unlike any he had ever dealt with before. After months of unusual symptoms, he was diagnosed in July with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
“There was about a week between my diagnosis and the surgery to remove the tumour,” he says.
“During that week, all I thought about were my favourite memories, and many were from U of T Engineering. They involved the friends I made there and experiences I had. It felt like I had lived a very rich life.”
Lu says he received an overwhelming amount of support: from his partner, his family, his friends, and coworkers.
His friends from U of T Engineering — led by Eversley — rallied to support him after the operation during his recovery and additional treatments. The care and strength he received from being part of the Skule™ community moved him deeply.
During his treatment, Lu was also struck by the degree to which the tools being used, from MRI machines to surgical devices, were all created and refined by engineers.
By the end of the summer, he had made up his mind to find a way to give back to the U of T Engineering community.
“When I got the call from Jimmy, I remember feeling shocked and saddened that someone so young must face something so difficult,” says Sonia De Buglio (ChemE 9T4, MASc 9T8) Director, Alumni Relations at U of T Engineering.
“At the same time, I felt very touched that in his moment of difficulty, he should be thinking about how he can give back and do something meaningful.”
The call kicked off a series of discussions between Lu and the U of T Engineering Advancement team, which eventually led to the creation of what is now called the Jimmy Lu Jump Up and Down for Skule™ Award.
This new endowed award will benefit students in perpetuity and will be presented annually to recognize the work of EngSoc vice-presidents who embody Skule™ spirit.
“Other than the president, who receives a small stipend, all of the student leaders from EngSoc and the other clubs and teams are volunteers,” says Lu.
“I wanted to find a way to recognize the value of that work, and the ripple effects it continues to have long after graduation.”
Lu’s classmates, along with several former Engineering Society Presidents and VPs, have already contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the new award. In December, Lu himself offered to match donations, helping the endowment exceed $50,000.
The award is just one of more than 600 awards distributed by the faculty to students each year, which are funded by generous donations from U of T Engineering alumni and supporters.
While his health poses ongoing challenges, Lu and Ye continue to live life to the fullest. Even while Lu was undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, the couple continued to travel the world together, and in late 2024, they had their first child.
Lu says that he wants the legacy of his award to be rooted in care and consideration for others.
“Kindness is a very strong focus for me now, because of all the kindness I’ve received, and just because it’s what we all deserve as humans,” Lu says.
“I want for us all to live in a kinder society. I hope that by giving back to Skule™, I can help to make that happen.”
If you’d like to support the Jimmy Lu Jump Up & Down for Skule™ Award, please make your gift online. If you have questions, or would like to learn more about establishing your own student award, please contact Kristin Philpot at kristin.philpot@utoronto.ca
Thanks to a dedicated group of student leaders, Black-identifying members of U of T Engineering’s graduate student community now have more avenues for support and mentorship than ever before.
Though it officially formed in 2024, the genesis of U of T’s NSBE Graduate Student Chapter dates back to the spring of 2023. That’s when ECE PhD candidate Mai Ali travelled to Kansas City, Mo., to attend the Annual Convention of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).
The yearly event brings together thousands of Black-identifying attendees to network among aspiring and professional engineers, pursue development opportunities and participate in competitions and career fairs.
“I was amazed by the community and the opportunities that were available, but I noticed that many events were geared towards undergraduate NSBE chapters,” says Ali, whose trip was sponsored by U of T Engineering’s office of the Vice-Dean, Graduate in collaboration with the Diversity, Inclusion and Professionalism office.
“I realized that Black graduate students need a place where we can meet, discuss our research and celebrate our achievements.”
When Ali returned to Toronto, she got to work establishing a graduate student chapter of NSBE at U of T with the support of the faculty.
She reached out to fellow Black engineering graduate students to gauge interest in forming the new group. The response was positive, and a call was made to form the executive committee, which first met in April 2024. The National Society of Black Engineers was founded in 1975 to promote and support the professional development and academic achievement of students pursing various engineering disciplines.
50 years later, there are more than 600 student chapters around the world with a mission to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who can succeed professionally and positively impact their communities. U of T has been home to an undergraduate chapter of NSBE since 1999.
“One of our goals with the grad chapter is to increase the representation of Black students in engineering programs, whether it’s a graduate or undergrad program,” says Ali, who leads the chapter as president.
“We do this through high school outreach and undergraduate mentorship.”
“NSBE Grad is all about inclusivity,” says Caleb Okechukwu (MIE MEng student), the executive secretary of the organization. “We welcome the experiences of all individuals — not only Black students — whose ideologies align with our mission.”
NSBE Grad has worked with Engineering Outreach’s Blueprint program, BrainSTEM Alliance and has helped undergraduate students gain positive research experience through its Research Connect initiative.
The community is also a place for peers to socialize in a supportive environment where they can share their wins, challenges and their engineering expertise.
“This is a family of Black people that members can count on for support and advice for both academic and financial matters,” says Bethel Unwan (MIE MEng student), vice-president of NSBE Grad.
“I had a very hard time getting support and wouldn’t want anyone to go through the same.”
Ali says that as a Black researcher, she feels a heightened sense of responsibility.Her PhD research, supervised by Professor Deepa Kundur (ECE), focuses on using multi-task machine learning to predict mental health comorbidities in youth.
Traditional machine learning models directed towards mental health conditions often use single-task learning, which requires separate models for different tasks. This means conditions and symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleep disruption or suicidal ideation are predicted in isolation rather than as multiple outputs at once.
“Mental health disorders are often comorbid, meaning that if you have any one of them, you may have a concentration of others,” says Ali. “If we are able to diagnose the full profile of the mental health disorders a person has, then interventions and treatment outcomes could be improved.”
“There is a lot of bias in machine learning models that are directed towards underrepresented communities, including Black youth,” she says. “More representation across all communities is necessary to both acknowledge and reduce this bias.
“But to increase representation, it’s important for Black undergraduate students and early-career researchers to have support from role models that understand their perspective in the profession. I have been fortunate to have that support in my academic career, especially now with my PhD supervisor, but I know others might not have that same experience.”
“Black undergraduate students who are interested in research should take advantage of NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards,” says Reke Ferdinand Avikpe (BME PhD candidate), treasurer of NSBE Grad.
“Don’t be afraid to reach out and engage with professors to find volunteer opportunities in their labs. I always encourage students to start early, from second and third year, and explore different lab opportunities until you find the research you enjoy most.”
In March, five members of NSBE Grad will be travelling to Chicago to participate in the 50th anniversary of NSBE at the 2025 annual convention.
“We are not only a new chapter but the only graduate student chapter in Canada, so it’s important for us to make a positive impression at the convention,” says Ali.
“So many people have been involved in getting our organization to this point, including all members of our executive committee; our advisor, Professor Philip Asare (ISTEP, EngSci); my PhD supervisor, Professor Kundur; and the faculty’s Vice Dean, Graduate office.”
Michelle Lai (Year 4 IndE) is the recipient of the 2025 Troost ILead Difference Maker Award, a $50,000 award recognizing outstanding impact, contributions to community and a strong vision for the future.
From a young age, Lai understood the important role educators play in children’s lives.
“When I came to Canada, I didn’t speak any English, and it was quite intimidating,” she says. “My teachers were a very welcoming presence in the classroom. Having them there made me feel a lot more comfortable, and it was the first time I felt how important a trusted adult is in an environment like that.”
While still in elementary school, Lai developed a passion for working with children.
“Every day at lunch, I would go to the kindergarten class to read to the children, chat with them, draw and sing together, and help out however I could. Over those two years, I saw them grow and start to build trust in me. It was the first time I realized I loved working with children,” she says.
Lai continued volunteering extensively throughout her high school years with community initiatives such as Key Club, where she eventually served as president of her school’s chapter.
“Seeing others’ passion for improving the community and realizing how much this work means to the people it impacts, I discovered my love for community leadership,” she says.
For Lai, pursuing industrial engineering was a way to bring her passions together.
“Volunteering with organizations like Canada Learning Code, the MINA Project, and other groups centred on providing young students with STEM learning resources, I realized I could combine my knowledge of engineering and my passion for youth education to do what I love all day. It was the best of both worlds,” Lai says.
“What links my experiences together is empathy. A large component of industrial engineering is human factors, which is all about understanding user experience and how to alleviate stress points. Similarly, when working with youth, you’re trying to create an environment that removes the friction preventing them from realizing their potential.”
Lai describes a formative experience she had teaching in the remote Indigenous community of Chisasibi in northern Quebec.
“When I stood in front of the classroom, things fully clicked and I knew that pursuing youth education was something that I had to do; it’s the only thing that will make me happy. Even as I worked my hardest every single day, I always felt so fulfilled and energized,” she says.
“A lot of the students never had a teacher who encourages them and tells them that they are capable. It was small gestures like coming in early to make sure that I could welcome them, baking treats and writing encouraging notes, or asking them what their favourite songs were, that really counted. I wanted them to see that someone was invested in their academic success.”
Currently, Lai is developing PeaceOfMind, a mobile application designed to provide preparatory resources to young children undergoing medical operations involving anesthesia. It was awarded first place at the 2023 HFES Mobile Health App Design Competition, an international contest hosted by the world’s largest scientific association for human factors and ergonomics professionals.
“During my research with the Safety, Equity, and Design (SED) Lab under Professor Myrtede Alfred, I came across the statistic that 60% of children facing operations with anesthesia struggle with pre-operative anxiety, which can have negative effects including prolonged recovery time,” she says.
“A lot of existing solutions are not very child friendly. Unlike adults, kids can’t read lengthy brochures or attend complicated briefings, so I wanted to make something that reaches them directly in a way that is accessible and familiar.”
Lai intends to continue leveraging her engineering and human factors background to create more opportunities for youth empowerment.
“Directly interacting with young learners and facilitating their growth, making a space where they can explore their curiosities and ask questions, that is important to me,” she says.
Lai’s advice to aspiring leaders and difference makers is to face imposing challenges head on.
“I never considered myself the smartest kid in class growing up, and I’m not a huge risk taker, but I was fortunate enough to have amazing mentors who encouraged me and pushed me outside of my comfort zone,” she says.
“Ask questions and trust in yourself to take on challenges — the more times you take that leap of faith, the more proof you have that you can go even further. Then when you’re ready, you can pass on what you learned as a mentor for others.”
U of T Engineering aims to build a community that reflects the societies we serve. On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we reflect on how equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) can be integrated into the core activities of engineering research and education.
Last fall, U of T hosted the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) 2024 conference. The conference included a unique session titled: Celebrating Minorities and Women Leaders in Science and Engineering: In Memoriam of Jane Phillips.
To learn more about how such sessions can serve as a model, U of T Engineering sat down for an interview with Professors Ariel Chan, Cathy Chin and Ning Yan (all ChemE) as well as Marisa Sterling, P.Eng., Assistant Dean & Director, Diversity, Inclusion and Professionalism at U of T Engineering. Yan was the chair of CSChE 2024, while Chan, Chin and Sterling organized the conference session.
Can you tell us about what inspired the session?
Chin: We were inspired by Professor Jane Phillips (ChemE), who passed away in the spring of 2024. She completed her BASc in our department in 1953; at that time women students were so rare that they didn’t even have female restrooms in engineering buildings.
After a time in industry, she re-joined U of T in 1963 and became one of the first female engineering professors in North America. She was really an icon for many women.
Yan: The goal of this session was to remember the challenges that pioneers like Jane faced, and also celebrate the progress that has been made so far. I think this is the first time that a session like this has been organized at CSChE, and Cathy, Ariel and Marisa did a fantastic job to put it together.
How was it different from a typical conference session?
Sterling: While anyone could attend, the session presenters were invited based on their demonstrated actions towards EDI.
We did research to identify people across the globe who were doing important work to remove barriers and build inclusion in engineering. And we also paid attention to how they identify, ensuring that we reached out to a wide range of people to showcase diversity.
I think the intentionality with which that was done made a real difference. When someone like Cathy or Ariel, who are role models for women in engineering, reaches out and says, ‘I noticed you, there’s something interesting about you,’ it opens up space for new conversations, and that was really important.
Chan: We had an overwhelming response from the people we reached out to. Some of the presenters were still completing their PhD, others were very senior professors or deans of their faculties. We had Black presenters, queer presenters and people from other underrepresented groups. We had speakers from Canada and from as far away as Thailand.
Some of the sessions focused on technical work, such as catalysis, or how to extract useful substances from industrial byproducts. Others focused on engineering education, how to develop critical thinking in students, or to enhance leadership qualities. So, we had many different topics, but EDI intersectionality informed all our choices.
Are there any that stood out to you as particularly memorable?
Chan: Professor Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo, gave a great overview of how the representation of women in engineering has changed over the years. She used a lot of data on what students are enrolled in and what subjects they are taking, and talked about how we can leverage that information to create a balanced, diverse and supportive environment.
Sterling: Professor Jessie Ma from the University of Waterloo gave a talk about the future of electricity. What I heard in that session was a great synthesis of the technical developments in this field, but also what the implications and unintended consequences are for women and other groups that are marginalized within our society.
Chin: University Professor Molly Shoichet (ChemE, BME), from our own department, gave a presentation about intentional leadership, ensuring that we are giving people of all backgrounds an opportunity to prove themselves.
In general, I was fascinated with hearing about the full range of work being done by all these people with different experiences.
Yan: In addition to this session, there were many other activities at CSChE 2024 that addressed EDI considerations. For example, we had Transitioning from Academia to the Workforce: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges for Equity-Seeking Students, a fireside chat sponsored by DuPont and the Chemical Education Fund.
We also held the Black Research Network Award competition, with generous support from U of T’s Black Research Network. EDI was a major theme in the student program, and we encouraged symposium organizers to be more inclusive and avoid all-male panels when selecting invited speakers and session moderators.
What will stay with you going forward?
Sterling: I really felt that presenters were comfortable naming their identity — woman, Black, queer, etc. — publicly in a technical session, and communicating what it meant for them in the work they were doing. I think the way that the session was run provided some safety and trust that might not normally have been present.
Having that be front and centre is a big change from how these types of sessions normally run, and I hope it can be an example that other departments or technical societies can look to in terms of how to evolve their own activities.
Yan: My advice to people who want to do that is: start early. Get the relevant advocacy groups involved and keep implementing best practices to encourage participation.
Chan: After the session, several of the speakers told me that as the diversity of identities in engineering is increasing, they are having an easier time finding the support system that they need. That’s very important in their career development.
Chin: Changing the culture will take a lot of time. But from the years when Professor Jane Phillips began her career until now, you can see that we really have made progress.
It may take a few more generations, but the message we want to send with a session like this is that everyone can be leaders in building access and inclusion.
A team of students from U of T Engineering has clinched the top spot in the 2025 Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race.
Their yellow, submarine-shaped vehicle — appropriately named Ringo — beat out nearly a dozen other challengers in the competition, held January 25 at Groupe Plein Air Terrebonne, a ski resort just outside of Montreal.
“I think we were all a bit surprised,” says Amélie Smithson (Year 4 MechE), one of the two co-captains of the University of Toronto Concrete Toboggan Team.
“There was one other team that had a faster time than us, but the overall win is about accumulating the most points across all aspects of the competition. We were very happy to see the amount of work we put in pay off.”
The annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race challenges teams from Canadian engineering schools to put their skills to the test by designing a fast and functional sled.
Any part of the sled that is normally in contact with the ground must be made of concrete, and the vehicle must be equipped with both a functional braking and steering system. Five team members are required to ride the sled during the various races.
“I think a really valuable part of this competition is how novel it is,” says Tobin Zheng (Year 4 MSE), the team’s other co-captain.
“The unique set of requirements provides a really interesting engineering challenge.”
Check out footage from the competition from CityNews Montreal
Each team designs and builds a new sled from scratch every year. At U of T, the team consists of more than 100 students, mostly but not exclusively from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, though only about 30 were able to attend the actual race.
The students have been working on Ringo for months. After creating models using computer-aided design (CAD) software throughout the spring and summer of 2024, they began pouring concrete parts and assembling the vehicle last fall.
Though the snow conditions in Toronto did not allow for a full ‘road test’ before the competition, each part was tested individually to ensure it met safety requirements.
Among the criteria that the teams are judged on are the formulation of their concrete and the geometric profile used in the design.
“We earned second place for the geometric profile of our skis, which was designed to evenly distribute forces across the skis in order to reduce the likelihood of them cracking during the runs,” says Smithson.
“Another unique aspect of Ringo is that she doesn’t have a chassis. Instead, we integrated hard points into the structural members between the layers of carbon fibre, which helped us significantly reduce weight compared to previous years.”
On race day, there are three events. One is a time trial, in which the goal is to get the fastest speed, typically in the range of 25-30 km/h.
Another, the slalom, requires the team to navigate through three gates on opposite sides of the track to test their steering capabilities.
The final event is the King of the Hill competition, in which teams go head-to-head in individual heats.
There are also points for team spirit, including the design of appropriate costumes, which Ringo and her supporters had in spades.
“I think that the spirit component is really valuable, and something not a lot of other design competitions have,” says Zheng.
“It fosters a sense of community and makes everyone enjoy the competition.”
The team took second place in both the speed race and King of the Hill events, making their overall win as satisfying as it was surprising.
“As soon as they read out our name, everyone just exploded in excitement,” says Zheng.
“We all rushed up on stage to receive the trophy, and it was a really wonderful moment.”
New funding from NSERC and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will advance several U of T Engineering projects related to quantum communication networks, quantum computing and more.
Professor Li Qian (ECE) is a key principal investigator on three of the newly funded projects. Her overarching goal is to make quantum communication more practical and accessible.
“Whether it’s about protecting banking information or safeguarding the signals that control critical infrastructure, there is a lot of interest in secure communication these days,” says Qian.
“In quantum communication, we leverage phenomena from quantum physics to ensure that nobody can listen in or alter the message. But establishing quantum links over very large distances poses special challenges, and that’s particularly relevant for a geographically large country like Canada.”
Establishing a quantum link typically involves creating photons that are interrelated via a quantum phenomenon known as entanglement.
Once two or more photons are entangled, their quantum properties match in a way that can’t be altered. Measuring or attempting to copy one of the photons instantly affects the photon as well as its entangled partner, rendering any attempt to listen in on the signal detectable.
But sending entangled photons through traditional optical communications networks is far from straightforward.
“Optical fibres are the best technology we know of for long-distance communication, because the losses are very low,” says Qian.
“But at the same time, the losses are not zero, so by the time you have gone a hundred kilometres, you’ve lost 99% of the photons.
“With classical signals, that’s not a problem, because you can add amplifiers along the way that boost the signal as it degrades. But if you’re only sending single photons, which is the case in quantum communication, that is very hard to do.”
Qian is an expert in creating sources of entangled and hyperentangled photons. Two of the newly-funded projects involve collaborations with Canadian researchers and companies to create long-distance quantum links for secure communications, particularly in the area of defence.
In the UKRI project, she is working with researchers at the University of Bristol to study how principles and paradigms from classical optical networks can be adapted for quantum networks.
“My collaborators know a lot about how to package signals, or how to dynamically reconfigure the network to deal with high-traffic situations,” says Qian.
“We are looking at how you approach these challenges differently once you start sending entangled photons.”
Qian is also part of a collaboration between Canadian and European researchers known as HyperSpace, which aims to use satellites to establish trans-continental quantum networks.
“As in any industry, customers want a range of solutions to meet their various needs,” says Qian.
“If we can reduce its cost, expand its range and enhance its reliability, we can make secure quantum communication a practical reality for many different kinds of users.”
Qian’s projects are among several across U of T Engineering that will share more than $7.5 million in funding from several NSERC Alliance programs, as well as $800,000 more from NSERC and UKRI via the UK-Canada Quantum for Science Research Collaboration.
The full list of U of T Engineering projects and principal investigators includes:
- Advanced QUAntum applications via complex states in integrated and meta optics (AQUA) — Stewart Aitchison (ECE)
- Dynamic metropolitan-scale entanglement distribution networks and beyond — Li Qian (ECE)
- QuantaMole: Consortium on quantum molecular technologies — Amr Helmy (ECE) and Alan Aspuru-Guzik (Department of Chemistry)
- Quantum dot photonics for large-scaled Entanglement — Li Qian (ECE)
- Quantum software centre — Hans-Arno Jacobsen (ECE)
- Twin Fields: From secure quantum communication to quantum sensing networks — Li Qian (ECE)