Oil-spill sponges and a future manufacturing leader
When it comes to washing dishes, the verdict may be out for “sponge versus washcloth” – but for cleaning oil spills, engineering PhD student Ali Rizvi (MIE PhD 1T4) is all sponge. Rizvi has designed a cost-effective commercial sponge, similar to the one you’d find in your kitchen sink, which can be used in disastrous […]
From pulsars to particles: What can engineers do with big data?
The information available today, between books, the Internet and more, amounts to approximately 1,200 exabytes – that’s 1,200 billion gigabytes – of data. If all of that were stored on CDs, the discs would form five stacks, each tall enough to reach the moon. Big data – sets of information that are too large to […]
NSERC invests $1.65 million to train engineering students in environmental decontamination
From former industrial sites to rail yards and abandoned gas stations, there are an estimated 22,000 environmentally contaminated sites across the country. These areas are polluted with hazardous chemicals that could impact human health, ecosystems and the drinking water supply. To help remediate these sites, the University of Toronto has been awarded $1.65 million from […]
Machine learning, genetics and doubt: Big ideas from NASIT’14
Professor En-hui Yang asked information theorists from across the world to doubt absolutely everything — except, of course, their decision to study information theory (IT). Yang spoke at the IEEE North American School for Information Theory (NASIT’14), hosted this month by the University of Toronto. The conference brought together 100 graduate students from across North […]
Lassonde Mining Building wins Canadian Green Building Award
Tucked away in one of the University of Toronto’s oldest and most historic buildings, there’s an attic. This attic isn’t a place to store your grandmother’s old photo albums or records, it’s home to the Goldcorp Mining Innovation Suite – an eco-friendly design space for mineral and civil engineering students that was recognized this month […]
Suffering from knee pain? Biological joint replacements move a step closer with 3D printed templates
Knee pain – it’s familiar to runners, skiers, and almost anyone over a certain age. Yet doctors often urge patients to postpone knee replacement surgery as long as possible because the artificial joint may not last long. Now, a collaborative research project that began at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering […]
New class of nanoparticle brings cheaper, lighter solar cells outdoors
Think those flat, glassy solar panels on your neighbour’s roof are the pinnacle of solar technology? Think again. Researchers in the University of Toronto’s Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have designed and tested a new class of solar-sensitive nanoparticle that outshines what we currently consider state of the art. This […]
Heather MacLean recognized by CMHC for contributions to sustainability
8:07 AM: the Gardiner Expressway rumbles with thousands of vehicles driving downtown to work, each with its own combustion engine releasing a barely-visible trail of exhaust into the atmosphere. Is there a better way to move people around our city? If so, what is it? These are questions that Professor Heather MacLean (CivE) explores in […]
PURE green machine proves U of T engineers more than just design wizards
It may have hydrogen fuel cells, a solar panel and three lithium-ion batteries, but a new electric vehicle from students at U of T won’t be found on the highway – it’ll be working on the farm. A group of engineering students has proposed a new type of sustainable soybean harvester, recently winning first place […]
