Research news

Learn more about the latest discoveries and innovations from the U of T Engineering community. Our researchers are developing new ways of capturing and storing clean energy, medical devices that can save and extend lives, smarter ways to design and build cities and much more.

nano

The world’s most energy efficient light bulb now dims without a dimmer

What if you could dim the lights across your entire house without having to buy dimming switches – and save the environment too? Thanks to the latest invention from Nanoleaf, a startup from U of T Engineering alumni, you soon can. Nanoleaf, creators of the world’s most efficient light bulb, has released a new dimmable […]

OCCAM

Three big ideas from the opening of U of T’s new advanced materials lab

When three-time Indy 500 winner Hélio Castroneves speeds around the track at this month’s Indy races, he’ll be driving a racecar propelled by decades of materials research that makes him faster, safer and more efficient. But with the opening of a new $20-million materials lab at the University of Toronto, the technology in Castroneves’ car […]

Aaron Wheeler

Using tiny technology to aid in the fight against cancer

This year’s McLean Award winner Aaron Wheeler (IBBME) believes the solution to the colossal challenge of personalizing medicine for cancer patients may be a tiny one. Funded jointly by U of T alumnus William McLean and U of T’s Connaught Fund, the $100,000 McLean Award is given annually to support outstanding basic scientific research at […]

Medusa

Understanding how wounds heal

Whether you fall off your bike and scrape your knee, or knick your finger cutting onions, you know it’s only a matter of time before your injury has scabbed and healed. But what really just happened – how did your wound actually mend? Using a student-designed software program called MEDUSA, as well as a special […]

UTokyo

UT2: U of T engineers explore sustainable materials at U Tokyo

Planning a flight during the winter holidays? Sometimes Canada’s frigid winters can leave you waiting in the airport for hours – or even days – longer than you anticipated. One of the biggest culprits for these delays is the additional time required to melt ice off airplane wings – something that Jason Tam (MSE 1T2 […]

Cooking South India

Designing cleaner, safer ways to cook in South India

How do you design an inexpensive stove that’s better than open fires or rudimentary appliances, and then convince people halfway across the world to use it? That’s what a multidisciplinary team of students and professors from across the University of Toronto – including U of T Engineering – went to South India to discover. “According […]

AliRizvi

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 […]

Big Data Conference

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 […]

Brent Sleep

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 […]