Centre for Global Engineering
We solve the world’s most important problems
—Professor Yu-Ling Cheng leads the Centre for Global Engineering here at the University of Toronto. In this video, she explains how The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Reinvent the Toilet Challenge is a perfect fit for the engineering approach her Centre is taking. U of T was one of eight universities worldwide (and the only Canadian university) that received grants from the Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has become the major force in reshaping how global development funding is targeted and implemented.
The Centre for Global Engineering Formula
The Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN) is in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto. It was created to get Engineering faculty and students to think creatively about some of the world’s most important problems. Problems like sanitation, alternative energy, health costs and clean water – especially in developing countries where solutions can have the greatest impact.
We believe that too often the engineering challenges Western engineers tackle come from what we know and our solutions too often come from the same place. We want to change that, forever. We need to think globally, big and outside the box. Often that means looking at the concerns of developing nations. The result will be better, more sustainable solutions for everyone, worldwide. Often, when you solve problems for those most in need you wind up with solutions that work better for everyone. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge is a great example of that.
CGEN gets engineering students and graduates ready to meet the problems, responsibilities and opportunities in a globally sustainable future. The Centre is also a home for a community of scholars who seek to understand global engineering problems through innovations in interdisciplinary research and education. Learn more about our
faculty and
students.
CGEN also plays a key role in both the education and research mission at
U of T Engineering by promoting interdepartmental and interdivisional research and other scholarly activities related to engineering in a global environment. We weave global responsibility into our engineering DNA.
The Centre’s primary areas of focus are in sustainable development, innovation, diffusion and knowledge translation, in addition to appropriate technologies. We also want to be creative about innovations in the engineering curriculum to incorporate issues related to globalization.
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We think our deeply woven sense of global duty makes Engineering at the U of T unique, and that’s great. But it also makes us of service, and that’s even better.
To learn more about the Centre for Global Engineering, please contact the Centre’s Director, Professor Yu-Ling Cheng at
yuling.cheng@utoronto.ca.
 | —Murray Metcalfe, Professor, Globalization
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In the News: U of T Engineers Put Their Heads Together to Reinvent the Toilet
