Annual Report 2026
Proud History, Positive Impact
Chapter 2
Advancing Engineering Research
Engineering innovation drives positive change — it leads to new technologies, new ventures and new solutions to complex, global problems.
U of T Engineering has a track record of success, more than 150 years in the making. Our students and researchers are changing what’s possible and pushing the limits in pursuit of a better future.
The university’s Defy Gravity campaign accelerates our work of promoting healthy societies, creating sustainable and thriving global communities and designing intelligent systems for good.
Looking for more data? View our By the Numbers reports:
Autonomous cargo transportation on the moon
Autonomy algorithms developed by researchers at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) could one day make cargo transport on the moon safer and more efficient for astronauts.
As part of a team led by MDA Space, Professor Tim Barfoot (UTIAS) and Alec Krawciw (UTIAS PhD student) are developing technology that will help Canada’s proposed Lunar Utility Vehicle (LUV) navigate between cargo drop-off points during future lunar missions — addressing a key transportation challenge once astronauts land on the moon.
“By automating this part of the mission, it saves astronauts time and energy returning to the landing site to pick up cargo, limits astronaut exposure to lunar elements and increases mission productivity,” says Barfoot.
Mining the ‘dark transcriptome’
A team from U of T Engineering led by Professor Omar F. Khan (BME) is the first to synthesize long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) outside the cell — a new approach to drug discovery that has already yielded some promising anti-inflammatory molecules.
Out of the more than 40,000 known lncRNA sequences — a set of molecules known as the ‘dark transcriptome’ — Khan and his team identified three that are associated with inflammation. By slightly modifying these transcripts, they created new molecules with anti-inflammatory properties. They believe even more potential drugs are waiting to be discovered via the same strategy.
“This is a completely new paradigm for drug discovery, and we think that the dark transcriptome is a great opportunity to find new treatments that will really change lives in the future,” says Khan.
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Breaking the ice with triboelectric nanogenerators
Professor Kevin Golovin (MIE) and his team have developed a new way to detect ice buildup on airplane wings — potentially enabling faster, more effective removal methods.
Their new triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) sensor device detects ice forming, melting and detaching on surfaces, providing information in real time using little energy.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first triboelectric ice-sensing system of its kind to be described in scientific literature,” says postdoctoral fellow Kamran Alasvand Zarasvand (MIE).
Currently, most ice-sensing systems can only detect ice at a localized level — meaning if ice forms a few centimetres away from the sensor, the system misses it. Alasvand Zarasvand says that since their triboelectric sensor forms a continuous layer over the surface, it makes ice detection more reliable.
"Hundreds of these cities have already signed carbon neutral pledges. If they’re serious about that, they need to have a budget and a plan to meet it. We’ve now provided a template for a real, actionable plan to achieve our goals.”
Professor Shoshanna Saxe (CivMin)
Emissions budgets for 1,000 cities
A new, open-source model created by U of T Engineering researchers provides — for the first time — construction-related greenhouse gas emissions budgets for 1,000 cities worldwide.
“Cities around the world are wrestling with this problem, and have been leaders in the climate fight,” says Keagan Rankin (CivMin PhD student).
“But until now, they’ve had very little guidance to go on. It’s been like trying to run a race without knowing where the starting line or the finish line are.”
Using an extended environmental input/output model, along with statistical regression techniques, the team allocated the global carbon budget estimated from climate models to 1,000 different cities around the world. As an example, the city of Toronto has only 21 years left before it exhausts its emission budget for construction.
Leveraging AI to fight hospital-acquired infections
An AI tool developed by Professor Nicole Weckman (ISTEP, ChemE) can quickly diagnose infections caused by Candida auris (C. auris) — a pathogenic fungus that has risen to the top of global threat lists for hospital-acquired infections.
The new diagnostic platform is called digital SHERLOCK (dSHERLOCK) and was introduced in a study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Lightweight — yet strong — metal composite
A team of researchers from U of T’s Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) have designed a new material that is both very light and extremely strong — even at temperatures up to 500 Celsius. These properties could make it extremely useful in aerospace and other high-performance industries.
The new composite material has a structure that mimics that of reinforced concrete, but on a microscopic scale.
Harnessing AI to navigate the world of MOFs
A new open-access tool created by Professor Mohamad Moosavi (ChemE) and his team provides a systematic way to organize and synthesize knowledge about metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) — a class of materials with applications in drug delivery, catalysis, carbon capture and more.
Using a structured and scalable knowledge graph, the tool extracts and links information from MOF research papers, crystal structure repositories and computational materials databases.
New AI prediction model could predict wildfire spread
Professor Steven Waslander (UTIAS) is working with researchers at Natural Resources Canada and Simon Fraser University on TankerVision — a project aimed at creating more accurate, AI-powered fire prediction models.
Such tools could help inform key decisions about firefighting resource allocation and evacuations at a time when wildfires are becoming more common across Canada.