At the CGEN Forum, we will showcase some of the transformative research projects being carried out at the University of Toronto. More information »

Join Dean Cristina Amon and the U of T Engineering community to launch the academic year in our newest building, the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Explore the Myhal Centre's state-of-the-art fabrication facilities, tech-enhanced auditorium and learning spaces, multidisciplinary research hubs, student club spaces — and spectacular campus and city views you won't want to miss. Registration is now open! Sign up, here.

Thinking about Graduate School? University of Toronto Engineering is proud to host a graduate studies fair and networking event! Meet with representatives from: University of Toronto University of Alberta University of British Columbia McGill University McMaster University Queen’s University University of Waterloo York University Ryerson University Please bring your Student ID for registration. Register, here.

Dean Cristina Amon and the Engineering Society invite all Engineering undergraduates to join in a discussion on topics of importance to students. This is your chance to ask questions and provide input for the Faculty’s continued improvement. Lunch provided. Registration not required.

Eric Mazur, Harvard University. Nanotechnology has enabled the development of nanostructured composite materials (metamaterials) with exotic optical properties not found in nature. In the most extreme case, we can create materials which support light waves that propagate with infinite phase velocity, corresponding to a refractive index of zero. This zero index can only be achieved by simultaneously controlling the electric and magnetic resonances of the nanostructure. We present an in-plane metamaterial design consisting of silicon pillar arrays, embedded within a polymer matrix and sandwiched between gold layers. Using an…

Discover how your U of T education can take you in directions you never expected. BizSkule and You’re Next Career Network are proud to present “Forge a New Path,” featuring an expert panel of Engineering alumni whose degrees opened the door to careers considered unconventional for an engineer. Learn from alumni who have found success in consulting, entrepreneurship, finance, law and medicine. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to make important connections, network with fellow U of T alumni, and to…

SUSAN DUMAIS, Microsoft Traditionally web search engines returned the same results to everyone who asks the same question.  However, using a single ranking for everyone in every context at every point in time limits how well a search engine can do in providing relevant information.  In this talk I present a framework to quantify the “potential for personalization” which is used to characterize the extent to which different people have different intents for the same query.  I describe several examples of…

YOSSI LUZON, University of Toronto Appointment Booking (AB) processes are commonly employed for managing service systems such as law court rooms and hospital surgical units that have limited resources and high rates of demand. Since various service types are typically involved, as well as demand and service duration variability, these processes are highly complex to efficiently control. In practice, the platform through which the AB process is applied is the system ’appointment book’. Relying on modern data technologies, which offer a vast amount of data of past demand and system performance statistics, the objective of this research is to establish an effective Preplanned-Appointment-Book (PAB) design via mathematical programming methods. The PAB design must adhere to some…

RICHARD REINER Richard will talk about the experience of building a high-growth startup in Canada, drawing on the stories of half a dozen high-tech startups he has led, including companies now owned by Intel, Dell, and Trend.  Richard will talk about the (many) mistakes he made along the way, surviving the resulting near-death experiences, navigating through exits and life post-acquisition, and a few lessons learned. Dr. Richard Reiner is a serial entrepreneur and company builder, active as an executive, investor,…

Join us this month as Prof. Piero Triverio discusses about his mathematical models to understand and design complex electrical systems. The methods developed by his group have been applied to integrated circuits, meta surface antennas and power cables. In the final part of the talk, Prof. Triverio and his collaborator, Dr. Laura Jimenez Juan, will speak about their joint effort to develop mathematical models for blood flow in the human body, which can help physicians understand the root causes of cardiovascular diseases. Prof.…

JEAN GOTMAN, McGill University The EEG is commonly used to help diagnose epilepsy and to localize the region of the brain from which seizures are likely to originate. The spatial resolution of EEG is however not very high and the EEG cannot see deep in the brain because of the attenuation of the electrical field with distance. If the EEG is recorded during functional MRI scanning (fMRI), it is possible to study the metabolic changes caused by these epileptic discharges (increases…

WARREN POWELL, Princeton University The problem of making sequential decisions under uncertainty spans a wide range of applications that arise in science, engineering, business, transportation, energy, health and finance.  In contrast with deterministic optimization that enjoys a widely used canonical framework, the academic study of decisions under uncertainty is a fragmented field.  Communities working on these problems (broadly known as stochastic optimization) include operations research (stochastic programming, Markov decision processes, simulation optimization, decision analysis, bandit problems), computer science (reinforcement learning, bandit…

All U of T Engineering faculty, librarians and staff are welcome. This one hour lunch and learn session aims to introduce and help attendees explore fundamental concepts linked to equity, inclusion and diversity. Through presentation, case studies, and activities, attendees will leave with tips and techniques to apply in their lecture hall, courses, workplaces and advising appointments. RSVP today. Lunch provided. Galbraith Building, Room 202

VIVIENNE SZE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Edge computing near the sensor is preferred over the cloud due to privacy and/or latency concerns for a wide range of applications including robotics/drones, self-driving cars, smart Internet of Things, and portable/wearable electronics.  However, at the sensor there are often stringent constraints on energy consumption and cost in addition to throughput and accuracy requirements. In this talk, we will describe how joint algorithm and hardware design can be used to reduce energy consumption while…

Join members of the Engineering Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Group for an open discussion and opportunity to share your thoughts about how the Faculty could create a community that is more welcoming and inclusive for all members.  RSVP today. All members of U of T Engineering are welcome. Lunch provided. Galbraith Building, Room 202

METIN SITTI, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Soft functional active materials could enable physical intelligence for small-scale (from a few millimeters down to a few micrometers overall size) devices and robots by providing them unique capabilities, such as shape changing and programming, physical adaptation, safe interaction with their environment, and multi-functional and drastically diverse dynamics. In this talk, our recent activities on design, manufacturing, and control of new shape-programmable active soft matter and untethered soft robots at the milli/microscale are…