What’s Your Story? is a video series that helps you get to know U of T Engineering professors beyond the classroom. In these short interviews, they share what inspired them to pursue engineering, what keeps them up at night and a few things you may not expect – from superpowers and science fiction to childhood memories and what brings them joy.
Salma Emara
Get to know Professor Salma Emara in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on pedagogical practices to help build debugging skills for students learning to program. She believes the best way to learn is by doing and is committed to engaging students through in-class activities and problem-solving assignments and projects.
Gisele Azimi
Get to know Professor Gisele Azimi in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto. Azimi also has a joint appointment with the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, and she holds a Canada Research Chair in Urban Mining Innovation. Her research focuses on extracting and processing critical materials from ores and secondary resources such as electronic waste, which are then used for things such as batteries for electric vehicles and magnets for wind turbines.
Omar Khan
Get to know Omar Khan, assistant professor and Associate Director of Research at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME) in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Khan also holds a Canada Research Chair in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics and is part of U of T Institutional Strategic Initiative Medicine by Design. He specializes in creating RNA nanotechnologies used to cure diseases and solve bioengineering challenges.
Natalie Enright Jerger
Get to know Natalie Enright Jerger, professor in The Edward S. Rogers Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Enright Jerger is also the Director of the Division of Engineering Science and holds a Canada Research Chair in Computer Architecture. Her work focuses on computer architecture – the design and optimization of processors, on-chip networks, cache coherence protocols, memory systems and approximate computing.
Jason Hattrick-Simpers
Get to know Jason Hattrick-Simpers, professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Hattrick-Simpers is also a research scientist at CanmetMATERIALS, the largest research centre in Canada dedicated to fabricating, processing and evaluating metals and materials. His work focuses on the use of AI and experimental automation to discover new functional alloys and oxides that can survive in extreme environments and materials for energy conversion and storage.
Emily Moore
Get to know Emily Moore, associate professor at the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice (ISTEP) and Academic Director at the Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (Troost ILead) in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Moore has extensive industry experience at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and Hatch. Her research focuses on engineering leadership, both in students and in practice.
Sebastian Goodfellow
Get to know Sebastian Goodfellow, assistant professor in the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Goodfellow is also a Senior Research Associate at the Hospital for Sick Children, and an AI Research Scientist at Laussen Labs. His research focuses on the challenge of integrating AI tools into complex workflows such as hospital ICUs and mining core logging facilities.
Chirag Variawa
Get to know Chirag Variawa, associate professor, teaching stream and Director, First Year Curriculum at the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice (ISTEP) in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Variawa is also the inaugural Faculty-in-Residence at the Chestnut student residence. He specializes in teaching and learning in engineering education.
Sarah Haines
Get to know Sarah Haines, assistant professor in the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Haines’ work focuses on indoor environmental quality and researching how things like viruses, mold and bacteria impact human health.
Jonathan Kelly
Get to know Jonathan Kelly, associate professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Kelly’s research focuses on building robotic systems that can interact with the physical world the way people do.
Ariel Chan
Get to know Ariel Chan, assistant professor, teaching stream in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Chan teaches in the Unit Operations Lab and specializes in experiential learning and curriculum design. She uses immersive technology like VR and AR to help her students learn effectively.
David Sinton
Get to know David Sinton, professor, in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Sinton also holds a Canada Research Chair in Microfluidics and Energy and is the Academic Director of Climate Positive Energy. His research focus is energy (fluids) and how we can use renewable energy to convert carbon dioxide into usable products.