If you have dreams of reading a book or taking a nap while your self-driving car safely navigates city streets, you will have to wait awhile.

That’s according to Professor Birsen Donmez who works in the field of Human Factors, one of eight research areas at the University of Toronto’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE).

Human factors engineering is the study of human and technology integration. Donmez and her research group, the Human Factors & Applied Statistics Lab (HFASt), use a driving simulator to study different automated vehicle systems with the goal of making them as safe as possible.

Examples of automated systems currently available in the market include emergency braking if the vehicle detects a hazard in front of it and warnings if the car detects the driver has deviated from a lane or to warn of another car in the driver’s blind spot. Car companies are also testing higher levels of vehicle automation where the automation has lateral and longitudinal vehicle control, but the driver is still required to monitor the driving environment and be prepared to react if the system fails.

“You have to be careful with higher levels of automation,” says Donmez, “because you are removing manual control from the driver, but the systems are not always reliable. So, now the driver is expected to be the supervisor and the fall back person. However, it is very hard for humans to continuously monitor automation when they are not physically engaged in the control and it is also very hard to resume vehicle control when you only may have a few seconds to respond.”

While safe self-driving cars might not become commonplace in the near future, research is needed to identify how best to support the new driver tasks that come with higher levels of vehicle automation. Donmez and her team are looking at how technology can be used to help drivers safely multitask in a vehicle with automation.

For example, in the future, cars might be able to detect when drivers are not paying attention – perhaps because they are distracted by their GPS or phone – and provide a warning signal that makes them snap back into focus. Currently, Donmez and her team are testing various warning types to see what is most effective.

“If the vehicle can detect that the driver is generally attentive, then a warning about a potential hazard that requires them to resume vehicle control might not need to be too salient,” says Donmez. “But, if the system can anticipate that the driver might not be paying as much attention, the warning could be more salient.”

 

 

In addition to the driving simulator in the HFASt lab, Donmez also uses an actual car to study existing technologies and infrastructure. Her team can monitor the driver navigating the streets of downtown Toronto.

“We study where people are looking, or failing to look, when they make turns at intersections because pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are a big issue,” she says.

According to a recent CBC News article, more than 1,100 pedestrians have been hit in Toronto this year; 31 of them were killed. Donmez says that her research on automated vehicle systems and interface design is just one piece of the puzzle and that safer and better designed cars and infrastructure are key components to making the roads less hazardous.

Donmez’s interests extend beyond automated vehicle research and into the healthcare sector. One of her other main projects is studying distractions and interruptions faced by healthcare personnel in operating rooms.

“We are doing collaborative research with St. Mike’s Hospital where they have a system called the Operating Room Black Box that records various types of data during surgeries,” says Donmez. Her team utilizes the data to investigate the effects of interruptions the surgical team experiences – such as people entering and exiting the room or distractions caused by equipment – on technical events.

Analyzing data is the subject of the graduate level course taught by Donmez at MIE. Students learn different methods of collecting data and how to analyze it. The goal is for both mechanical engineering and industrial engineering students to apply the skills they learn in the course to their own research.

“MIE has a longstanding history with human factors engineering,” says Donmez. “Some very prominent Human Factors people have been a part of the department.”

She notes that many Human Factors courses and options are offered at MIE at the undergraduate level, something not offered by many universities. She credits this to the large number of qualified faculty members who can teach a Human Factors related class.

“Human factors is a very broad field that requires quite a bit of breadth, and depth, of knowledge,” says Donmez. “Engineers solve societal problems, but I especially enjoy human factors engineering because you can see an immediate relation to the human, and society.”

 

 

-Published December 10, 2019 by Pam Walls, pam@mie.utoronto.ca

 

A research paper authored by PhD Candidate Dongfang Ouyang, along side his PhD supervisor Professor Lidan You and other members of her Cellular Biomechanics Laboratory about the development of a tiny device that can detect cancerous blood cells was recently published in the Biomicrofluidics journal.

The paper, titled “Mechanical segregation and capturing of clonal circulating plasma cells in multiple myeloma using micropillar-integrated microfluidic device,” has generated quite a buzz and has been featured on several news outlets including EurekAlert, Bioanalysis Zone and the British Society for Haematology.

 

–Published December 9, 2019 by Pam Walls, pam@mie.utoronto.ca
–Edited February 10, 2020 by Shannon Osborne, shannon@mie.utoronto.ca

14 engineering students were murdered, and several more injured, on December 6, 1989 in Montreal. The students – all women – were attending a class when a gunman entered the room and killed many of them because of their gender. December 6 has since become a date of remembrance and action against gender-based violence and discrimination.

On Friday, December 6, 2019, 14 schools across Canada will hold memorial ceremonies where they will each shine a light in the sky, one for each of the women killed. All U of T Engineering students are encouraged to attend the event and can RSVP on the U of T Engineering December 6 Memorial event page.

Ahead of the event, students Mirjana Mijalkovic and Savanna Blade, alumna Shivani Nathoo and Vice-Dean, Graduate Studies Julie Audet reflected on what the memorial means to them. Read the reflections from the four members of the engineering community on the U of T Engineering news site.

Global News published profiles on each of the women in the November 22 article Remembering the women killed in the Ecole Polytechnique massacre.

The students killed on December 6, 1989 were:

• Geneviève Bergeron
• Hélène Colgan
• Nathalie Croteau
• Barbara Daigneault
• Anne-Marie Edward
• Maud Haviernick
• Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
• Maryse Laganière
• Maryse Leclair
• Anne-Marie Lemay
• Sonia Pelletier
• Michèle Richard
• Annie St-Arneault
• Annie Turcotte

 

-Published December 5, 2019 by Pam Walls, pam@mie.utoronto.ca

 

 

 

 

 
On November 20, 2019, 233 University of Toronto student-athletes were recognized at the 10^th annual Academic Excellence Breakfast, which was held at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

Twenty-three U of T Engineering undergraduate and graduate students were honoured at the event, including the 2019 U SPORTS cross country individual gold medal winner Lucia Stafford (Year 3 CivE).

The ceremony honoured student-athletes who, while competing on a Varsity team, earned an 80% average or higher in all courses they were enrolled in during the 2018-2019 academic year. Each recipient received a pin: enamel for first-time winners, bronze for second, silver for third, gold for fourth and a diamond pin for anyone earning this award five or more times during their intercollegiate career.

“Attending the Varsity Blues Academic Excellence Breakfast is a highlight in my annual calendar,” said Don MacMillan, Faculty Registrar, U of T Engineering. “It’s an opportunity to celebrate our incredible community of student-athletes and recognize their academic and athletic achievements.”

            Academic Excellence Breakfast photo gallery.

At the event, Varsity Blues men’s squash student-athlete Yusuf Shalaby (MechE 1T8, MIE MSc candidate) received a double-diamond pin for his sixth appearance at the annual excellence awards.

Track and field star Jack Berkshire (Year 3 IndE) was awarded the prestigious U SPORTS Top Scholar Award. Berkshire is also an executive member of Blues Engineering, a student-run group that supports U of T Engineering’s student-athletes,

Berkshire noted that to be chosen out of such a bright group of student-athletes was an honour and a testament to his hard work and dedication to his academic studies and athletics. He also acknowledged the support of the Faculty, Varsity Blues and his peers.

“I would not have been able to accomplish what I have without the support of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, my professors and my classmates,” said Berkshire. “On the flip side, U of T’s varsity athletics program, my coaches and teammates have always been incredibly accommodating regarding my being a student first and athlete second.”

When asked why he joined Blues Engineering given his busy schedule, Berkshire said that he became involved after reflecting on his experiences as a first-year student and wishing he had accessed the resources that had been available to him.

“The Blues Engineering executive team and I are now trying to mitigate situations like the kind I had in first year by creating a close-knit community where varsity student-athletes feel comfortable asking questions and getting the help they need,” he said. “Everyone knows one another and they’re always willing to provide career, academic or athletic advice.”

 
The 2018-2019* U of T Engineering Varsity Blues Academic Excellence Award recipients are:

• Jack Berkshire (Year 3 IndE) – Track & Field
• Matthew Chen (MSE 1T7, MSE MSc candidate) – Rowing
• Eric Deare (Year 3 MSE) – Mountain Biking
• Salma Dessouki (Year 3 IndE) – Tennis
• Zachary Frangos (Year 3 ChemE) – Cross Country
• Brandon Hadfield (EngSci 1T9) – Baseball
• Cameron Haigh (Year 3 EngSci) – Fencing
• Margaret Ho (IBBME PhD candidate) – Fencing
• Megan Kamachi (IBBME MSc candidate) – Rowing
• James Keane (Year 3 ChemE) – Lacrosse
• Brenden Lavoie (Year 3 CivE) – Golf
• Jae Jin Lee (MSE MSc candidate) – Soccer
• Beston Leung (Year 4 CompE) – Fencing
• Anthony Nassif (MechE 1T7, MIE MEng candidate) – Mountain Biking
• Osvald Nitski (Year 4 MechE) – Swimming
• Aurora Nowicki (Year 2, ElecE) – Softball
• Colin O’Brien (MIE PhD candidate) – Mountain Biking
• Abdelrahman Said (MechE 1T9) – Water Polo
• Sashini Senarath (IBBME MEng candidate) – Badminton
• Yusuf Shalaby (MechE 1T8, MIE MSc candidate) – Squash
• Lucia Stafford (Year 3 CivE) – Cross Country and Track & Field
• Tanner Young-Schultz (CompE 1T8, ECE MSc candidate) – Baseball
• Johnathan Zimmerman (Year 2 EngSci) – Fencing

 *Students’ years of study and/or graduation dates are currently as of November 2019.

 

-This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Office of the Registrar website on November 28, 2019

Mitigating indoor mould and optimizing air transportation in Northern Ontario are the first two collaborative projects between Indigenous community leaders and U of T researchers to get underway through the Reconciliation Through Engineering Initiative (RTEI).

Launched last December by the Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN), RTEI will ultimately identify six projects to improve access to clean drinking water, food security, housing, health care, transportation and communication systems in Indigenous communities across Canada.

All RTEI projects aim to find sustainable engineering solutions through community-driven, multidisciplinary and Two-Eyed Seeing collaborations, leveraging the expertise of both Indigenous community members and U of T researchers specializing in diverse fields.

“In today’s challenging environmental climate, a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to research is critical to building sustainable futures for all,” says Sonia Molodecky, RTEI program lead.

The first project focuses on developing a holistic, land-based mould-mitigation framework for Indigenous housing on Georgina Island in Lake Simcoe, north of Toronto. The work, which can be used to support other First Nations communities across Northern Ontario, is led by Professors Marianne Touchie (CivMin, MIE), Liat Margolis (Architecture), Bomani Khemet (Architecture) and natural building designer Becky Big Canoe of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation.

Mould contamination, which is associated with respiratory illnesses, affects 44% of houses in First Nation communities in Canada. And as Becky Big Canoe has seen first-hand, previous attempts to address the spread of mould were unsuccessful. A key factor of failed mould remediation strategies was the lack of consultations with residents.

“The solutions weren’t sustainable, did not fit the environment or take into account high occupancies,” says Big Canoe, whose prototype of a land-based, high-occupancy house will be incorporated into the team’s ventilation and building-envelope design.

“I think we understand what the technical solutions are,” says Touchie, who will focus on ventilation systems. Khemet will work on the building envelope, and Margolis on the house’s soft-scape surroundings.

“The key to success in this project is actually gaining an understanding of the ways in which communities use their houses, what housing needs aren’t met, and what they’d like to see done differently. That is why Becky’s expertise and prototype will play a vital role in this.”

RTEI’s second project will develop techniques for more efficient air transportation to Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario. The work is led by Professors Chris Beck (MIE), Chi-Guhn Lee (MIE), Shoshanna Saxe (CivMin), Tracey Galloway (Anthropology) and Michael Widener (Geography).

In Northern Ontario, the reliability of air service, both cargo and passenger, is hampered by persistent challenges. These include aging infrastructure, limited weather information and navigational supports, as well as long flight paths between communities and limited emergency supports. These challenges significantly affect food security for these communities, which rely on air transport for their food.

These challenges are further compounded by extreme weather patterns. Even de-icing, a matter perceived as routine in southern Canada, is more complex to operationalize in the North.

In addition to consulting with Indigenous community leaders, the engineering researchers are working closely with Galloway — drawing on her long history of work in remote Northern Canada — and Widener — an expert in geographic systems and the interplay between accessibility and wellbeing — to understand the human impact of their proposed solutions.

In the second collaboration, Beck’s team will work closely with Northern businesses to develop models that optimize travel routes and cargo/passenger transportation.

“We have a lot of research about transportation optimization that’s been developed over the last 50 years, but almost always, this research is within the context of the South, where there’s a market environment and plenty of transportation links,” says Beck, who recently visited the airports in First Nation communities Webequie, Neskantaga and Eabametoong.

Meanwhile, Lee’s team will apply machine learning techniques to manage uncertainty, such as when adverse weather conditions or emergencies lead to a cascading effect of unknowns in air transport operations.

“If there’s an emergency situation where a plane carrying essential supplies can’t land at the optimized destination, we would have to find an alternative that causes the least disruption,” says Lee. “Our work aims to minimize the impact of uncertainty.”

Saxe’s group will analyze the current physical infrastructure of these airports to identify their impact on air service. Her lab is currently engaging with both users and providers of air travel services to learn about their experiences.

“It’s most important that we’re listening to learn about a context different from our lived experiences as Southerners,” adds Saxe.

Researchers across both projects emphasize the importance of taking the time to find the appropriate solutions, rather than developing a quick fix.

“Strange as it sounds, we will spend most of the next year listening: sitting down with experts, decision makers, Elders and community members,” says Galloway. “We need to listen to the larger, ongoing conversation happening in Canada around self-determination for Indigenous people, and ask our partners and collaborators how we can support their goals through research.”

 

-This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on November 14, 2019 by Liz Do

 

Professor Murray J. Thomson and recent MIE alum Anton Sediako (MIE PhD 1T9) are among the authors of a paper about 3D printed microscopic swimmers shaped like donuts able to transport particles.

The paper, titled “Shape-programmed 3D printed swimming microtori for the transport of passive and active agents,” was published in Nature Communications this past October.

Nanoscribe featured the research in the recent article “3D printed microswimmers with multi-responsive behaviors.”

 

-Published December 2, 2019 by Pam Walls, pam@mie.utoronto.ca

 

 

“Engineering design is the culmination of all the things students learn in complementary studies – math, physics, chemistry, thermodynamics – to solve problems through an iterative, creative, decision-making process,” says Kamran Behdinan, a professor and researcher in Mechanics & Design, one of eight research areas at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) at the University of Toronto (U of T). “Mechanics” is the study of motion and forces while “design” is all about finding engineering solutions to challenges faced by industry clients, collaborators and the wider community.

Behdinan was first exposed to the concepts of mechanics and design during his engineering undergraduate studies, and later graduate studies, in Tehran, Iran. At school, he learned about the design of machinery, equipment and mechanisms and then learned about the challenges faced by industry while working in the design division at local companies. While not in class, he would design cold roll forming and construction equipment as well as off shore structures, among other projects. He became passionate about understanding the needs of industry and finding solutions using his engineering knowledge. “Who wouldn’t like that?” asks Behdinan, “You use all of the things you have learned to solve problems for clients.”

 

 

His research group at MIE, the Advanced Research Laboratory for Multifunctional Lightweight Structures, explores the design of structures for applications in various industries including automotive, aerospace, biomedical and nuclear. Some of their current projects include harnessing additive manufacturing to produce intelligent prostheses with biosensors, developing powertrain technology for drones, designing technology for landing gear and aero-engines for minimal noise and vibration, as well as quantifying the readiness level of design at different stages of the process, a challenge that was presented to Behdinan by one of his industry partners at General Motors.

 

 

 

As founding director of U of T’s Institute for Multidisciplinary Design & Innovation Institute (UT-IMDI), it should come as no surprise that Behdinan does not limit his research group to any specific area and instead encourages the exploration of structures across many industries. The Institute’s primary mission is to encourage collaboration between students and connect them with over 90 industry partners including Bombardier, Pratt and Whitney Canada, and Honeywell.

The Institute also coordinates the fourth year undergraduate Capstone course where teams of students are tasked with finding a design solution that addresses a challenge faced by their client. UT-IMDI offers a Capstone Design Course for Mechanical and Industrial Engineering students as well as the Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Course that brings students together from across engineering disciplines. “Diversity plays a critical role in creativity and hence is a driving force for design and innovation,” says Behdinan.

 

 

 

Working across sectors and collaborating with industry partners is also important to Alison Olechowski, an MIE professor who works in both Mechanics & Design and Human Factors, a field that falls under the umbrella of Industrial Engineering and is the study of human interactions with technology. Her research group, Ready Lab, works with companies to analyze their design practises and find engineering solutions to improve their processes. “We either bring people into our lab to design products and we study the way they do that,” says Olechowski, “Or we go out into the world to engineering companies that are designing products and observe their processes to try to find patterns and ways they could improve.”

Her group’s major project is studying the way engineers use collaborative Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to design 3D digital models. For many years, CAD has been a solitary endeavour and the new collaborative approach is a fundamental shift in how it is used.

“This new technology has meant that we can essentially have a Google Docs version of CAD,” says Olechowski, “But, in my opinion, the cart is before the horse because we have this tool, but we don’t understand how to use it, what the implications of it are, how to train people for it and how to do the best design that we can do with it.”

Designers with CAD knowledge are invited to Ready Lab where Olechowski’s team gives them a task to perform using the software and then records the user’s design choices, clicking patterns and facial expressions. Once enough data has been collected, Olechowski can look for trends between the design choices and the design output. She is also interested in what the user experiences emotionally and how engaged they are with the program.

 

 

Another avenue Olechowski is exploring is known as “design for engagement.” While pursuing her graduate degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she helped teach a first year course about toy design. “This class got students excited about designing mechanical products,” says Olechowski, “And it was fun because it took them through the entire design process from coming up with new toy ideas to modeling and prototyping, to user testing, and eventually trying to figure out how to market the products.”

She continues to develop this idea with one of her graduate students who worked as an engineer at a company that designs escape rooms, themed rooms where groups of people solve puzzles in a limited amount of time. Olechowski wants to dive deeper into the escape room design process and learn more about how people feel during an escape room experience and how hardware could be designed in a way to increase engagement.

Olechowski is also a faculty member with the Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (ILead) where her expertise in teamwork and decision-making help students build their competency as future engineering leaders.

“I really like design because it is a way to use all of the fundamental core principles you’ve learned and apply them to problem solve,” says Olechowski. “It can be fun and rewarding because you’re often working in a team to solve a tough challenge for someone.”

 

 

-Published November 26, 2019 by Pam Walls, pam@mie.utoronto.ca

 

 

Professor Sanjeev Chandra was presented with the Classic Paper Award by the Heat Transfer Division at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) conference earlier this month. The recipient is selected by the ASME Honors and Awards Committee to highlight exceptional papers that were published at least fifteen years ago.

The paper, which has been cited over 1000 times and is titled “On the collision of a droplet with a solid surface,” was originally published in 1991 and was based on Chandra’s PhD thesis work conducted at Cornell University. The paper was based on an experimental study of liquid droplets landing on a heated surface in which the droplets were photographed during impact. It helped in understanding the heat transfer between hot surfaces and impinging droplets, which is important in applications such as spray cooling and spray combustion.

Read more about Chandra’s paper on the Royal Society Publishing website

 

–Published November 25, 2019 by Pam Walls, pam@mie.utoronto.ca