March 18, 2015 — Professor David Sinton (MIE) has been named Fellow by the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) for his exceptional contributions to bioenergy technologies in Canada.

Sinton is among three U of T engineers honoured. Professors Alberto Leon-Garcia (ECE) and Baher Abdulhai (CivE) were also recognized by EIC for their engineering achievements in the areas of Internet architecture and traffic reduction, respectively.

Sinton has made outstanding research contributions in the area of microfluidics—the science of controlling fluids at a microscopic scale—most notably for energy applications. He has become a globally recognized leader in this area for his pioneering work in pore-scale microfluidics, fluid property analysis, fuel cells and bioenergy. His work has resulted in more than 100 journal publications with over 3,000 citations and numerous research awards, including the CSME I. W. Smith Award, the Douglas R. Colton Award from CMC Microsystems, the Early Career Achievement Award from the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and an award for teaching excellence. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME). He was the 2013 University of Toronto McLean Senior Fellow.

Sinton is the director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Toronto. Previous to joining U of T, he was a Canada Research Chair at the University of Victoria and a visiting associate professor at Cornell University.

Read more about EIC’s U of T Engineering honourees.

January 22, 2015 — Tangy the bingo-playing robot will make its debut as part of pilot study at a long-term care facility in Toronto in the coming weeks. Statistics Canada estimates people aged 65 and older will account for almost a quarter of the population by 2051. Prof. Goldie Nejat at the University of Toronto says health-care robots represent the biggest source of funding for her lab from government and industry. Read more.

December 8, 2014 — We may soon be able to enable almost “life-like” mobility in prosthetics, thanks to significant research advances in smart materials at U of T.

Professor Hani Naguib (MIE / MSE) is a renowned engineer whose leading research in the area of smart and multi-functional materials has impacted a range of biomedical and industrial technologies. The joint-appointed faculty member in the departments of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) and Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) was recognized for his sustained contributions to the field and inducted as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) earlier this month.

Dr. Naguib’s work looks at how to enable technologies to adapt and respond to various environments, ranging from applications in artificial muscles to smart textiles. Most recently, he and his colleagues have been developing prosthetic limb actuators and sensors that are built with shape memory materials and electro-active polymers, which may one day allow for persons who require these devices to have almost identical mobility as their biological counterparts. Professor Naguib’s smart materials have also impacted advances in intelligent drug delivery systems, wearable electronics as well as energy storage and harvesting devices.

“The potential of smart materials opens a lot of new doors not only to improve our quality of life, but also to make a mark in our global sustainability efforts. These new polymers, alloys and composites can sense and respond to external stimuli such as temperature or pressure, while making use of green and recycled materials to meet a range of environmental protection and waste management requirements around the world,” said Professor Naguib, whose international recognitions also include fellowships in the United Kingdom’s Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) and in the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering.

Founded in 1880, ASME is a not-for-profit organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skills development across all engineering disciplines. Its 140,000 members are located in over 150 countries and its 600 technical standards addressing safety and efficiency for a range of engineering applications are used in over 100 nations worldwide.

“Congratulations to Hani on this well-deserved recognition. His work has contributed significantly to the field of smart and functional polymeric materials,” said Professor Jun Nogami, Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering. “His work also shows the very close alignment between our Department and the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.”