L to R: Professors Milos Popovic (BME), Deepa Kundur (ECE) and Ali Dolatabadi (MIE) are among five recipients from the U of T Engineering community to be recognized by the Engineering Institute of Canada. (photos courtesy of BME, ECE, MIE)
Three U of T Engineering professors and two alumni have been recognized by the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) for their distinguished contributions to engineering. Professors Ali Dolatabadi (MIE), Deepa Kundur (ECE) and Milos Popovic (BME), along with alumnus George Anders (ElecE PhD 8T0) have been elected EIC fellows for “excellence in engineering and services to the profession and to society,” while alumnus John Bianchini (ChemE 8T5) has received the Julian C. Smith Medal for “achievement in the development of Canada.”
Dolatabadi is associate chair, research in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering and associate director of the Centre for Advanced Coating Technologies at U of T. He is a leading researcher and educator in the field of multiphase flows and surface engineering; his research on multiphase flows develops fundamental understanding of sprays for thermal spray processes, and of droplet dynamics, heat transfer and phase change for the development and characterization of novel functional coatings. His research group has developed electro-catalytically active electrodes for hydrogen evolution, micro filtration membranes, superhydrophobic, icephobic and slippery coatings. He has published more than 150 journal articles and 100 conference papers. Dolatabadi has also provided valuable leadership in the engineering community on many fronts. He served as president of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) from 2014-2016 and as president of EIC from 2020-2022, and is currently chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant Evaluation Committee for Mechanical Engineering. Dolatabadi is a fellow of CSME, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
Kundur is a leading researcher in the areas of cybersecurity, informatics and cyber-physical systems. Her work has led to several pioneering technical contributions with wide-reaching impact. She is also an academic leader at U of T Engineering, having served as chair of the Division of Engineering Science from 2017-2019 and as chair of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering since 2019. In these roles, she created the first engineering major in Canada in machine intelligence and has been a champion for equity, diversity and inclusion; under her leadership both programs witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of women-identifying students. Kundur has also led significant efforts to raise the visibility of Canadian research in energy infrastructure security. She has organized and chaired more than 20 leading conferences in Canada and has been involved in tech transfer to Canadian industry. She also served as chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Evaluation Group for the NSERC Discovery Grants Program from 2017-2020. Kundur is a Fellow of the CAE and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is the Canada Research Chair for Cybersecurity of Intelligent Critical Infrastructure.
Popovic is director of the KITE Research Institute at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute – University Health Network and director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. A world-renowned neural engineer, he has had a tremendous impact on the field of functional electrical stimulation (FES) therapies, the use of electrical stimulation to improve motor function in individuals with disabilities. Popovic has developed more than 100 different FES therapy protocols for improving walking, reaching and grasping in stroke and spinal cord injury patients, a series of which have been commercialized through his start-up company MyndTec Inc. In addition to his own research, Popovic has spearheaded the development of research enterprises, which are advancing the neurorehabilitation field. These include the Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Association, the Centre for Advancing Neurotechnological Innovation to Application (CRANIA), and the Neural Engineering and Therapeutic Team at the KITE Research Institute. Under his leadership the KITE Research Institute has been ranked the top rehabilitation research enterprise in the world. Popovic is a fellow of CAE, IEEE, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.
Anders is principal consultant and president at aco-Anders Consulting, a firm specializing in electric power cable installations. Previously, he established new mathematical models and computer programs for power system modelling and reliability evaluation during 37 years with Ontario Hydro and its successor companies. As a Canadian representative and a long-time co-convener of a working group of the International Electrotechnical Commission — the international standards body for all fields of electrotechnology — Anders helps develop new computational techniques and new standards for power cable ampacity computations. He also discovered practical applications to power system planning and operations issues through numerous Canadian Electrical Association-sponsored projects on cable ampacity computations. A series of highly successful computer programs were developed as a result and have since become industry standards for power cable rating calculations, in use by more than 1,000 institutions in 70 countries. The author of three books and more than 120 published papers in international journals, Anders is passionate about advancing power engineering and has served the profession as a professor at Lodz University of Technology and an adjunct professor at U of T Engineering.
Bianchini has served as CEO of Hatch, an international engineering consultancy, since 2012. He has enjoyed a four-decade long engineering career, having joined Hatch directly after graduating from the chemical engineering program at U of T. Bianchini has been instrumental in expanding the scope and volume of Hatch’s business throughout the world, especially in South Africa, China, Brazil, Peru and Australia. Following his work for the QNI Rehabilitation project, he relocated to Australia for six years to serve as the regional director, then global managing director, for metals. Currently, he is chairing several committees at Hatch aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion, creating more opportunities for young engineers, and developing a more positive relationship with Indigenous communities. Outside of Hatch, Bianchini takes a keen interest in the development and mentorship of young engineers. He is a dedicated supporter of universities and their engineering programs and, through Hatch, sponsors several bursaries and scholarships. As a member of the ChemE advisory board, he has led seminars in engineering and project management and plays an active role in recruiting new engineers to the industry. Bianchini is a fellow of CAE and EIC and an active member of multiple industry organizations.
“These accolades from the Engineering Institute of Canada reflect the impact our faculty and alumni are having on the profession nationwide as researchers, industry and academic leaders, and educators,” says U of T Engineering Dean Christopher Yip. “On behalf of the Faculty, congratulations to these outstanding professors and alumni on their well-deserved recognition.”
– This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on December 20, 2024, by Carolyn Farrell.
