MaRS

Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus

Soldiers' Tower

Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Hart House

Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre

St. George

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Undergraduate Students

When students apply to the University of Toronto, it can often be difficult to choose between the three campuses: St. George, U of T Mississauga and U of T Scarborough – all of which boast the university’s globally-recognized academic excellence and exceptional employment outcomes.

Yet, when it comes to factors such as location, program offerings and campus culture – even the likelihood of a deer sighting – there is much that sets one campus apart from another.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the attributes that make each U of T campus unique, and how some students made their decision.

St. George

(Photo by University of Toronto)

Situated in the heart of downtown Toronto, the St. George campus is steeped in U of T’s nearly 200-year-old-history.

Harry Potter fans will feel right at home amid the Gothic Revival-style architecture, characterized by tall, sloping arches, relief sculptures and steep-gabled roofs of many of the buildings that dot the campus, particularly near King’s College Circle. While there’s no magical sorting hat, undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts & Science belong to one of seven colleges, each housing a unique community with its own slate of academic and extracurricular offerings.

Students at St. George can walk along Hoskin Avenue, which features Hart House, a hub of student activity, and Soldiers’ Tower, a bell and clock tower that pays tribute to university community members who perished in the First World War. Condé Nast Traveler has named the avenue one of the most beautiful places in Canada.

For Norah Rahman, U of T’s distinct buildings were a fixture in her life long before she decided to enrol a life sciences program this coming fall. Since she was 10 years old, she says she has attended lecture series hosted by local Muslim organizations in U of T classrooms.

(Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

“I was actually able to experience the campus as if I were taking classes there, and I loved the environment,” Rahman says.

Hailing from North York, Rahman says she was also drawn to the vibrancy of neighbourhoods downtown.

“Ever since I was in the ninth or tenth grade and I was allowed to go places by myself, I always gravitated towards going downtown,” Rahman says. “There’s something about the hustle and bustle and the opportunity to try different things, to eat different things. I’m kind of a foodie.”

The downtown campus is within walking distance of a wide range of city attractions, including Queens Park, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario – not to mention shopping, restaurants, Kensington Market and professional sports venues. Aspiring thespians can also take advantage of the neighbouring Theatre District.

The St. George campus, not surprisingly, also boasts state-of-the-art research facilities, close connections to local research hospitals, several entrepreneurship hubs and will soon be home to the new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, which will be directly across the street from the MaRS Discovery District.

Isaiah Gardner, who is about to begin his first year as a student in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, says he chose St. George because it is the only campus that offers a bachelor’s of kinesiology degree. While at U of T, he will also run for the Varsity Blues in track and field.

Gardner says he fell in love with the team during a track meet in 2019, when he ran along the blue track at the Varsity Centre with the CN Tower in the background.

“I wanted to live downtown in the energy and life that radiated from Toronto,” he says.

U of T Mississauga

(Photo by Randy Landicho)

For nature lovers, U of T Mississauga is hard to beat.

The bucolic campus is set on 225 acres of protected greenbelt along the Credit River, which is home to a variety of wildlife – from the great blue heron to the Jefferson salamander. And, since 2017, tens of thousands of honeybees have lived on the roof of U of T Mississauga’s Instructional Centre, producing honey for campus kitchens and other initiatives.

Deer are particularly beloved members of the U of T Mississauga community.

The antics of the deer on campus are closely monitored by students and faculty alike, as evidenced by a Twitter account dedicated to the animals. One deer by the name of “Hartley Fawn” even got its own ID card.

(Photo by University of Toronto Mississauga)

“U of T Mississauga has a very relaxed atmosphere because it’s a bit secluded,” says Fatima Azahraa Al Saadie, a recent graduate who was recognized as the top undergraduate student across U of T’s three campuses.

“Any time I felt overwhelmed or stressed, I’d just go outside, take a deep breath and appreciate the natural environment. Seeing a deer or two on campus is a bonus!”

Al Saadie added that she appreciated the smaller classes at U of T Mississauga, where the largest max out around 500 students. The relatively small campus helped ease the transition from high school to university, Al Saadi says.

(Photo by Drew Lesiuczok)

Sustainability is a key theme at U of T Mississauga. Among the campus’s landmarks is Maanjiwe nendamowinan, a recently built six-storey building that boasts rainwater recycling, green roof space and a name that was chosen in collaboration with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, on whose traditional territory the campus now stands. U of T Mississauga also has the distinction of being Canada’s first Silver Fair Trade Campus, with fair trade coffees, teas and chocolate bars sold throughout.

The diverse food choices don’t stop there: U of T Mississauga was also the first university campus in Canada to host a certified gluten-free food station.

U of T Mississauga is renowned for its forensic science program, which is the oldest in the country. The program’s faculty include a forensic anthropologist, a lawyer and a police officer who have worked on some of Canada’s most high-profile criminal cases. There is even a “crime scene house” where students can perfect techniques for blood splatter analysis and fingerprinting. The campus is also the principal home of U of T’s biomedical communications program – the only one of its kind in Canada and one of the largest in North America – as well as Jessica Burgner-Kahrs’s Continuum Robotics Lab, where researchers are building slender, snake-like next-generation machines for surgical and other applications.

The campus benefits from its strategic location in the city of Mississauga, which is the home base for more than 60 of Canada’s Fortune 500 companies and is a short drive to the Toronto region’s main international airport.

There’s even a free shuttle bus that whisks students to and from the St. George campus, although service was temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U of T Scarborough

(Photo by Randy Landicho)

Located in Toronto’s vibrant east end, U of T Scarborough’s Brutalist architecture has the honour of being the backdrop of a The Weeknd music video – as well as numerous movies and television shows – and a parody Instagram account @UofTDrizzy that is followed by Drake himself.

The superstar rapper is also a fan of Scarborough’s culinary offerings. As one of the most multicultural communities in the Greater Toronto Area, the neighbourhood’s eclectic food options are in abundance. From halal restaurants to East Asian comfort food to stuffed patties recommended by Drake, culinary adventures are always around the corner in Scarborough.

Not to be outdone on the nature front, the U of T Scarborough campus sits on 300 acres of lush green parkland, with a system of trails showcasing the splendor of the Highland Creek Valley.

(Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

“I saw that there was this beautiful trail in the campus, and since I’m an outdoor person I’ll probably be there every day,” says Emeka Okolo, an incoming life sciences student from Oshawa who will be living in residence.

An avid football player, Okolo is also looking forward to finding a gym buddy. U of T Scarborough boasts the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, a sprawling athletics facility that hosted diving, fencing and swimming and other competitions during the 2015 Pan American Games. In 2017, former U.S. President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden joined Prince Harry at the centre for the Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded military servicepeople.

The campus is one that aims to reflect the diversity of the Toronto region in which it operates, as evidenced by its strategic vision: Inspiring Inclusive Excellence. It is also playing an important role in promoting equity, diversity and inclusion well beyond U of T. To take one recent example: Wisdom Tettey, vice-president and principal of U of T Scarborough, played a key role in helping to co-ordinate the National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities, which brought together colleges and universities across the country to address anti-Black racism.

(Photo by Ken Jones)

When it comes to academic programs, U of T Scarborough has the distinction of being the university’s co-op campus, with co-op programs offered in over 80 programs across the arts, science and management disciplines. The curricula combine U of T’s hallmark academic excellence with eight to 12 months of paid full-time work or research experience during your degree – giving graduates a precious leg up in the job market.

U of T Scarborough also has plentiful resources for budding entrepreneurs (as do all three U of T campuses). The campus’s startup incubator, The Hub, has helped students and recent alumni launch more than 150 businesses. Meanwhile, the next generation of corporate innovators can hone their skills at The BRIDGE, a business research space complete with an advanced trading lab and state-of-the art boardroom.

At the height of the pandemic, when few employers were hiring, Melody Bagaa, who graduated in 2020, told U of T News she harnessed the practical experience she gained through U of T Scarborough’s co-op program and other employment-focused resources to land a finance job that she loved.

Biotech company founded by U of T researchers secures US$85 million in financing

geoff.vendeville — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:46:53 +0000

Biotech company founded by U of T researchers secures US$85 million in financing

geoff.vendeville Wed, 02/10/2021 - 14:46

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Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker (left), of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Peter Zandstra, who is now at UBC, founded Notch Therapeutics at U of T in 2018.

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Breaking Research

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Cancer

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Medicine by Design

Sunnybrook Hospital

Notch Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing renewable, stem-cell derived immunotherapies for cancer, said on Wednesday it had raised US$85 million in venture funding.

Notch was founded in 2018 by two pioneers of cell therapy research, Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, chair of the department of immunology at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Peter Zandstra, who was then at U of T and is now a professor at the University of British Columbia, but continues to collaborate with U of T’s Institute for Biomedical Engineering. The company was supported by MaRS Innovation (now Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners) and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine.

The funding will enable Notch to triple its staff and expand to Seattle from its current operations in Toronto and Vancouver, the company said.

Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives, described Notch and Vancouver’s AbCellera, which set the record for the biggest initial public offering for a Canadian biotech firm by raising US$555 million in December – as “recent Canadian success stories.”

“We need to ensure that these companies and the therapeutics they are developing remain in Canada,” Allen said. “This will only be possible if they are in an ecosystem that provides them with the money and talent they need.”

Notch's proprietary platform mimics the human thymus to generate a large quantity of T cells and other immune cells for therapeutic use. The company is using its platform to develop a pipeline of immune cell therapies, with cancer as its initial target.

“This is a platform that could spawn many products,” Notch president and CEO David Main told the Globe and Mail. “The holy grail for cell therapy is to make it more drug-like – ready to go as soon as it’s prescribed, applicable for anybody, and being able to make it in big enough quantities that you can treat thousands of patients.”

Over the last decade, U of T has been the launching pad for more than 500 research-based startups, generating more than $1.5 billion in investment.

U of T entrepreneurs to discuss 'surviving and thriving' amid COVID-19 at virtual event

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 15:53:00 +0000

U of T entrepreneurs to discuss 'surviving and thriving' amid COVID-19 at virtual event

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 10/05/2020 - 11:53

Cutline

At a virtual event hosted by MaRS, a panel of U of T entrepreneurs will share their thoughts on the disruption and innovation spawned by COVID-19 (photo by Vince Talotta/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Coronavirus

U of T Entrepreneurship

Alumni

Startups

Ted Sargent

Seray Çiçek and her colleagues at LSK Technologies, a University of Toronto startup, were about to wrap up studies of a portable diagnostic device that carries out rapid testing for Zika virus when a new threat emerged late last year.

“We started pivoting towards COVID-19 before it became a big pandemic,” says U of T alumna Cicek, who is CEO and co-founder of LSK Technologies.

In the months that followed, Çiçek’s team worked to tweak their device so it could accurately detect COVID-19 either by measuring viral nucleic acids or antibodies generated by the immune response against the novel coronavirus. The company was spun out of research carried out in the lab of Keith Pardee, an assistant professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

Çiçek is one of several U of T entrepreneurs who will take part in a virtual town hall on Monday hosted by the MaRS Discovery District. She will be joined by Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO of quantum computing startup Xanadu, and Xue Wu, CEO of precision medicine startup Geneseeq.

Titled “Surviving and Thriving Beyond 2020,” the panel will reflect on how COVID-19 affected their startups and share their thoughts on the disruption and innovation spawned by the pandemic.

The event will be hosted by University Professor Ted Sargent, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, and Yung Wu, CEO of MaRS.

From left to right: Livia Guo, Assistant Professor Keith Pardee and Seray Çiçek of LSK Technologies, which is developing a portable, “lab-in-a-box” technology to diagnose COVID-19 and other diseases (photo courtesy of LSK Technologies)

Many of the pandemic-related challenges faced by LSK Technologies involved the logistics of working, according to Çiçek. They included regaining access to the lab, carrying out work in a physically distanced and safe manner, communicating with one another and coping with delays in shipments.

But the startup persevered and is now only a few months away from seeing its device deployed for COVID-19 research and testing with research partners in Colombia and Ecuador, as well as in Toronto and Waterloo, Ont.

At the town hall event, Çiçek says she intends to emphasize that the pandemic brings both challenges and opportunities.

“Difficult times bring innovation,” she says. “We’re all going through tough times, but it should make us more innovative and change things that are not working, and realize that and focus on solving those problems rather than avoiding them.

“Going forward, I think we’ll see more innovations that will change how we do things. So, we just need to be more flexible and adaptive to transition to new ways of living and working.”

Medicine by Design draws hundreds to annual research event, praise from federal innovation minister

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:51:21 +0000

Medicine by Design draws hundreds to annual research event, praise from federal innovation minister

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 12/09/2019 - 09:51

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Michael Sefton (centre), the executive director of Medicine by Design, says the regenerative medicine initiative wouldn't have been possible without the support of the federal government, which provided a $114-million grant (photo by Neil Ta)

Ann Perry

Topic

Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine

Chemistry

Faculty of Medicine

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Medicine by Design

Mount Sinai Hospital

Regenerative Medicine

Vivek Goel

Federal innovation, science and industry minister Navdeep Bains congratulated the University of Toronto’s Medicine by Design community on its successes and affirmed the government’s commitment to science “as the foundation of innovation” at the regenerative medicine initiative’s annual research symposium.

“Your research will have a transformational impact on how we treat many common diseases, such as stroke, diabetes and liver failure, creating better health outcomes for all Canadians,” Bains said in a video message to the audience of 350 researchers, students, and industry and government representatives who gathered at the MaRS Discovery District last week.

“As the minister responsible for science and innovation, I look forward to working with the medical science sector to help Canadians live healthier lives and push the boundaries of innovation.”

Bains highlighted the federal government’s support of Medicine by Design through a $114-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, and pointed to the 2018 budget as “the biggest reinvestment in fundamental research in Canadian history.”

The symposium, which marked the mid-point of Medicine by Design’s seven-year federal grant, focused on the role of technology in advancing biological insights and driving innovation, and noted the new portfolio of cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional projects the initiative announced in October. Speakers included high-profile international experts in regenerative medicine and cell therapy, including: Nancy Allbritton, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington; Joseph Gold, senior director of manufacturing at the Center for Biomedicine & Genetics at City of Hope in California; and Dr. Markus Grompe, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University.

“Medicine by Design perfectly reflects our belief that it is at the convergence of cross-disciplinary excellence that the next truly game-changing discoveries in research and innovation will take place,” said Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “And it is a flagship example of the types of strategic, cross-divisional initiatives the University of Toronto will continue to build.”

In addition to Medicine by Design, examples of such initiatives at U of T include PRiME, a precision medicine initiative, and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

“There are very few universities in the world where these kinds of initiatives can take flight, and U of T is one of them,” Goel added.

Medicine by Design brings together more than 130 principal investigators at U of T and its affiliated hospitals who are collaborating at the convergence of life and physical sciences, engineering, medicine and computer science to catalyze transformative discoveries in regenerative medicine and accelerate them toward the clinic. It builds on decades of made-in-Canada excellence in regenerative medicine dating back to the discovery of stem cells in the early 1960s by Toronto researchers James Till and Ernest McCulloch.

“The success we have achieved at Medicine by Design has been made possible in large part to the tremendous efforts of the federal government and the Canada First Research Excellence Fund,” said Michael Sefton, executive director of Medicine by Design, a University Professor at the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), and the Michael E. Charles Professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.

“As we advance our research agenda, we are positioning these breakthrough discoveries to have the greatest impact on patients.”

Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, hosts a panel discussion at Medicine by Design’s (photo by Neil Ta)

Translating research discoveries into new therapies, products and companies was a prominent theme at the event and will be a key focus for Medicine by Design over the next three years. A panel discussion moderated by Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, and featuring speakers from GE Healthcare, Novartis Canada, AllosteRx Capital, Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners and St. Michael’s Hospital, explored the challenges and opportunities inherent in this process. The discussion highlighted the unique strengths of Toronto’s regenerative medicine ecosystem, including: a world-leading public research university with broad strengths in medicine, life and physical sciences, as well as engineering; an expansive network of affiliated academic and community hospitals; expertise in translation, scale-up and manufacturing; and strong relationships with government.

Shana Kelley, a University Professor in the departments of chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences and biochemistry, and at IBBME, spoke about the new team project she is leading, which aims to identify and modulate cell differentiation bottlenecks.

“Medicine by Design has been career-changing for me,” Kelley said. “It has given me opportunities to connect with outstanding collaborators with whom I would not otherwise have had the chance to work.”

The symposium also offered an opportunity for 40 trainees to present their research during a poster session. Louise Moyle, a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Penney Gilbert, an associate professor at IBBME, won first place. David Philpott, a PhD candidate in Kelley’s lab, placed second, while Alba Marin, a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Cristina Amon in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering, came third. The prizes were sponsored by StemCell Technologies Inc.

Jeffrey Harding, a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Andras Nagy, a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health System, won the BlueRock Therapeutics prize for the poster with the greatest translational potential.

Three teams awarded U of T's first-ever sustainability innovation prize

perry.king — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 22:26:58 +0000

Three teams awarded U of T's first-ever sustainability innovation prize

perry.king Tue, 06/18/2019 - 18:26

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The winners of U of T's sustainability innovation prize, part of a larger effort to make sustainability innovation a key component of the university’s identity, pose for a photo following a pitch competition on June 12 at ONRamp (photo by Perry King)

Perry King

Topic

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Geography and Planning

Graduate Students

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Rotman School of Management

ONRamp

School of the Environment

Sustainability

U of T Mississauga

Undergraduate Students

In front of a packed room of their peers, 10 groups of students recently had three minutes each to pitch a new sustainability-focused product or startup with the potential to make a signficant impact.

In the end, three were named winners of the first-ever University of Toronto Sustainability Innovation Prize, a $5,000 award created to recognize, reward and accelerate U of T’s most innovative sustainability ideas. The winners included: SoluSave, a startup that seeks to recycle solvents used in undergraduate laboratories; STP Sports, which aims to reduce the environmental footprint of professional sporting events; and Circular Toys, a company that asks families, schools and individuals to subscribe to eco-friendly toy packages.

The competition, held on June 12 at U of T’s ONRamp co-working space for startups, is an initiative of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability, which laid out a plan last year to incorporate sustainable ideas and practices into U of T’s operations.

"The committee was tasked with finding ways to advance U of T’s contribution to meet the challenges of climate change and sustainability – with a particular focus on research and innovation, on teaching and on operations,” said John Robinson, the committee’s chair and the president’s adviser on environment, climate change and sustainability, in remarks before the competition began.

Robinson, who is also a professor in the department of geography and planning with cross appointments at the Munk School of Global Affairs, the School of the Environment and the John H. Daniels Faculty of Landscape, Architecture, and Design, added that the committee wants to make sustainability innovation a key component of the university’s identity, to achieve international leadership in this field and promote more sustainability activities on campus.

“This prize competition is an important part of that overall strategy,” he said. “It’s aimed at supporting, engaging and rewarding U of T students – you – who have sustainability ideas and are interested in finding a way of bringing them to the world.”

The finalists were judged by Kenneth Corts, the vice-dean of faculty and research at the Rotman School of Management, Tyler Hamilton, a senior manager of partnerships at MaRS Cleantech, Ron Saporta, U of T’s chief operations officer of facilities and services and Joerg Wittenbrinck, a senior policy advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Energy.

John Robinson is chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (photo courtesy of U of T Entrepreneurship)

Laboratory recyling startup SoluSave, led by third-year undergraduates John Russell and Leanna Smid, took part in their first-ever pitch competition and were nervous throughout their presentation.

They were even more surprised to hear that they won.

“We saw the competition – a lot of graduate and PhD students – so it was very intense but it was really rewarding to get this,” said Russell. After developing the idea several months ago, the duo “wanted to get a feel” for how pitch competitions work, Russell said.

SoluSave seeks to build a waste disposal device that could be marketed to undergraduate labs as a cost-effective alternative to conventional waste disposal. The recycler device would be optimized for easy use and scaled for use for different kinds of washing solvents.

John Russell and Leanna Smid of SoluSave took part in their first-ever pitch competition (photo by Perry King)

With the prize money, the team plans to develop a prototype using acetone this summer. “We want to run our test trials in the labs at U of T and broaden our range from here to see what universities are interested in sustainable chemistry,” Russell said.

“Chemistry is being done all over the place," he added, "and one thing that some universities don’t take note of is the sustainable aspect of the work.

“That’s something that definitely we should move towards.”

STP Sports, led by U of T Mississauga graduate students Tom Chen, Samantha DiIorio and Paulina Szlachta, is primarily focused on helping sports teams and leagues create easy waste management processes, procurement policies – including assessing stadium vendors and suppliers – and undertaking employee training and education.

The idea for this startup came primarily from Chen, who wanted to blend his interests with his graduate work in sustainability management. “I said ‘You know what? Am I going to spend that much time on something I don’t really enjoy?’” said Chen, who grew up in “sports crazy” Boston. “How can I combine those two aspects – sports and sustainability?”

Working on their sustainability capstone project, the team found that the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA produced about 165 million pounds of waste, but only a 25 per cent waste diversion rate.

They reached out to all the leagues and teams on creating better waste diversion solutions and developed a working relationship with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. In their first case study, they found that Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta had a 45 per cent waste diversion rate, solar power installation and a stormwater management strategy. They built STP Sports around that case study.

Paulina Szlachta and Tom Chen of STP Sports, which is focused on making sports teams and leagues more environmentally sustainable (photo by Perry King)

Chen sees STP as being at “ground zero” of an environmental movement in pro sports. Their prize win will give them more resources to help major sports franchises become more environmentally sustainable – something that they are interested in pursuing, according to Chen.

Szlachta is excited about the potential benefits of the project. “There’s just so much we can do and so much waste we can optimize in these kinds of facilities – and not just stadiums, but concert halls, and all kinds of venues. There’s so much to be done there and so little being done right now.”

Circular Toys, led by Daniel McKee and Lisa Pooley, provides subscribers with eco-friendly toy packages every three months. But, they will also have a chance to send used toys back, reducing waste and the amount of plastic products in the environment.

“There’s such a short lifespan of toys that aren’t environmentally friendly and recyclable, and it isn’t reasonable to refurbish them,” said McKee, a nursing student who says the toys will be targeted to children aged one to seven.

The average family has 71 toys per household and about 90 per cent of them are plastic – nearly 10 per cent of which can’t be recycled, according to McKee. Circular Toys, by contrast, proposes to create an avenue for families looking to reduce waste and provide safer toy options for their children.

“It’s better for the parents because there isn’t clutter, it’s better for the students because it’s safer for them and it’s better for the planet,” says McKee, who added the toys themselves are meant to stimulate the child’s mind and encourage teamwork.

Daniel McKee of Circular Toys, provides subscribers with eco-friendly toy packages every three months, but also allows them to be returned (photo by Perry King)

Circular Toys plans to boost its marketing resources as the startup launches in August. The goal is to amass 100 subscribers in the near term – the equivalent to 3.5 tons of plastic that would otherwise reach oceans and landfills.

It was a nervous pitch competition for McKee, but the win is the next step in an ongoing journey. “In the three minutes, you’ve said all the necessary pieces, but I would have liked to answer more questions and explained a little bit more in detail,” he said.

“Hopefully there will be other pitches for that.”

U of T President Emeritus and honorary degree recipient David Naylor tells grads 'life is a team sport'

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 31 May 2019 14:15:13 +0000

U of T President Emeritus and honorary degree recipient David Naylor tells grads 'life is a team sport'

geoff.vendeville Fri, 05/31/2019 - 10:15

Cutline

David Naylor, U of T President Emeritus and former dean of medicine, receives an honorary degree from U of T for “his outstanding service for the public good, excellence in the academy, and service to the University” (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Topic

Startups

Undergraduate Education

When he got the call offering him the job of president of the University of Toronto, Dr. David Naylor suddenly felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.

“It was one of the more acute attacks of imposter syndrome that I’ve had,” he told the Globe and Mail in 2005 after he was tapped to be the university’s 15th president.

He needn’t have worried. Few can claim to have made as great an impact on the university or – indeed – beyond it. Not only did Naylor take steps to boost U of T’s research, innovation and student experience, he has been a driving force for increased public funding of post-secondary research and improved organization of health care right across Canada.

For “his outstanding service for the public good, excellence in the academy, and service to the University,” Naylor receives a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the Faculty of Medicine’s convocation ceremony on June 3.

Watch David Naylor deliver his remarks:

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Naylor, who earned his medical degree at U of T in 1978. He later went on to study sociology and social history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. It was there that he met his future wife and fellow Rhodes Scholar, Ilse Treurnicht, the former CEO of the MaRS Discovery District who received an honorary degree from U of T last year. Naylor even taught himself to speak Afrikaans, the language spoken in Treurnicht’s native South Africa, according to the Toronto Star.

Naylor eventually returned to U of T to become dean of medicine, a post he held until 2005. It was during his tenure as dean that he rose to national prominence. He was asked to lead an inquiry into Canada's response to the SARS crisis involving all levels of government. The committee's report recommended an overhaul of Canada's public health system and spurred the creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada. His many accolades include being named an Officer of the Order of Canada and an induction into the Medical Hall of Fame.

(photo by Tim Fraser)

As U of T’s president, Naylor sought to leverage the university's strength in research to enhance the student experience. The university introduced the One series of small-class learning opportunities, a co-curricular record and the President's Teaching Award for outstanding faculty. The Towards 2030 strategic planning exercise that took place under his watch laid out a long-term vision for a regional “University of Toronto system” characterized by three campuses with strong individual identities.

Naylor’s focus extended well beyond U of T. He lent his expertise to a panel looking into the ways the federal government could foster innovation in health care, improve accessibility and reduce costs. More recently, he led a blue-ribbon group of experts reviewing how basic science is funded in Canada. The panel’s final report led to significant federal investments in fundamental research.

“More needs to be done to improve administration and governance of federal supports for research, and more investment is definitely needed,” Naylor said in an interview with U of T News last spring.

“But extramural science and scholarship in Canada are in a much better place than was the case a year ago.”

David Naylor's message to the Class of 2019:

The mass media continues to mythologize individuals and individual accomplishment, and it’s easy to be seduced by social media into worrying more about your “digital brand” than your personal relationships. That’s a dangerous snare and delusion. Life is a team sport. The lion’s share of credit for accomplishments will sometimes still go to individuals. And yes, leadership matters. But solo geniuses are few and far between. Most of the things that will matter to the future of this complex world can only be accomplished through major collaborative efforts. In short, you will not only be judged by the company you keep. Your prospects for success, your resilience in the face of setbacks, your career trajectory, your happiness and your life’s legacy also depend on who you choose as travelling companions in the decades ahead – and how well you work with those companions you did not choose or would not have chosen.

U of T’s Raquel Urtasun, Uber’s self-driving guru, profiled in Toronto Life

perry.king — Tue, 14 May 2019 15:52:57 +0000

U of T’s Raquel Urtasun, Uber’s self-driving guru, profiled in Toronto Life

perry.king Tue, 05/14/2019 - 11:52

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(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Perry King

Topic

City & Culture

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Graduate Students

Self-Driving Cars

Raquel Urtasun, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s department of computer science, says the age of self-driving cars at scale – when the tech is affordable and safe for everyone to use – could be just a decade away.

That’s one of several insights Urtasun recently provided to Toronto Life, which drew back the curtain on Uber’s only self-driving lab outside the U.S.

As chief scientist at Uber Advanced Technologies Group, Urtasun’s “modern, bright and busy” research and development lab sports a number of her U of T PhD students working as staff. The MaRS-based lab also features an all-female leadership team – including alumna Inmar Givoni, a former PhD student.

Uber and Urtasun were a match made in heaven. Uber wanted to develop a self-driving fleet and needed the expertise of Urtasun, considered an “AI superstar” by Wired magazine. Uber hired her in 2017 and gave her access to vast resources and data. “This is the best AI research lab for self-driving in the world,” Urtasun told Toronto Life.

Governments should focus on jobs of the future, U of T's Vivek Goel writes in the Globe and Mail

geoff.vendeville — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 15:15:19 +0000

Governments should focus on jobs of the future, U of T's Vivek Goel writes in the Globe and Mail

geoff.vendeville Mon, 01/07/2019 - 10:15

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Vivek Goel, U of T's vice-president of research and innovation, notes that government support for MaRS is paying off while the multi-billion bailout of the auto sector proved short-sighted (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

School of Continuing Studies

Vivek Goel

Instead of trying to rescue existing jobs threatened by technological change, the government should support training for the jobs of the future, Vivek Goel, the University of Toronto's vice-president of research and innovation, writes in the Globe and Mail.

Goel says the contrasting fates of MaRS and General Motors underscore the importance of government investment in emerging sectors and retraining workers to fill new market demands.

Though it ultimately received a $224-million construction loan from the Ontario government, Goel notes that MaRS was initially turned down when it sought help in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Around the same time, GM asked for assistance and the provincial and federal governments made a multibillion-dollar bet on the auto sector to ensure its survival.

Yet, despite the government's support, GM recently shuttered its Oshawa plant and four facilities in the United States. MaRS, by contrast, not only repaid most of its interest-bearing loans three years earlier than scheduled, but has gone on to become one of the world's largest innovation hubs specializing in clean technology, fintech, enterprise and health.

“Postsecondary and training institutions, employers and governments must promote emerging sectors and retraining to ensure new skills meet new market needs,” Goel writes, adding that continuing education programs, such as those offered by U of T, are a good model for improving workers' skills.

“Trying to turn the tide by saving jobs that are being overtaken by technology is not a winning strategy.”

Read Vivek Goel's Globe and Mail op-ed

The Agency fosters social innovation at U of T

Romi Levine — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 21:23:35 +0000

The Agency fosters social innovation at U of T

Romi Levine Fri, 11/18/2016 - 16:23

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Keita Demming, executive director of The Agency, a U of T social innovation lab (photo by Romi Levine)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

Rotman School of Management

Social Innovation