Go North event at U of T inspires young STEM students

ullahnor — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 15:50:25 +0000

ullahnor Wed, 06/06/2018 - 11:50

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Students design their vision for a future city at U of T Engineering’s Go North Youth event on June 5 (photo by Laura Pedersen)

Engineering Strategic Communications

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Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Kirsty Duncan

More than 1,100 Ontario students in Grades 3 to 8 visited the University of Toronto this week for a chance to peek under the hood of today’s technologies, and get a taste of university life.

The one-day Go North Youth event, created by U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering in partnership with Google Canada and Actua, featured workshops and learning designed to ignite curiosity and showcase the possibility that a career in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can hold.

Young STEM enthusiasts work on projects at the Go North Youth event (photo by Laura Pedersen)

“Go North is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of the kids to get to the University of Toronto and experience cutting-edge STEM technology,” said Tim Barker, a Grade 4 teacher at McKee Public School in Toronto. “The event offers exactly the kind of experiential learning that both teachers and students are looking for these days.”

Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan helped kick off the event to a crowd full of students in Convocation Hall.

“I am so excited to be here at Go North,” Duncan said. “I want you to know you are the most important people. You’re going to be the astronauts, the engineers, the inventors, the scientists, the teachers. You’re going to be whatever you want to be. You’re going to be the future leaders of our country.”

Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan speaks to Ontario students at the event (photo by William Suarez)

Cristina Amon, dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, talked about pursuing STEM and encouraged students to make the most of the unique opportunity.

“This is your chance to build, design, test and explore what it is like to be an engineer,” said Amon. “Engineers do what we do because we care to make the world a better place.”

Dean Cristina Amon mingled with students at the Go North Youth event (photo by Laura Pedersen)

Earlier in the day, Amon met with other STEM leaders from industry and government for a roundtable discussion on how to best prepare Canadian youth for the future of work through STEM. She emphasized U of T Engineering’s cross-faculty initiatives, multidisciplinary student environment, work-integrated learning, entrepreneurship opportunities and commitment to diversity, as strategies for developing engineering leaders of tomorrow.

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Science minister appoints U of T's David Naylor to head fundamental science review

lavende4 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 19:24:16 +0000

Science minister appoints U of T's David Naylor to head fundamental science review lavende4 Fri, 06/17/2016 - 15:24

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Graduate student research at the University of Toronto: “I'm concerned about our young researchers," Kirsty Duncan told U of T News (James Poremba photo)

Terry Lavender

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Terry Lavender

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Earlier this week, federal science minister (and University of Toronto alumnus) Kirsty Duncan announced that former U of T President David Naylor would head a blue-ribbon panel that would look at the federal government’s support for fundamental science. The panel, which also includes Naylor’s predecessor Robert Birgeneau, UBC interim president Martha Piper, Research in Motion co-founder Mike Lazaridis and others, has been asked to answer two questions:

Are there any overall program gaps in Canada’s fundamental research funding ecosystem that need to be addressed?
Are there elements or programming features in other countries that could provide a useful example for the Government of Canada in addressing these gaps?

The panel’s appointment has been greeted with enthusiasm by Canada’s scientific community. U of T News talked to Dr. Naylor and Minister Duncan about the panel and its work.

Kirsty Duncan: “It’s all about how we can do better”

Why is this review of support for fundamental science important?

Our government values science and the work of all our scientists. In the many meetings I’ve had with researchers across the country, the need for such a review came up often. We want to be sure the programs we have are meeting the needs of our scientists, whether from natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, social sciences or the humanities.

I think it’s really importantthat we bring back science and scientists back to their rightful place in government.

Why did you select David Naylor and the other members of the panel?

As you know, Dr. Naylor brings an incredible wealth of experience to this panel – he’s a physician, he’s a medical researcher, he’s the former president of U of T, he’s been the chair of the national advisory panel on SARS and chair of the advisory panel on health and innovation. I was delighted he’s agreed to do this.

In terms of the panel, we wanted to ensure that it reflected the disciplines of the three granting councils, that it had geographic representation across the country, that we have close to gender parity and also that we have representation from a young researcher. I’m very concerned about our young researchers: getting your first grant at 41 or 43 is unacceptable. They’re our future and we’ve got to get it right.

The panel has some impressive members on it (including two former U of T presidents and a former UBC president). Was it difficult convincing these busy people to serve on the panel?

No. the members were all enthusiastic in their willingness to work together on this review. I think it’s important that people understand that they are volunteering their time. We all want the same thing. We want to ensure we’ve got the right ecosystem to support our scientific community. We want to hear from the scientific community, I want to know what their challenges are, where they see the gaps and how we can do better. It’s all about how we can do better.

The panel is looking at fundamental science. Will you also be looking at applied science in the future?

Fundamental science obviously leads to new discoveries. We want those tight links through to commercialization of new products and new processes as we announced in Budget 2016, I think there is real concern that the pendulum in the past 10 years swung too far in one direction, but absolutely we’ll also be looking at applied research. In fact, yesterday Minister Navdeep Bains [minister of science, innovation & economic development] announced his innovation agenda [Building an inclusive and innovative Canada], and that will be a little more focussed on the applied side but there are no boundaries here. It’s a continuum.

David Naylor: “The Government wanted to send a signal that Canada is going to renew its commitment to free and open inquiry”

Were you surprised to be asked to head the panel?

I am always surprised to be asked to lead anything. Even our border collie, Oscar, makes it clear on any walk with me that he is leading and I am following.

Why is the panel important?

A lot of programs have been added to the federal research funding eco-system over the last 30 or so years, and there hasn’t been a comprehensive review of the major funding agencies for as long as I can remember. Meanwhile, global competition in investigator-initiated research is intensifying, boundaries of disciplines are changing and dissolving, and there is wider recognition of the importance of basic science and scholarship in all fields as an engine for innovation at the societal level.

More generally, a culture of free and open inquiry is the cornerstone for a free and successful democratic society. The Harper Government was supportive of research and innovation in many ways, but struggled a bit with that principle of open inquiry. As its term went on, there was growing criticism from the research community about the extent of earmarking or fettering of grant funding and the degree of emphasis being placed on application and commercialization of knowledge rather than generation of new knowledge and ideas. The evergreen question of the balance in support for emerging versus established researchers also surfaced more often. All those considerations, I think, are relevant to the panel’s work.

Why did the minister initiate this exercise?

Minister Duncan and Prime Minister Trudeau have both signalled a keen interest in supporting basic scientific and scholarly research. The minister also has a special concern about support for young scientists and scholars based on her wide consultation with the research community. More generally, I think the Government wanted to send a signal to the research community and to the world that Canada is going to renew its commitment to free and open inquiry.

Should the government make the panel – or a similar body – a permanent structure?

No. We already have national advisory bodies like the Science, Technology and Innovation Council. And I expect that, in the year ahead, the Minister and her cabinet colleagues will sort out what advisory bodies make the most sense for the remainder of the government’s mandate.

You have a tight deadline – a final report by the end of the year – have you hit the ground running on this?

Not fast enough! The key is to get a secretariat up and running as soon as possible. From past experience, I can attest that is not always an easy task.

Kirsty Duncan

Go North event at U of T inspires young STEM students

View the Twitter Moment

Science minister appoints U of T's David Naylor to head fundamental science review

Kirsty Duncan: “It’s all about how we can do better”

David Naylor: “The Government wanted to send a signal that Canada is going to renew its commitment to free and open inquiry”

Read more about the fundamental science review