STEM

Computer Science

Education

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Robotics

Subheadline

Paul Dietz says robotic paper creations are a creative – and more inclusive – way to get kids interested in STEM fields

Could a talking paper octopus be the key to igniting kids' curiosity about technology?

University of Toronto engineer Paul Dietz certainly thinks so. With the help of a menagerie of mechanically controlled puppets, he has a plan to help students learn to think creatively across a wide range of fields.

All it takes is some simple circuitry, a few arts and crafts supplies – and a lot of imagination.

A distinguished engineer in residence and director of fabrication in the Faculty of Arts and Science’s computer science department, Dietz is the whimsical mind behind the Animatronics Workshop. The program collaborates with schools to provide opportunities for children to create, design and build their own robotic shows.

Dietz has been partnering with schools where kids create their own animatronic stories – from staging pre-programmed puppet shows to hosting Q-and-As with Shakespeare – departing from the competition-based competitions typical of many youth robotics efforts.

Dietz’s program has been his passion project for a decade and a half, developed on the side while he worked day jobs engineering innovations for companies like Microsoft, Mitsubishi and Disney, as well as his own startups.

Now, at U of T, Dietz is focusing on bringing accessible and affordable animatronics to classrooms across Canada. The goal, he says, is to teach kids to use technology as a tool for storytelling, dismantling what he sees as a false divide between the arts and sciences.

“One of the first participants in this program was a young girl who was really into writing creative stories and really loved science. And she saw these as two conflicting parts of her world,” says Dietz, who is also a faculty affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

“After what she did in animatronics, it suddenly dawned on her that you can do both. If you do engineering right, it is a creative art.”

In a capstone course on physical computing in K-12, Dietz encouraged undergraduate students to explore how computer-based systems can bring stories to life in the classroom (photo by Polina Teif)

Dietz had a similar realization as a teenager in the late 1970s, when a behind-the-scenes tour of Walt Disney Imagineering got him tinkering with an animatronic robot penguin.

This early fusion of technical skills and storytelling sensibilities set Dietz on a path that turned flights of imagination into real-world breakthroughs that shape our engagement with technology.

A prolific inventor and researcher, Dietz is best known for co-creating an early progenitor of the multi-touch display technology that’s ubiquitous in today’s smartphones and tablets. Other innovations include 'Pal Mickey,' an interactive plush toy that guided visitors through Disney theme parks, and parallel reality displays that allow multiple viewers to see individualized content on the same screen.

Dietz says his storied career debunks the common misconception – often reinforced in schools – that creativity is exclusive to artistic pursuits, while science is the domain of strict rationality, where there are prescribed methods of inquiry to arrive at a single correct answer.

As Dietz sees it, weaving a narrative and programming a robot are propelled by the same creative impulse – they just exercise different skills. He believes a well-rounded education should equip students with a diverse arsenal of tools to explore new ideas.

“If you’re an artist, you have to learn the mechanics of sculpting or painting or whatever your medium is,” he says. “We should be looking at engineering and technology as those tools, and the key is … learning how to use them creatively to achieve things that are actually positive for our society.”

The universal appeal of storytelling also serves to make technology accessible and exciting to kids of all ages and genders, Dietz adds.

Bridging the gender divide in STEM has been core to Dietz’s animatronics mission since its inception.

When his daughter was in middle school, Dietz took her to a robotics competition – but she was turned off by the contest, which seemed pointless to her. However, when the two of them worked together on an animatronic raccoon, he saw her passion for creating ignite.

“This light bulb went off in my head: Maybe the problem isn’t that we’re doing tech,” says Dietz. “Maybe kids like my daughter need to see some application that makes sense to them – like telling a story.”

Kids at the Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study are encouraged to develop creative and computer science skills (photo courtesy of JICS)

Over the years, Dietz has partnered with several schools to set up animatronics workshops that attracted an even number of boys and girls and ensured every kid participated in all aspects of the projects – from storytelling and character design to robot building and programming.

But as his career took him across the U.S., Dietz found it difficult to sustain and replicate the success of the programs because of the prohibitive costs of full-scale animatronic robots and the significant technical expertise required from teachers.

At U of T, Dietz is working to bring animatronics to schools of all resources, allowing students to develop creative and computer science skills by harnessing the endless storytelling possibilities of paper.

Undergraduate students demo an interactive diorama during a capstone showcase at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology (photo by Polina Teif)

At the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study (JICS) at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, students from kindergarten through Grade 6 have put Dietz’s paper animatronics kits to the test, bringing characters to life with kinetic, vocal creations.

The laboratory school has hosted a series of pilot projects where kids fashioned characters out of construction paper, recorded voices and wired motorized movements to animate creations ranging from a chomping, sharp-toothed maw to a bouncing kitten.

Dietz hopes the pilot program at JICS, pictured, can be scaled up to schools across the country (photo courtesy of JICS)

Nick Song, a special education and technology teacher at JICS, says he sees enormous educational potential for paper animatronics to engage students in hands-on, interactive learning that simultaneously develops technology skills and fosters creative expression.

“The kids love doing things with technology because it gives them a really cool feedback loop where they can try something and see it work immediately,” says Song. “All of this is very motivating for kids, seeing something pick up their voice and start moving, and you almost feel like it’s coming to life.”

Building on the pilots at JICS, Dietz is aiming to scale up the program to schools across the country in hopes of nurturing the next generation of out-of-the-box innovators.

“It’s very different from the technical work that I’ve generally done … but it feels very right,” says Dietz. “I think we’re doing something important for Canada.”

U of T alum helps prepare Canadarm3 for lunar orbit

siddiq22 — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 14:59:08 +0000

U of T alum helps prepare Canadarm3 for lunar orbit

siddiq22 Mon, 08/14/2023 - 10:59

Cutline

An artist's rendering of Canadarm3 on the Lunar Gateway (photo by CSA, NASA)

David Goldberg

Topic

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Alumni

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Space

Subheadline

Jamil Shariff, a PhD graduate in astrophysics, was inspired by science fiction to explore space and the future of humanity

Since watching Star Trek as a young boy in his parents’ living room, University of Toronto alumnus Jamil Shariff has dreamed of exploring strange new worlds – and boldly going where no one has gone before.

"Science fiction definitely sparked my interest in what the future of humanity would look like, the exploration of space and the development of amazing new technologies,” says Shariff, who earned his PhD in astrophysics in 2015.

Jamil Shariff (supplied image)

Formerly a postdoctoral fellow at U of T's Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Shariff is now engineering technology for one of the most ambitious projects in the history of crewed space exploration.

A senior leader in systems design at MDA (the Canadian company famous for building the robotic Canadarm on NASA’s space shuttle and Canadarm2 aboard the International Space Station), Shariff has been working on Canadarm3, the latest iteration of the iconic space hardware.

The new robotic arm is for Lunar Gateway, a space station planned for lunar orbit by the end of the 2020s. It will serve as a research outpost and cosmic pit stop for future missions to the surfaces of the moon, Mars and beyond.

MDA recruited Shariff several years ago, impressed by his PhD research under Professor Barth Netterfield at the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Netterfield is one of the world’s foremost experts in developing systems for high-altitude balloon-borne telescopes.

Watching Star Trek as a kid sparked Shariff's interest in space and astrophysics (supplied image)

“I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for professors like Netterfield,” Shariff says. “He’s a mentor, and it really matters to him if the people in his lab succeed.”

Part of an international team of researchers, Shariff and Netterfield designed, built, installed and operated two balloon-borne telescopes and analyzed their data. One of the projects, BLASTPol, examined the role played by magnetic fields in star formation. The other, Spider, was focused on understanding what happened in the very first moments after the Big Bang.

“The fact that I helped work on instrumentation that detected those microwave photons – which are like our baby picture of the universe, the oldest signal we can ever detect – that still amazes me,” Shariff says. “It's stayed with me all this time.”

During his PhD, Shariff spent several months working along other scientists at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, maintaining and flying Spider in the skies over one of Earth’s most desolate locations. The experience – and learning how to explain his work to a wider audience – prepared Shariff for life after U of T.

“It's important to be able to tell your story – especially if you have a PhD in something like astrophysics – because a recruiter may not exactly understand what you do,” he says. “That really helped me.”

Nearly a decade after graduating, Shariff remains a champion of astrophysics research and U of T's team of experts.

“You’ve got some of the best theorists in the world coming to us," Shariff says. “You have theory, observation and experimentation all happening at U of T. I think that should be a compelling case for donors who are passionate about furthering our understanding of the universe."

Building momentum: Canadian Black Scientists Network partners with U of T Scarborough

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 18:21:27 +0000

Building momentum: Canadian Black Scientists Network partners with U of T Scarborough

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 01/04/2023 - 13:21

Cutline

Co-founded by U of T Scarborough professor Maydianne Andrade in 2020, pictured, the Canadian Black Scientists Network now boasts more than 500 members (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Matthew DiMera

Topic

Canadian Black Scientists Network

Scarborough Charter

U of T Scarborough

When Maydianne Andrade co-founded the non-profit Canadian Black Scientists Network with other Black scientists across Canada two years ago, she felt there was a need to create a larger sense of community.

What she didn’t anticipate was the rapid growth.

“We just see momentum building and building every year,” says Andrade, a professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

By the time the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN) held its first annual national conference virtually in 2022 for Black excellence in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (BE-STEMM), it had already grown from 20 members to 150. Now, as it prepares to host the second conference in 2023, it has more than 500 members.

As the CBSN was looking for a university partner to host the network for a five-year term, U of T Scarborough was an ideal choice. It had already been the virtual host for the first BE-STEMM conference, and as the home of the Scarborough Charter – a commitment from more than 50 Canadian universities to address anti-Black racism and to promote Black inclusion – there was a symbolic and practical alignment with the network’s goals to remove barriers facing Black researchers and practitioners in STEMM.

“This partnership enables a variety of things. The first is to raise the visibility of the network,” Andrade says.

“It really advances the vision of both organizations and also aligns with the institutions that signed the charter from across the country. It’s providing essential support because although we are a virtual network, we do need some physical support – and the campus has been very generous in contributing to our operating requirements.”

As the inaugural president of the CBSN, Andrade has witnessed the importance of the network’s work with Black communities.

Olamide Falomo, CBSN's new program administrator, next to Maydianne Andrade at U of T Scarborough (supplied photo)

“It is a completely unique conference in Canada – and one of very few in North America – where you can hear more than one Black STEMM researcher talking about their work,” she says. “In any one place we tend to be fairly small in number, [so] that visibility is lost.

She adds the conference is an opportunity to learn about the work that Black experts in STEMM across the country are pursuing.

“We’re about research across all these different disciplines, but we’re also about change. We're really about action,” Andrade says. “We are here to get our people gainful employment, good career paths and to make sure that there are no barriers to their success.”

A recent immigrant to Canada, Brenda Tibingana-Ahimbisibwe was looking to return to work now that her two young children are in school. But she wasn’t hearing back from any prospective employers. Despite having trained as a medical doctor in Uganda and having a master’s in public health from the University of Manchester, she was considering leaving science behind. But after attending the CBSN conference’s virtual career fair, Tibingana-Ahimbisibwe landed a job with Statistics Canada.

“When you come as an immigrant, you don't really have any connections. Moving here, it was just my husband and me,” she says. “It’s quite daunting to re-enter your field at a level that matches your skills. You do need people with insight to help you navigate. You need support.”

Albert Kaboré, meanwhile, was looking to transition to civilian life after retiring from the Canadian Armed Forces when he attended last year’s career fair at the conference. Kaboré, who has a PhD in microbiology and immunology from Laval University, credits the conference with connecting him to his current position as the manager for evaluation impact and measurements with Genome Canada.

“I would really encourage people just to take advantage of that venue to showcase themselves and to widen their networks,” he says.

The conference also includes a science fair where middle school and high school students can connect with Black mentors.

“It’s important to have mentors of all sorts,” Andrade says. “But particularly having someone who looks like you who has succeeded in this field is encouraging for youth.”

Andrade says that graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, research associates, people in the job market and new Canadians are interested in meeting Black scientists who have succeeded in an ecosystem that’s not always welcoming to them.

This year’s conference, BE-STEMM 2023, will feature a panel on the challenges faced by skilled Black immigrants.

While the government makes it easier for highly educated and skilled newcomers to immigrate here, it’s been well-documented that many find it difficult to find jobs in their field once they arrive. Systemic racism can make the problem even worse for Black newcomers.

“Black women are perhaps the most heavily negatively impacted,” Andrade says. “This panel is going to be a discussion about that problem – about how we can change our systems. We are progressively seeing a gap in terms of skill in our labour markets in Canada and elsewhere, and we have the people who could fill those gaps. But we have to see them where they are.”

With a high school project headed to orbit, first-year U of T student embarks on an academic exploration

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 14:16:25 +0000

With a high school project headed to orbit, first-year U of T student embarks on an academic exploration

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 11/28/2022 - 09:16

Cutline

Annika Waschke, a first-year student at Victoria College, was involved in a high school science project that scheduled to be launched into orbit next year aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket (all photos courtesy of Annika Waschke)

Chris Sasaki

Topic

Humanities

Space

Undergraduate Students

Victoria College

When Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off the launch pad sometime in 2023, first-year University of Toronto student Annika Waschke will be watching with great interest.

That’s because the mission will include an experiment designed by Waschke and her teammates in 2020 during a high school STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) program called Shad. Their payload is a device that will fabricate polyurethane foam – used in packaging, insulation and other applications – in a microgravity field high above the Earth. They will then test the material once it’s back on the ground.

A member of Victoria College, Waschke clearly has an interest in science. But her plan in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science is to explore the many academic paths that lie before her.

“I’m looking at either a double major in psychology and physiology, or a major in psychology with a double minor in physiology and English,” says Waschke. “I haven't fully decided yet.

The payload bound for space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepherd rocket in 2023

“I want my degree to be a holistic experience. I want both art and science, and one of the reasons I chose U of T is that there are so many different fields of study. I want my university experience to be about mind, body and soul – psychology for the mind; physiology for the body; and literature for the soul.”

Waschke recently spoke to Faculty of Arts & Science writer Chris Sasaki about her space experiment and her academic plans.

What is the New Shepard experiment that you and your Shad team designed?

The challenge was to design an experiment to fly onboard a New Shepard rocket during its suborbital flight. So, it had to work in microgravity, fit into a shoe box and have scientific and social merit. We became interested in foam and how it behaved in microgravity and, eventually, we ended up looking at polyurethane foam.

So, the payload is basically a box containing some syringes, a motor, a camera and a small computer. Once it senses it’s in microgravity, two ingredients from separate syringes will be mixed, react with each other and turn into foam. Our hypothesis is that since there's less gravity, there will be less force on the bubbles, and they won’t pop as easily – so, the foam will be more stable. Then, once the mission is over and it returns to Earth, we’ll test the foam and see if we’re right.

You were also in a very interesting work study program. Can you tell us about it?

The program was with the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research. It looks at aortic dissections – tears in the layers that make up the body’s main artery, the aorta. Aortic dissections are serious and can lead to death unless the patient is operated on within 24 hours. In the program, we were investigating whether there were genetic markers that were a sign of aortic dissections before they happened. I was interested in this project because I did a science fair project in Grade 10 in which I used an artificial neural network to detect aortic dissections on a CT scan. My partner and I trained an artificial intelligence program to look at CT scans and identify areas where tears were more likely to happen. This would make it easier for a radiologist to look for dissections.

Annika Waschke explaining to her Grade 3 class that her dream is to one day be a doctor

Both those projects sound fascinating, but you’re not planning on a strictly science and technology program at U of T, are you?

No. A lot of my scientific background has been in the natural sciences – so, chemistry and biology – and I find it all interesting. But I've always wanted to understand how people work, the psychology behind behaviour. So, I’m interested in experiments that aren’t just looking at, say, how a protein functions, but that are also about the behaviours associated with that function.

One of my goals in life is to truly connect with people. And I think having a background in psychology and understanding why people act the way they act – for example, why someone lashes out at someone else – is how you can really understand humans that you interact with in your day-to-day life.

When did this interest in health care begin?

My interest in health care started in the third grade. I remember delivering a presentation to the other students about why my dream job was to be a doctor. I'm interested in health care for the same reason I’m interested in psychology: I care about people, and how they think and feel, and I just want to help. Also, I think health care is one of the ways I can be a change-maker. You don't need to be a doctor. All you need is to have 15 seconds and you can change a person’s life; and if you make a positive change in 50 people's lives, I think that's enough.

'A conversation catalyst': Play exploring gender, diversity and unconscious bias in STEM comes to U of T

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 15:58:09 +0000

'A conversation catalyst': Play exploring gender, diversity and unconscious bias in STEM comes to U of T

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 09/20/2022 - 11:58

Cutline

Gioia De Cari will be performing her one-woman show, Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T’s Male Math Maze, at U of T Mississauga and Hart House on the St. George campus, with discussions to follow each performance (photo by Silvana Ximena)

Bianca Jimeno

Topic

Equity

Transformative artist and “recovering mathematician” Gioia De Cari is bringing her one-woman show to the University of Toronto.

“Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T’s Male Math Maze” – a critically-acclaimed, award-winning play that brings more than 30 characters to life – tells the true story of De Cari’s experiences as a PhD student at MIT in 1989, and the challenges she faced as a woman in the male-dominated world of mathematics. In the 80-minute solo show, De Cari touches the topics of gender, diversity and unconscious bias in STEM with humour, insight and compassion.

The first U of T show will take place tonight at U of T Mississauga’s Theatre Erindale and will be followed by a talkback with De Cari. The talkback will be hosted by Professor Amrita Daniere, U of T Mississauga’s vice-principal, academic and dean, and moderated by Fiona Rawle, a professor, teaching stream, of biology and U of T Mississauga’s associate dean, undergraduate.

Faith Ellen and Shubhangi Saraf

On Thursday, the show will be performed at Hart House on the St. George campus and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring several U of T community members. They include: moderator Maydianne Andrade, a University Professor of evolutionary biology at U of T Scarborough; host Tamara Trojanowska; an associate professor in the department of Slavic languages and literatures and vice-dean, faculty and academic life in the Faculty of Arts & Science; Kelly Lyons, a professor in the Faculty of Information and the department of computer science; Sarah Mayes-Tang, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of mathematics; and math PhD student Reila Zhang.

Tickets for both performances can be purchased on Hart House’s website.

U of T News recently spoke with the U of T shows’ organizers – Shubhangi Saraf, associate professor in the departments of mathematics and computer science, and Faith Ellen, professor in the department of computer science, about how the play came to U of T – and the crucial conversation it brings.

What is your personal connection to the play?

Saraf: I first saw the play over 10 years ago in New York City when I was doing my post-doc, and I was deeply moved. I was both an undergraduate and PhD student at MIT, so I had a personal connection. I could visualize these scenes taking place and happening around me, and it was a very moving experience. The moments felt authentic and real, and it stayed with me for many days, even years, afterward.

How did the play come to U of T?

Saraf: Our original idea was to bring the play to U of T for DCS Women, a support group started 30 years ago for female graduate students, post-docs and faculty in the department of computer science. We were brainstorming ideas of different activities for the group and I suggested the play.

I also happened to be on the math department’s equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) committee. We were brainstorming about what we could do to educate and bring awareness to the math community about the issues women and other minorities face in the department. I brought up the possibility of bringing the Truth Values play to U of T and the rest of the EDI members were super enthusiastic about it and extremely supportive of making it happen.

Each performance will include an open forum afterwards. Why is discussion on this topic so important?

Ellen: De Cari often has talkback sessions after her performances, and it is a wonderful thing. Because the issues of gender equity and unconscious bias in STEM are so central to the play, it becomes a conversation catalyst.

I think it’s important for people to understand, historically, how hard it was for women to succeed in mathematics and, more broadly, in STEM. There are also barriers that still exist for women and underrepresented groups. I hope people will be able to look at their own situation, compare, and learn from that by taking the historical context and putting it into their current lives.

What do you hope to achieve with the event? What do you hope audiences will take away?

Ellen: The play portrays examples of ‘microaggressions’ and I think it’s really important to be aware of the effect they can have on people. I hope this piece of theatre will allow audiences to really experience it from De Cari’s point of view and understand why these affected her so much.

We also hope the play will create better awareness about the kinds of biases some members of their communities face and encourage them to create a more supportive and inclusive atmosphere within their circles.

U of T Scarborough grad aims to empower women, under-represented groups in business and STEM

geoff.vendeville — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 15:00:18 +0000

U of T Scarborough grad aims to empower women, under-represented groups in business and STEM

geoff.vendeville Thu, 06/09/2022 - 11:00

Cutline

Vanshika Agarwal, who won the 2021 Management Co-op Student of the Year award, is graduating from the management co-op program at U of T Scarborough (photo by Don Campbell)

Topic

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vanshika Agarwal landed an eight-month, remote internship as an equity research and product intern at Canalyst, a leader in the industry of market data and analytics with offices in New York City and Vancouver.

Although she was still a student in the University of Toronto Scarborough's bachelor of business administration co-op program, Agarwal was not shy about putting forward her ideas in the office. She successfully pitched the company's CEO to establish a system of automated outreach tactics to offer Canalyst to finance students. In short order, she secured clients from American MBA programs, mainly at Ivy League schools, and increased membership to more than 300 participants across the U.S. within six months.

“No one usually wants to hear what a 20-year-old has to say, but I held sessions with more than 50 people interested in the product. It was a fun and fascinating experience,” Agarwal says.

Graduating this week, Agarwal says she's eager to put her energy toward leveling the playing field in business once she joins the work force. “Leadership for me means that everyone can be a leader in some capacity. I want to make an impact and help people realize the idea of ‘experience to lead,’” she says.

Agarwal credits her parents for teaching her determination and about the importance of empowering women. Shortly after arriving in Canada as an international student from Mumbai, she worked for Accelerate Her Future (AHF), a career accelerator for self-identified Black, Indigenous and other women of colour in business and STEM. The accelerator started as pilot at U of T, in 2019.

At AHF, Agarwal helped develop networking programs as an advisory board member and special initiatives intern through ICUBE UTM, U of T Mississauga’s entrepreneurship incubator.

“I became extremely passionate when I noticed people who didn’t look like me in the industry. Everyone has some power to bring change, and I saw this gap that needs to be filled, especially with women in finance,” Agarwal says.

Alongside volunteering for organizations seeking to advance gender equality in finance, Agarwal also worked at U of T Scarborough as a teaching assistant for five management courses. As a co-op career coach, she also provided students with tips for job interviews, work-term success and networking.

Last year, she received the Management Co-op Student of the Year award for her extensive work-integrated learning (WIL) experience and impact in fintech.

“It was quite humbling and motivating to have received that award,” she says. “It made me realize how I can start to give back to my peers at different stages of their academic career.”

With her sights currently set on business school and working within equity research and capital markets, she hopes to eventually build a side project to create a pipeline for women to find opportunities in STEM and business straight from high school.

As for her advice for incoming students, Agarwal’s key piece of wisdom includes having confidence in yourself and being open to taking chances.

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Never second guess yourself and always be willing to take chances.”

BE-STEMM: Conference highlighting Black excellence in sciences draws participants from across Canada

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 20:09:34 +0000

BE-STEMM: Conference highlighting Black excellence in sciences draws participants from across Canada

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 02/04/2022 - 15:09

Cutline

U of T Scarborough's Maydianne Andrade, co-founder and president of the Canadian Black Scientists Network, hosted BE-STEMM 2022, a four-day virtual event that brought Black-identifying scientists together (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

More than 1,500 people registered for the first national conference for Black excellence in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine and health (STEMM), which included a live visit from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The University of Toronto’s Maydianne Andrade opened the virtual event by explaining that the event’s title – BE-STEMM 2022 – was also an expression of its mission.

“It was a message for youth to be STEMM, to see themselves in STEMM,” says Andrade, professor in the department of biological sciences at U of T Scarborough. “We seek a Canada where people of all identities can pursue their passion for STEMM with the support of the systems they need.”

Organized by the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN) and hosted by U of T Scarborough, the four-day event focused on ways to remove barriers keeping Black Canadians from entering or staying in STEMM. About 80 per cent of registrants identified as Black, and two-thirds were young people.

Trudeau delivered closing remarks on Thursday.

“By coming together to amplify the achievements of Black Canadians in STEMM, you're helping to level the playing field and inspire a new generation,” said Trudeau after thanking Andrade, president and co-founder of the CBSN, for her leadership.

“To young people joining today: retain everything you can,” Trudeau added. “Take the next steps to seek out mentors and sponsors and stay curious. Remember there is more than enough space for your passion and your dedication in our world.”

For 10 years, Schulich Leader Scholarships have increased access to higher education

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 26 Nov 2021 17:50:52 +0000

For 10 years, Schulich Leader Scholarships have increased access to higher education

geoff.vendeville Fri, 11/26/2021 - 12:50

Cutline

Left to right: Schulich Leaders and U of T graduates Will Kwan, Haleema Khan and Danny McInnis (photo of Haleema Khan by Natalia Dolan)

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Alumni

Computer Science

Schulich Leader Scholarships

Seymour Schulich

Will Kwan, a machine learning engineer at Google, founded startups while still studying computer science at the University of Toronto. Haleema Khan discovered a passion for bioengineering at U of T and, as a master's student at McGill University, is now developing a new type of rapid, super-accurate DNA testing for bacteria and viruses. Danny McInnis, who graduated from U of T in mechanical and industrial engineering, works for Logitech in Ireland – and, on the side, made a documentary about small businesses surviving the pandemic.

All three U of T alumni were supported by Schulich Leader Scholarships during their time at the university.

“Because the award alleviated the financial burden of paying for school, it really let me try different things,” says McInnis. “That’s been instrumental in my learning. If I had been worried about working a job to pay for school, I would have been less inclined to take all those cool risks, and being able to has had a lasting impact on me.”

Established by philanthropist Seymour Schulich and distributed through the Schulich Foundation, the Schulich Leader Scholarships are four-year awards for Canada's top students in science, technology, engineering and math. The program, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, awards up to 100 scholarships annually – with 10 of the awards going to U of T students in 2021.

“Warmest congratulations to Seymour Schulich and the Schulich Foundation on the 10th anniversary of these very important scholarships,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “And thank you for the difference you’ve made, by supporting Canada’s next generation of leading innovators and problem-solvers. The Schulich Leader Scholarships help ensure that our greatest young minds can take advantage of the opportunity of a stellar education, so they can realize their full potential.”

U of T Engineering outreach program helps Black high school students access STEM programs

geoff.vendeville — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:50:45 +0000

U of T Engineering outreach program helps Black high school students access STEM programs

geoff.vendeville Mon, 08/23/2021 - 14:50

Cutline

Stephen Laditi and Favour Nwanna, who are beginning their undergraduate studies at U of T Engineering this fall, are both graduates of a STEM-focused program called Blueprint (photos submitted)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Diversity and Inclusion

Life Sciences

Undergraduate Students

For Stephen Laditi, engineering is all about change.

“The jobs that engineers do are always for the betterment of society,” says the first-year civil and mineral engineering student in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “Whether it’s about making roads safer or designing sustainable buildings, engineering touches almost everything around us.

“This is something that I want to be part of.”

Despite Laditi’s certainty about what he wanted to do, as a Grade 11 student he was a little less sure about how to make it happen.

That’s where Blueprint came in. The U of T Engineering program, which launched last summer, engages Black students in Grade 9 to 11 who have a love of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

“Blueprint let me see what the engineering world would look like, through projects such as programming robots and optimizing a gardening space,” Laditi says. “But on top of that, it helped me show the admissions evaluators that I know how to work collaboratively to solve problems, which is a vital skill both in university and in any engineering workplace.”

“There is a real need in this country to ensure that Black high school students know that they are not only welcome, but wanted and needed – at universities, and in engineering in particular,” says Dawn Britton, associate director of engineering outreach at U of T Engineering.

“For too many years we’ve watched the number of Black students entering STEM studies stay at very low numbers,” she says. “Blueprint was developed to specifically and intentionally work to change that.”

Engineering Outreach Coordinator Cassandra Abraham was one of Blueprint’s key architects. She says it was clear from the beginning of the program that it would extend beyond the end of the summer and continue offering mentorship to participants throughout the school year, particularly those in their last year of high school.

“In one of our sessions, we asked students if they felt like they were getting the support they needed to successfully complete their university applications,” she says. “Most said they were not, so we created My Academic Planning Sessions, or MAPS.”

The sessions helped students write a statement of interest, build a resume and obtain recommendation letters, as well as identify their personal learning styles. Blueprint students met with current engineering undergraduates, recruitment officers and learning strategists to develop successful university applications.

This fall, five graduates of the inaugural Blueprint program are beginning undergraduate studies at U of T – four in engineering and one in life sciences.

Laditi is among them, as is Favour Nwanna, who is entering TrackOne, a general first-year program that leads to a bachelor’s degree in one of eight engineering disciplines.

“Blueprint played a huge role in my being accepted into U of T Engineering,” Nwanna says. “I met with other students currently enrolled in engineering programs who could provide advice, and I got my questions answered by the people involved in the admissions process. It really helped me be mentally prepared for what was to come.”

Nwanna says she’s currently most interested in computer engineering, with an eye to a possible career in the tech industry – but she’s keeping her options open.

“Before Blueprint, I had a stereotypical view of what engineers were and what they do,” she says. “This program helped open my eyes to the many sectors of engineering. I think that TrackOne will allow me to explore many fields while developing a solid foundation, so that I will be able to make a well-informed decision once the time comes.”

In addition to those accepted to U of T, many other Blueprint participants have joined STEM programs at other institutions. Others have gotten their first jobs as a result of the program’s job-preparedness and resume-building workshops.

This summer, Blueprint received more than 190 applications from high-achieving Black students from across Canada – more than double last year’s total.

“I know that this is just the beginning, and I hope that this number grows every year,” Abraham says. “My wish is that these students, after their first year, become mentors for our Blueprint program. There’s a whole network of Black people behind the scenes, making sure that we try to touch every Black student interested in STEM.”

Outside of U of T, Abraham is a member of Black Youth in Technology, Engineering and Science (BYTES), a network of organizations supporting Black youth in STEM in Toronto and other municipalities.

“We all can do our part to make sure that Black students are being reached,” she says. “My most memorable moment is when a parent called my cell phone to personally thank me for the work I was doing. After that call, I was flooded with tears because of her kind words and encouragement. I realized that we had created a space where students felt truly supported and loved.”

For Laditi, what matters most is the coming semester. He is excited about the return to in-person learning, and the new connections he will be able to form.

“Being here at U of T Engineering will open many doors for me, enabling me to choose my own path,” he says. “My current plan for after graduation is to either pursue a master’s degree or start my own civil engineering firm. But, in all honesty, I can see this degree taking me anywhere I want to go.”

Black high school students explore STEM fields via U of T program

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 07 May 2021 21:29:25 +0000

Black high school students explore STEM fields via U of T program

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 05/07/2021 - 17:29

Cutline

Students and instructors participate in the online launch of the Pursue STEM outreach program in March (image courtesy of Sheela Manek)

Chris Sasaki

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