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News and Annoucements

Alum Makes ACGC's Top 30 Under 30 List

Each year the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation receives hundreds of nominations for it’s Top 30 Under 30 Magazine, which highlights exceptional young individuals in Alberta and the Global south who are making a difference around the world. Yazan Kawar (1T0, MEng 1T1) has made the 2016 list. For 10 years, Kawar has worked with Engineerings Without Borders using social innovation to solve complex poverty issues. He’s played many roles in the organization, including Chapter President, and spent five months in Ghana supporting a Business Development Services Africa venture helping mechanize soap-making to increase efficiency and profits for locals. He’s passionate about working with locals as partners to empower local projects. Read more.

Reminder: Science and Leadership Program - Call for Applications

The Science and Leadership Program is seeking applications from outstanding academic scientists, engineers, and social scientists from U of T and other research-intensive Canadian universities for this “amazing and transformational” 2+ day workshop designed to give faculty members the tools they need to be better communicators and more effective leaders, both on and off campus. The workshop begins with a reception at 4pm on April 13, 2016 and ends with a group dinner on April 15. Click here for the application form and additional information. The deadline to apply has been extended to January 20, 2016. If you have questions, please send an email to SLPapply@utoronto.ca

January 22, 2016

Volume 33, Issue 3

In this issue:

Grad Office
Entrepreneurship
Events

Grad Office

PhD Qualifying Examination – R. Gabhi

Date of Meeting: 2016/01/26
Start Time: 13:00 Location (Building and Room): WB 134
Thesis Title: Electrical Conductivity of Photosynthetic Biomass-derived Nanoporous Biochar
PhD Qualification Examination Committee Membership
Supervisor: Prof. C. Q. Jia; Chair: Prof. L. L. Diosady; Other Member: Prof. D. W. Kirk, Prof. S. Krigstin (Forestry)

PhD Reading Committee Meeting – Masood Khaksar Toroghi

Date of Meeting: 2016/01/26
Start Time: 10:00 Location (Building and Room): WB407
Reading Committee Membership
Supervisor: Prof. R. Mahadevan; Co-Supervisor: Prof. W. Cluett; Chair: B. A. Saville; Other Member: Prof. R. Farnood

PhD Qualifying Examination – N. Abbas Nejad Orang

Date of Meeting: 2016/01/27
Start Time: 09:00 Location (Building and Room): WB 215
Thesis Title: Development of an Online Soft Sensor for Moisture Measurements of Biomass Boiler Feedstock
PhD Qualification Examination Committee Membership
Supervisor: Prof. H. N. Tran; Co-Supervisor: Prof. A. Jones (International Paper); Chair: Prof. D. Reeve; Other Member: Prof. M. Bussmann (MIE), Prof. W. Cluett

PhD Departmental Oral Examination - Boyang Zhang

Date of Meeting: 2016/01/29
Start Time: 09:00 Location (Building and Room): RS407
Thesis Title: A microfluidics approach to tissue vascularization
PhD Departmental Oral Examination Committee Membership
Supervisor: Prof. M. Radisic; Chair: Prof. E. Edwards; Other Member: Prof. A. McGuigan, Prof. C. Simmons

* DEPARTMENTAL MASC AND PHD ORAL EXAMS ARE OPEN TO ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS

SGS Sessional Dates

January 22: Final date for receipt of degree recommendations and submission of any required theses for March or June graduation for master’s students without fees being charged for the Winter session (4)

January 22: Final date for all students to request that their degrees be conferred in absentia in March

January 25: Final date to add Winter session courses

For other deadline dates visit: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/Sessional-Dates.aspx

Awards & Scholarships – Winter Submission Deadlines

Visit http://www.chem-eng.utoronto.ca/graduate-studies/funding-fees/awards-scholarships/

Entrepreneurship

Last week, Dr. Laura Yu (0T2, PhD 0T8) and Dr. Brad Brinton from the Ontario Centres of Excellence came to present entrepreneurship and innovation programs and services for graduate students promoted by the OCE. Andrew White (0T8, MASc 1T0), an alum from Professor Kirk’s research group, presented his entrepreneurship experiences in starting up his company, Char Technologies, which is now on the road to commercial production and becoming a publicly traded company.

By clicking here, you will find the OCE presentation slides showing the various programs all over Ontario available to assist budding student-entrepreneurs. There are a lot of programs/incubators and services based here at UofT, which students can easily access (see slide 16 for a list, with links to the specific programs).

As a highlight, Dr. Andrew Paton (PhD 1T3), an alum from Professor Bender’s research group, also presented the Techno Program from the IMPACT Centre Incubator. Techno provides business training and services for technically-oriented graduate students to transform their ideas into a company. It is a free program that’s currently accepting applications for the 2016 program (application is in the web link as well).

Feel free to contact Laura and Brad for your inquiries:

For OCE Programs – Bradford Brinton, OCE Business Development Manager
416-861-1092 x1029
Bradford.brinton@oce-ontario.org

For Entrepreneurship and Campus Incubators – Laura Yu, OCE Business Development Manager
416-861-1092 x1015
Laura.yu@oce-ontario.org

Events

Click here for the Chem Eng Calendar

Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - LLE, Aggregation-Induced Emission: Together We Shine!, Ben-Zhong Tang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 12:30-2pm, WB116

Thursday, February 18, 2016 to Saturday, February 20, 2016 - Graduate Research Days (GRD), Hart House and various locations.

Friday, February 19, 2016 - Industry Open House (IOH), various locations in Hart House.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - LLE, Research in an Industrial Catalysis World: A Lifelong Adventure, Stuart Soled, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co., 12:30-2pm, WB116

Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - LLE, Bioconversion of Methane by Aerobic Methanotrophic Bacteria, Mary Lidstrom, University of Washington, 12:30-2pm, WB116

Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - LLE, 2015 AEESP Distinguished Lecturer, The Interplay Between Chemicals and Microbiomes; An Environmental Biotechnology Perspective, Nancy Love, University of Michigan, 12:30-2pm, WB116

Wednesday, March 23, 2016 - LLE, Making the Environment Part of the Next Generation of Urban Water Infrastructure, David Sedlak, University of California, Berkeley, 12:30-2pm, WB116

Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - LLE, Thermodynamics in Cryobiology: How Math Can Save Knees, Janet Elliott, University of Alberta, 12:30-2pm, WB116

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CHEM ENG NEWS is a weekly summary of news, events and opportunities for students, faculty and staff of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. If you have questions or comments, please contact: external.chemeng@utoronto.ca . Catch up on missed issues by visiting our archive.