News and Announcements

Chem Club BBQ on Wed, Sept 20

Chem Club’s annual bbq is on Wednesday, September 20. It will run from 12-2pm in front of SF. Come out and meet our undergrads while enjoying some great food, including Chem Club's famous Wallburger.

Special lecture on Mon, Sept 25

Professor Mattheos Koffas from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be giving a special lecture on Monday, September 25 from 10-11am in WB407. The talk is entitled, Sensitive cells: enabling tools for static and dynamic control of microbial metabolic pathways.

Upcoming CEGSA events tonight and Fri, Sept 22

Join CEGSA in GB202 today at 4:30pm for its annual Wine & Cheese event. All grad students, faculty and staff are welcome to join. Also, CEGSA's election is taking place on Friday, September 22. Free Indian food will be provided to all voters. If you're a grad student and interested in running for a position, click here to learn about the various positions and how to send in your application before the deadline of 11:59pm on Thursday, September 21.

Gisele Azimi partners up to transform steel industry

Professor Gisele Azimi from U of T’s departments of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering has received $750,000 in funding from Tenova Goodfellow, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Collaborative Research and Development Grant and the Ontario Centres of Excellence Voucher for Innovation and Productivity II Grant. The funds will help support a four-year collaborative-research project with Tenova Goodfellow entitled, Transforming steelmaking into an environmentally sustainable industry: development of breakthrough extraction and refining technologies. Read full story.

Scaling up safely: Meet Professor Ariel Chan

Whether they are producing medicines, plastics or fuels, chemical plants around the must be designed and operated in a way that is efficient, effective and most importantly, safe. Professor Ariel Chan (ChemE) is an expert in scaling up chemical manufacturing processes — from making millilitres in the lab to tonnes in the chemical plant — while adhering to the highest standards of safety. She recently joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry as an Assistant Professor. U of T Engineering writer Tyler Irving sat down with Chan to find out more. Read their interview.

Better bioprocessing: Meet Professor Nikolai DeMartini

From pulp and paper to biofuels, many industries are based on turning renewable biomass — trees, plants, food waste — into energy and green materials. But even though the primary feedstock of these industries is organic matter, inorganic contaminants such as salts and metals are commonly found in the fields and forests where these feedstocks grow. The presence of these contaminants in the process is not just a nuisance; they can damage process equipment, reduce overall efficiency and create environmental headaches for the surrounding community. Professor Nikolai DeMartini deals with these problems, offering techniques and methods that industrial processors can use to safely remove these contaminants. Before joining U of T Engineering this year, DeMartini spend nine years at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. U of T Engineering writer Tyler Irving sat down with DeMartini to learn more. Read their interview.

U of T Engineering’s Hatchery Demo Day

Startups founded by engineering students are poised to address challenges from sustainability to surgery. Twelve companies pitched their vision to a room of judges, investors and faculty members at the fifth annual Hatchery Demo Day, held September 6 at U of T Engineering. Marcos Ingreja, Walter Pawliw, Bowen Li (ChemE 1T7), Hasitha de Alwis, Robert Fairley (Year 3 ECE), Luna Yu and Kaitlyn Chow are the members of Team Genecis. They won the $20,000 Lacavera Prize at this year’s Hatchery Demo Day. Read full story.

September 15, 2017

In this issue:

Grad Office
Reminders
Chem Eng Events

Grad Office

Reminders

Safety exams for 4th-year students and new grad students/researchers

Safety exams will take place on Tuesday, September 19 in WB116. Please click on the relevant link below for more info:

• Safety training for 4th-year students - evaluation exam is on Tuesday, September 19 from 12-12:30pm in WB-116
• CHE2222H for new graduate students/PDF’s/research associates/research assistants/lab technicians and visiting researchers - evaluation exam is on Tuesday, September 19 from 12-1pm in WB-116

Safety training for new admin staff

All new admin staff must complete safety training courses. Please visit, http://healthandsafety.chem-eng.utoronto.ca/ and click on "New Administrative Staff" to complete all the required courses. Upon completion of all requirements, submit the confirmation to Gelareh at gelareh.bankian.tabrizi@utoronto.ca. If you have any questions, please contact Gelareh.

Irving O. Shoichet Distinguished Lecture on Wed, Sept 20

The Lectures at the Leading Edge (LLE) series kicks-off on Wednesday, September 20 with the Irving O. Shoichet Distinguished Lecture at 12:10pm in WB116. This year's Distinguished Lecturer is Frances Arnold who is the Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at Caltech. Come and hear her give a talk entitled, Innovation by Evolution: Brining New Chemistry to Life.

LLE 2017-18

The schedule for this year's Lectures at the Leading Edge (LLE) series is now available. Click here for the full schedule.

Special seminar with alum/pop culture phenom, Mon, Sep 25

You are invited to a thought-provoking and inspiring talk on Monday, September 25 from 5:30-6:30pm in MC102 followed by a reception in GB202. The talk will be given by author and pop culture phenom Jonny Sun (EngSci 1T1 + PEY), best known by his Twitter alias: “jomny sun, aliebn confuesed abot humamn lamgauge." Find out why Time magazine selected Sun as one of the “25 Most Influential People on the Internet.” Sun will discuss how his short-form writing project on Twitter became a critically acclaimed book and how his time at U of T Engineering was formative to his creative and personal development. The cost to attend is $10 for the reception and event; or $25 for the reception, event and a copy of Sun’s book. Light refreshments will be provided. For more info and to register, click here.

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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.