Collaboration / en U of T prof leads global collaboration to advance net-zero hydrogen economy /news/u-t-prof-leads-global-collaboration-advance-net-zero-hydrogen-economy <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T prof leads global collaboration to advance net-zero hydrogen economy</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/Murray-Thomson-lab-1-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=D27jK-39 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-10/Murray-Thomson-lab-1-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=cjRlbpyW 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-10/Murray-Thomson-lab-1-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=jirarP0v 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/Murray-Thomson-lab-1-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=D27jK-39" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-10-04T16:36:41-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 4, 2023 - 16:36" class="datetime">Wed, 10/04/2023 - 16:36</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>From left to right: George Saegh, Mehdi Salakhi, Murray Thomson, Franciska Toth and Luke Di Liddo (photo by Safa Jinje)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6738" hreflang="en">Safa Jinje</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Hydrogen is expected to play a crucial role in enabling countries reach net-zero emissions by 2050 – but the technological developments needed for a sustainable hydrogen economy require global collaboration and knowledge sharing, ߲ݴý researcher&nbsp;<strong>Murray Thomson</strong> says.</p> <p>Enter the Global Hydrogen Production Technologies (HyPT) Center.</p> <p>Thomson, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, is one of four researchers leading the newly established centre – along with professors from Arizona State University in the United States, the University of Adelaide in Australia and Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.&nbsp;</p> <p>The centre will advance net-zero hydrogen production technologies with the goal of making them more energy-efficient and affordable by reaching US$1 per kilogram. Researchers will also explore the social and environmental changes that are needed to build a global hydrogen economy.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Our goal is to connect researchers and students worldwide to share insights and work synergistically to create a sustainable energy resource,” Thomson says.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It is about connecting Canadians who work in hydrogen production and technology, but also connecting Canadians with researchers around the world, which I think is a great benefit to our students to promote new ideas, expertise and approaches.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The Canadian component of the project will receive $3.6 million over five years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to support student training and mobility.&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-10/Murray%20Thomson%20lab-2.jpeg?itok=_sG9UjPl" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>PhD candidate Mehdi Salaki and master's candidate Franciska Toth work with a microwave-driven pyrolysis reactor (photo by Safa Jinje)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Thomson’s research is focused on methane pyrolysis. He has co-founded a company, Aurora Hydrogen, which is creating low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen production.</p> <p>“Aurora Hydrogen is growing very quickly,” he says. “We’ve hired 30 people and should have a pilot-scale plant built by the end of the year.”</p> <p>He is also the methane pyrolysis leader of the new HyPT Center, overseeing one of three technologies the centre aims to advance. The methane pyrolysis subgroup includes researchers from University of Adelaide, University of British Columbia (UBC), Stanford University and University of Cambridge. &nbsp;</p> <p>“Methane pyrolysis is a process that uses heat to break down natural gas into hydrogen gas and solid carbon particles, so that you don’t produce carbon dioxide. But that carbon is also a useful product,” says Thomson.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“My team at U of T is using microwave energy to break apart methane. Stanford and Cambridge are working more on the carbon byproduct side, while Adelaide and UBC are exploring different catalysts.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We each have a different focus, but by interacting as a group we can work together to provide a more compelling technology.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The other two hydrogen technologies the centre is exploring are water electrolysis, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electrical energy; and photocatalytic water splitting, which uses sunlight to separate hydrogen and oxygen.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Since both methods require lots of clean water, the centre is also exploring challenges related to this crucial resource.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“Hydrogen production is expected to increase dramatically over the next decade,” Thomson says.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We have a role to play in better training the next generation of students working in hydrogen energy, in developing the scientific foundations that these hydrogen production technologies are based on, and in ensuring our approaches consume less electricity, use better catalysts and make more efficient use of the carbon and oxygen byproducts.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The goal is to provide the energy that the world needs with much less greenhouse gas emissions — that is the motivation.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 04 Oct 2023 20:36:41 +0000 lanthierj 303457 at U of T-led collaboration to develop community-tailored clean energy technologies /news/u-t-led-collaboration-develop-community-tailored-clean-energy-technologies <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T-led collaboration to develop community-tailored clean energy technologies</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-05/Neville_photo-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=dnycz0YL 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-05/Neville_photo-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=wiMNoDVH 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-05/Neville_photo-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=G83wOazq 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-05/Neville_photo-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=dnycz0YL" alt="Kate Neville, with snowy hills in the backround"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-04-25T09:57:30-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 25, 2023 - 09:57" class="datetime">Tue, 04/25/2023 - 09:57</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>It’s important to develop clean energy systems that meet the needs of individual communities, says Kate Neville, one of the lead researchers of the CANSTOREnergy project (photo by Kate Harris)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/adina-bresge" hreflang="en">Adina Bresge</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-positive-energy" hreflang="en">Climate Positive Energy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institutional-strategic-initiatives" hreflang="en">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/leah-cowen" hreflang="en">Leah Cowen</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate" hreflang="en">Climate</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mechanical-industrial-engineering" hreflang="en">Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/political-science" hreflang="en">Political Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/school-environment" hreflang="en">School of the Environment</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p class="paragraph"><span style="vertical-align:baseline">A<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> ߲ݴý-led collaboration develop</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">ing</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> clean energy technologies that </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">can be</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> tailored to the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">needs of </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">different</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> communities </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">–</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> from </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Canada’s</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">remote </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">North</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> to </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">populous</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">southern Ontario</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> – <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/research-coordinating-committee/news/2023/04/government-of-canada-invests-in-high-risk-high-reward-interdisciplinary-research-to-support-world-leading-innovation.html">will receive support from the federal government</a>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="paragraph"><span style="vertical-align:baseline">The <span style="border-bottom:transparent; user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2, url(/taxonomy/term/1104/feed/&quot;data:image/svg+xml"><span style="background-position-x:0%"><span style="background-position-y:100%">CANSTOREnergy</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> project brings together researchers from </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">11</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> Canadian universities</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, along with</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> community</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">utility</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">and industry </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">partners</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">,</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> to </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">develop</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> technologies that convert carbon-based emissions into useful products, such as fuels and raw materials</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">,</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and create a net-zero means of seasonal storage for renewable energy </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">that meet</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">s</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> specific community needs</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></p>__<p class="paragraph"><span style="vertical-align:baseline">Led by researchers from U of T’s <a href="https:/cpe.utoronto.ca/" style="user-select:text; -webkit-user-drag:none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent" target="_blank"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="text-decoration-line:none"><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important">Climate Positive Energy</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> initiative,<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> the collaborative effort is being supported by $24 million through the</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> federal</span></span></span> </span></span></span><a href="https:/www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/nfrf-fnfr/index-eng.aspx" style="user-select:text; -webkit-user-drag:none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent" target="_blank"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="text-decoration-line:none"><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">New Frontiers in Research Fund</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a></span></span></span></span><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">’s </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https:/www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/nfrf-fnfr/transformation/2022/competition-concours-eng.aspx" style="user-select:text; -webkit-user-drag:none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent" target="_blank"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="text-decoration-line:none"><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important">2022 Transformation Competition</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{92}" paraid="897174619"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">The project <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">will</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> deliberately</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> focus on two</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">very </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">different</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">regions </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">–</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Yukon and</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> the</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> southern Ontario</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> city of</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> Hamilton</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">– </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">in recognition that there is no one-size-fits-all approach</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> in a vast country like Canada</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{140}" paraid="737282183"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">“We want to think about address<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">ing</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> these big global challenges </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">such as </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">climate change. </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">But we </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">don’t</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> solve them </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">at </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">global scale,” says </span></span></span><b><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Kate Neville</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">one of the project’s lead researchers and </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">an associate professor in </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">U of T’s</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> department of </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">political science and School of the Environment in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{174}" paraid="1001187461"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">“You solve them by <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">thinking about what those challenges look like in lots of places and </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">working with communities </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">to find solutions that meet multiple </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">needs</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{190}" paraid="2097811994"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">The project<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">’</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">s two sites highlight the different challenges Canadian regions face when considering </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">how carbon conversion technologies can be</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">successfully</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> adapted to existing infrastructure, economic </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">forces</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">social </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">goals</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{218}" paraid="107313988"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Yukon, for example, is <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">not included in</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> the electrical grid that connects much of the U.S. and Canada</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">,</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and seasonal extremes limit the availability of renewable energy. As a result, many communities need to import diesel </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">fuel </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">during the harsh winter months – which comes at </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">a high cost</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> both environmentally and financially.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{236}" paraid="2117505300"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Hamilton, by contrast, is a densely populated urban centre that is plugged into the main North American power grid. Heavy industry fuels the local economy, but the environmental costs, such as air pollution, are unevenly distributed <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">and</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">disproportionately </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">impact</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> low-income and marginalized communities.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{75bf72ec-9702-49d2-8037-7804824418f6}{236}" paraid="2117505300"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none">“Science and research are essential to solving the greatest challenges facing humanity today and in the future,” says François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry. “That’s why our government is committed to continuing support for researchers who are pushing the boundaries of innovation, by investing in transformative, high-risk / high-reward research that will address issues that impact Canadians in all sectors of our economy and society.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{1500faeb-faa9-4d69-bfc1-8b2ff6e44297}{199}" paraid="135681542" xml:lang="EN-US"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">At<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> the core of the project is a commitment to engaging community members </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">about the</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">ir</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> energy challenges and </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">goals</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">how carbon conversion </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">technologies could fit into their future.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left">_<div>_ _ _ <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-05/087A6087-resized.jpg" width="750" height="500" alt="David Sinton">__</div>_ _</div>__<figcaption><em>David Sinton is the nominated principal investigator of CANSTOREnergy and academic lead of the Climate Positive Energy institutional strategic initiative (photo by Lisa Lightbourn)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{25}" paraid="1793866327"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">This <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">engagement</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> could</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">ultimately</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">determine</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">success </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">of carbon conversion technologies, </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">says </span></span></span><b><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">David Sinton</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">nominated </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">principal investigator </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">of </span></span></span><span style="border-bottom:transparent; user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2, url(/taxonomy/term/1104/feed/&quot;data:image/svg+xml"><span style="background-position-x:0%"><span style="background-position-y:100%">CANSTOREnergy</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">academic lead of Climate Positive </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Energy, one of several U of T </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https:/isi.utoronto.ca/" style="user-select:text; -webkit-user-drag:none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent" target="_blank"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="text-decoration-line:none"><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important">institutional strategic initiatives</span></span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">,</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and a professor of mechanical engineering in U of T's Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{76}" paraid="931824205"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">T<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">echnologies that </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">perform in the lab</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">don’t</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> always work as well </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">under</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> real-world conditions</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">adds</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> Sinton</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, who notes that </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">urgency of </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">climate c</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">hallenge</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> calls for a</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">n </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">expedient </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">way</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> to</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> pre-empt issues </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">that may crop up during</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">deployment</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{132}" paraid="489827793"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">“Too often,<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> engineers – and I have experience in this – innovate while focusing </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">on the technology, which is </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">totally understandable</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">. </span></span></span><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">But when tech is developed without guidance from an end user … the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">subsequent</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> iterations </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">can be</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> costly.</span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{150}" paraid="588662807"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="none" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">“<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">We </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">don't</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> have time for that decades</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">-</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">long iterative cycle that is the norm. We need </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">a new approach</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and are testing that here</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{164}" paraid="428433606"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="border-bottom:transparent; user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2, url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml"><span style="background-position-x:0%"><span style="background-position-y:100%">CANSTOREnergy’s<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> research team </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">comprises</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">engineers, social scientists, economists and other experts</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> from McMaster University, Yukon University, University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, University of Winnipeg, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Calgary, Carleton University and Dalhousie University.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{178}" paraid="1179798948"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">The researchers will receive guidance from stakeholders and advisers in industry, utilities, <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">government</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> a</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">nd</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> Indigenous </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">nations</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{196}" paraid="93328286"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" data-ccp-charstyle-defn="{&quot;ObjectId&quot;:&quot;ba6c953e-a01e-4d4e-840c-5769e456ae86|32&quot;,&quot;ClassId&quot;:1073872969,&quot;Properties&quot;:[469775450,&quot;ui-provider&quot;,201340122,&quot;1&quot;,134233614,&quot;true&quot;,469778129,&quot;ui-provider&quot;,335572020,&quot;1&quot;,469778324,&quot;Default Paragraph Font&quot;]}" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">"The ߲ݴý welcomes the federal government’s critical support for this important research,” says <b><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Leah Cowen</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, U of T's vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “Canada enjoys a global competitive advantage </span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">in </span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">the area of carbon capture research – and the </span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="border-bottom:transparent; user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2, url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml"><span style="background-position-x:0%"><span style="background-position-y:100%">CANSTOREnergy</span></span></span></span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> team</span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">, with its</span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> collaborative and</span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> interdisci</span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">plinary approach,</span></span></span><span data-ccp-charstyle="ui-provider" style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> will build on these strengths and help to optimize this technology to meet the needs of communities across the country.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{177439eb-cc0b-41f6-8c9c-193d2b14b8b1}{226}" paraid="980078876"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">Since e<span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">nvi</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">ronmental justice is at the forefront of the </span></span></span><span style="border-bottom:transparent; user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="transition:background-color 0.1s linear 0s"><span style="background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2, url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml"><span style="background-position-x:0%"><span style="background-position-y:100%">CANSTOREnergy</span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">p</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">roject, Neville says</span></span></span> <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">it’s</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> vital that communities have a say in developing the </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">clean </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">energy systems </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">tha</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">t could</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> power and</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> empower</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{4458fbfe-4ec9-4c23-9bd4-c2ea59b176cf}{5}" paraid="1102698985"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">“It’s about imagining <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">community futures in ways that meet the goals of equity and fairness,” says Neville.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>__<p class="paragraph" paraeid="{4458fbfe-4ec9-4c23-9bd4-c2ea59b176cf}{13}" paraid="1099227308"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="overflow-wrap:break-word"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-kerning:none"><span data-contrast="auto" style="user-select:text" xml:lang="EN-CA"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"><span style="font-variant-ligatures:none !important"><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">“It’s thinking about how technology can <span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">help us undo some of the unjust systems that we have</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> and help build something that is not </span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent">only</span></span></span><span style="user-select:text"><span style="-webkit-user-drag:none"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent"> about climate change, but about a more just future.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>_</div>_ ___ <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above">_ <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div>_ <div class="field__item">Off</div>_ </div>__ Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:57:30 +0000_ lanthierj_ 301471 at _ __ A bitter truth: 30 years of child welfare data reveals systemic inequities, racism and harm_ /news/bitter-truth-30-years-child-welfare-data-reveals-systemic-inequities-racism-and-harm_ <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">A bitter truth: 30 years of child welfare data reveals systemic inequities, racism and harm</span>__ <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1235666007-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XgPxctSY 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1235666007-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=joIcmqhQ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1235666007-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Sp_Flltp 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1235666007-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XgPxctSY" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-03-20T11:00:03-04:00" title="Monday, March 20, 2023 - 11:00" class="datetime">Mon, 03/20/2023 - 11:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Participants hold a banner at Dundas Square in Toronto during a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation event on Sept. 30, 2021 (Photo by Shawn Goldberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/carolyn-morris" hreflang="en">Carolyn Morris</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/child-development" hreflang="en">Child Development</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/factor-inwentash-faculty-social-work" hreflang="en">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/indigenous" hreflang="en">Indigenous</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When the first <a href="https://cwrp.ca/incidence-studies/ontario">Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect</a> (OIS) was published in 1993, province-wide knowledge of child welfare investigation rates and outcomes was scarce.</p> <p>“Whenever I tried to go get data, I couldn’t. It literally did not exist,” said <b>Nico Trocmé</b>, a professor at McGill University who led the first OIS study after spending several years on the frontline at a child welfare agency.</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Barbara-Fallon-crop.jpg" alt><em>Barbara Fallon</em></p> </div> <p>Researchers have since produced a new Ontario study every five years, with the seventh iteration – led by <b>Barbara Fallon</b>, a professor in the ߲ݴý’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work – launching later this year.</p> <p>The remarkable 30-year research undertaking, which includes four Canada-wide studies and two studies specific to First Nations, has revealed hard truths related to racism and deep inequalities for First Nations as well as Black, Latin American and other racialized communities.</p> <p>“These data aren’t everything, but they’re certainly foundational to understanding how we can serve children and families in a more responsive way,” says Fallon, who stepped into the role of principal investigator of OIS after serving as project manager on the 1998 study. Fallon is also <a href="/news/barbara-fallon-appointed-u-t-s-associate-vice-president-research">U of T’s associate vice-president, research</a> and <a href="https://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?profileId=3634">Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare</a>.</p> <p>Working in collaboration with community partners, the studies’ researchers have shown that not only are families in racialized communities much more likely to be investigated by child welfare agencies, but their children are also removed at disproportionately higher rates than in investigations involving white families.</p> <p>By compiling and analyzing hundreds of thousands of child maltreatment investigations across the province and country, the studies also show how these disparities are getting worse.</p> <p>Across Canada in 2008, First Nations families were four times more likely to be investigated and almost 12 times more likely to have their children removed from the home at the conclusion of a child maltreatment-related investigation than non-Indigenous families in sampled agencies. In 2019, a First Nations child was a staggering 17 times more likely to be placed in care.</p> <p>The wide-angle view of these studies has enabled researchers, community leaders and policy makers to recognize problems and needs at a societal level.</p> <p>“So often in child welfare, we codify the wrongdoing at the level of the parent,” says <b>Cindy Blackstock</b>, executive director of the Caring Society and&nbsp;a professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work. Blackstock earned a PhD in social work from U of T in 2009 and received an honorary degree from the university in 2018. “And I will hold parents’ feet to the fire for things they can change. But in so many of these cases, it’s actually things beyond their control.</p> <p>“This type of data allows us to push for change at those systemic levels often held within government policies and legislation.”</p> <h3><a href="https://socialwork.utoronto.ca/news/a-bitter-truth-30-years-of-child-welfare-data-collection-reveals-deep-systemic-inequities-racism-and-harm/">Read the full story at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 20 Mar 2023 15:00:03 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 180850 at 'Breaking down barriers': U of T opens Blue Door to external partnership opportunities /news/breaking-down-barriers-u-t-opens-blue-door-external-partnership-opportunities <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'Breaking down barriers': U of T opens Blue Door to external partnership opportunities</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT18591_0521_LG_Investment001-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=M-cZaXIa 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/UofT18591_0521_LG_Investment001-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=RLE2Ivup 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/UofT18591_0521_LG_Investment001-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=kQiJVl1M 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT18591_0521_LG_Investment001-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=M-cZaXIa" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>siddiq22</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-01-17T10:44:48-05:00" title="Tuesday, January 17, 2023 - 10:44" class="datetime">Tue, 01/17/2023 - 10:44</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Executives from LG join U of T's Christopher Yip, left, to announce an expansion of their partnership at the Collision tech conference in Toronto in 2019 (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tabassum-siddiqui" hreflang="en">Tabassum Siddiqui</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6884" hreflang="en">Blue Door</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/industry" hreflang="en">Industry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international-partnerships" hreflang="en">International partnerships</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/partnerships" hreflang="en">partnerships</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/technology" hreflang="en">Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Partnering with ߲ݴý has emerged as a key strategy for many companies, non-profits and government to achieve their most important goals – from furthering research and developing new products and services, to figuring out solutions to specific problems.</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/alex-illan_0.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 233px;"><em>Alex Mihailidis (left)&nbsp;and Illan Kramer&nbsp;(photos supplied)</em></p> </div> <p>And many of U of T’s 600-plus partners access world-class talent and expertise via the university's new <a href="https://bluedoor.utoronto.ca/">Blue Door</a> portal.</p> <p>A point of entry for organizations who want to work with the university, Blue Door is an online portal that helps potential – and existing – partners identify opportunities across the three campuses and connects them with the right people and departments.</p> <p>“We often hear from prospective partners: ‘How do I partner with U of T? How do I find the right person to work with there?’ So, we wanted to ensure there weren’t barriers to us growing great new partnerships,” says <strong>Alex Mihailidis</strong>, associate vice-president of international partnerships and a professor in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.</p> <p>Mihailidis, along with <strong>Illan Kramer</strong>, director of international research partnerships, developed the Blue Door initiative over the past two years –&nbsp;with significant input from U of T divisions&nbsp;–&nbsp;and officially launched it last February.</p> <p>They recently spoke to <em>U of T News</em> about how the initiative helps streamline the partnership process and ensure both existing and emerging partnerships can evolve and grow.</p> <hr> <p><strong>What is the Blue Door?</strong></p> <p><em>Mihailidis:</em> Simply put, it is a portal into the university. Within four clicks, a new partner or existing partner can be connected to the right person at U of T who will help them make further connections within the university to achieve their business goals. At a higher level, it’s a new philosophy in the way that we do corporate partnerships here at the university – a more collaborative approach across all the different divisions, campuses disciplines and departments.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2017-09-20-signing-new-resized_0.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>U of T President Meric Gertler (front left) and Shigeru Sasaki, CEO&nbsp;of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., sign a memorandum of understanding in 2017 (photo by Lisa Lightbourn)</em></p> <p><strong>Why was it important for Blue Door to include an online portal for partners?</strong></p> <p><em>Mihailidis:</em> One of the things you always hear from partners is that “the university is so big – it’s so complex.” We’re kind of like a federated model – multiple divisions with multiple goals – but we are one university at the end of the day, even across three campuses.</p> <p>We started talking early on about, “Well, what if we can provide a concierge-style model?’ Through these four clicks online, you’re connected with someone, and that one person becomes your contact at the university. In that way, we’re ensuring that U of T is not seen as this big place that’s complicated to navigate, but straightforward and easy to work with.</p> <p><strong>Why do so many organizations want to partner with U of T?</strong></p> <p><em>Kramer:</em> When you look at U of T’s size and our quality, we’re pretty much peerless globally. And one of the consequences of being such a big, world-class institution is that you have disparate communities of expertise that can talk to one another in interesting and creative ways. It’s why sometimes you'll see an automotive company come to us and you think, “Oh, they're going to want to talk to a mechanical engineer or an electrical engineer.” But it turns out that the people whose work resonates with their needs might be child psychologists or kinesiology experts. The big research and development challenges that these companies are looking to us to help solve are interdisciplinary. And at U of T, we have that kind of interdisciplinarity baked into our size and quality.</p> <p><em>Mihailidis:</em> These companies realize that partnering with ߲ݴý just adds strength from a variety of levels – whether it’s research, accessing our talent or other areas to help their objectives. All that provides them with a competitive advantage at the end of the day.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/OFK-Lab-Blue-Coats-crop_0.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>In partnership with Moderna, Assistant Professor Omar F. Khan (back row, second from left) and his lab team focus on diseases that are currently incurable and untreatable (photo by Safa Jinje)</em></p> <p><strong>What are some examples of successful U of T partnerships?</strong></p> <p><em>Kramer:</em> One <a href="https://bluedoor.utoronto.ca/case-studies/fujitsu/">longstanding partnership</a> is with [Japanese electronics company] Fujitsu. They established a Toronto R&amp;D hub in the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship where grad students and Fujitsu researchers work elbow-to-elbow on new inventions and innovations. Since then, we’ve been <a href="/news/u-t-and-fujitsu-extend-agreement-collaborate-cutting-edge-computing-research">expanding that collaboration</a> to multidisciplinary applications by applying their microelectronics expertise to other fields like traffic engineering, financial modelling, surgical scheduling and beyond – touching on expertise that exists across the entire university.</p> <p>Another <a href="/news/lg-signs-research-partnership-u-t-sets-ai-research-lab-toronto">impactful partnership</a> is with [South Korean conglomerate] LG Electronics. One of the coolest things about this partnership is that it doesn't start and stop at collaborative research – it also includes elements of professional development. We’ve developed what we call an “inverted internship,” where LG scientists embed themselves with U of T research teams for four months to upskill their own AI abilities.</p> <p>More recently, we launched a really <a href="/news/u-t-partners-moderna-advance-research-rna-science-and-technology">exciting partnership</a> with [American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company] Moderna, a company that a lot of people became familiar with in the last couple of years. Moderna recognized a huge level of expertise, especially in mRNA and regenerative medicine research, at U of T and wanted to do something comprehensive that would help them expand beyond the COVID-19 vaccine to a host of other potential applications. They’ve since launched a <a href="/news/u-t-engineering-lab-partners-moderna-develop-rna-based-tools-treat-and-prevent-disease">project with <strong>Omar Khan</strong></a>, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and have had several early successes already. So that’s a partnership where we really see the opportunity to be on the leading edge of something that has the potential to impact millions – maybe even billions – of people around the world.</p> <p><span id="cke_bm_849S" style="display: none;"><span id="cke_bm_582S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</span><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/2018-07-27-gertler-signing-lg-wide-crop.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>U of T President Meric Gertler (left) and I.P. Park, the president and CTO of LG Electronics, sign a five-year collaborative AI research agreement&nbsp;in 2018 (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p><strong>What is the value of these partnerships to U of T?</strong></p> <p><em>Mihailidis:</em> They obviously bring funding to the university to support the work that is happening here. But it also brings our faculty, researchers and students together with cutting-edge, world-leading companies to help them accelerate the development of their research and move their findings into the real world, where they can have maximum impact.</p> <p>Of course, there are always questions around protection of intellectual property and appropriate handling of confidentiality. These considerations are handled in an up-front and transparent way through contractual agreements, each of which takes into account our partner’s motivations as well as the motivations and expectations of the professors who may get involved in the partnership. That way, professors and their research teams can still benefit from groundbreaking innovations, while our partners can improve upon their own products and services. Ultimately, these partnerships give us access to other experts around the world and help grow the reputation of the ߲ݴý and our community.</p> <p><em>Kramer:</em> There's no shortage of ambition among U of T's research community. Our researchers are world-class – they do work that is excellent and excellence doesn’t come for free. If we want to do big things, we need to have world-class facilities; we have to attract the best professors, postdocs and graduate students – in general, we need to be able to outfit our labs with the right equipment and expertise in order to do that research.</p> <p>Bringing industry on board helps ensure U of T remains a cutting-edge institution. I’ve seen professors’ labs transform with a key industry partner where they went from, “Hey, this is kind of neat work that our academic peers are paying attention to,” to “Oh my God, I'm literally impacting millions of people now.” That’s incredibly exciting.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 17 Jan 2023 15:44:48 +0000 siddiq22 179154 at This made-in-Ontario collaboration is creating next-generation parts for electric vehicles /news/made-ontario-collaboration-creating-next-generation-parts-electric-vehicles <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">This made-in-Ontario collaboration is creating next-generation parts for electric vehicles</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2B7A9741-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=O2bMilM9 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2B7A9741-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=iCx3DbJP 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2B7A9741-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=uM5fTaQT 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2B7A9741-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=O2bMilM9" alt="Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith (second from left) walks toward a prototype electric vehicle created by a partnership between Litens and the ߲ݴý’s Electric Vehicle Research Centre, led by Professor Olivier Trescases (ECE, second from right. Geoffrey Ryeland, Director, Electromotive Engineering at Litens is seen at right. (Photo: Aaron Demeter)"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-12-19T16:48:50-05:00" title="Monday, December 19, 2022 - 16:48" class="datetime">Mon, 12/19/2022 - 16:48</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith (second from left) examines a prototype electric vehicle as Professor Olivier Trescases (second from right) and Geoffrey Ryeland (far right) look on (Photo by Aaron Demeter)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/electric-cars" hreflang="en">Electric Cars</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/electrical-computer-engineering" hreflang="en">Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A partnership between Professor <strong>Olivier Trescases</strong> of the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering&nbsp;and Ontario-based Litens Automotive Group is unlocking new levels of performance for electric vehicles (EVs) by developing advanced battery systems and technologies.</p> <p>The partnership is supported in part by funding from the Ontario Centre of Innovation, which connects researchers and industry partners to commercialize the next generation of made-in-Ontario solutions. Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith visited the lab in early October.</p> <p>“Our government’s Driving Prosperity strategy has positioned Ontario’s automotive sector as a North American leader in developing and building the car of the future,” said Smith.</p> <p>“We’re continuing to transform and grow the auto sector by capitalizing on our many advantages, including our best-in-class research, our talented workforce, as well as innovative partnerships between universities and industry. U of T’s collaboration with Litens is a great example of how expertise from our world-class universities is helping to ensure that our auto sector is successful, competitive and ready to meet shifting global demand.”</p> <p>As the market for EVs becomes increasingly competitive, automotive companies are shifting the focus of their research and development accordingly. Partnerships with academic research labs can help them hit the ground running.</p> <p>By 2019, Litens had made the decision to transition all their new product engineering groups into the EV space. Late that fall, some of their leading designers came for a tour of the ߲ݴý Electric Vehicle (UTEV) Research Centre, where Trescases serves as director.</p> <p>UTEV brings together a core of multi-disciplinary researchers with wide-ranging expertise in EV technologies. Companies collaborating with UTEV gain access to leading-edge research while providing&nbsp;commercial resources and industry expertise that tie the research to the real world.</p> <p>“It seemed like a really natural partnership,” says Geoffrey Ryeland, director, electromotive engineering at Litens.</p> <p>The first order of business was to create a test vehicle in which new components and systems could be validated. The team opted for a pickup truck –&nbsp;an off-the-shelf Ford Ranger that they converted into an EV by hand –&nbsp;as it provided the largest amount of space for the electric motor and battery components.</p> <p>Trescases’ team on the project included recent graduate <strong>Zhe Gong</strong>, PhD candidate&nbsp;<strong>Seyed Amir Assadi</strong>, and research associate <strong>Nick Cusimano</strong>.</p> <p>Both Gong and Cusimano had been part of the Blue Sky Solar Racing team, which inspired them to delve deeper into the world of electric vehicles. They had also completed their final-year capstone projects under the supervision of Trescases, getting to know his research team and their work under UTEV. For his part, Assadi had done his capstone project with the ߲ݴý Formula Racing team, later joining UTEV to build on his passion for performance vehicles.</p> <p>“Professor Trescases was my capstone supervisor, so I knew I would enjoy working with all the smart people in his lab,” says Cusimano, who is now a senior electrical designer at Litens. “I designed a lot of software and hardware for their prototype electronics system in the truck, especially in the battery management system.”</p> <p>The battery management system (BMS) is made of hardware, such as microchips, sensors and controllers, as well as software. Together, they control how power is being drawn from across the 4,400 individual lithium-ion cells that make up the battery pack. Ryeland says that innovation in this system has great potential to improve overall performance.</p> <p>“Lithium-ion cells are great, but they require some care: they like to be at the same temperatures that humans like to be at, and they have to operate within certain voltage ranges to avoid any safety concerns,” says Ryeland.</p> <p>“In order to keep the cells healthy, designers tend to play it very safe, and as a result, the battery management systems are very conservative. That’s fine, but the practical effect is that you end up with more battery capacity in the vehicle than&nbsp;you really need, which makes the vehicle heavier and more expensive.”</p> <p>Using EV batteries to their limits while keeping them healthy requires accurate models of their thermal and electrical behaviour. The U of T-designed BMS incorporates an advanced measurement system that can automatically generate these models through a procedure called electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).</p> <p>Backed by theoretical and experimental work by Gong, Assadi and Cusimano, the EIS-powered BMS will act as a test bed for new ways of operating the battery pack.</p> <p>“EV technology is still at its relative infancy,” says Trescases. “If you think about how far traditional internal-combustion cars have come since the '60s and '70s, you can imagine the scale of improvements that EVs are poised to achieve in terms of driving range, energy efficiency, sustainability and safety, not to mention emerging aspects such as bi-directional power (vehicle-to-grid integration) and wireless charging.”</p> <p>“That’s what makes it an exciting time to be working in this area – there is so much innovation ahead of us,&nbsp;so it’s very rewarding to work with industry partners within the Ontario automotive ecosystem, nurturing the local talent in electrical engineering that is in high demand.”</p> <p>Academic-industry partnerships will be a key driver of that innovation, as well as providing a path for both ideas and highly trained personnel to find their way into industry.</p> <p>“Something like this battery management system would have taken us years to do on our own. It was the expertise in Professor Trescases' lab that got us up that learning curve faster,” says Ryeland.</p> <p>“We’ve got a lot of really great ideas — what we’re doing with this partnership is connecting with the best people who can execute on them and drive that future forward with us.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 19 Dec 2022 21:48:50 +0000 lanthierj 178589 at Using quantum-inspired computing, U of T Engineering and Fujitsu discover improved catalyst for clean hydrogen /news/using-quantum-inspired-computing-u-t-engineering-and-fujitsu-discover-improved-catalyst-clean <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Using quantum-inspired computing, U of T Engineering and Fujitsu discover improved catalyst for clean hydrogen </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2B7A9898-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gLrhjyLL 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2B7A9898-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hkUZtIbs 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2B7A9898-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=x7vMabxc 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2B7A9898-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gLrhjyLL" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-12-16T14:26:58-05:00" title="Friday, December 16, 2022 - 14:26" class="datetime">Fri, 12/16/2022 - 14:26</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">U of T Engineering PhD candidates Jehad Abed (left) and Hitarth Choubisa with a vial of the newly synthesized catalyst for hydrogen production, which was discovered with the help of a new quantum-inspired computing technique (photo by Tyler Irving)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/electrical-computer-engineering" hreflang="en">Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/materials-science" hreflang="en">Materials Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/quantum-computing" hreflang="en">Quantum Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers from the ߲ݴý's Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fujitsu.com/global/">Fujitsu</a>&nbsp;have developed a new way of searching through ‘chemical space’ for materials with desirable properties.</p> <p>The technique has resulted in a promising new catalyst material that could help lower the cost of producing clean hydrogen.</p> <p>The discovery represents an important step toward more sustainable ways of storing energy, including from renewable but intermittent sources, such as solar and wind power.</p> <p>“Scaling up the production of what we call green hydrogen is a priority for researchers around the world because it offers a carbon-free way to store electricity from any source,” says <b>Ted Sargent</b>,&nbsp;a professor in the&nbsp;Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering and senior author on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(22)00662-2">new paper published in&nbsp;<i>Matter</i></a>.</p> <p>“This work provides proof-of-concept for a new approach to overcoming one of the key remaining challenges, which is the lack of highly active catalyst materials to speed up the critical reactions.”</p> <p>Today, nearly all commercial hydrogen is produced from natural gas. The process produces carbon dioxide&nbsp;as a byproduct: if the CO2&nbsp;is vented to the atmosphere, the product is known as ‘grey hydrogen,’ but if the CO2&nbsp;is captured and stored, it is called ‘blue hydrogen.’</p> <p>By contrast, ‘green hydrogen’ is a carbon-free method that uses a device known as an electrolyzer to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The hydrogen can later be burned or reacted in a fuel cell to regenerate the electricity. However, the low efficiency of available electrolyzers means that most of the energy in the water-splitting step is wasted as heat, rather than being captured in the hydrogen.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2B7A9878-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>U of T Engineering PhD candidates Jehad Abed (left) and Hitarth Choubisa&nbsp;with an electrolyzer capable of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The newly discovered catalyst could increase the efficiency of this reaction&nbsp;(photo by&nbsp;Tyler Irving)</em></p> <p>Researchers around the world are racing to find better catalyst materials that can improve this efficiency. But because each potential catalyst material can be made of several different chemical elements, combined in a variety of ways, the number of possible permutations quickly becomes overwhelming.</p> <p>“One way to do it is by human intuition, by researching what materials other groups have made and trying something similar, but that’s pretty slow,” says department of materials science and engineering PhD candidate&nbsp;<b>Jehad Abed</b>, one of two co-lead authors on the new paper.</p> <p>“Another way is to use a computer model to simulate the chemical properties of all the potential materials we might try, starting from first principles. But in this case, the calculations get really complex, and the computational power needed to run the model becomes enormous.”</p> <p>To find a way through, the team turned to the emerging field of quantum-inspired computing. They made use of the Digital Annealer, a tool that was created as the result of a long-standing collaboration between U of T Engineering and Fujitsu Research. This collaboration has also resulted in the creation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.da.utoronto.ca/">Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory</a>&nbsp;at the ߲ݴý.</p> <p>“The Digital Annealer is a hybrid of unique hardware and software designed to be highly efficient at solving combinatorial optimization problems,” says&nbsp;<b>Hidetoshi Matsumura</b>, senior researcher at Fujitsu Consulting (Canada) Inc.</p> <p>“These problems include finding the most efficient route between multiple locations across a transportation network, or selecting a set of stocks to make up a balanced portfolio. Searching through different combinations of chemical elements to a find a catalyst with desired properties is another example, and it was a perfect challenge for our Digital Annealer to address.”</p> <p>In the paper, the researchers used a technique called cluster expansion to analyze a truly enormous number of potential catalyst material designs –&nbsp;they estimate the total as a number on the order of hundreds of quadrillions. For perspective, one quadrillion is approximately the number of seconds that would pass by in 32 million years.</p> <p>The results pointed toward a promising family of materials composed of ruthenium, chromium, manganese, antimony and oxygen, which had not been previously explored by other research groups.</p> <p>The team synthesized several of these compounds and found that the best of them demonstrated a mass activity –&nbsp;&nbsp;a measure of the number of reactions that can be catalyzed per mass of the catalyst –&nbsp;that was approximately eight times higher than some of the best catalysts currently available.</p> <p>The new catalyst has other advantages too: it operates well in acidic conditions, which is a requirement of state-of-the-art electrolyzer designs. Currently, these electrolyzers depend on catalysts made largely of iridium, which is a rare element that is costly to obtain. In comparison, ruthenium, the main component of the new catalyst, is more abundant and has a lower market price.</p> <p>There is more work ahead for the team: for example, they aim to further optimize the stability of the new catalyst before it can be tested in an electrolyzer. Still, the latest work serves as a demonstration of the effectiveness of the new approach to searching chemical space.</p> <p>“I think what’s exciting about this project is that it shows how you can solve really complex and important problems by combining expertise from different fields,” says electrical and computer engineering PhD candidate&nbsp;<b>Hitarth Choubisa</b>, the other co-lead author of the paper.</p> <p>“For a long time, materials scientists have been looking for these more efficient catalysts, and computational scientists have been designing more efficient algorithms, but the two efforts have been disconnected. When we brought them together, we were able to find a promising solution very quickly. I think there are a lot more useful discoveries to be made this way.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 16 Dec 2022 19:26:58 +0000 lanthierj 178543 at Intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed, study finds /news/intensive-agriculture-turned-wild-plant-pervasive-weed-study-finds <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed, study finds</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/IMG_2309-1-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4Qo-Gw5n 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/IMG_2309-1-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3bQnD0Lv 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/IMG_2309-1-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=KkFvqHWs 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/IMG_2309-1-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4Qo-Gw5n" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-12-13T17:52:36-05:00" title="Tuesday, December 13, 2022 - 17:52" class="datetime">Tue, 12/13/2022 - 17:52</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Lead author Julia Kreiner performing DNA extractions of historical herbarium samples in the ancient DNA lab in Tuebingen, Germany (all photos courtesy Julia Kreiner/University of British Columbia)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/faculty-arts-science-staff" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science Staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/agriculture" hreflang="en">Agriculture</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/department-ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Department of Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p style="margin-right:48px">New research published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo7293"><i>Science</i></a> shows how the rise of modern agriculture turned a North American native plant, common waterhemp, into a problematic agricultural weed.</p> <p style="margin-right:48px">An international team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia with colleagues at the ߲ݴý, compared 187 waterhemp samples from modern farms and neighbouring wetlands with more than 100 historical samples dating as far back as 1820 that had been stored in museums across North America.</p> <p style="margin-right:48px">Much like the sequencing of ancient human and neanderthal remains has resolved key mysteries about human history, studying the plant’s genetic makeup over the last two centuries allowed the researchers to watch evolution in action across changing environments.</p> <p style="margin-right:48px">“The genetic variants that help the plant do well in modern agricultural settings have risen to high frequencies remarkably quickly since agricultural intensification in the 1960s,” said study lead author <strong><a href="https://jmkreiner.wordpress.com/">Julia Kreiner</a></strong>. A&nbsp;postdoctoral researcher in UBC’s department of botany, Kreiner completed her PhD at U of T with study co-authors <strong><a href="https://eeb.utoronto.ca/profile/stinchcombe-john/">John Stinchcombe</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://eeb.utoronto.ca/profile/wright-stephen/">Stephen Wright</a></strong>, both professors in the <a href="https://eeb.utoronto.ca/">department of ecology and evolutionary biology</a> in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science at U of T.</p> <p style="margin-right:48px"><img alt src="/sites/default/files/20180930_150647.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 365px;"></p> <p style="margin-right:48px"><em>Waterhemp occurring in natural habitats, the sandy merging of a lake in southern Illinois.&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></p> <p style="margin-right:48px">The researchers discovered hundreds of genes across the weed’s genome that aid its success on farms, with mutations in genes related to drought tolerance, rapid growth and resistance to herbicides appearing frequently.</p> <p style="margin-right:48px">“The types of changes we’re imposing in agricultural environments are so strong that they have consequences in neighbouring habitats that we’d usually think were natural,” said Kreiner.</p> <p style="margin-right:48px">The findings could inform conservation efforts to preserve natural areas in landscapes dominated by agriculture. Reducing gene flow out of agricultural sites and choosing more isolated natural populations for protection could help limit the evolutionary influence of farms.</p> <div class="image-with-caption right"> <p style="margin-right:48px"><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/mob-1867-crop.jpg" alt><em>A 155-year-old waterhemp herbarium specimen from the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium</em></p> </div> <p>Common waterhemp is native to North America and was not always a problematic plant. Yet in recent years, the weed has become nearly impossible to eradicate from farms thanks to genetic adaptations including herbicide resistance.</p> <p>Notably, five out of seven herbicide-resistant mutations found in current samples were absent from the historical samples. “Modern farms impose a strong filter determining which plant species and mutations can persist through time,” said Kreiner. “Sequencing the plant’s genes, herbicides stood out as one of the strongest agricultural filters determining which plants survive and which die.”</p> <p>Waterhemp carrying any of the seven herbicide resistant mutations have produced an average of 1.2 times as many surviving offspring per year since 1960 compared to plants that don’t have the mutations.</p> <p>Herbicide resistant mutations were also discovered in natural habitats, albeit at a lower frequency, which raises questions about the costs of these adaptations for plant life in non-agricultural settings.</p> <p>“In the absence of herbicide applications, being resistant can actually be costly to a plant, so the changes happening on the farms are impacting the fitness of the plant in the wild,” said Kreiner.</p> <p>“While waterhemp typically grows near lakes and streams, the genetic shifts that we’re seeing allow the plant to survive on drier land and to grow quickly to outcompete crops,” said co-author Sarah Otto, Killam University Professor at UBC. “Waterhemp has basically evolved to become more of a weed given how strongly it’s been selected to thrive alongside human agricultural activities.”</p> <p>Agricultural practices have also reshaped where the weedy variety of common waterhemp can be found to grow on the North American continent. Over the last 60 years, a weedy southwestern variety has made an increasing progression eastward, spreading their genes into local populations as a result of their competitive edge in agricultural contexts.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/20180803_161659.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 365px;"></p> <p><em>Waterhemp can drastically reduce corn and soy yields, as seen on the right in a corn field in Essex County, Ontario</em></p> <p>“Understanding the fate of these variants and how they affect plants in non-farm, ‘wild’ populations is an important next step for our work,” says Stinchcombe.</p> <p>The researchers also plan to delve further into their discoveries on the rate of plant evolution over different geographic and temporal scales, with the hope of uncovering how variation in land-use across changing landscape influences the evolution of native plants.</p> <p>“These results highlight the enormous potential of studying historical genomes to understand plant adaptation on short timescales,” says Wright. “Expanding this research across scales and species will broaden our understanding of how farming and climate change are driving rapid plant evolution.”</p> <p>Broadly speaking, the researchers say the findings mean greater consideration of the impact of farming practices on native plants is needed.</p> <p>“On one hand, preserving natural areas within agricultural landscapes provides an important ecological service,” says Kreiner. “On the other hand, these natural populations will become quite genetically different from what they would have looked like in the absence of agriculture. How well these plants will be able to persist in their native habitats remains a mystery.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><i>With files from the University of British Columbia</i></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 13 Dec 2022 22:52:36 +0000 lanthierj 178533 at Bioinnovation partnership: U of T Engineering and Ford Canada introduce new, sustainable automotive material /news/bioinnovation-partnership-u-t-engineering-and-ford-canada-introduce-new-sustainable-automotive <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Bioinnovation partnership: U of T Engineering and Ford Canada introduce new, sustainable automotive material</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/sain-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=kNWhNwxD 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/sain-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TBcx-D3l 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/sain-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=u6lA0cKv 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/sain-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=kNWhNwxD" alt="Mohini Sain"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-01-07T11:17:30-05:00" title="Friday, January 7, 2022 - 11:17" class="datetime">Fri, 01/07/2022 - 11:17</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>“If we want to reach carbon neutrality, we have to find ways to have more energy-efficient processes that use fewer materials and fewer resources with enhanced functionality,“ says Professor Mohini Sain (Photo by ߲ݴý)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6738" hreflang="en">Safa Jinje</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bioinnovation" hreflang="en">Bioinnovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/industry-partnerships" hreflang="en">Industry Partnerships</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mechanical-industrial-engineering" hreflang="en">Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A collaboration between ߲ݴý researchers and Ford Canada, led by the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering’s Professor <strong>Mohini Sain</strong>, has produced a new, sustainably-sourced, production-ready engine component for high-performance vehicles.</p> <p>The Carbon Fibre-Composite 5.0L Engine Timing Cover reduces emissions by displacing fossil fuel-derived plastics with renewable alternatives that can be recycled and by decreasing vehicle weight, leading to improved fuel efficiency.</p> <p>Five years in the making, the new part was developed through a partnership between Sain’s lab group and Ford Canada’s Powertrain Research and Development Centre (PERDC), led by Dr. Jimi Tjong, the technical lead at its Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ont., which is equipped with more than 20 design and process engineers.</p> <p>The partnership was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence.</p> <p>“My goal is to not only do research; I want to be involved in the process from research to commercialization,” says Sain, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering. “Our research group starts with the fundamental research and then we translate it into practice, going from concept to production-ready products.</p> <p>“We constantly consult with our industry experts to bring synergy in our design engineering to develop optimal cost/performance balance. Pricing is a key factor in driving our innovation.”</p> <p>The director of U of T Engineering’s Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials Processing, Sain is a leading researcher in advanced low-carbon materials and sustainable bio-manufacturing.</p> <p><img alt="engine cover" class="media-element file-default" data-delta="1" height="335" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/engine-cover.jpeg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p><em>The Carbon Fibre-Composite 5.0L Engine Timing Cover introduces a new sustainable material into the automotive industry. (Photo: Dr. Jimi Tjong/Ford Canada)</em></p> <p>He has a track record of working with industry partners to create low-carbon, carbon-neutral, or carbon-negative products and advanced manufacturing processes that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;</p> <p>Sain previously commercialized bio-composites designed to be used in the interior of Ford vehicles. But focusing on the structure and the powertrain elements have a greater potential impact because these parts are among the heaviest components of a vehicle.</p> <p>Engine timing covers, which are typically made of metals like aluminum or fossil-fuel-derived plastic, protect the timing components inside a vehicle’s engine.&nbsp;</p> <p>By contrast, the material that Sain and his team created is a novel, multi-functional composite that combines engineered carbon material from sustainable sources with recycled carbon fibre that has a tunable carbon structure and interfacial chemistry, and engineered polyamides.&nbsp;</p> <p>Simply making a “greener” engine component is not enough to bring about a change in the industry, says Sain. The new material must perform as well or better than what it is replacing.</p> <p>“One of the challenges for us was competing with metal in terms of strain, structure, crashworthiness, esthetics and long-term stability. And metal is also very heavy,” he says.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We also wanted to build a circular carbon economy so that the material we make from sustainable sources can be recycled at the end of its life.”</p> <p>Sain and his team spent years collaborating with Tjong and the researchers at Ford to perfect the mechanical characterization and composite rheology of the new component. They also collaborated on developing the processes by which it is made.</p> <p>“Since it’s a new material and new design, we were involved with designing the mould and the manufacturing process,” Sain says. “At each stage of development, we had to work closely with the Ford team on specifications to get the product to the marketplace.”</p> <p>The final design not only introduces a new sustainable material into the automotive industry, but it is also seven pounds lighter than previous models, while providing a sleek appearance and functionality critical for reducing emissions and increasing the performance advantage for racing vehicles.</p> <p>Ford’s Carbon Fibre-Composite 5.0L Engine Timing Cover featured at the 2021 SEMA New Product Showcase in Las Vegas this past November and was recognized by its Global Media Awards, which are chosen by the automotive industry’s top publications.</p> <p>Sain hopes that the new timing cover can serve as a proof-of-concept that will enable further expansion of low carbon composites in electric vehicles.</p> <p>“The larger benefit of this new material and manufacturing process is its application in lightweight structural battery pack and fuel cell packs, with added functionality such as electromagnetic interference shielding,” he says.</p> <p>“If we want to reach carbon neutrality, we have to find ways to have more energy-efficient processes that use fewer materials and fewer resources with enhanced functionality. There are tremendous opportunities for transformative change.”</p> <h3><a href="https://bluedoor.utoronto.ca/">Learn more about industry partnerships at U of T</a>&nbsp;</h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 07 Jan 2022 16:17:30 +0000 lanthierj 301135 at How can lizards adapt to a changing climate? /news/how-can-lizards-adapt-changing-climate <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">How can lizards adapt to a changing climate? </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/wolfgang-hasselmann-9N2asAkthVE-unsplash-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=O-E51NMl 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/wolfgang-hasselmann-9N2asAkthVE-unsplash-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fJv9nUBK 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/wolfgang-hasselmann-9N2asAkthVE-unsplash-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=WIazNUso 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/wolfgang-hasselmann-9N2asAkthVE-unsplash-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=O-E51NMl" alt="A wall lizard rests on a rock"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-10-22T17:02:00-04:00" title="Friday, October 22, 2021 - 17:02" class="datetime">Fri, 10/22/2021 - 17:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A common wall lizard at a sun bath (Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann/Unsplash)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/eran-vijayakumar" hreflang="en">Eran Vijayakumar</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-art-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Art &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/school-environment" hreflang="en">School of the Environment</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/trinity-college" hreflang="en">Trinity College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/victoria-college" hreflang="en">Victoria College</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the ߲ݴý and Ohio Wesleyan University are collaborating in a quest to find out how lizards can adapt to the world’s changing climate.</p> <p><strong>Sophie Berkowitz </strong>and <strong>Simone Collier</strong>, undergraduate students at Trinity&nbsp;College and Victoria&nbsp;College in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, are using computational tools to analyze lizard movement and body temperature under the supervision of <a href="https://www.statistics.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/vianey-leos-barajas">Vianey Leos Barajas</a>, an assistant professor in the <a href="http://statistics.utoronto.ca/">department of statistical sciences</a> and the <a href="https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/">School of the Environment</a>.</p> <p>They’re working closely with ecologists at Wesleyan, Assistant Professor <a href="https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/biological-sciences-department/faculty-staff/eric-gangloff/">Eric Gangloff</a> and undergraduate students Ciara Pettit and Sierra Spears, who cared for the lizards and provided the primary data of lizard movement and temperature. &nbsp;</p> <p>The team’s research focuses on analyzing movements of lizards when placed in an arena with a “thermal gradient,” meaning an observation area where one end is warmer than the other. The sand-filled arena is one metre long and has a lamp as a heat source. Using open-source object-recognition software, statistical and environmental science student Berkowitz extracted movement data from hours of lizard footage to prepare a dataset for statistical analysis. &nbsp;</p> <p>A key challenge was tracking the movement of the lizard when it crawled&nbsp;into the sand or attempted&nbsp;to crawl up the side of the observation arena, out of view of the camera, Berkowitz says.</p> <p>“They try to bury themselves in the sand and get caught. Then the ecologists have to fish them out,” Berkowitz says. “Lizards have minds of their own, and our research definitely has to accommodate for that.”</p> <p>With the dataset of lizard movements, body temperature and environmental temperature, mathematics and environmental science student Collier used hidden Markov models to gain insight into the lizards'&nbsp;movements and behaviour.</p> <p>“What we're trying to do with these models is to determine their thermoregulation behaviours,” Collier says.&nbsp;“We want to find patterns in the lizards’ movement based on how they move between these different temperature zones.”</p> <p>Lizards are ectothermic, which means they rely on the temperature of their environment to regulate their body temperature. One would expect, then, rising temperatures to affect a lizard’s behaviour. These changes in behaviour in turn hold important clues about how lizard species might be affected by climate change.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>"It's really important for us as scientists to get a better understanding of how their thermoregulation works, and how it is affected by their environment,” says Berkowitz. “The hidden Markov models work on the premise that the observations are the product of an underlying behavioural process.</p> <p>“If we can understand things that we can't readily observe, we can help understand the future of our lizard species in terms of climate change."</p> <p>The research partnership highlights the intersection of statistics and ecology: Gangloff’s team of ecologists provided the primary data to the statistical and environmental sciences team at U of T for further analysis.</p> <p>“We get to do a lot of fun projects and work with a lot of diverse students that are quite capable. They are using their statistical skillset to expand the notion of what statistical sciences mean in practice,” says Barajas.</p> <p>The team is continuing their modelling and plans to <a href="https://github.com/simonecollier/lizardHMM">publish their results, along with their modelling tools</a>.</p> <p>In addition to contributing to the field, the two U of T students say they enjoyed gaining hands-on research experience under the supervision of a professor while building important skills. Berkowitz and Collier encourage students to pursue research projects if they are interested in the topics.</p> <p>“If you meet a professor that's researching something you're interested in, just reach out and see what comes of it. You never know,” says Collier.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 22 Oct 2021 21:02:00 +0000 lanthierj 170968 at Global study finds diet high in poor-quality carbohydrates increases heart disease and death /news/global-study-finds-diet-high-poor-quality-carbohydrates-increases-heart-disease-and-death <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Global study finds diet high in poor-quality carbohydrates increases heart disease and death</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1155949505.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=eSjqt6MN 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1155949505.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3Fow1AC5 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1155949505.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=39Lqleq9 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1155949505.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=eSjqt6MN" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-03-01T09:24:22-05:00" title="Monday, March 1, 2021 - 09:24" class="datetime">Mon, 03/01/2021 - 09:24</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by Alexander Spatari via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/susan-emigh" hreflang="en">Susan Emigh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/insulin-100" hreflang="en">Insulin 100</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nutritional-sciences" hreflang="en">Nutritional Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A diet high in poor-quality carbohydrates – known as a high glycemic diet – leads to a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and death, a large study of people living on five continents has found.&nbsp;</p> <p>White bread, rice, and some potatoes have a high glycemic index, while most fruits, vegetables, beans and intact whole grains have a low glycemic index.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/David%20Jenkins%20by%20Mark%20Bennett_web.jpg" alt>“I have been studying the impact of high glycemic diets for many decades, and this study ratifies that the consumption of high amounts of poor-quality carbohydrates is an issue worldwide,” said first author&nbsp;<strong>David Jenkins</strong>, a professor in the departments of&nbsp;nutritional sciences&nbsp;and&nbsp;medicine&nbsp;at the ߲ݴý’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007123">Published recently in the&nbsp;<em>New England Journal of Medicine</em></a>, it is the largest study of a geographically and dietary diverse population on this issue. Previous studies have chiefly focused on high-income Western countries.</p> <p>A total of 137,851 people aged 35 to 70 years old were followed for a median of 9.5 years through the&nbsp;Population Urban and Rural Epidemiology&nbsp;(PURE) study run by the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of&nbsp;McMaster University&nbsp;and&nbsp;Hamilton Health Sciences.&nbsp;The study found risks were similar whether or not people had previous cardiovascular disease.</p> <p>Other study papers from the PURE research group have already indicated that not all carbohydrate foods are the same, Jenkins noted.</p> <p>“Diets high in poor-quality carbohydrates are associated with reduced longevity, while diets rich in high-quality carbohydrates such as fruit, vegetables and legumes have beneficial effects,” said Jenkins, who is also the director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre and a scientist in the&nbsp;Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute&nbsp;of&nbsp;St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto.&nbsp;</p> <p>The research team used food questionnaires to measure long-term dietary intake of participants and estimate the glycemic index (the ranking of food based on their effect on blood-sugar levels) and glycemic load (the amount of carbohydrates in a food times its glycemic index) of diets.</p> <p>There were 8,780 deaths and 8,252 major cardiovascular events recorded among the participants during the follow-up period.&nbsp;</p> <p>The investigators categorized dietary intake of carbohydrates depending on whether specific types of carbohydrates increased blood sugars more than others and compared this index to the occurrence of cardiovascular disease or death.</p> <p>People who consumed a diet in the highest 20 per cent of glycemic index were 50 per cent more likely to have a cardiovascular attack, stroke or death if they had a pre-existing heart condition, or 20 per cent more likely to have an event if they did not have a pre-existing condition.&nbsp;</p> <p>These risks were also higher among those people who were obese.&nbsp;</p> <p>“This study also makes it clear that among a diverse population, a diet low in both its glycemic index and load has a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death,” said&nbsp;<strong>Mahshid Dehghan</strong>, a PHRI research investigator.</p> <p>“The present data, along with prior publications from the PURE and several other studies, emphasize that consumption of poor quality of carbohydrates are likely to be more adverse than the consumption of most fats in the diet,” said&nbsp;Salim Yusuf, senior author of the study.&nbsp;</p> <p>“This calls for a fundamental shift in our thinking of what types of diet are likely to be harmful and what types neutral or beneficial,” said Yusuf, who is also principal investigator of the PURE study, executive director of the PHRI and a professor of medicine at McMaster.&nbsp;</p> <p>The PURE study, ongoing for 18 years, is supported by dozens of government health agencies, charities and pharmaceutical companies and other organizations, across all countries participating in the study.&nbsp;</p> <p>Major supporters in Canada include the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Hamilton Health Sciences Research Institute through the PHRI.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://healthsci.mcmaster.ca/news-events/news/news-article/2021/02/24/study-finds-diet-high-in-poor-quality-carbohydrates-increases-heart-disease-and-death"><em>Story courtesy of the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University</em></a></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 01 Mar 2021 14:24:22 +0000 lanthierj 168553 at