Mathematics

Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship

Trinity College

Undergraduate Students

Subheadline

Sean Fridkin, 18, completed his high school and undergraduate studies in a total of four years

Some might view mathematics as an abstract discipline, but Sean Fridkin sees it as way to understand the world and solve problems – and he’s getting an early start.

Fridkin recently crossed the stage in the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Convocation Hall to receive his honours bachelor of science in mathematics with a specialist in computer science, completing his high school and undergraduate studies in a total of four years.

Born in Israel, Fridkin spent most of his childhood and formative years in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont., where he managed to complete high school in two years after qualifying for a gifted students’ program.

He says he wanted to attend U of T because it’s the top university in Canada. “U of T has the best faculty by far,” he said, citing among his inspirations University Professor Emeritus and Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, “and you have opportunities to learn and take a bunch of different courses.

"It’s also a very prestigious program, so in terms of job prospects, it’s really good. Plus, the people are great ... it’s a great place to learn, grow and network.”

Fridkin spoke to U of T News about his interest in math and computer science, plans for the future and thoughts on how students can get the most out of their undergraduate years:

How did you become interested in mathematics and computer science?

I think math is about trying to understand the world. All around, you have things going on, things happening, and math is seeing the patterns and getting a deeper understanding for what’s going on. That’s always interested me. I think it interests most people – they just don’t know that it’s called math and there’s a language for it.

The way I did my math major is I took a bunch of courses in different fields, but the main thing that unifies them is they teach you to think about the world in different ways. You have classes about the closeness of objects, analysis, topology, you’ve got to think about different types of infinities … You expand the way in which you think, and that interested me more than any specific path within mathematics.

In terms of computer science, I really like numerical methods, where you try to approximate – given some data – and interpolate with models to predict real things. I find machine learning numerical methods really fun.

What was your approach to learning while at U of T?

The number one goal for me in university was to learn how to learn – and learn how to think about new things and discover new ways of thinking. That’s the thing U of T gave me. You get the opportunity to talk to lots of different people, lots of different perspectives and learn from professors who are very experienced in the field and often have a unique way of thinking about different problems.

Also, with the assignments, you have to push yourself and that’s what I enjoyed about it. It was a little different from high school, where an assignment might take you 30 minutes. Here, for some of the math classes, I would have to initially spend maybe a couple of days on one assignment. And I learned a lot from that. I think it’s going to impact me, not only as I go further in my career, but also in life.

What are your plans for your career and education going forward?

I’m looking for computer science roles. I want to learn from interesting people and work on interesting problems. That’s the main goal. I don’t have any specific field that I’m going for within computer science – just interesting problems and people who I know I’ll be able to learn from and who I admire and respect.

I really enjoy learning, but I think most learning can be done informally, on your own or with good people at a company. But certainly, if there’s something interesting that I want to learn more about and that I can’t do on my own, I would 100 per cent go back to school.

Long term, I want to transition to something in the machine learning world.

What would be your advice to students starting university?

I think the actual coursework is secondary to what you do in university. You should learn how to approach new problems ... For me, since I was going into math and computer science, I read a little bit of math stuff and I mostly worked on brain teaser problems. That helped me much more than any domain knowledge in any of the fields.

As soon as you build that thought process in your head – as soon as that becomes your natural way of thinking – everything becomes so much easier.

Art, math and knowing yourself: Paris Ouma reflects on her journey from Kenya to U of T

mattimar — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:54:36 +0000

Art, math and knowing yourself: Paris Ouma reflects on her journey from Kenya to U of T

mattimar Wed, 09/20/2023 - 10:54

Cutline

Paris Ouma, pictured here with her artwork, is beginning her studies at U of T Mississauga this fall with the support of the university’s Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship (all images courtesy of Paris Ouma)

Topic

Math

U of T Mississauga

Paris Ouma says she always feels hesitant before she begins to paint, questioning herself and her artistic abilities.

But her confidence inevitably returns with each brushstroke.

“What I love about art is how much it encapsulates so much of myself in every way,” she says. “Painting to me is a physical manifestation of how I re-learn over and over again to trust the process and myself.”

Ouma, who lived hours away from her family at age 12 while attending boarding school in Kenya, will once again be looking within herself as she prepares to embark on her next big chapter: moving to Canada to attend the ��߲ݴ�ý as a Lester B. Pearson scholar.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to cry a lot,” says Ouma, who is enrolled in a social sciences program at U of T Mississauga. “But I’m ready for change more often than not.”

Named after Lester B. Pearson, a U of T alumnus, former prime minister and Nobel Prize recipient, the Pearson scholarship was created by U of T to bring exceptional students from around the world to study at the university. Awarded to those who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and are recognized as leaders within their high school, the scholarship covers four years of study for first-entry students in undergraduate programs, including tuition, books, incidental fees and residence support.

Ouma says creating art teaches her how to trust herself and the artistic process

Ouma, one of 38 students to be awarded the scholarship this year, says attending boarding school in Molo, Kenya at such a young age taught her discipline, independence and, above all, the importance of speaking up for herself.

The self-confidence she gained through the experience made it easier to trust her instincts and follow her interests, even when they pointed in seemingly different directions.

That’s how she ended up becoming an artist with a passion for solving math problems, which she describes as “a thrill.”

“I used to be really bad at math, so my grandma tutored me. I got my first A in year eight and that’s when I started liking it,” says Ouma, who studied art, math and history in high school.

“It’s so satisfying when you get it.”

While math and art may seem worlds apart, they share a range of creative and cognitive skills that are increasingly valued in a wide range of fields, from medicine to business.

At U of T Mississauga, Ouma plans to pursue a degree that will lead to a career in wealth management or private equity – with a minor in art, of course.

She is also keen to help others discover themselves.

At her boarding school, she mentored younger students, empowering them to take pride in their native language and lending a helping hand in their exam preparations.

“I like listening and sitting down and being in people’s presence,” she says. “There’s so much people can offer you and you can offer them.”

Upon arriving in Canada, Ouma plans to explore the outdoors, including the natural beauty that surrounds the U of T Mississauga campus along the serene banks of Credit River. She has already made connections with fellow Pearson scholars through a group chat and says she’s excited to meet her soon to be roommate Natran Ambaye Tewoldemedhin, who is coming to U of T Mississauga from Ethiopia.

As she was preparing for her flight, Ouma packed her life into three suitcases – bringing with her essential hair products, two puffer jackets to combat the Toronto winter and a secret ingredient to make every meal special.

“It’s a seasoning blend called Royco – it’s Kenyan and I put it on everything.”

‘Something out there’: How a U of T undergrad uses AI to search for aliens

siddiq22 — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:15:42 +0000

‘Something out there’: How a U of T undergrad uses AI to search for aliens

siddiq22 Mon, 07/31/2023 - 09:15

Cutline

Peter Ma, who is entering his fourth year of study in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science, was the lead author on a paper published in Nature Astronomy earlier this year (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Artificial Intelligence

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Physics

Research & Innovation

Space

Undergraduate Students

Victoria College

Subheadline

Peter Ma wrote an algorithm to detect signs of extraterrestrial life while still in high school

Is there life beyond our planet? It’s a question that third-year ��߲ݴ�ý undergraduate student Peter Ma began thinking about when he was still in high school.

A math and physics student entering his fourth year in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Ma is dedicated to searching for aliens – and while that may sound like something out of science fiction, he isn’t exactly chasing down little green men. Instead, he’s drawing on his passion for science to find the data that could prove we’re not alone in the universe.

Ma was in Grade 12 when he wrote an algorithm to look for signs of intelligent life using open-source data from the University of California, Berkeley and its Breakthrough Listen research program.

After cold-emailing researchers at the SETI Institute, he became the youngest member of the team of international researchers at UC Berkeley dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and was lead author on a paper published earlier this year in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“I was super-curious even as a really young kid,” says Ma, who grew up in a Chinese-speaking household and learned English by reading books borrowed during visits to the local library.

“I remember asking my parents questions about everything as early as age four – and they didn’t really know how to answer most of them.”

Ma recalls getting a telescope at age six, and frequent trips to Home Depot and Walmart to buy supplies for his many “on steroids” science projects. One such challenge to build a working chair for the school principal out of recycled materials found Ma toying with the idea of melting aluminum cans – until he realized it was “probably not a good idea to build a furnace in the backyard.”

In high school, he taught himself Grade 11 computer science in three weeks, spending the remainder of the semester devouring videos on machine learning and deep learning – eventually developing his space-scanning algorithm using Breakthrough Listen’s open-source data.

“I was looking for interesting problems to solve,” he says, recalling how his high school teachers were more perplexed than impressed with his AI exploits.

Even while stuck at home during the pandemic, Ma managed to maintain that momentum, working with SETI in the summer before starting university as a member of Victoria College. Once his classes were underway, he continued the collaboration with the support of the Laidlaw Scholars Program.

Using his algorithm, Ma and the SETI team detected eight radio signals that may have originated from life on another planet – when he relayed the findings to his U of T supervisors, he was surprised to hear them suggest the study could be published.

“When they said, ‘We’re going to send this to Nature Astronomy,’ I thought, ‘Wow, hold on – I’m not ready for papers.’ Usually those are done by actual researchers – in comparison to them, I’m still learning my ABCs.”

Ma stresses that when SETI refers to signals coming from an alien civilization, they aren’t necessarily talking about the big-eyed creatures we see in movies – but rather signs that point to some kind of life well beyond our own planet.

“We obviously can't search for intelligence per se – we search for proxies of the targets. So, we search for signs of engineering – in this case, engineering of radio technosignatures, or radio emissions. We believe that intelligent species can produce technology – a phone or a telescope or something like that – and we detect those kinds of signals.”

Ma credits his U of T supervisors and collaborators – in particular study co-author Cherry Ng, a former research associate at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, jointly affiliated with SETI, who is now an astronomer at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France; and Bryan Gaensler, director of the Dunlap Institute and professor in the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy – for preparing him to work alongside veteran researchers in the field.

“Peter is self-motivated and not afraid of challenges,” says Ng, who began working with Ma in the summer of 2020 to search for technosignatures using the Green Bank Telescope based in West Virginia.

“When we get stuck on the analysis, instead of giving up, Peter would always come up with new ideas to try again. It’s his determination that sets him apart.”

Ma and the SETI team plan to continue their work with a two-year project that will scan up to one million stars (Ma’s paper, by contrast, looked at just 820 stars) using a set of 64 telescopes in South Africa.

Ma will have graduated from U of T by the time the project wraps up, but unsurprisingly plans to continue his scientific exploration as a graduate student.

“There has never been a better time in history to find extraterrestrial life now and in the future – our probability of actually finding them only goes up from here,” says Ma, who is spending his summer working with the experimental particle physics group at McGill University on a joint project with CERN, the Swiss-based organization that developed the Large Hadron Collider.

“If you truly believe that we’re alone here [in the universe], then that’s a different story. But if you believe that there’s something out there, then it’s only a matter of time until we actually find it.”

President’s Impact Awards recognize far-reaching contributions of U of T researchers

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:30:23 +0000

President’s Impact Awards recognize far-reaching contributions of U of T researchers

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 03/10/2023 - 11:30

Cutline

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Unity Health

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

President's Impact Award

Creative Destruction Lab

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Hospital for Sick Children

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

University Health Network

Women's College Hospital

From informing Ontario’s pandemic response to shaping the fields of education, social policy, robotics and entrepreneurship, the ��߲ݴ�ý is recognizing researchers for the impact of their work across Canada and beyond.

Among the winners of this year’s President’s Impact Awards – which honour individual U of T faculty members and teams for research that has led to significant impacts beyond academia – are 13 leaders of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.

The group was recognized as a team for “outstanding contributions and dedication to supporting evidence-informed decision making and response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario and nationally.”

Fahad Razak

Fahad Razak, who served as the Science Table’s scientific director, says he is grateful to be celebrated alongside his colleagues, noting that it was only through their collective expertise and efforts that the Science Table was able to provide transparent scientific analysis and evidence-based, equity-minded guidance in response to an ever-shifting crisis.

“I'm really happy that ��߲ݴ�ý has recognized that much of the consequential work that is done is not done by individuals – it's done by teams,” says Razak, an internist and epidemiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and an assistant professor in the department of medicine in U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME).

“That multidisciplinary composition of our table was one of the critical drivers of success of putting out modelling scientific briefs or other recommendations that were thoughtful and comprehensive about the effects that could happen across society.”

The other Science Table members sharing the honour with Razak are:

Peter Jüni, an affiliate scientist at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health, who was the table’s scientific director and a professor of medicine and epidemiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and IHPME before leaving for University of Oxford in 2022.
Co-chairs Adalsteinn Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Brian Schwartz, a professor in the department of family and community medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and Upton Allen, the head of infectious diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children and a professor of pediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and at IHPME.
Assistant scientific directors Nathan Stall, a physician at Sinai Health and an assistant professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and Karen Born, assistant professor of health administration at IHPME.
Director of communications Robert Steiner, assistant professor and director of the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Global Journalism at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Modelling consensus table co-chairs Beate Sander, a senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, and a professor at IHPME, and Kumar Murty, a professor of mathematics in the Faculty of Arts & Science.
Chair of the congregate care setting working group Paula Rochon, senior scientist at the Women’s College Hospital Research Institute and professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Co-chair of the drugs and biologics clinical practice guideline working group Andrew Morris, medical director of the antimicrobial stewardship program at Sinai Health/University Health Network and professor of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
Mental health working group chair Linda Mah, a senior clinician scientist at the Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences Centre and an associate professor of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

The team joins four other U of T researchers recognized this year. They are:

Ajay Agrawal, professor of strategic management and Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management. He is recognized for his “application of economic theory to the problem of market failures associated with transforming scientific inventions into scalable companies that benefit society,” which inspired the founding of the Creative Destruction Lab – a model that has been adopted by business schools around the world.

George Dei, professor in the department of social justice education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Dei was recognized for his “influential work advancing anti-racism, equity, anti-colonial thought and African Indigeneity in education and sustained impact on policies, practices and advocacy for inclusive schooling and Black youth’s educational success.”

Yu Sun, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and founding director of U of T’s Robotics Institute. He is honoured for “outstanding contributions to robotics at micro-nano scales, whose far-reaching impacts include transformative infertility treatments for patients and materials characterization techniques for industry.”

Ito Peng, a professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Munk School for Global Affairs & Public Policy. She is credited for global “social policy leadership informing national and international policy bodies on issues of gender, the work of care and care migration.” Peng, whose expertise has been sought out by policymakers across the globe, was also named the recipient of the Carolyn Tuohy Impact on Public Policy Award, presented annually to a faculty member whose scholarship has had a significant impact on public policy as part of the Awards of Excellence Program.

Winners of the President’s Impact Award are designated as members of the President’s Impact Academy, which advocates for sustained excellence in research and innovation impact within and outside of the university.

“These awards represent how U of T’s research community is coming together tackle some of today’s toughest problems and making breakthroughs that result in real-world change,” says Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“From global issues to micro-scale innovations, this year’s laureates have shown themselves to be visionaries in their respective fields and consummate collaborators – working with scholars across disciplines and partnering with community members, public stakeholders, industry leaders and policymakers to address our current challenges and drive progress toward a brighter future.”

U of T brings together researchers and policymakers to discuss how GTA can advance Canada's quantum sector

siddiq22 — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 18:46:52 +0000

U of T brings together researchers and policymakers to discuss how GTA can advance Canada's quantum sector

siddiq22 Tue, 02/14/2023 - 13:46

Cutline

(Photo courtesy of Xanadu Quantum Technologies)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Global Lens

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Chemistry

Creative Destruction Lab

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Physics

Quantum

Research & Innovation

With quantum technologies rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing advanced sectors globally, experts and policymakers recently gathered at the ��߲ݴ�ý to discuss Canada’s new National Quantum Strategy and the university’s role in supporting it.

Attended by federal and provincial government stakeholders, the discussion drew on the findings of a recent report commissioned from Deloitte Canada that compared Canada’s centres of quantum research. The GTA was the country’s strongest quantum hub, supported by U of T’s global research leadership, the report found.

Timothy Chan

“Quantum research at the ��߲ݴ�ý places the university among the world’s leading producers of impactful knowledge in this domain,” said Timothy Chan, associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives and a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“The quantum ecosystem is strong here – not just because of our world-leading quantum expertise, but because we have the best scientists in other fields that will integrate quantum technologies and their applications.”

In January, the federal government launched the $360-million National Quantum Strategy to support the sector in an increasingly competitive global market. It aims to boost research, talent and commercialization in quantum and solidify Canada’s position in the field.

A rapidly emerging and economically promising field, quantum science and its applications draw on the unintuitive principles of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for everyday computers.

By 2045, quantum applications – including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, medical imaging and many more – are projected to be a $138-billion market, leading to more than 200,000 jobs in Canada, according to a study commissioned by the National Research Council of Canada.

The findings from the Deloitte report were presented during the U of T event, which was hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy as part of its New Frontiers series, which promotes dialogue between decision-makers and U of T researchers on how to advance public policy priorities. The report’s analysis of Canada’s centres of quantum research ranked the country fourth in the world in the strength of its research in quantum science and technology.

Canada is ranked No. 4 in the world in the impact of its research on quantum science. Thanks to the policymakers, researchers & startups who came together today to think about how to turn that advantage into economic growth. pic.twitter.com/PHHlVWaALA
— U of T Government Relations Office (@uoftgro) February 1, 2023

U of T is a key contributor to Canada’s performance, with the university’s research impact in quantum-related sciences ranked fifth globally.

The breadth of expertise across quantum fields is one of the university’s strengths, said Anna Dyring, quantum strategic initiative lead at U of T’s Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC).

CQIQC’s activities, which promote research collaborations in the sector, encompass U of T’s departments of chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, as well as the departments of electrical engineering and materials science in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“Quantum computing is a field where you need many different types of thinkers and knowledge in order to innovate and lead,” Dyring said.

U of T and partners such as the Vector Institute are leading in AI, data sciences, regenerative and precision medicine, climate change, pandemic preparedness and advanced materials – just some of the fields the university is supporting through its Institutional Strategic Initiatives, Chan told attendees. U of T's Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society also convenes and facilitates research on how these technologies improve human lives.

“Our approach is interdisciplinary because the challenges Canada and the world face cannot be solved by remaining within our disciplinary boundaries. We aim to transform how we solve problems, and to work at the frontiers of knowledge – that is where quantum research currently resides.”

(Photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Other countries are making major investments in the quantum sector as the field becomes increasingly competitive globally, the discussion heard. Large companies in Europe, Asia and the United States are interested in research and development and in being early adopters, while there has been more caution about quantum tech adoption in Canada.

However, Canada remains a strong location for startups – and the GTA boasts the largest number of quantum companies in the country. U of T is behind many of these successful startups, thanks to initiatives such as the Rotman School of Management’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) – the only dedicated early-stage quantum incubator in the country.

"CDL’s mission is to enhance the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind. Our objectives-based mentorship process has the potential to positively impact a startup's trajectory at the very early stages of their journey,” said Sonia Sennik, CDL’s executive director.

CDL’s graduates include Xanadu Quantum Technologies – founded by former U of T post-doctoral physics researcher Christian Weedbrook – which recently received $40 million in federal funding to support its cutting-edge quantum computing technology. Xanadu is one of Canada’s unicorn companies, valued at over $1 billion.

Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO of Xanadu, at the Collision tech conference in 2022 (photo by Lukas Schulze/Sportsfile for Collision/Getty Images)

“The GTA is a great place for innovative companies to start and grow because all the ingredients are here: talent, investors, public and private partners, customers and support networks,” said David Asgeirsson, manager of research partnerships and intellectual property at Xanadu.

To stay competitive in the sector, Canada will need further investments to create quantum-literate talent, including funding for graduate students and the scaling of successful partnerships with industry to integrate quantum-ready talent into existing companies.

“It’s critical that we have the funding to recruit top researchers to the quantum hubs in Canada,” Dyring said. “Having strong faculty to continue adding new courses in this emerging field – and to ensure students have opportunities to work on research at the graduate level – is important in growing the field, because we will need more people trained in this area going forward. And we’re seeing that there’s growing interest from students to explore studies and research in quantum.”

U of T professor emeritus creates scholarship to support emerging minds in math

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 15:13:11 +0000

U of T professor emeritus creates scholarship to support emerging minds in math

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 08/15/2022 - 11:13

Cutline

Over a 30-year career at U of T, Professor Emeritus Velimir Jurdjevic helped shape the world’s understanding of geometric control theory and regulated feedback systems – concepts underlying a range of modern technologies (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Rebecca Cheung

Topic

Math has transported Velimir Jurdjevic to new and exciting realms.

“I often think of math as a ladder. With each proof and mathematical concept explored, you climb up a rung higher,” says Jurdjevic, a professor emeritus in the department of mathematics in the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Faculty of Arts & Science.

“Eventually, when you’ve climbed up enough, you reach a place of ideas. There, you can make sense of things beyond the physical world. You can throw away the ladder, and you won’t fall.”

He is hoping the newly established Velimir Jurdjevic Graduate Scholarship in Mathematics will help students reach such heights. As an endowed gift, the award is designed to have a lasting impact. Beginning this fall, the scholarship will be awarded annually, on the basis of academic merit, to a promising full-time graduate student in the department of mathematics.

In a career spanning more than 30 years at U of T, Jurdjevic contributed significantly to mathematics by shaping the world’s understanding of geometric control theory and regulated feedback systems – the underlying concepts that make robotics, autonomous vehicles and aerospace engineering technologies possible.

The new graduate scholarship could support emerging scholars in making their mark in math, which could drive the development of new technological applications or enhance the public’s understanding of the universe.

After all, Jurdjevic points out there’s no shortage of talent at U of T.

“I was fortunate enough to teach some very important graduate courses and honours undergraduate courses at U of T, and that put me in touch with some of the brightest minds,” he says. “I enjoyed the intellectual intensity. Our graduate students were not afraid to ask questions and challenge their professors. I know they brought out the best in me.”

Similarly, many of Jurdjevic’s former students credit him for inspiring them to pursue mathematics and other intellectual curiosities.

“Velimir Jurdjevic drew me into the mathematical world of geometry with the first lecture in my first class in the department of mathematics. It was absolutely thrilling,” recalls Dror Varolin, who met Jurdjevic as a third-year engineering sciences student at U of T.

Varolin, now a professor in mathematics at Stony Brook University, wrote his undergraduate thesis under Jurdjevic and served as his teaching assistant. He recalls Jurdjevic’s challenging exams and puzzling brainteasers – and says that his former professor’s compassion and genuine interest helped students succeed.

“In my own academic career, I have tried to imitate him as best I can,” Varolin says. “With each passing year my admiration for him, significant as it was from the very start, continues to grow.”

Jurdjevic says establishing the scholarship is a fitting way to pay tribute to the community that supported him.

“It’s been a privilege to build a career at the ��߲ݴ�ý,” he says. “It’s a place where I was allowed to follow my academic interests freely and where I became connected to a wonderful academic community.”

This gift is also a way for him to bring his story full circle.

“If it hadn't been for a fellowship that I received, I don't think I would have been able to go to graduate school,” he says. “I hope this award reaches graduate students who have developed a love for the subject. I’d like them to have a bit more free time to pursue their passions.”

‘A wonderful community’: U of T students on the benefits of university family housing

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:53:40 +0000

‘A wonderful community’: U of T students on the benefits of university family housing

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 02/10/2022 - 16:53

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Master's candidate Yasmin Aboelzahab (centre, right) is pictured with her husband Samir, as well as their children Salma and Adam, outside of U of T's family housing at 30 and 35 Charles Street West (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

University Family Housing

Scott Mabury

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

Graduate Students

Translational Research Program

St. George

Raising a young family while pursuing a graduate degree isn’t easy. Doing it in a new country far from home – and in a city with sky-high housing prices – is even more complicated.

For Yasmin Aboelzahab, a mother of two and master of health sciences candidate at the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the challenges have been alleviated by living in U of T’s Student Family Housing, which provides attainable downtown accommodation for U of T students and their families.

She, her husband and their two children live in one of the roughly 700 apartments at U of T’s high-rise student family housing at 30 and 35 Charles Street West. Tenants are full-time U of T students who are living with a spouse or common-law partner, or who have custody of one or two children.

“Living here is very convenient, mainly because of the location,” says Aboelzahab, who is originally from Egypt and is in the Translational Research Program in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology.

“It’s downtown, so it’s walking distance from all the places you want to go: grocery stores, the pediatrician, the TTC and the university.”

Aboelzahab and her family originally moved into their Charles Street West unit when her husband was doing his PhD at U of T. At the time, her daughter was only one year old. Now aged seven, her daughter attends a school in the neighbourhood while Aboelzahab’s three-year-old son goes to the daycare centre located in the building, which offers priority to student families who are residents.

They are also regulars at the building’s free drop-in centre, which organizes programs and services aimed at helping students and their children socialize.

Aboelzahab says easy access to such amenities has been a huge help, but the biggest advantage of family housing is living among a supportive and diverse community.

“I’ve had the chance to meet people from a wide range of cultures. It’s a mirror image of what Canadian society looks like,” she says. “This is really helpful when this is your first contact when you’re in Canada and moving from another country to Canada, and [people] should take the benefits of living in such a community.

“It’s a wonderful community for me.”

Unsurprisingly in a city as expensive as Toronto, the demand for accommodation for students and their families is high. As of late 2021, the wait list for family housing at U of T’s Charles Street West apartments and smaller units in the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood stood at 995 – a figure that would likely be higher if not for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel.

As demand continues to grow, U of T has been exploring ways to build more family housing units through projects such as laneway infill housing. Two laneway homes and a single-family dwelling on Huron Street were recently constructed as part of a pilot project in Huron-Sussex, where U of T plans to build more low-rise infill housing for university families.

Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice-president, operations and real estate partnerships, said that housing is among the most important factors for students and faculty who are considering bringing their talents to U of T, particularly if they're coming from abroad – but it's also one of the most difficult things to arrange.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of attainable and conveniently located accommodations for student families and faculty coming to the ��߲ݴ�ý,” Mabury said. “That’s why we’ve made housing one of the pillars of our Four Corners Strategy, which aims to provide the spaces the university needs to advance its mission.

“We quite simply have to deliver more housing options and we are absolutely committed to leveraging our significant real estate assets and building partnerships to do so.”

Sujata Mishra

Like Aboelzahab, Sujata Mishra, a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health who also lives at Charles Street West, also sees community as one of the biggest advantages of U of T’s student family housing.

“These buildings mostly house international students who don’t have social capital – they don’t have parents, they don’t have families and they just recently moved,” says Mishra, who is originally from India. “So it allows us to make friends with people from different cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities. It gives you a sense of belonging in that everybody’s in a similar boat.

“Everybody’s trying to finish up their studies, and they have families. The problems and the struggles are fairly similar, so you can build a support system around that.”

Mishra notes that residence management takes a proactive role in developing programming to forge a sense of community among residents, even if it has been temporarily curtailed by the pandemic. “You can develop a sense of community, friendships and talk to each other. So there is this social interaction that happens, which is great.”

She says the extent and importance of her social interactions increased “many-fold” after she gave birth to her daughter, who is now three.

“This was my first child, and I’m away from home,” Mishra says. “So, I was constantly needing support to understand how the daycare system in Toronto works, how the subsidy system works, where do I send her to school, how does the schooling work – because of all these things are quite different than where we come from.

“It really helped me build community and have friends with whom I could talk, discuss and get information.”

U of T is also looking to grow its stock of faculty housing, which offers a limited number of unfurnished rental units to newly and recently appointed faculty. At present, new faculty can expect to wait a year or more before they can be offered an apartment.

Yun (William) Yu

Yun (William) Yu, an assistant professor in the department of mathematics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, says the opportunity to live in faculty housing on campus helped ease his transition to U of T in 2019 after completing his post-doctoral work at Harvard University.

“The faculty housing accommodation was incredibly helpful in making the logistics of moving to Canada so much easier,” says Yu, who lives in a rowhouse unit in Huron-Sussex. “The Toronto rental market is quite difficult, and not having to think about that meant one less item that I had to check off.”

Yu says housing is a “reasonably large bonus” for faculty who are offered positions at U of T.

“Just the convenience of not having to think about logistics while moving – and it is in a brilliant location,” says Yu, who notes that the Bahen Centre, where he does his graduate teaching, is only a 10 to 15-minute walk from his home.

“Living on campus did make me feel more welcome. It really allows me to feel like a part of the university.”

As for Aboelzahab, she is actively taking steps to ensure others enjoy the same sense of community that has embraced her family. Since September 2020, she has been serving as a residence adviser and is responsible for orienting new residents, educating community members on policies and running programming.

“I was so impressed by the resources and services provided to me and my family,” she says. “I thought it’s time to give back and take an active organizational role in the community.”

Shared experiences: How five international students are contributing to U of T's global outlook

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 14:47:03 +0000

Shared experiences: How five international students are contributing to U of T's global outlook

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 10/04/2021 - 10:47

Cutline

U of T Scarborough alumnus Ernest Nyarko teamed up with other U of T undergrads five years ago to create the African Impact Initiative, a non-profit organization that aims to solve problems faced by communities in Africa (photo by Jorian Charlton)

Cynthia Macdonald

Gilbert Ndikubwayezua

Topic

Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship

Faculty of Music

Global

Joseph Wong

Rotman School of Management

New College

U of T Scarborough

International students who come from around the world to study at the ��߲ݴ�ý reap huge rewards – including a top education, life-long friendships and new career opportunities.

But the university and the surrounding community benefit, too.

Joseph Wong, U of T’s vice president, international, says U of T’s more than 20,000 international students provide domestic students with the opportunity to learn alongside peers who often have direct knowledge of the material being studied.

“It’s one thing to read about nationalist movements in Europe or South Asia,” Wong says. “It’s an entirely different learning experience when you can talk to – and learn from – your peers who are from these regions.”

The advantage extends beyond the classroom to co-curricular experiences and conversations in residence, he says, adding up to an immeasurable impact on life at the university.

“All U of T students gain a tremendous opportunity not only to be prepared academically for the world of work but also to be prepared socially and culturally for the literal ‘world of work,’” Wong says.

Meet five international students at U of T who are making an impact – both at the university and beyond:

Ernest Nyarko
Hometown: Accra, Ghana

Five years ago, Ernest Nyarko and his friend Efosa Obano, both graduates of U of Scarborough, teamed up with other U of T undergrads to create the African Impact Initiative, a non-profit organization open to all students. Their objective: to help solve some of the problems faced by communities in Africa.

Since then, the initiative’s volunteers have been collaborating with young people from Africa to contribute to the continent’s development through community work, mentorship and entrepreneurship. One of the group’s first activities was to fund a small project to improve health-care outcomes in the village of Ikot Eko Ebon in southeastern Nigeria.

In co-founding the initiative, Nyarko demonstrated that international students do much more than just study at U of T – their global experiences help their Canadian peers understand the world better.

“Diversity gives us the tools to challenge preconceptions and imagine the principles that will shape a better future,” says Nyarko, who came from Ghana to study in the co-op marketing and management program at U of T Scarborough and now works as a management consultant at Deloitte in Toronto.

As part of his classes and extra-curricular activities, Nyarko was able to describe some of Ghana’s “non-Western realities” to his fellow students.

“I made a point of sharing my experiences growing up,” he says, adding that he hopes to provide his classmates information to question stereotypes about Africa.

– Gilbert Ndikubwayezu

Jialiang Zhu
Hometown: Hainan Island, China

Jialiang Zhu loved attending concerts by visiting musicians when she was an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Music, but among the events that influenced her career, one stood out the most.

“It was a concert by the Imani Winds quintet, and I was in awe of how connected they all were to each other,” says Zhu, a pianist.

She vowed that she would play in a group like that one day.

Today, Zhu, who is pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree at U of T, is also a member of the Bedford Trio – an ensemble with a growing international following. She co-founded the trio in 2015 with fellow U of T music alumni Alessia Disimino, a violinist, and Andrew Ascenzo, a cellist. “We shared a passion for chamber music but were also interested in works by contemporary composers, so it was a great fit,” she says.

As part of Zhu’s doctoral work, she would like to extend the reach of compositions from her homeland – specifically songs based on classical Chinese poetry. Many of the poems she’s studying were part of the public school curriculum in China, where she memorized them in Mandarin.

“Unlike many of my classmates, I loved reciting them because the language had unique tonal inflections that already sounded like music to me,” she says. “My goal is to expose English-speaking musicians and audiences to this wonderful poetry and the contemporary art songs inspired by it.”

Zhu’s thesis offers practical tools for learning to understand the poetry, such as a Mandarin diction guide and recorded pronunciations.

Zhu has performed some of these songs in Canada and China and online with native Mandarin speakers and non-native speakers, including Chinese diaspora musicians and those from other cultures. “I’m grateful that my research and performance have connected me with contemporary artists from around the world,” she says. “I hope this will plant the seed for something that continues to grow.”

– Megan Easton

Jose Ignacio Valdez
Hometown: Lima, Peru

Jose Ignacio Valdez belonged to the Latin American business club when he was an MBA student at the Rotman School of Management, and he remembers talking to his fellow members about how strange the networking and recruitment events felt.

“To us, it was very odd approaching people we’d never met to give them our elevator pitch and try to strike up an engaging conversation,” says Valdez, who completed his MBA alongside his wife, Brenda Balcázar in 2010 and was accustomed to more formal practices such as relying on referrals and applying to posted positions.

Valdez, who grew up in Peru, knew he would have to get over his discomfort with this cultural difference to have any chance at landing a job, especially since it was the height of the 2008-2009 recession.

“You only get one shot at the best of times to make the right impression when a firm is recruiting,” he says. “Fortunately, a Rotman priority from day one is to ensure students understand how Canadian executives think and do business, both through classes and guest speakers.”

He turned out to be one of the few in his class to land an investment banking internship, which evolved into a full-time job at a Canadian bank. After working there for several years, he returned to Peru as director of the country’s investment banking team for Scotiabank.

Today Valdez is Scotiabank’s managing director, head of Latin America investment banking. “I feel like I have the best of both worlds,” he says. “I get to work for a Canadian company, but in the Latin American market.”

Being part of a diverse student body at Rotman not only assured Valdez he wasn’t alone in taking some time to acclimatize to a new business culture, but also prepared him for the challenges of working for one of Canada’s most international banks.

“We learned to be sensitive to cultural differences, a skill that’s very helpful in my current day-to-day work interacting with clients and colleagues from Canada, the U.S. and across Latin America – which is culturally diverse in itself,” says Valdez. “The MBA program was a great training ground for the real world of international business.”

– Megan Easton

Suddene Stone
Hometown: Central Village, Jamaica

It wasn’t until public health regulations required an end to in-person classes part way through Suddene Stone’s first year at U of T Scarborough that he truly understood how globally diverse his new classmates were.

“When the pandemic hit, and people went home, I suddenly had friends in many different time zones,” he says.

For Stone, who is in the third year of a psychology degree, moving to multicultural Toronto from his native Jamaica expanded his worldview in ways he didn’t expect – and it hasn’t been just about trying new foods. He has been able to observe – and compare – social, cultural and religious customs from Turkey, India and Egypt, to name just a few countries his classmates are from.

“You learn how to interact with different people across different cultures,” he says.

Community work is important to Stone, who attends U of T on a Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship (awarded to international students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement, creativity and leadership qualities). In Jamaica, he often spent weekends in a student-led service club, helping to plant trees or paint schools. In his first semester at U of T Scarborough, he joined the Imani Academic Mentorship Program to volunteer as a tutor for local Black youth, encouraginh them to consider higher education.

Although eager to help, he says he didn’t understand at first why such a program was needed in Canada. He soon learned about racism in the Canadian education system, including high expulsion rates and discrimination from teachers. “Even in middle school, they understand that much more work needs to be done in Canadian society to achieve racial equity, especially for students,” he says.

With respect to his own studies, Stone plans to complete a master’s and PhD in clinical psychology, and aims to gain practical experience in the field while in Canada. “People who are seriously mentally ill often go undiagnosed or don’t have access to proper care,” he says. “I want to help change that.”

– Matthew DiMera

Mahak Khurmi
Hometown: Sri Ganganagar, India

Everyone knows that for mathematicians “show your work” is an important rule. So when Mahak Khurmi, who is majoring in computer science and statistics, talks about her success, she is eager to describe the problems she had to solve on the way there.

Dreading math at the beginning of high school, she attacked the subject with a tutor – and finished high school in the top one-tenth of one per cent of math students in India. It’s no surprise, then, that she tackled her first challenge as a U of T student in the fall of 2019 with similar fervour.

“When I came to Canada, I was very homesick,” says Khurmi, who grew up in a small city in northwest India and is the first in her immediate family to attend university. “One thing that helped me was reaching out when I was in trouble.” She joined a First-Year Learning Community, a small group of students registered in the same core courses.

She found other ways to connect with her peers, too. High school in India, for example, had equipped her with educational concepts and strategies that she was able to share with her Canadian classmates. One expressed curiosity about the speed with which she and another Indian student could solve certain math problems. “I told him about some of the formulas and methods taught to us, and he was very surprised and happy to learn about them,” she says.

Now entering third year, Khurmi helps others understand software development and machine learning – two subjects she is passionate about. She has taught concepts in artificial intelligence to more than 300 African students through an inter-university initiative. She has also worked as a software engineering intern for a Toronto startup.

Khurmi is ultimately thinking about pursuing a PhD. This year, however, she will be helping incoming students make a smooth transition to university life. As an academic programmer for New College residence, she’ll be a great resource for international students facing the same challenges she did.

“One really great thing about U of T is that you get to meet people from everywhere,” she says.

– Cynthia Macdonald

A version of this story was originally published in U of T Magazine

Five startups to watch from U of T Engineering’s 2021 virtual Demo Day event

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 21:10:06 +0000

Five startups to watch from U of T Engineering’s 2021 virtual Demo Day event

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 09/28/2021 - 17:10

Cutline

Nightingale.ai, an AI-enabled platform that enables physiotherapists and their patients to connect remotely, is one of five startups that won prizes at The Entrepreneurship Hatchery's annual Demo Day event (photo courtesy of Nightingale.ai)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Alumni

Artificial Intelligence

Cities

Computer Science

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Hatchery

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Hospital for Sick Children

Geography and Planning

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing