Explore Sustainable Building Designs
Join us for a tour of the TRCA Archetype Sustainable House on March 20th, 2023, and learn about sustainable building designs and high-performing homes. This is a great opportunity for those interested in careers related to HVAC, Sustainability, Energy, or Building Science. The certified LEED Platinum project is located in Woodbridge, ON, and features various design aspects and technologies that you don’t want to miss. https://www.ashraetorontomu.com/events If you are interested in learning more about the Archetype Sustainable House visit:http://www.sustainablehouse.ca/ Time: 8:30 am – 2:00 pm Departure: Main Corner Entrance of George Vari Engineering Center at 8:30 am (please arrive by 8:25 am) Location: The Archetype Sustainable House, 9550 Pine Valley Dr, Woodbridge, ON L4L 1A6 Spots are limited, so register as soon as possible! Food and drinks will be served during the tour! To register visit:
Stress, Strain, and Failure in Heterogeneous and Anisotropic Rock (PhD Departmental Defence)
Candidate: Aly Abdelaziz
Supervisor: Prof. Giovanni Grasselli
Monday, March 20 @ 10 a.m.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/85936665885
PsychEng Seminar 2023 March 21:
Prof. Meng-Chuan Lai, U of T Psychiatry
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
12:10pm-1:30pm
Room 2135, Bahen Centre
40 St. George Street
Calling all neurodivergent (and neurotypical) people for a brainstorming session to improve social wellbeing for all
Speaker: Prof. Meng-Chuan Lai
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Title: Towards environmental adjustment for social communication with autistic individuals
Abstract:

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Autism has historically been viewed as a medical condition that requires intervention aimed at developing the social-communication skills of diagnosed individuals. However, there is increased appreciation of neurodiversity (i.e., the variety of different minds and brains in the human population), as well as awareness that the disabilities experienced by autistic individuals have substantial contextual-social origins. Therefore, interventions can also target the neurotypical-majority environment and the neurotypical population, to enhance the social well-being of both autistic and neurotypical people.
In this brainstorming session, I will introduce relevant conceptual and intervention evolution, and propose potential directions for environment-focused approaches. A goal of the session is to exchange ideas towards incorporating engineering-design methods to enhance the social well-being of autistic people.
Biography:
Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai is a staff psychiatrist and senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto. He is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair, Advisory Council for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity and Accessibility in Clinical Care in the Department of Psychiatry, and Graduate Faculty at the Institute of Medical Science and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto. He is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, and an Adjunct Associate Professor and Attending Psychiatrist at the National Taiwan University Hospital. He is an INSAR Fellow and an editor of the journals Autism and Molecular Autism. As a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Sex and Gender Science Chair, Dr. Lai’s work focuses on how sex- and gender-related factors act as modulating mechanisms for the presentation and adaptation, clinical recognition, neurobiology, and etiologies of neurodevelopmental and co-occurring mental health conditions.
Please register at:
https://shulab.mie.utoronto.ca/events/psycheng-rsvp-2023-mar-21-lai-camh/
Health and Wellness and the HealthyU Crew are hosting a webinar entitled Embracing the New Normal: A Harm Reduction Approach to Living with COVID on Tuesday March 21 2023 from 3-4PM. The webinar will consist of a presentation led by two peer educators, followed by a Q&A discussion with an interprofessional healthcare panel, including the Clinical Lead from Health & Wellness, as well as representatives from Discovery Pharmacy and Toronto Public Health. Through this webinar, we hope that students will feel more competent assessing and mitigating their risks of transmission in various social situations, using a harm reduction lens. In addition, we hope to create a space for students who may still feel anxious about the ongoing risks of COVID, to feel heard and supported.
To attend, please register for the webinar using your UToronto email here: https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwoc-6qqjoqHtd1wv3Dtfo6mUot1vUhUnq4
An engineer at the helm: navigating through change, conflict, and culture
Tuesday, March 21, 6 – 8 PM, in-person & virtual (HS610 and Zoom)
Join Professor Elham Marzi (ISTEP) in conversation with U of T Engineering alumnus and entrepreneur Ian Small (EngSci 8T6, MSc CompSci 8T9) as he shares insights and advice gained from over three decades of working in engineering startups and management.
Topics will include how to manage and lead change, how to make challenging organizational decisions, and how to help employees and company culture navigate transitions.
Register at uoft.me/engineer-at-the-helm

Join CSCE Toronto Section – Canadian Society for Civil Engineering on March 23rd at 6 PM, as David Moses from Moses Structural Engineers Inc. and Steven Street from Wood Works! provide an overview on the shift in the construction industry with respect to engineering analysis for structural design for gravity, wind, and earthquakes and the fire safety requirements citing many recent examples from Canada and the United States.Join our event page, and sign up using the link below
LEED Green Associate (GA) Training – Webinar and Online self-paced options:I will be offering live webinars that can be streamed on any of the following dates:
The above options (1-7) are all identical.Register for a live webinar or start today with our on-demand recorded workshop completed anytime at your own pace here – https://leadinggreen.com/online This course is instructed by a USGBC Faculty member and is the most effective way to pass. The USGBC charges a $100 (reduced for students) fee for the actual exam which can now be taken online from home. Save money by reserving your spot today and make a positive difference in your career!Cost: $200 – Students can use the coupon code ‘green’ for $50 off (Discounted course price $150)Save your seat by registering here for our live or self-paced options – https://leadinggreen.com/onlinePlease contact the instructor Lorne directly with any questions at info@leadinggreen.com
The Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series
Behavior and computation: What defines the future of urban mobility
with Prof. Jinhua Zhao
REGISTER FOR EMAIL REMINDER – FREE TO ATTEND
SS2102, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St George Street
Monday, March 27, 2023
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
In-person lecture
Panel discussion to follow
Following his talk, Professor Zhao will be joined by Ryan Lanyon, Manager of New Technology and Innovation at the TTC, and Professor Amer Shalaby, Director of the Transit Analytics Lab, for a panel discussion moderated by Professor Marianne Hatzopoulou, Director of Positive Zero Transport Futures.
AbstractThe transportation world is booming but in flux: the industry is being reshuffled, communities and cities are often confused and anxious about their mobility future, and the ecosystem pressure is daunting. Mobility is in the midst of profound transformation with an unprecedented combination of new technologies: autonomy, electrification, connectivity, and AI, meeting new evolving priorities: decarbonization, public health, and social justice. In this talk, Prof. Zhao sharply focuses on two forces that drive the mobility future: behavior and computation. Behaviorally he investigates is travel social? is travel emotional? and is travel perceptual? He uses a behavioral lens to examine mobility technologies and translates business decisions into a set of behavioral inquiries. Every single organization or company exists to change someone’s behavior. Computationally, he brings AI and machine learning methods to sense, predict, nudge and regulate travel behavior. He demonstrates the power of bringing behavioral and computational thinking together, in order to make mobility services predictive, individualized, and experimental. He will illustrate how to design multimodal mobility systems that integrate shared and autonomous services with public transit.
Bio
Jinhua Zhao is the Edward and Joyce Linde Associate Professor of City and Transportation Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He integrates behavioral and computational thinking to decarbonize the global mobility system. Prof. Zhao founded and directs the MIT Mobility Initiative, coalescing the Institute’s efforts on transportation research, education, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement. He hosts the MIT Mobility Forum, curating cutting-edge transportation research across the globe. Prof. Zhao directs the JTL Urban Mobility Lab and Transit Lab at MIT. He leads long-term collaborations with transportation authorities and operators worldwide, including London, Chicago, Washington DC, and Hong Kong and enables cross-culture learning between cities in North America, Asia and Europe. He develops methods to sense, predict, nudge, and regulate travel behavior, and designs multimodal mobility systems that integrate autonomous vehicles, shared mobility, and public transport. He is the co-founder and chief scientist for TRAM Global, a mobility decarbonization venture.
Link: web.mit.edu/jinhua/www
About the panel
Marianne Hatzopoulou, moderator
Marianne Hatzopoulou is Professor in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Transport Decarbonization and Air Quality. She leads the Transportation and Air Quality (TRAQ) research group studying the interactions between transportation, air quality, climate change, and public health; she published 150 publications on these topics. Prof. Hatzopoulou is also the Director of Positive Zero Transport Futures, a living lab ecosystem for testing transport decarbonization innovations with positive societal outcomes. Prof. Hatzopoulou is on the Canadian team of researchers who were the 2021 recipients of the NSERC Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering. In 2022, she received the University of Toronto Engineering Alumni Network 2T5 Mid-Career Achievement Award. She is an associate editor of the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment and the incoming chair for the Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on “Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation” (2023-2026).
Ryan Lanyon
Ryan Lanyon is the Manager of New Technology and Innovation at the TTC, having recently joined after a decade with the City of Toronto. Ryan has been working in local government for more than 20 years, starting out in demand management and providing online ridematching services to commuters. More recently, Ryan led the West Rouge Automated Shuttle Trial, developed the Transportation Innovation Zone at Exhibition Place, and recommended policies to City Council regarding micromobility. Ryan is also learning and researching methods of applying strategic foresight to prepare Toronto’s transportation system for emerging and future transportation technologies.
Amer Shalaby
Dr. Amer Shalaby is Professor and Bahen/Tanenbaum Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is the founding Director of the Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) and Co-Director of the Centre for Automated and Transformative Transportation Systems (CATTS). Dr. Shalaby is specialized in transit planning and scheduling, intelligent transit systems, transit operational management, transit system resilience, automated and connected transit technologies, and simulation and modelling of transportation systems. He has served on various technical committees and journal editorial boards. He also served on advisory panels of multiple transportation projects in Canada and internationally.
Presented with Mobility Network.
Autonomous Vehicles: How they can Transform Perceived Travel Times and Toronto’s Transportation Network in the Process (MASc Thesis presentation)
Candidate: Brenden Lavoie
Supervisor: Prof. Khandker Nurul Habib
Join Zoom Meeting: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/89348581091
Meeting ID: 893 4858 1091
Passcode: 172943
Abstract: Since almost the introduction of the automobile itself, people have long fantasized about the possibility of a self-driving car, leaving the passengers to read, sleep, or whatever else they wanted. Until recently, it was just that- a fantasy. However, recent developments suggest that Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) may soon become a reality, potentially bringing a massive shift in how we perceive travel times with it. This thesis looks to quantify how AVs might impact our perceptions of travel time and the kinds of activities that this time would be used for via a Stated Preference (SP) survey conducted in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). In addition, this thesis aims to better understand the factors that may influence AV adoption under different ownership structures. The results provide planners and engineers with an idea of the potential effects of AVs on travel demand and inform policy to help navigate this future.
Uncertainty in Quantification of Material Use of Single-Family Dwellings (PhD Departmental Defence)
Candidate: Aldrick Arceo
Supervisors: Profs. Shoshanna Saxe and Heather MacLean
Wednesday, March 29 @ 10 a.m.
Bahen Centre, Room B024