A team of U of T students earned second place overall at a recent international competition held by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).
The annual Seismic Design Competition (SDC), held at the University of California at Berkeley from March 31 to April 3, saw the U of T Seismic Design Team join four other Canadian universities for a total of 48 teams from institutions around the world.
In essence, teams design a model structure capable of surviving conditions simulating an earthquake. Each team designs a complex tall building model, made from balsa wood, which is tested on a shaking table. They are judged on their oral presentation, summary poster, their model’s architectural design, ability to fit within the design criteria and constraints, analytical prediction of their model performance and response of their model during shaking table testing.
The team of 10 attending the event, comprised of nine Civil Engineering students and one from Daniels Architecture, won first place for Best Architecture and garnered enough points, along with acknowledgment of their damping device and poster, to rate second place overall. This showing is the best U of T has seen at the SDC, bettering a 2022 first-place Architecture award.
Under the guidance of faculty advisor CivMin’s Professor Constantin Christopoulos, and led by co-captains Sacha Morin (Year 3 CivE) and Joyce Zhong (Year 3 CivE), the team constructed their tall building model in Toronto, then shipped it to California.
“We are very proud of the U of T seismic Design Team for this great achievement,” says Christopoulos, recounting the dedication of the team to the tasks and ultimate delivery. “The students put in a tremendous effort for many months, learning new engineering concepts, developing their designs, building numerical models, getting better at building their structure, running shake-table tests, etc. In addition, they showed great organizational skills in putting together and coordinating a large team, finding donors, organizing their trip and finally representing U of T at UC Berkeley so well!“
Isobel Forrest (Year 3 CivE) recounts the logistics of seeing their entry shipped to the venue successfully, “We’d shipped the tower to a nearby UPS store and had been notified it had arrived a day early, so we had the perfect time to pick it up on Saturday. The new shipping method – using a cardboard box rather than a wooden crate – was successful! The tower arrived without any major breaks and the box was light enough for Freddy and Naveen to carry the 20-minute walk to the hotel.”
The most nerve-racking of tests, the shake table, saw U of T secure success with the stability of its design. Forrest relays, “When it was time for our shake, we were pretty confident our tower would survive both ground motions but were still nervous. Of course, our tower survived very well.”
By Phill Snel
A full team roster for the U of T Seismic Design Team:
Co-Captains
Joyce Zhong
Sacha Morin
Logistics
Isobel Forrest
Charlie Miller
Design & Analysis
Luana Zang
Freddy Fisher
Harry Chen
Carman Xu
Fabio Karanja
Mihir Agarwal
Dana Bou Saab
Puneet Cheema
Maya Richman
Architecture
Joseph Chen
Madison Munro
Leila Rashidian
Sharon Kim
Construction
Naveen Black
Kevin Xu
Brian Tobing
Nivin Khan
Noor Aghili
Maryam Rameen
Bans Kim
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April 5, 2025 | CBC
April 3, 2025 | CBC Online
April 2, 2025 | The Globe and Mail – Globe Drive Urban Mobility Summit
Cameron Goss (Year 4 CivE) was honoured with Pomerleau‘s Excellence Award at their inaugural Toronto Intern Appreciation Dinner on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
Goss successfully completed his PEY Co-op, extending it to an 18-month role, with Pomerleau’s project team at the University of Toronto Academic Wood Tower (UTAT) and was the only student in the Toronto region, out of 14 student winners across Canada, to receive the award.
“Cameron consistently exceeded expectations, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to excellence and a strong drive to embrace new challenges. His growth throughout this internship has been remarkable, and we are excited to see his continued development within the Toronto office and the broader Pomerleau family,” says CivMin alumnus Kristopher Deutschendorf (CivE 1T6+PEY, MEng 1T9) Superintendent at Pomerleau. “It has been a privilege to mentor and work alongside such a talented and dedicated individual.”
Goss reflects on his appreciation for the award and his future career, “This award is a testament to the investment that people like [Deutschendorf], the entire UTAT team, and the Pomerleau family have made in me. I’m excited to return to Pomerleau this spring to continue learning and take on the challenges this industry has to offer.”
This event was the last of the Pomerleau Intern Appreciation Dinner series after previously hosting events in Halifax, Vancouver, Victoria, and Ottawa. These gatherings brought together students from multiple universities, mentors, leaders and Pomerleau’s academic partners. This past year, 65 students completed 80 internships in the Atlantic Region, Ontario and British Columbia, with only 14 students across Canada receiving recognition with the Excellence Award. They gained hands-on experience, growing their skills, and making meaningful contributions to the company’s projects.
By Galina Nikitina
A team of U of T students won first place at the sixth iteration of the University of Toronto IMI Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Competition on Saturday, March 22, 2025. The competition is hosted by the University of Toronto Institute for Management & Innovation (IMI) at the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus (UTM).
Team members include CivMin graduate students Sebastian Villada Rivera (CivMin MASc student), Mwendwa Kiko (CivMin PhD student), Timotéo Frelau (CivMin PhD student) and Hesam Rashidi (CivMin PhD student) and Computer Science student Jacob Klimczak (Year 3 CompSci).
The team presented their Agent-based simulation and contrastive denoiser model thesis at the finalist presentation at the Innovation Complex at UTM. Alongside the finalist presentation, the team also competed in the poster competition, showcasing their work to a general audience. The team finished first in both the finalist competition and the poster competition, winning a total of $15,500. The event offers a total prize payout of $30,000 for competitors.
The competition, primarily sponsored by Scotiabank, invites undergraduate and graduate students across all the University of Toronto to showcase their capabilities in computational science, math, and statistics. As part of the competition, students develop cutting-edge machine learning models to support financial institutions and law enforcement in the fight against financial crime. The theme of this year’s competition was “identifying anomalies in financial data”, where competing teams were tasked with developing novel solutions to detect anomalies in synthetic customer data. Over 350 students across 72 teams registered in the competition.
March 21, 2025 | Bay Ward Bulletin
Distinguished alumnus and donor Paul Cadario (CivE 7T3, Hon LLD 1T3) has had a significant impact on the lives of thousands of students.
His passion for education and community development is reflected through his generous contributions to student scholarships and university infrastructure. His transformational gifts include establishing the Paul Cadario Chair in Global Engineering, Experiential Learning Student Awards In Engineering, Social Impact Internships in Engineering, and the Paul Cadario Civil Engineering Award.
For U of T Giving Day — a 24-hour fundraising campaign on March 26 — writer Kristina Kazandjian spoke with Cadario about his journey from civil engineering to the World Bank, the impact of scholarships on his education, and the importance of giving back.
What are your thoughts on engineering as a profession that can lead you anywhere?
Engineers are trained to see systems and operate within complex environments. These skills are invaluable in a wide range of fields that engineers take up with great success, from technology to law to business.
For example, my own field, global development and poverty eradication, involves intricate economic, financial and political systems that evolve rapidly and sometimes unpredictably.
The adaptability that an engineering education provides makes it a great way to open doors to countless opportunities.
What was the first donation you made to U of T and what was the inspiration behind the gift?
The first donation I remember was to support a modest scholarship; as a young World Bank staffer with a mortgage, it was all I could scrape together at the time. But it felt important to do so. It was my way of saying thank you for the U of T entrance scholarship, and for the Inco scholarship that covered my tuition.
This financial aid meant that my mother, who was widowed young, didn’t have to worry about supporting me through university. The scholarships I received meant I could work summer jobs related to engineering, gaining practical skills before graduation. Measuring water currents and temperatures at future Ontario Hydro generating sites and examining municipal services in Inuit communities in Nunavut gave me real-world insights into how engineering impacts communities.
You chose a somewhat unconventional career path after engineering: the World Bank. How did your time there shape your approach to philanthropy and giving back?
It’s fair to say that graduating from civil engineering, specialized in urban transport and the environment made me close to being a social scientist and comfortable with quantitative economics and data analysis. This skill set was invaluable when I joined the World Bank, which still hired many engineers due to its origins in reconstruction and development.
For example, my training helped me explain to colleagues why groundwater irrigation on the Greek side of a river would impact groundwater on the Turkish side as well, and the political problems that might raise. Another example: an architect colleague and I concluded that a government’s interest in an urban freeway had more to do with who owned the property than it did with inflated traffic counts. The hours I’d spent counting cars turning from McCaul onto College Street during Traffic Engineering and analyzing the number of homes the Scarborough Expressway would cut through taught me to consider the broader impact of investments on real people.
Ultimately, philanthropy is about making a tangible difference in people’s lives, whether through better classrooms and labs for students or ensuring that the brightest minds have access to education regardless of their financial means.
You’ve made significant contributions to the University of Toronto, mostly to student awards. What motivates your generosity toward the university and why is student access so important?
I owe my education to the generosity of others, having attended U of T and Oxford on scholarships. Giving back is my way of paying it forward and ensuring that talented students can attend U of T regardless of their financial situation.
On top of that, my volunteer work since graduating has given me a deep understanding of all the incredible teaching and research happening at U of T. I want to support, maintain and expand that excellence.
How do you see your philanthropic efforts benefiting the next generation of students and the broader community?
Our future depends on having great scholars and teachers advancing knowledge. I’m thrilled with the impact the Centre for Global Engineering has had, from bringing water innovation to poor communities to advancing rapid diagnostics for health centres.
Graduates from U of T Engineering and the Munk School have gone on to influential roles in government, consulting, banking and other sectors, reflecting well on U of T’s academic community. Investments in facilities for the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering and University College create spaces for learning and discussion. Bringing people together in this way is what great research universities do.
Can you share a story or moment that made you especially proud of your involvement with the university?
There are many moments, but celebrating Geoff Hinton’s Nobel Prize in Stockholm stands out.
His work on artificial intelligence has had a profound impact on science and our daily lives, highlighting the importance of addressing the ethical and societal implications of technological advancements. It’s moments like these that make me proud to support U of T.
For someone interested in giving back but unsure where to start, what would you recommend as the first step?
Volunteer. Learn about what’s happening at U of T in a field that excites you and talk to a favourite professor about how you can get involved.
Engage with your community and share how U of T and other post-secondary institutions contribute to society. Encourage young people to consider U of T for their education and future careers.
By Kristina Kazandjian
Two CivMin students were among the worthy recipients who received recognition at the U of T Engineering Student Leadership Reception on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
The University of Toronto Student Leadership Awards (UTSLA) recipients from CivMin include Priya Jadav (CivMin MEng student) and Janishan Jeyarajah (Year 4, CivE) who was also recognized for his 3T5 Second-Mile Award.
UTSLAs recognize students in their final year of study, with a minimum cumulative GPA (CGPA) of 2.70. Students may be nominated by staff, faculty or alumni. All nominees must have at least one year of significant volunteer leadership and high-impact service in the year immediately prior to the current nomination period.
Jadav’s citation:
Priya Jadaz is recognized for their impactful leadership as C0-Chair of FASE Ilead Grad, where they organized large-scale events, fostering leadership skills and community engagement among U of T graduate students, creating opportunities for growth, collaboration and cross-disciplinary connections.
Jeyarajah’s citation:
Janishan led the CSCE – U of T Chapter as President, organizing events like workshops, seminars and networking sessions to provide students with valuable professional development opportunities.
A full list of student award recipients is posted online.
