That was the consensus of leading thinkers, academics, engineers and students who gathered at 91��ɫ's Keele campus on April 21 for "Envisioning the Renaissance Engineer", a day-long workshop to outline the academic promise for the University's expanded School of Engineering.

“This shall be a school of unique and new design,” said Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering and host of the workshop. "Once completed," he said, "the School of Engineering will have an enormous impact on the field of engineering in Canada and beyond.

Janusz Kozinski

“How do we see engineering in the future?” said 91��ɫ’s President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, in his welcoming remarks. “Our vision is the creation of problem solvers who are broadly educated and socially responsible. We want to build a faculty that is inclusive in every respect.”

Underpinning this vision for the School of Engineering will be academic partnerships with Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business and 91��ɫ's other faculties.

For philanthropist Pierre Lassonde, chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation, whose generous donation of $25 million to 91��ɫ has made possible the expansion of the engineering school, attending the event one day after celebrating his birthday, along with the anticipated discussion of the concept of the renaissance engineer, were gifts worthy of 65 candles.

In his welcome to the workshop participants, Lassonde described his vision for the engineer of the future. The renaissance engineer, he said, must be like Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer. Renaissance engineers would be able to create their own masterpieces, dream and design innovative technical solutions to problems, be entrepreneurial in business and understand the romance of lifelong learning.

Pierre Lassonde

“It is a momentous time. I find myself looking forward and backward,” he said. “Our engineers, our graduates must be fully equipped, fully ready for any situation they encounter. Builders, creative people, developers of solutions – they must not be harnessed by the stiffness of earlier generations. In the future, new approaches, new fixes, flexible men and women are what will be required.”

The workshop began with a keynote address by Diane Freeman, an engineering consultant, Waterloo city councillor and the past president of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. The day continued with morning and afternoon discussions. Technical presentations on entrepreneurship and project-based learning rounded out the day.

Diane Freeman

“The word ‘renaissance’ speaks of revival and of rebirth,” Freeman said. “Aptly, it refers to seasons of transition and to change makers. This is what engineers are, not just automobile designers.”

She spoke about the need for creative solutions by engineers to solve deeply rooted problems. Freeman called for engineers to become involved in public policy and stressed the need for collaboration between engineers, citizens and public policy makers.

Highlights of the day's panel discussions

The Future Engineers Session that followed featured Marisa Sterling of the Professional Engineers of Ontario; Tom Lee, chief education officer, Quanser Inc.; and Sal Alajeck, global engineering team lead, Engineers Without Borders.

Sterling said three characteristics should be encouraged in the engineers of the future – flexibility, strategic thinking and entrepreneurial spirit. “Engineers would need to continually evolve, adopt a strategic mindset and look for future gaps, opportunities and cycles.”

In addition to current trends in engineering, Freeman highlighted that there would be a need for new kinds of engineers in areas such as seismic engineering and entrepreneurial engineering.

Lee said that future engineers should be equipped to handle global challenges and issues such as climate change and renewable energy. He noted that elementary students are making robots and engineering fundamentals are now being taught in some Ontario high schools, something he said was not being recognized by universities.

Alajeck suggested engineering programs consider the big picture, including teaching engineers to be better communicators and offering interdisciplinary studies in creative problem solving and system thinking. "Can they be a loving engineer with the ability to transcend relationships and build communities? Can they change the givens? Would the approach to the renaissance engineer be additive or holistic?" asked Alajeck. "Can 91��ɫ's School of Engineering challenge the existing framework of engineering education or go against the will of industry?"

From left, Sal Alajeck, Tom Lee and Marisa Sterling

The afternoon Renaissance Engineer Session featured 91��ɫ natural science Professors Richard Jarrell and Edward Jones-Imhotep speaking about trends that they think would affect the renaissance engineer. 

Jarrell said he was worried about the text and e-mail heavy world of non-present communications, which he called socially bleak.

"We need to be citizens first. Citizens have adaptability and are present in the world. They are taught to move about and seek a broader education," he said."Flexibility, adaptability and broad-based education are important. There is a need to be nimble and move into a variety of careers because the broader the education, the more useful the engineer, and the better the citizen, the better the communicator and the more visionary the human being."

"Renaissance has an element of rebirth, but also of recovering what has been lost," said Jones-Imhotep. He cited Galileo Galilei and other renaissance scientists of the 1600s. Many, he noted, were in essence "renaissance engineers". They were also musicians and they actively explored and embraced other domains, including art, music and languages.

Following the discussion, engineering Professor John Orr of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass., explored project-based learning.

Orr's presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring Troy d'Ambrosio, director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah, and Gabriel Chan of the peer-to-peer learning platform NoteWagon.

Troy d'Ambrosio

They discussed how entrepreneurial engineers develop solutions to everyday problems. Both d'Ambrosio and Chan highlighted the importance of universities in encouraging and incubating business and engineering start ups. They highlighted that business planning is a fundamental and integral skill for renaissance engineers. d'Ambrosio described the experience of the University of Utah and its engineering school's effort to marry business with engineering, which resulted in creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah.

The day ended with a thoughtful observation from Lassonde. "Aspire to inspire, before you expire."

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Four 91��ɫ professors will address these questions as part of the next 91��ɫ Circle presentation on Saturday, Oct. 29. As with previous 91��ɫ Circle Lecture & Lunch events, there is plenty being offered for inquiring minds. Organizers have planned a full day of inspiring lectures by some of the University’s leading thinkers.

"Our new season opens with a torrent of new ideas and useful knowledge," says 91��ɫ President Emerita Lorna R. Marsden, coordinator of the 91��ɫ Circle."Come to the Lecture & Lunch to hear these 91��ɫ professors and find out why students don't want to miss a single class."

For full details, visit the Lecture & Lunch webpage on the 91��ɫ Circle website.

The event kicks off with a welcome and overview of what's new on campus by Gary Brewer, 91��ɫ's vice-president finance & administration. Brewer will provide an update on the progress of the Toronto-91��ɫ Spadina Subway Extension and the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Can you blame the financial crisis on mathematicians?

During the 2008 financial crisis, some commentators blamed the problem on “too many math PhDs”. 91��ɫ mathematics Professor Thomas Salisbury (right) has something to say about that point. Join Salisbury as he unravels the basis for this claim and considers whether it is actually fair or not. He will describe the role of sophisticated modern mathematics in today's financial sector. Salisbury will also comment on his own work involving a new generation of retirement savings products that combine traditional insurance with the tools of mathematical finance. 

A professor and former department chair in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Salisbury teaches financial engineering at 91��ɫ, is director of analytics for the Quantitative Wealth Management Analytics group (QWeMA), and leads the Finsurance project at MITACS. He chaired the task force that initiated the 2007 revision of the Ontario grade 12 curriculum and subsequently served on the Ontario Minister of Education's curriculum council. Salisbury has also served terms as the deputy director of the Fields Institute and as president of the Canadian Mathematical Society.

Canadian Utopias: A Short History

The utopian history of the United States began with the Puritan settlers in Massachusetts and includes a wide variety of utopian attempts throughout the country’s history. The histories of Canadian utopias are less studied. In his presentation to 91��ɫ Circle members, Professor Colin Coates (right) will examine the Canadian experience of utopian endeavours, exploring the themes which link these attempts from the 17th-century to the 1980s. This historical review will include a look at a number of utopian settlements in Canada since the 17th-century, including the counter-reformation settlement at Ville-Marie (Montréal), the Hutterites and Doukhobors in Western Canada, and a range of socialist and agrarian settlements.

Coates holds the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Cultural Landscapes at Glendon College, where he teaches in the Canadian Studies Program. In July 2011, he became director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at 91��ɫ. He is also president of the newly formed Canadian Studies Network – Réseau d’études canadiennes, an association dedicated to the scholarly study of Canada. A specialist in the history of early French Canada and environmental history, he has been conducting research on Canadian utopias since coming to 91��ɫ in 2003.

When did walking become such a balancing act?

Over the past century, intense research and debate has attempted to address the question: How do we bipedal animals stand and walk so well? Standing and walking are not nearly as simple as they may appear. Both emerge from a complex organization of neuromuscular commands that originate from the top of the brain to the bottom of the spinal cord. These commands are shaped by our voluntary intentions to move, by involuntary responses that are elicited by events like being bumped, and by sensory information that is constantly flowing in from the eyes, the ears, the skin, the muscles, and the joints.  

Join 91��ɫ health Professor William Gage (right) as he explores why older individuals are at greater risk of falling than younger individuals, and what we know about changes in standing and walking that occur with age. He’ll examine how osteoarthritis and joint replacement surgery affect walking and why muscle strength and walking performance never return to “normal” post-surgery. And he will look into new technologies that are changing the way researchers think about standing and walking, and how they are measured.  

Gage is the associate dean of research and innovation in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health and a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science, where he teaches a graduate level course in biomechanics and neuromuscular control of posture and gait. He holds scientific appointments as an associate scientist in the Centre for Stroke Recovery at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, and as scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Gage is particularly interested in how balance and walking are affected by age, by joint disease (arthritis), and by stroke.

Pagans and Parties: The Haunting History of Halloween

History Professor Nick Rogers (right) is well known for his study of British social history, but he has also written a book on Halloween. In this talk he explains why Halloween has been a contentious holiday in the last two centuries and why trick-or-treating is a tame, American version of what Halloween is really about. In the last 50 years in particular, Halloween has been at the centre of debates about the use of urban space, sexual politics, Latino identities, and the rampant commercialism of horror. He concludes with a discussion of Halloween after 9/11, when the issue of terrorism posed problems for a holiday that specialized in scary thrills. Throughout, he will draw on the Canadian experience of the holiday as well as the United States. You do not have to come in costume! 

Rogers is one of the world’s leading scholars of the political culture of 18th-century British and Atlantic worlds. He has explored a remarkably diverse range of topics, from reactions to press gangs in British ports to religious conflicts amongst London’s crowds, from food riots to public reactions to blunders made by admirals, and even the genealogy of Halloween festivities. In 1999, Rogers was awarded the Wallace Ferguson Prize for his book Crowds, Culture and Politics in Georgian Britain, a study of 18th-century Britain that transformed our understanding of early modern Britain. In June 2011, Rogers was named a distinguished research professor for his sustained and outstanding scholarly, professional or artistic achievement largely accomplished at 91��ɫ.

This free series includes two events annually – in the spring and fall each year – and provides opportunities for learning and networking in a relaxed environment.

Lecture & Lunch events are open to members of the 91��ɫ Circle and their guests. New this year is a selection of lunches sourced from local farms that are available for purchase at the event, or you can bring your own lunch.

The 91��ɫ Circle receives generous support from 91��ɫ's Alumni Office (program partner) and and (print media sponsors).

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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