In the company of proud parents, friends and the Engineering community, 614 undergraduate and 230 graduate students packed into historic Convocation Hall June 18 before taking the next step in their vibrant and dynamic futures.
“As you leave campus this month, please know that you are not leaving our community behind,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “You are joining a new part of it – as an alumna or alumnus of U of T Engineering. You follow in the footsteps of over 40,000 Skule alumni who continue to make a difference around the world.”
In the first of two ceremonies for the Faculty that day, Professor Jonathan Rose addressed the audience, reminding students that their unique position as engineers enables them to transform ideas into reality.
In the afternoon, honorary graduand Indira Samarasekera, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta and world-renowned researcher, held the audience’s attention with stories of her own remarkable career, and the importance of pursuing excellence in everything you do. (Read more about Samarasekera.)
“Let me make this simple for you: be excellent,” said Samarasekera. “Taking risk is so fundamental to achieving excellence. Without it, you cannot push boundaries.”
This year’s many graduates have diverse and fascinating careers ahead of them, within the engineering disciplines and beyond. Below are just a few of the remarkable students who graduated this spring.
Alex Albanese just finished his PhD in the cutting-edge field of nanoparticles, and will soon start a postdoctoral position at MIT’s Koch Institute studying tissue engineering in the liver and responsive nanomaterials.
During his time at U of T, Albanese spearheaded Focal Point, a podcast interview series on the topic of biomedical engineering.
He advises fellow students to “take a global view of your skills and train them beyond research. It’s important to see the bigger picture, to know how to write and to communicate.”
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This fall,
Mary Qiu starts a masters of science in public health at Johns Hopkins University, where she hopes to pursue policy work and program development that improves access to healthcare around the world.
While at U of T, she won the Health Council of Canada's
Health Innovation Challenge. She also competed on the Varsity Blues Nordic ski team, volunteered in eastern Africa with a student-run NGO and spent a year in New Zealand on exchange.
The latter experience, she says, “not only taught me invaluable lessons, both from an academic and life perspective, but has helped to steer me in the direction that I am going in now.”
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After four years in the Engineering Science program, Afshin Ameri is heading to medical school at Johns Hopkins University, where he can continue helping others as he did during his time at U of T.
Ameri was co-president of Students Fighting Cancer (SFC), organizing the first SFC International Food Festival to raise $4,000 for SickKids Foundation and Movember Canada.
He co-founded the U of T Business Association (UTBA) and served as a panel member of the U of T Tribunal Board.
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She was also an active student leader, most recently as chair of the U of T chapter of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering.
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During his master of engineering, Bernard Moulins started a charity called Building Community that encouraged students to play creatively with children at a local mental health institute.
Now working in the renewable energy sector at ENERCON Canada, he hopes to continue strengthening community ties in the time ahead.
“I believed my peers had the interest and capacity to reach out and give back to other members of our larger Toronto community,” he said. “All that was missing was the means to do so.”
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During her undergraduate years,
Amanda Wai served as president of the U of T Volunteer Consulting Group, co-president of the U of T Consulting Association, director for women’s sports on the Engineering Athletic Association and was also a member of Leaders of Tomorrow.
She views her iron ring as “a symbol of my duty to society as an engineer, but also a reminder of all the good friends that I have made throughout my time at the university.”
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Working for Amazon.com – a job many only dream of – is
Jason Yakimovich’s back-up plan.
Following his undergraduate degree, Yakimovich is delaying his prestigious job offer to pursue a startup idea through the Entrepreneurship Hatchery. The company is called FuelWear, and they make smart clothing for skiers and snowboarders. The startup is his second, following a file-sharing software divvyi.
After his third year at U of T, Yakimovich also undertook a PEY placement at AMD Inc. in California.
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During his time in Engineering,
Jonathan Yam co-founded FIXO, a startup that uses smartphones to help landlords and tenants communicate more effectively.
Following graduation, he will be managing business operations for the company, which is expanding and currently incubated by the Next 36 Entrepreneurship Program. Yam has also received numerous awards for his academics and leadership, and has won several design and commerce competitions.
No matter what comes next, Yam said, “I will always be looking for a challenge and will make an impact in everything I do.”
During her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, Larissa Rodo developed an innovative self-assessment toolkit that improves safety in university labs, winning second prize in the 2014 Minerva Canada James Ham Safe Design Engineering Student Award contest.
