Rahul Kalvapalle

A U of T University Professor Emeritus, Hinton shared the honour with Princeton University's John J. Hopfield for discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks

Geoffrey Hinton, a University Professor Emeritus of computer science at the �ؿ�ζSM, has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Widely regarded as the “godfather of AI,” Hinton shared the prize with John J. Hopfield of Princeton University for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.

Hinton said he was “flabbergasted” at the honour as messages poured in from around the world.

“I had no expectations of this,” he told U of T News shortly after the win was announced in Stockholm Tuesday morning. “I am extremely surprised and I'm honoured to be included.”

He later told reporters at a press conference he was “in a cheap hotel in California” with no Internet and a poor phone connection when he was notified about his Nobel Prize.

“I was going to get an MRI scan today, but I think I’m going to have to cancel that.”

Hinton and Hopfield are credited with wielding tools from physics to advance basic research in the field. Specifically, Hopfield created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images in data, while Hinton invented a way to find properties in data and perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures.

“On behalf of the �ؿ�ζSM, I am absolutely delighted to congratulate University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton on receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “The U of T community is immensely proud of his historic accomplishment.”

Hinton was selected for the high-profile award for his use of the Hopfield network – invented by his co-laureate – as the foundation for a new network called the Boltzmann machine that can learn to recognize elements within a given type of data.

The Boltzmann machine can classify images and generate new examples of the pattern on which it was trained, with Hinton and his graduate students later building on this work to help usher in today’s rapid development of machine learning – a technology that now underpins a host of applications ranging from large language models such as ChatGPT to self-driving cars.

Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

“The laureates’ work has already been of the greatest benefit. In physics we use artificial neural networks in a vast range of areas, such as developing new materials with specific properties,” said Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

The win by Hinton and Hopfield was covered by media and other organizations around the globe, with The New York Times describing the Nobel committee’s decision as “an acknowledgement of AI’s growing significance in the way people live and work,” and the prestigious journal Nature noting Hinton’s innovations now “form the basis of many state-of-the-art AI tools.”

Hinton joined U of T as a professor of computer science in 1987 after working in various universities in the U.K., where he was born, and in the United States. He went on to be named a University Professor – U of T’s highest academic appointment – in 2006.

Driven by a desire to understand the human brain, Hinton and his graduate students built on his early efforts with an array of developments that paved the way for an explosion in deep learning. One of the first cohort of researchers supported by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Hinton’s work helped catapult Canada to its current status as a global leader in AI development.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel Prize in Physics, noted Hinton persisted with his research even as the scientific community lost interest in artificial neural networks during the 1990s, and ultimately “helped start the new explosion of exciting results” in the 2000s.

Hinton, for his part, said during a U of T press conference Tuesday evening that his achievements wouldn’t have been possible without support for curiosity-based research – something he said Canada was good at.

He added that his shock at winning the Nobel stemmed from the fact that, while his work has drawn on statistical physics, he isn’t a physicist himself – and even “dropped out of physics after my first year in university because I couldn’t do the complicated math.”

He also said that he plans to donate the money associated with the prize to various charities, including one that provides jobs for neurodiverse young adults.

Hinton likened the influence of AI to that of the Industrial Revolution during a virtual press conference with the academy earlier in the day – “But instead of exceeding people in physical strength, it’s going to exceed people in intellectual ability.”

He added that the rise of AI “is going to be wonderful in many respects,” citing health care and workplace productivity as two areas poised to benefit hugely from the technology. “But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control,” Hinton said.

In early 2023, Hinton quit his job at Google and focused on sounding the alarm about the risks of rapid and unfettered AI development. He outlined his reasoning in a 46-minute U of T video last year, urging young researchers to focus their efforts on the emerging field of AI safety – a message he repeated in media interviews following his Nobel win.

He has continued to tackle the issue at lectures and public appearances around the world, including at U of T and at Cambridge University, his alma mater.

“I am thrilled Geoffrey Hinton, an esteemed colleague and dear friend has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics,” said Melanie Woodin, dean of U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science.

“Geoff is an historic visionary whose groundbreaking work in deep learning and neural networks has made U of T and the Toronto region a leading global centre for AI. And it speaks volumes about his integrity that while he helped lay the foundation for the artificial intelligence revolution, he is also one of the leading voices urging that we develop this technology responsibly and ethically.”

Similarly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lauded Hinton for his efforts to realize responsible AI development, releasing a statement and writing on X: “Geoffrey, we’re glad to have a mind like yours developing safe and responsible AI for the world.”

Geoffrey Hinton delivers a lecture about responsible AI to U of T students and faculty (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Hinton, who is co-founder and chief scientific adviser at the Vector Institute in Toronto, joins an illustrious list of past Nobel Prize in Physics winners that includes Albert Einstein and Marie Curie (who also won a Nobel in chemistry). The prestigious award is the latest in a long list of accolades for Hinton. They include the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award – widely considered “the Nobel Prize of computing” – in 2019 alongside collaborators Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio.

Hinton is the fourth U of T faculty member to win a Nobel Prize over the years.

Sir Frederick Banting and J.J.R Macleod won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work with Charles Best in 1923 to isolate insulin. In 1986, John Polanyi was one of three winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the new field of reaction dynamics.

Other members of the U of T community, including several alumni, have received or been associated with the international honour.

Oliver Smithies, a past professor at U of T, was a joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007 for discovering the “principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.”

Also in 2007, Professor Robert Jefferies shared in the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in which he was a key Canadian representative as an international leader in arctic science and global change biology.

In 1999, U of T Professor James Orbinski accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Doctors Without Borders, which was recognized for its humanitarian work.

Anti-nuclear activist and U of T alumna Setsuko Thurlow accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway in 2017 on behalf the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

In 2001, Michael Spence, an alumnus of �ؿ�ζSM Schools, was one of three joint winners of the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to analyses of markets with asymmetrical information.

Bertram Brockhouse, who completed two degrees at U of T, was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994 for the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter.

Arthur Schawlow, an alumnus, was one of three winners of the same prize in 1981 for his contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy.

In 1998, U of T alumnus Walter Kohn was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for development of the density-functional theory.

Former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who received a bachelor’s degree from U of T, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.

In photos: U of T marks opening of Indigenous landscape project at Hart House Green

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 13:34:50 +0000

In photos: U of T marks opening of Indigenous landscape project at Hart House Green

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 09/27/2024 - 09:34

Cutline

The pathway that extends along the east side of Ziibiing follows the trail of Taddle Creek, a buried stream running under the St. George campus that once served as a gathering place for Indigenous Peoples (photo by Polina Teif)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Our Community

Ziibiing

Indigenous Initiatives

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Landmark

Truth and Reconciliation

Subheadline

The Ziibiing space includes a central pavilion, amphitheatre and plantings of medicinal trees and shrubs

The �ؿ�ζSM commemorated the official opening of Ziibiing, an Indigenous landscape project that uses architecture, horticulture and storytelling to honour Indigenous cultures and provide a space for community members to gather, learn and host ceremonies on the St. George campus.

The opening celebration for Ziibiing, held Monday Sept. 23, included a traditional Elder’s opening, a welcome song and the burning of a sacred fire – the first fire to be lit in Ziibiing’s pavilion and one of several Indigenous ceremonial practices that are welcome on all three U of T campuses.

Here’s how the event unfolded through the lens of U of T photographers:

(photo by Polina Teif)

Michael White, director of First Nations House, tends to the sacred fire in the Ziibiing pavilion as Jenny Blackbird, resource centre and programs co-ordinator at First Nations House, looks on.

Ceremonial fires, smudging and pipe ceremonies are among the important Indigenous practices that take place on U of T’s three campuses.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Blackbird performs a traditional song to welcome U of T community members to the celebration.

(photo by Polina Teif)

The vision for Ziibiing was developed by an Indigenous Advisory Committee in collaboration with the Indigenous Design Studio at Brook McIlroy, who in turn consulted with Indigenous students, faculty, staff, the Council of Indigenous Initiatives Elders' Circle and representatives of local First Nations.

The project was born out of Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin, the final report of the Steering Committee for the �ؿ�ζSM Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which outlined the need for dedicated Indigenous spaces on campus.

From left: James Bird and Shannon Simpson (photos by Polina Teif)(photo by Polina Teif)

Several members of the U of T community spoke at the event.

“Our voices, traditions and histories are woven into the fabric of this new landscape, sending a clear signal that we are seen, that we matter and that we belong,” said Shannon Simpson, senior director of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and a member of the Mississaugas of Alderville First Nation, in her remarks at the ceremony.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Ziibiing is named for the Anishinaabemowin word for “river,” a reference to the Taddle Creek waterway that once flowed through the area and served as a gathering place for Indigenous Peoples.

It’s an example of how Indigenous design and Western architectural disciplines can come together to assist in placemaking, according to James Bird, a Knowledge Keeper from the Nehiyawak and Dene Nation and PhD candidate in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

“In the practice of architecture, there are ways one can approach the creation of space and its activation through design," said Bird. “This alternative viewpoint assigns agency to the metaphysical aspects that exist within Indigenous cultures and in turn allows metaphysical relationships to be made into physical form.”

(photo by Polina Teif)

In her remarks to the event’s attendees, Kelly Hannah-Moffat, U of T’s vice-president, people strategy, equity and culture, said that, in addition to serving a vital role as a teaching and ceremonial space for Indigenous students, employees and Elders, Ziibiing will encourage the entire U of T community to “find innovative ways to Indigenize this institution.”

She noted the space has already hosted a recent land-based learning workshop that invited members of the U of T community to deepen their understanding of Indigenous world views, teachings and connections to the land. The workshop was organized by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, with future sessions scheduled for Oct. 22 and Nov. 19.

(photo by Polina Teif)

The Ziibiing pavilion is supported by 13 columns that symbolize the 13 moons of the year. They circle a fire pit where ceremonial fires may be lit and maintained by Indigenous firekeepers.

(photo by David Lee)

The creation of Ziibiing took place alongside the Landmark Project, which aimed to revitalize the historic core of the St. George campus.

Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice-president, operations and real estate partnerships, said U of T community members have already embraced Ziibiing, as well as the other new spaces, as evidenced by their increased use of the reimagined landscapes.

“We didn’t know what we didn’t have before,” he said.

'A transformative experience': U of T program gives first-year student - and aspiring surgeon - a head start

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 17:14:30 +0000

'A transformative experience': U of T program gives first-year student - and aspiring surgeon - a head start

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 09/12/2024 - 13:14

Cutline

Nasteha Omar is pursuing an honours bachelor of science in life sciences, and eyeing a specialist in molecular biology (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Subheadline

Nasteha Omar, who wants to study orthopedics, spent a high school semester at U of T Mississauga via the Support, Engage, Experience (SEE) UTM program

Nasteha Omar has long been interested in becoming an orthopedic surgeon – and thanks to a unique program at the �ؿ�ζSM Mississauga, the first-year student is already well on her way.

“I’ve had to go to hospital and be in contact with different orthopedic surgeons lots of times because of problems that I have myself,” she says. “And I found their careers really interesting from a young age. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do.”

While taking the first steps towards her goal at U of T Mississauga was always her intention – her family lives near the campus and her older sister is already a student – Omar got an early and up-close look at university life via the Support, Engage, Experience U of T Mississauga (SEE UTM) initiative, which invites Peel District high school students to spend a semester at U of T Mississauga to get a taste of post-secondary education.

It was nothing short of “a transformative experience,” says Omar, who was encouraged to apply for the initiative by her vice-principal at Erindale Secondary School. “It wasn’t only a chance to connect with peers and mentors, but also an opportunity to engage in programs that helped me enrich my academic and personal growth.”

Now a first-year student, Omar is pursuing an honours bachelor of science degree in life sciences and eyeing a specialist in molecular biology.

She says her SEE UTM experience allowed her to explore the sciences from a variety of lenses. One of the highlights was taking a course, "STEM in Society," that explores how the STEM fields intersect with society, culture and politics.

“I’ve always been interested in the sciences and STEM, so participating in a course that was more about the ethical side of ongoing situations in our world – and of science topics – really opened my eyes to different pathways that I want to explore,” Omar says of the course taught by Sheliza Ibrahim, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy.

In addition to exploring new intellectual ground, Omar also got a taste of hands-on scientific research in the Applied Perception & Psychophysics Laboratory, co-directed by Assistant Professors Anna Kosovicheva and Benjamin Wolfe of the department of psychology. There, Omar used MATLAB programming software to design an experiment to study how visual and auditory stimuli interact. “It was to show how our perception of time can be influenced by how we interpret events,” she says.

While Omar didn’t have time to test the experiment before her semester ended, she plans to do more lab work as an undergraduate student, picking up where she left off.

Alongside her SEE UTM experience, Omar also gained insight into U of T Mississauga's myriad resources and supports via the Black Access to Educational Excellence initiative (BAEE@UTM), which organizes events and networking opportunities aimed at helping Black high school students learn more about the campus community – and thrive once they get there.

For Omar, that means looking beyond her academic goals. She plans to get involved in student clubs, particularly anything that caters to her love of literature – she writes poems and fiction, and took part in the Caribbean & Black Writing Collective during her semester at the university. And she wants to start a non-profit tutoring organization by building on her high school experience founding the Erindale Secondary School chapter of Learn To Be, an NGO that provides free online tutoring.

“It was a great opportunity for students to not only gain volunteer hours but make connections with other students in an online tutoring format, where they tutored students from under-privileged families that wouldn’t be able to get extra help or access to educational resources outside of school,” she says. “I’d love to see it up and running at UTM if that would be a possibility.”

Omar remains in touch with some of her peers from the SEE UTM and BAEE@UTM programs, as well as the upper-year U of T Mississauga students who served as mentors.

“I feel like we were all able to grow really close as a community,” she says. “It helped me find my footing for what was to come when I enter university, so it was really amazing.”

In photos: U of T campuses spring to life as students move into residence, head to first day of class

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 13:00:15 +0000

In photos: U of T campuses spring to life as students move into residence, head to first day of class

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 09/03/2024 - 09:00

Cutline

Jacob Domingo Chan, third from left, was among many first-year students who received a helping hand as they moved into residences on U of T's three campuses ahead of the new school year (photo by Polina Teif)

Topic

Undergraduate Students

University College

The �ؿ�ζSM’s three campuses are abuzz with excitement as students from the Toronto region, across Canada and around the world kicked off a new school year.

The fall 2024 semester marked the first time that students on the St. George campus, U of T Scarborough and U of T Mississauga had their first day of classes on the same day, Sept. 3 – part of an effort to align key academic dates across the university.

AskMe Anything volunteers were also out in full force to offer tips and guidance, especially to the thousands of first-year students navigating the first day of their post-secondary education.

U of T President Meric Gertler welcomed new and returning students, as well as faculty, staff and librarians, in a video message released last week.

“[U of T] is an exciting place to be, and this is an exciting time to be a part of it,” he said.

Photographers were on hand across all three campuses in recent days to capture the sights – and energy – of a new academic year:

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Welcome signs wrap U of T’s main gates on the St. George campus as students make their way to and from classes on the first day of a new school year.

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

The weeks leading up to the first day of school featured plenty of enthusiasm as students and their families carted belongings into residences at U of T Mississauga.

(photo by Polina Teif)

At St. George, volunteers and residence staff were on hand to provide a warm welcome, refreshments and help hoisting bins and boxes.

(photo by Polina Teif)

“I was nervous at first, but everyone’s been so welcoming,” said University College student Cassidy Smith, who posed for an Aug. 25 photo with her mother as she moved into her dorm.

“There’s such a good energy around the place and I can feel that this is going to be like a second home to me."

(photo by Terrence Tong)

At U of T Scarborough, luggage carts – and several volunteers – helped ferry students’ belongings between the parking lot and residence buildings.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Gabriella Baichwal, who was born in Toronto and grew up in Chicago, joked that she “brought way too much stuff” to fill up her single room in Trinity College on the St. George campus.

“I brought all my clothes, a mini-fridge and all of this stuff, and I feel like a spoiled brat. But that’s OK – you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do,” said Baichwal, as her parents helped unload items from their vehicle’s roof.

Her father, Ravi Baichwal, whose own father went to grad school at U of T in the 1960s after moving from India, said he was “incredibly proud” of his daughter for following in her grandfather’s footsteps.

“I have that incredible pit of anxiety and hope all mixed up into one,” he said.

(photo by Polina Teif)

There were plenty of opportunities for students to meet new friends, showcase their school spirit and learn about extra-curricular opportunities at the tri-campus cheer-off event and clubs carnival held on the St. George campus ahead of the Labour Day long weekend.

(photo by Polina Teif)

More than 300 U of T clubs were present at the clubs carnival, an annual event organized by the U of T Students' Union. There is also a Student Groups Fair on Sept. 5 and 6 at U of T Mississauga, and a UTSC Clubs Fair at U of T Scarborough on Sept. 23.

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Orientation programs at U of T Mississauga included a painting activity that invited students to harness their creativity.

(photo by Terrence Tong)

It was all smiles at U of T Scarborough as students, friends and family settled in for the fall term.

Food for thought: First-year student campaigned for more nutritious, affordable meals in Niagara schools

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 14:29:41 +0000

Food for thought: First-year student campaigned for more nutritious, affordable meals in Niagara schools

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 08/28/2024 - 10:29

Cutline

Julianna Marcel, who graduated from Greater Fort Erie Secondary School in Fort Erie, Ont., will be studying at Rotman Commerce this fall (photo courtesy of Julianna Marcel)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Our Community

Back to School 2024

Faculty of Arts & Science

Rotman Commerce

Rotman School of Management

Undergraduate Students

Victoria College

Subheadline

As a high school student and Niagara Region school board trustee, Julianna Marcel led a successful effort to overhaul school cafeteria meals and secure funding for culinary education

Julianna Marcel was in Grade 10 when a teacher pulled her out of science class and asked if she’d be interested in joining the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN)’s student trustee senate.

“I said yes, despite not knowing what it was,” says Marcel of the group that serves as a bridge between the school board and student body.

It would prove to be a fateful decision for both Marcel and the school board.

Later elected to one of three student positions on the DSBN’s board of trustees, Marcel went on to lead a successful campaign to overhaul school cafeteria menus to make them more nutritious and affordable. The effort also helped secure funding for culinary education.

“It ended up being one of the most transformative experiences of my life, connecting me deeply with both the student body and the educational community," Marcel says.

Marcel, who will begin a bachelor of commerce degree at the �ؿ�ζSM this fall, decided to act when a survey revealed a significant demand for healthier, more affordable meal options.

“Students expressed concerns about the high cost and low quality of their food, which I found unacceptable,” she says. “I recognized the need for change and saw an opportunity to advocate for healthier food in schools while better supporting our students.”

As she attended Greater Fort Erie Secondary School in Fort Erie, Ont., Marcel educated herself on food services policy and finance and carried out research on the impact of nutrition on academic performance and student success.

With her adviser’s encouragement, Marcel shared her findings in a letter to the president of DSBN’s food service provider. A series of meetings followed and, ultimately, a revamp of cafeteria menus.

Next, Marcel turned her attention to campaigning for more resources for culinary education. This led to the DSBN allocating $500,000 in its 2023-24 budget to expand culinary education.

Marcel's contributions were recognized with an Ontario Public Student Trustee Leadership Scholarship, jointly awarded by the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and the Public Board Council of OSTA-AECO. The award citation noted that her work benefited some 37,500 students.

She's keen to highlight that the positive outcomes were the result of collective effort.

“I wouldn’t say that these changes are my accomplishments. They are a testament to what we can achieve when we listen to and involve students in decision-making processes,” she says.

The advocacy work led by Marcel benefited more than 37,000 students (photo courtesy of Julianna Marcel)

In addition to her trustee responsibilities and keeping up her grades, Marcel also made sure to carefully consider her post-secondary options. She participated in the U of T Faculty of Law’s youth summer programs in 2022 and 2023 – experiences that she says inspired her long-term ambition to attend law school at U of T and become a technology and corporate lawyer.

She says she is drawn to U of T’s vast array of resources and supports – and the diversity of its community.

“When I was picking between schools, I really did a deep delve into my top few choices and the �ؿ�ζSM has the most academic, extracurricular and career supports of any school that I researched,” says Marcel, who will pursue a specialist in finance and economics at Rotman Commerce as member of Victoria College.

“Coming to Toronto, I’m so excited to get to know everyone, learn more about the people and communities around me and meet so many international students.”

She intends to use her undergraduate years to enrich her understanding of how economics can be used to address societal problems.

“I’m drawn to economics because it offers a powerful framework for analyzing the challenges we face in society,” Marcel says. “Whether it’s understanding the causes of economic inequality or exploring the impacts of globalization or designing policies for sustainable growth, I believe economics provides the tools to critically access and influence the world around us.”

Marcel also plans to make time for her many hobbies while at university: she plays five musical instruments, enjoys soccer and basketball, and loves writing.

She hopes to start a tutoring business that engages U of T students in assisting high school and elementary learners, and wants to get involved in student groups at Rotman Commerce – particularly the Law Association, FinTech Association and Women in Business group.

"My ultimate goal is to support my community in every way that I can – not just in my first year but throughout my life," she says.

U of T ranked 1st in Canada, 26th globally by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 18:12:46 +0000

U of T ranked 1st in Canada, 26th globally by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 08/19/2024 - 14:12

Cutline

(photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Topic

Shanghai Ranking Consultancy

The �ؿ�ζSM is ranked first in Canada and 26th globally in the latest edition of ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s worldwide university ranking.

Among public universities, U of T placed sixth in North America and 15th overall in the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released last week. The ranking’s creators evaluated more than 2,500 universities to determine the 1,000 included in this year’s publication.

The Shanghai ranking comes on the heels of U of T’s strong performance in two other rankings this year: U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities Rankings and the QS World University Rankings, which respectively ranked U of T 17th and 25th overall.

“These results are a testament to the �ؿ�ζSM’s global reputation for scholarly excellence and high quality, impactful research across a wide range of disciplines,” said Trevor Young, U of T’s vice-president and provost.

“The credit goes to our entire academic and research community and their commitment to furthering knowledge, while working tirelessly to address some of the most complex global challenges of our time.”

The Academic Ranking of World Universities is based on six weighted measures of research and academic performance collected from third-party sources. They include: the number of alumni and faculty winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals; the number of highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories; the number of papers published in the prestigious journals Nature and Science; articles cited in major science and social sciences citation indices; and each institution’s per capita academic performance across all faculty members.

U of T, which ranked 24th in the 2023 edition of the ranking, was joined by two other Canadian universities in the top 100: the University of British Columbia (47th) and McGill University (74th).

The five highest ranked universities were Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley.

Overall, U of T continues to be the highest-ranked Canadian university and one of the top-ranked public universities in the five most closely watched international rankings: Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.

U of T startup Honeybee acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 14:55:48 +0000

U of T startup Honeybee acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 08/16/2024 - 10:55

Cutline

(photo courtesy of Leapcure)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Our Community

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

U of T Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Health Innovation Hub

Impact Centre

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

ONRamp

Startups

Subheadline

Co-founded by Catherine Chan and Weiwei Li, Honeybee Trials' platform helps clinical trial recruiters find, screen and manage patients for their research

Honeybee Trials, a �ؿ�ζSM startup that connects research teams with patients and study participants, has been acquired by global clinical trials company Leapcure in a deal that is poised to drive more inclusive and affordable trials that’s ultimately applicable to a broader population.

Co-founded by U of T alumni Catherine Chan and Weiwei Li, Honeybee built a web and mobile platform to help clinical trial teams attract, screen, recruit and manage study participants. Since its founding in 2019, the startup has connected over 30,000 patients and participants to more than 1,000 clinical trials across North America.

Leapcure, headquartered in California, offers an array of solutions that combines people-backed services with data-driven technologies to fill clinical trials for global sponsors and CROs, but can now expand affordable patient recruitment to institutional sites, private sites and biotech firms. Moreover, their work alongside patients and advocacy groups has significantly helped to reach underrepresented communities – a focus that will receive a boost following the purchase of Honeybee.

Chan, who earned a master’s degree in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s department of nutritional sciences, says the deal grew out of a desire to partner strategically with a larger company that could provide access to broader sectors within the clinical research world.

Catherine Chan (L) and Weiwei Li (supplied image)

“At Honeybee, we offered competitive pricing for academic and hospital sites, local CROs [contract research organizations] and biotech firms,” Chan says. “With this partnership, we’re able to provide services across all of the different types of trial scopes and sizes.”

She adds that both Honeybee and Leapcure have placed a strong focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility by helping researchers attract study participants of different ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientations – helping make clinical trials more equitable and reflective of the wider population.

“It’s important to us that there's a mission and vision alignment between the companies... it couldn’t be a better fit,” Chan said.

The asset purchase deal for an undisclosed amount, which was announced in an Aug. 13 press release, will see Chan transition from CEO of Honeybee to senior director of product at Leapcure.

“We’re excited to join forces with Catherine and Honeybee. They’ve been really focused on the newest recruitment technologies that are most impactful for both patients and research,” said Leapcure CEO Zachary Gobst. “A big reason that things came together was our alignment on impact first. It’s a credit to how they’ve been approaching their business the right way from the beginning."

Honeybee evolved out of the frustrations that Chan faced in recruiting study participants for her master’s thesis. Motivated to explore solutions, Chan created a prototype that would help match participants with trials; she then enrolled in a one-week accelerator program in the Impact Centre (now the Centre for Entrepreneurship) in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

She soon teamed up with Li, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s of applied science degrees from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, to co-found Honeybee. The startup later joined the Health Innovation Hub (H2i) accelerator and operated out of office space in U of T Entrepreneurship’s ONRamp facility prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With COVID-19 measures encouraging the adoption of digital tools by clinical research teams, Honeybee found itself well-placed to play an important role. “The pandemic provided an opportunity for many tech companies to scale as the market became more open-minded and ready to adopt technologies to help connect them day-to-day," Chan says. "We saw a rapid adoption of Honeybee’s technology during this time where people moved away from traditional recruitment and patient communications to the current age.

“Although digital adoption across other industries has grown quite rapidly, healthcare has lagged behind, rightfully so and for many reasons, but we’re glad the transformation is happening. Just five years ago, clinical trial coordinators were still using paper handouts to recruit on the street and paper calendars to schedule patients.

“The pandemic expedited researchers being able to meet people where they are.”

Chan says the acquisition by Leapcure will enable the rollout of tiered services ranging from low-cost, self-serve tiers – targeting research teams with more modest budgets – to higher levels of service that include dedicated management.

“I’m really excited about the solutions we now have to offer together as well as the next steps in how we’re going to disrupt clinical trials.”

Professor Paul Santerre, co-founder and director of H2i, hailed Chan as "a model outcome" of the accelerator's mission to empower innovators in translating their ideas into products and companies that tackle important problems.

“Catherine and her team’s achievements are transformative in terms of democratizing the recruitment of patients for clinical study cohorts," said Santerre, the Baxter Chair for Health Technology and Commercialization at the University Health Network and professor in the Faculty of Dentistry and Institute of Biomedical Engineering who is cross-appointed to the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.

"She has much to still teach us about the power of digital tools and their ethical use to achieve impact in clinical research trials – and this acquisition will accelerate that outcome."

U of T expands housing options for students via partnership with home-sharing platform

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:41:27 +0000

U of T expands housing options for students via partnership with home-sharing platform

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 07/15/2024 - 14:41

Cutline

From left to right: Jackie Tanner, SpacesShared’s chief experience officer, Rylan Kinnon, SpacesShared’s CEO, and Arlene Clement, U of T’s director, Housing and TCard services (photo by Sydney Maddock)

Topic

Subheadline

SpacesShared facilitates home-sharing arrangements between students seeking affordable housing near campus and older adults looking to earn rent from their spare rooms

As part of its efforts to provide more access to student housing, the �ؿ�ζSM has added a unique option that also helps address a community need near its three campuses: matching students in need of housing with older adults who have extra space in their homes.

The innovative offering is the result of a partnership between U of T and SpacesShared, an online platform that facilitates home-sharing agreements using a combination of algorithms and dedicated support staff.

Based in Toronto, SpacesShared was co-founded by U of T alumni and helps with every stage of the home-sharing process – from matching students and hosts to providing a platform for secure communication, carrying out background checks and processing rent payments

The partnership will enable U of T students to use SpacesShared to search for housing options near all three campuses, with U of T Housing Services encouraging homeowners in the Toronto area to sign up and help students secure a comfortable living environment – all while earning rental income for themselves.

“We’re excited to partner with SpacesShared and expand affordable housing options for students as well as offer older adults a way to leverage a spare bedroom for some extra income, company and companionship,” said Arlene Clement, director of Housing and TCard services at U of T Student Life. “This is addressing a need that we see in terms of affordable, safe housing and community connection.”

She added that homeowners and students interested in signing up for the platform can do so on the SpacesShared website or contact U of T Housing Services for guidance.

The partnership comes as U of T continues to seek out new ways to help students find suitable housing. In February, U of T announced that it acquired a 20-per-cent stake in the CampusOne residence building located near the St. George campus in a deal that gives the university preferential access to as many as 890 beds.

The university has also made headway on a number of new student residence buildings including Harmony Commons, which opened at U of T Scarborough last fall; the Oak House residence on Spadina Avenue, which is currently under construction; and the Phase IX Residence at U of T Mississauga, which is expected to be open in summer 2026.

As for SpacesShared, the platform provides yet another housing option for students while fostering mutually beneficial intergenerational interactions. SpacesShared also offers students the option of receiving discounts on their rent in exchange for helping with specific household tasks and chores.

“Home-sharing allows us to use the capacity that already exists in the community,” said Jackie Tanner, co-founder and chief experience officer at SpacesShared, who earned her master’s degree at U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “Older adults get to put their spare bedrooms toward earning extra income and getting a little bit of extra help around the house, and students get to find safe housing close to campus.”

After being vetted, both students and potential hosts set up a profile sharing information about themselves, including interests, hobbies and expectations around use of shared spaces in the home, guests, dietary restrictions and other lifestyle preferences. When a student reaches out to a prospective host, the pair can exchange messages and have video chats on the platform, with SpacesShared providing a comprehensive discussion guide to help determine the best fit. If the pair agree on a home-sharing arrangement, SpacesShared drafts an agreement for both parties to sign. Students then pay first and last months’ rent as a deposit – with the amount only forwarded to the host after the student confirms move-in.

SpacesShared then follows up with regular check-ins, with both hosts and students able to contact customer service for support.

“By pairing up these two demographics who have so much to offer one another, our aim is to provide a new way to facilitate a very old concept – home-sharing,” said co-founder and CEO Rylan Kinnon, who earned an honours bachelor of arts with a political science specialist and a minor in philosophy and history at U of T.

“We’re excited to be working with U of T to create housing relationships that are beneficial to both students and older adults.”

With U of T innovators front and centre, Collision conference wraps up five-year Toronto run

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 14:52:23 +0000

With U of T innovators front and centre, Collision conference wraps up five-year Toronto run

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 06/21/2024 - 10:52

Cutline

U of T alumna Nuha Siddiqui, co-founder and CEO of Erthos, on stage at the Collision tech conference (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Adina Bresge

Topic

Our Community

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

U of T Entrepreneurship

Alumni

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

Geoffrey Hinton

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Innovations & Partnerships Office

Research & Innovation

Startups

Budding entrepreneurs, leading scientists and future business leaders from the �ؿ�ζSM community played a leading role at the 2024 Collision tech conference in downtown Toronto.

Running over three days this week, the conference drew some 40,000 attendees from across the spheres of tech, business and media, including more than 1,600 startups and 700 investors.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies and their impact on business and society were key themes for many of the conference’s keynotes and exhibits – so it was no surprise that U of T’s AI luminaries were front and centre.

They included U of T alumnus Aidan Gomez, co-founder of language processing startup Cohere – which has raised hundreds of millions from investors and generated significant industry buzz.

He urged businesses to commit to adopting AI tools to support their workers.

“Making sure that you’re delivering the tools that your employees need to be competitive and effective is crucial,” Gomez said during his talk on Tuesday.

He added that augmentation of workforces with AI co-pilots and assistants is inevitable – including in industries that might not stand out as obvious adopters of the technology. He shared the example of a natural resources insurance firm that built an AI co-pilot – powered by Cohere – to help their actuaries speed up their research, craft more accurate bids and win more contracts.

“I never would have thought a natural resources insurance company would be adopting LLMs [large language models], but they are, and it’s having an impact. It’s actually helping them win more business,” Gomez said. “So I think the technology is completely horizontal.”

Gomez also cited the medical sector – particularly, drug discovery – as another area that’s poised to benefit massively from AI advances.

Aidan Gomez, a U of T alumnus, talked about how AI will be used to augment the workforce (photo by Polina Teif)

University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, the influential computer scientist often dubbed the “godfather of AI,” also identified medical care and productivity as two key areas that will see significant improvements thanks to AI. However, much of his discussion, titled "Can We Control AI?", focused on his previously-cited concerns about how AI development could ultimately wrest control from humans given the current race to develop the technology and the absence of sufficient safeguards.

“Even if I’m totally benevolent and I just want to achieve what you asked me to achieve, I’ll realize that if I get more control, it will be easier to do that,” Hinton said of AI agents.

“And actually, if these things are much smarter than us, they’ll realize: Just take the control away from people and it will be much more efficient … and that seems to be like a very slippery path.”

Geoffrey Hinton warned of the existential dangers posed by unchecked AI development (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Gomez, for his part, said he doesn’t believe AI poses a serious threat.

“The notion that the technology is going to start self-improving, that it’s going to start manipulating people, that it’s going to take over, seize power and displace humans: that’s a sci-fi narrative,” he said. “I am empathetic to it – we’ve been writing stories about that exact scenario for decades, since before computers, and so it’s very deeply embedded in our cultural brainstems ... I just don’t think it’s true.”

Earlier at the conference, Raquel Urtasun, founder of self-driving trucking startup Waabi, spoke about generative AI and how Waabi is applying the technology to autonomous trucks. Her keynote took place following the company’s announcement that it raised US$200 million in Series B funding to support the deployment of driverless trucks in 2025.

“Everything will be controlled by generative AI systems inside the vehicle and nothing else. This is a breakthrough for the industry, where such a thing has never happened before,” said Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science in U of T's Faculty of Arts & Science.

Raquel Urtasun spoke about her self-driving truck startup Waabi (photo by Polina Teif)

The conference also featured demos from other promising U of T startups including Erthos, which has invented sustainable alternatives to plastics and is now using machine learning to accelerate biomaterials discovery.

“Our platform allows us to design effective biomaterials five times faster and with 92 per cent less cost compared to our industry,” said co-founder and CEO Nuha Siddiqui.

Collision’s final year in Toronto was expected to draw some 40,000 attendees (photo by Johnny Guatto)

During the conference, U of T’s booth near the main stage featured exhibits from campus-linked accelerators, institutional strategic initiatives, academic divisions and the Innovations and Partnerships Office. U of T’s Black Founders Network was also at Collision as one of the organizers of the Black Innovation Zone.

Collision 2024 marked the fifth and final edition of the annual conference in Toronto.

Waabi, founded by U of T's Raquel Urtasun, raises US$200 million to launch self-driving trucks

lanthierj — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 20:26:16 +0000

Waabi, founded by U of T's Raquel Urtasun, raises US$200 million to launch self-driving trucks

lanthierj Wed, 06/19/2024 - 16:26

Cutline

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Artificial Intelligence

Department of Computer Science

Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Arts & Science

Waabi, a self-driving trucking startup founded by �ؿ�ζSM artificial intelligence (AI) expert Raquel Urtasun, has raised US$200 million in series B funding to support the deployment of fully autonomous, AI-powered trucks in 2025.

The funding round was led by previous investors Uber Technologies Inc.– where Urtasun previously worked as chief scientist of the self-driving division – and Khosla Ventures and includes an array of other high-profile strategic investors including NVIDIA Corp., Volvo Group and Porsche Automobil Holding.

The latest funding brings total investment in Waabi to more than C$380 million and will be used to expand the Toronto-headquartered company’s team in both Canada and the U.S., as well as to launch driverless commercial deliveries in Texas by next year.

(photo Nick Iwanyshyn)

Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science at U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science and co-founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, said Waabi’s end-to-end AI system is advancing self-driving technologies to frontiers beyond the reach of other industry players thanks to its unique ability to carry out complex reasoning.

“What we have at Waabi is a technology that brings generative AI to the physical world for the first time, where the idea is that you have a single AI system that is able to reason like a human does, and is able to generalize to situations everything that might happen on the road – including things that it has never seen before,” she said.

“It does so in a way that is interpretable, so you can validate and verify the system, and provably safe, which is very important as you deploy these massive robots in the real world.”

Paired with Waabi’s advanced simulator, the AI system reduces the need for time-consuming road testing, Urtasun explained.

The announcement came hours before Urtasun took to the main stage at the Collision tech conference in Toronto to deliver a talk on generative AI. Her remarks touched on the technological underpinnings of generative AI and future applications, and outlined how Waabi is bringing generative AI to the physical world – starting with trucking.

Raquel Urtasun at the 2024 edition of Collision (photo by Polina Teif)

Urtasun is one of several experts from U of T’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem who are speaking at Collision. Others include University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, a world-renowned AI luminary and investor in Waabi.

“Self-driving technology is a prime example of how AI can dramatically improve our lives,” Hinton said in a news release. “Raquel and Waabi are at the forefront of innovation, developing a revolutionary approach that radically changes the way autonomous systems work and leads to safer and more efficient solutions.”

Earlier in the week, Urtasun brought one of Waabi’s trucks to the St. George campus and showcased some of its capabilities to Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tony Gaffney, president and CEO of the Vector Institute, and Michael Brudno, professor in the department of computer science and chief data scientist at the University Health Network.

From left: Melanie Woodin, Raquel Urtasun, Tony Gaffney and Michael Brudno (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Urtasun underscored the importance of the company being headquartered in Toronto. “We’re an AI company and Toronto has always been at the forefront of AI,” Urtasun said. “There’s tremendous talent here, a busy ecosystem, and for me it’s important to be in Canada, where I’m very aligned with the values of the country as well.”

Reflecting on her journey at U of T, where she started as an assistant professor in 2014, Urtasun said she initially assumed she would “just be an academic doing research for the rest of my life” – but soon realized that involvement in industry would be critical to advancing AI technologies for use in the real world.

“Three years ago, I saw a tremendous opportunity to start a new company and what you see today is the fruit of that, where we’re really close to deployment on public roads without a human [driver],” said Urtasun.

“It’s amazing – not just for Waabi, not just for Canada, but for the industry at large.”