Lassonde, Schulich form new international partnership
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York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering and the Schulich School of Business have deepened their international relationships through a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China.
Lassonde and Schulich have opened their doors to students from SUSTech’s College of Engineering with what’s known as a 3+1+1 agreement. Civil engineering, materials science and engineering, or mechanical engineering students will first complete three (3) years of undergraduate studies at SUSTech in China. Then, they will be able to complete their fourth year (+1) at Lassonde. Then, in their fifth year (+1), they can enrol in one of four master’s programs at Schulich: Management, Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence or Supply Chain Management.
Detlev Zwick
Jane Goodyer
For Lassonde, in particular, the MOU is an exciting development, marking its first international 3+1+1 agreement. Dean Jane Goodyer, who travelled to Shenzhen to sign the agreement, praised the future possibilities of the partnership. “It offers mutual benefits not only for our students but also for our esteemed institutions, creating a unique platform for cross-cultural exchange and learning,” she said in remarks given during her visit. “We welcome these future SUSTech students in our family.”
In the process, up to 10 SUSTech students at a time will be obtaining two degrees within a five-year period: a bachelor of engineering from SUSTech and a master’s degree from Schulich.
Detlev Zwick, dean of Schulich, who also was present for the signing, noted in his own remarks, “The program is designed to open valuable career pathways and opportunities for your students.” He added, “The 3+1+1 program brings together the strengths of your institution with the business and engineering strengths of Schulich and Lassonde.”
This partnership builds on York’s existing institutional relationships in China, including with Peking University, the University of Hong Kong and Fudan University. It came together not only through SUSTech’s College of Engineering Dean Zhenghe Xu’s long-standing connections with faculty from Lassonde but through his relationship with Goodyer, with whom he sits on the executive committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council. The two deans decided to put their heads together and come up with a way to take advantage of the two schools’ natural compatibility, due to both being relatively new and dynamic schools with powerful drives to innovate.
The three deans at the official signing of the 3+1+1 agreement. From left to right: Lassonde Dean Jane Goodyer; Dean of SUStech’s College of Engineering, Zhenge Xu; and Schulich Dean Detlev Zwick.
“The distinctiveness of this model lies not only in its international aspect but also in its interdisciplinary approach,” says Goodyer. “It combines the strengths of two engineering schools with a business school, creating a pathway for international students to attain both a top-tier engineering degree and a premier business master’s degree. It’s a win-win.”
The 3+1+1 partnership is expected to fully come into effect with the arrival of students at York by Fall 2025.
For questions regarding this program and partnership, contact Professor Richard Hornsey, associate dean academic and students at the Lassonde School of Engineering, at adas@lassonde.yorku.ca.
Lassonde School of Engineering: shaping the student experience
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Welcome to the February 2024 edition of Innovatus, a special issue of YFile devoted to teaching and learning at York University. This month we showcase the Lassonde School of Engineering and highlight its unique and exemplary approaches to pedagogy.
Innovatus is produced by the Office of the Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning in partnership with the Communications & Public Affairs Division.
In this issue, the Lassonde School of Engineering invites York community members to read stories about co-op leadership and innovation, work-integrated learning and more.
As we work to nurture and empower our community of interdisciplinary creators, we are committed to fostering creativity and innovation. We do this by providing transformative education along with research and lifelong learning opportunities aimed to cultivate new ideas, knowledge and contribute toward a more sustainable world for all.
Dean Jane Goodyer
These efforts are demonstrated through the Lassonde School of Engineering 2022-23 Impact Report, a comprehensive microsite encapsulating our community’s remarkable journey and accomplishments. The achievements underscore our collaborative efforts, showcasing our commitment to excellence in engineering education and research as we make strides toward realizing our Strategic Academic Plan.
As a school centred on engineering and science, our ideas and conversations consistently revolve around exploring innovative, cross-disciplinary teaching methods that integrate technology and humanistic approaches. We actively involve our students in exciting projects, ranging from the OSIRIS-REx mission to the $318.4-million Connected Minds initiative, and through our two new, recently-established organized research units.
Our faculty members are focused on addressing global issues, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, empowering our students to work together to build a better future. Interdisciplinary collaboration is ingrained in the essence of Lassonde, evident not only in our labs and classrooms but also in our innovative modes of learning, like C4: The Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom and tech stewardship.
C4 is a unique feature at York, allowing students to develop and hone transferrable skills while learning the value of multiple perspectives in research and problem solving. In addition, our faculty members, including professors Franz Newland and Hossam Sadek, are reimagining engineering capstones, contributing to publications and practical tools to support the design and facilitation of such future projects.
Additionally, tech stewardship is crucial for students to get involved in shaping the arc of technology toward positive ends, teaching them valuable skills. Collaborating with partners like the Engineering Change Lab, we’ve integrated their tech stewardship practice program into one of our courses, an initiative led by Professor Jeffrey Harris. As co-investigators into its potential impact, Lassonde recently received a $998,000 grant from the Suncor Energy Foundation to continue this vital work.
The fall of 2023 witnessed the launch of our Engineering Block Model, transforming how students engage with coursework. This unique model allows deep immersion in each subject, reducing the need for multitasking and fostering a more focused classroom environment. As we examine its impact on our inaugural cohort of 70 students, we eagerly anticipate its potential to shape the future of engineering education.
Students are at the heart of what we do, and this year, we reimagined the academic orientation experience, engaging hundreds of first-year students in a more interactive and dynamic way. We’ve also introduced the Lassonde Undergraduate Student Advisory Council to give students a direct voice to help improve our academic programs and their experience. The council has already facilitated important discussions on critical topics such as student enrolment, academic advising and degree progression. To enhance our processes, we’ve implemented a new case management system, saving hours of administrative work and allowing us to invest more in student support through this process, leading to a more positive student experience. We are working to expand its application to the petition process as well. Concurrently, we’ve established a group specifically for women students, fostering open dialogue in a safe environment.
It’s important that our students can identify with the varied backgrounds of our faculty members and can envision themselves engaging in the research pursuits they are undertaking. The diversity of our faculty members is a key strength, helping us break down systemic barriers. Our researchers, who actively engage students in experiential learning while serving as mentors, include, among others, Professor Alvine Boaye Belle in electrical engineering and computer science; Professor Satinder Kaur Brar in water-related research; Professor Solomon Boakye Yiadom in advanced materials and manufacturing; Professor Uyen Trang Nguyen in anti-financial crime solutions; and Professor Regina Lee in advancements in nanosatellite technologies.
Together, we are not just adapting to change in engineering and science education; we are driving it, shaping the future of teaching and learning at the Lassonde School of Engineering and beyond. I hope you enjoy this issue of Innovatus, discovering how we’re making a positive impact on our students, our community and the world through experiential education, technology-enhanced learning and internationalization.
Sincerely,
Jane Goodyer Dean, Lassonde School of Engineering
Faculty, course directors and staff are invited to share their experiences in teaching, learning, internationalization and the student experience through the Innovatus story form, which is available here.
In this issue:
York’s k2i academy creates co-op leadership opportunities Lassonde’s k2i academy is reimagining what science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education can look like by enlisting student mentors from its co-op program, offering paid work experience.
Creating accessibility through both research and training The Practices in Enabling Technologies Lab, run by Professor Melanie Baljko, enlists students’ help in designing assistive devices to make life more accessible for people facing barriers.
York’s k2i academy creates co-op leadership opportunities
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By Elaine Smith
The Bringing STEM to Life: Work-Integrated Learning program at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering’s k2i academy provides opportunities for students from under-represented groups entering Grades 10, 11 and 12 to participate in a paid summer research project experience aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), ensuring they have the broadest possible career choices in the future. A critical component: mentors from Lassonde’s co-op program.
“We are here to reimagine how STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] education can look,” said Michelle Tsui-Woods, associate director of operations and development for the k2i academy.
A valuable by-product of the k2i academy’s work is its success in training university students as mentors and leaders, reflecting Lassonde’s commitment to Creating Opportunities and a Welcoming Community, a theme in its new Strategic Academic Plan.
Each summer, k2i academy hires York students for four months of full-time work as paid mentors and mentor leads for Bringing STEM to Life. A number of these students are part of Lassonde’s co-op program, chosen to reflect the diverse backgrounds of the high-school students they will be mentoring.
Lassonde’s co-op program is designed to offer students relevant curricular experience by offering them the opportunity to gain relevant, paid work experience throughout their academic journey. It allows them to put the theories they have learned in class into practice while building their professional networks and becoming acclimated to the workplace.
Lassonde k2i mentors.
To participate in Lassonde’s co-op program, students must have completed at least two years of study at Lassonde. Through alternating academic and work terms, students are required to undertake at least three co-op terms with at least a single school term between them to provide them time to reflect on and absorb the lessons learned. After successfully completing co-op terms of at least 12 to 20 months, students earn a co-op designation on their transcripts and graduate with experience generally required for an entry-level role.
In two years, k2i has employed 34 co-op students, helping Lassonde to become York’s leading co-op employer. More than 50 per cent of these students have been women and they have represented eight of the 10 Lassonde undergraduate degree programs. For 90 per cent of them, it was their first co-op experience.
“A lot of co-op students are concerned when they begin their first co-op term because they feel they don’t have many skills,” said Mayolyn Dagsi, manager of the co-op program and business partnerships for Lassonde. “The k2i team has been intentional about building skills for these students, not only around engineering attributes, but as leaders. Survey data indicate that everyone who goes through a k2i co-op has enjoyed it and found it rewarding. For many of these students, the leadership experience and skills gained through their roles as k2i program mentors contributed to their success in obtaining their next work term in industry.”
As part of their work experience, k2i co-ops students gain outstanding leadership experience, given the nature of their positions. The focus of their job is to work in pairs as mentors to a team of eight to 10 high-school lab assistants and to lead them through a research project that is related to a faculty member’s own research and the UN SDGs, which are highlighted in York’s University Academic Plan and reflected as a theme in Lassonde’s Strategic Academic Plan.
“Under-represented students in STEM need networks and role models. One of the best ways to provide that is to connect undergraduate STEM students as mentors, who are close in age, to project teams,” said Tsui-Woods. “The k2i mentors design and create exciting learning opportunities for high-school students, including hands-on experiences connected to real-world engineering challenges. During the co-op experience, the k2i mentors learn about themselves as leaders, developing professional skills that will strengthen their future opportunities.”
Krishnika Raveendranathan
Krishnika Raveendranathan, a space engineering student in her final year of study, joined the k2i academy for a summer co-op term and worked as a mentor in 2023. She and a fellow mentor worked with their group of about 10 high-school lab assistants to create a smart-sensing light system using machine learning.
“It was a great experience,” she said. “I really like to help and I really enjoyed working with the students. They were almost my own age, so it was more like working with friends, rather than a teacher-student relationship.
“Working as a k2i mentor allowed me to develop my leadership skills greatly, because as a mentor you were involved in a lot of teaching and delivering presentations to mentor the students. It was also about collaborating with other mentors and being open to insights.”
As July draws to a close, the mentors assist their team in preparing to present the results of their experiment at a STEM symposium with posters and demonstrations, so the mentors are busy coaching their teams in soft skills such as giving presentations and communication.
By August, as equipment is packed and stored, the mentors and mentor leads reflect on their experiences and learnings. They meet individually with k2i staff to review the summer, obtain feedback on their work and discuss growth opportunities. By September, they’re ready to return to their own classes, but – ideally – they are bringing stronger skills in leadership, mentoring, and diversity, equity and inclusion along with them.
“Building knowledge and experience in equity, diversity, and inclusion is an important part of transformational change in STEM education and STEM-sector industries,” said Lisa Cole, director of programming for the k2i academy. “Providing authentic experiences to build skills in practical applications within the workplace ensures that STEM undergraduate students become the kinds of leaders and changemakers our world needs.”
Lassonde’s digital technologies WIL program succeeding
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By Elaine Smith
The Lassonde School of Engineering’s new, paid work-integrated learning (WIL) program, the first in Canada, celebrated the successful launch of its first cohort – co-pioneers of a future where students can advance their studies along with their careers.
Eamon Ryan
In fall 2023, Eamon Ryan was one of the 17 students fortunate enough to be part of the first WIL cohort when he began working full time for BMO while taking a full course load in the Integrated Program in Digital Technologies at Lassonde. After four years of full-time work and studies, he will graduate with a bachelor of applied science in digital technologies, specializing in either cybersecurity, data analysis or software development. After earning a salary for four years, he should also have minimal debt and a resume filled with workplace accomplishments.
“The director of the program calls us pioneers,” said Ryan. “This program is pretty much everything I ever wanted when it comes to academics and work.”
Consistent with the popular maxim, it took a village to get this visionary program off the ground – not surprising, perhaps, since one of the themes of Lassonde’s Strategic Academic Plan is Building Success Through Partnerships. This WIL program grew out of Dean Jane Goodyer’s vision and encompasses partners in the corporate community, York University administration as well as Lassonde’s faculty and staff – especially those who will be teaching at the new Markham Campus and the Lassonde Educational Innovation Studio.
The program is just as new to employers as it is to the University.
“The employers’ comfort zone in Canada is with co-op terms and internships,” said Marily Molina, Lassonde’s business development manager. “They think of students as temporary; they are generally considered students first, employees second. We had to make this fit with student recruitment standards in Canada by offering employers the opportunity to hire students on a 12-month work term, which can be renewed on an annual basis. This gives employers the advantages of keeping the student in the same role or rotating them to other teams or departments based on business needs; saving them time in recruitment efforts and getting a higher return on investment in loyalty and retention.”
For faculty, the goal is to ensure that the students learn everything they would from a standard honours computer science program while balancing their work and personal commitments.
Kostas Kontogiannis
“It led us to countless hours of meetings with our colleagues at the Lassonde Education Innovation Studio,” said Professor Kostas Kontogiannis, director of the new program. “They advised us on pedagogical theories that suited this program and we combined that with our expertise to deliver the best possible result.
“These are completely new courses, because we have to keep pace with the workplace. We restructured the course sequence, their nature and how they fit together.”
The program runs year-round, with students adhering to their employer’s work calendar, although there is an 80/20 per cent split in their time, divided between work and blocks of time spent on campus. They are also allotted a half-day each week to work on course content.
The campus time is scheduled in blocks; after a three-week on-campus orientation, the students work in person with faculty for a week every month or two. While they are working, the students are also required to attend online lectures and complete assignments.
Luckily, they move through the program as a cohort, so they have support from their classmates as they study. They also each have a workplace mentor to ease their path in the working world as they adjust to being full-time employees.
“We’re building a culture where the students aren’t in competition with each other; instead, they are supporting each other within a true learning community,” said Jenny Peach-Squibb, a professional skills coach at Lassonde.
“We laid a solid foundation for them during their orientation block and they also went through employer orientation. In December, we heard from the employers that the time spent in onboarding really pays off.”
Peach-Squibb considers all the students in the program exceptional. They were first required to gain admission to Lassonde’s Digital Technologies program, before securing a job with one of the potential employers.
“I have always been a hands-on learner, so the program appealed to me,” said Ryan, who is enjoying the entire experience: the workplace, his studies and his financial independence. The program’s salaries align with the average salary for co-op students in computer science and engineering, generally $23 to $27 per hour.
“At work, my manager walked me through everything and left to let me try things myself,” said Ryan. “I’m not being micro-managed and I learn better doing the work independently, but I’m not left without supports. And, before, I was financially reliant on my parents, but now I have financial independence; I’m sharing an apartment with my brother.
“The courses created for the program are great and showcase our learning. They use standards-based grading, so it’s all about learning and mastering concepts.”
Larry Zhang
Larry Yueli Zhang, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and one of the nine faculty members involved in the program, calls it “an additive process.”
“Students have a set of standards to meet, and they condition their actions to meet those targets,” he said. “It gives us a much more refined picture of student progress and better data on student performance.”
Added Kontogiannis, “As they are compiling a portfolio of their work, some of it can be put toward achieving these standards and meeting learning objectives.”
If Ryan’s supervisor is a good barometer, it’s not only the students and faculty who are pleased with the way this groundbreaking program is unfolding.
“Eamon happens to be a young man who is exceeding our expectations,” said Sajal Kumar, a database security architect at BMO. “At this young age, he has demonstrated a lot of maturity, drive, interest and professionalism. In fact, I usually have to give him fewer instructions than the others in the group.
“He is still every bit as impressive as he was on day one. If he continues to keep himself so motivated, he will do very well in life.”
Molina will be connecting with both the students and the employers twice a term to get a better understanding of how the program is unfolding. The goal is to grow the program in the coming years.
“For employers, the program provides access to new talent pipelines and addresses workplace labour shortages,” said Molina. “By removing cost barriers, the Digital Technologies program is designed to increase access to education for a wider spectrum of students. It’s a win-win situation.”
BEST summer co-op offers insights into entrepreneurship
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By Elaine Smith
Bergeron Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (BEST), a Lassonde School of Engineering entrepreneurship program, offers students the opportunity to pursue their own startup venture or to spend a summer co-op term working with startup companies, contributing their technical expertise while seeing an entrepreneurial venture from the inside out. It is York University’s first entrepreneurial co-op program, allowing students to gain the knowledge and confidence to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
This past summer, 12 co-op students worked alongside six startup founders and had the opportunity to learn about building and running a business in their field. It was a meaningful opportunity to experiment with new ideas, take calculated risks, and learn from both successes and failures while tackling real-world business challenges.
“We’ve had this [co-op] opportunity since 2016,” said Maedeh Sedaghat, manager of the BEST program. “In summer 2023, we opened it up to students who were very keen in gaining entrepreneurial experience by working with one of the BEST startups but not sure if they wanted to complete the full 12-month work term requirement necessary for a Lassonde co-op program designation. This approach has expanded this learning opportunity to more students across Lassonde.”
Faiza Qaisar
Among those who spent the summer participating in the entrepreneurial co-op term was computer engineering student Faiza Qaisar, who worked with Pantheon Prototyping, a BEST startup that specializes in 3D modelling and additive manufacturing for technical applications like rapid prototyping. She helped to develop an automated quoting software that allows a customer to: upload a 3D printable file; specify various parameters like quantity and material; automatically evaluate the printability of the model and any issues that it may contain; and, finally, provide the prospective customer with a price for creating the item, whether it be a keychain or an automobile part.
“We had a four-person software team and we created a tool good enough to launch,” said Qaisar. “The company is building on it as their engineering capstone project, working to develop payment software.”
Since doing her co-op term, Qaisar has enrolled in some BEST entrepreneurship courses and has started her own entrepreneurial venture, producing recyclable stickers and merchandise for organizations and York Orientation, an idea prompted by her love of art, her engineering and programming skills, and her concern about the environment. Her first order, in fact, was from Pantheon Prototyping, the startup company where she did her summer co-op term.
“The BEST co-op kicked me onto my track and inspired me to be entrepreneurial,” said Qaisar. “It inspired me to keep doing my own project.”
Che Lorde
Mechanical design engineering student Che Lorde has also begun taking entrepreneurship courses through BEST after his summer co-op experience with HandiFuel, which advances accessible automated fuelling for mobility-challenged drivers. Lorde, who has a passion for 3D modelling and inclusive design, was chosen to lead a three-person mechanical team designing a way for drivers with accessibility issues to refuel their vehicles without leaving the driver’s seat.
“We wanted to make gas stations more accessible and break down barriers,” Lorde said. “To refuel a vehicle, it takes someone who is wheelchair bound an average of 12 minutes; we sped up the process to six minutes without requiring them to leave the car.”
Using an open-source design for a robotic arm, the team designed a claw that could access the fuel tank, remove its cap and use the gas pump’s nozzle to fill the tank. They worked within required constraints, including the necessity to avoid sparks in an environment with flammable gasoline present. It also meant doing research with potential users before designing, creating and testing the prototype.
“It was quite intense,” said Lorde. “We had four months to create a working prototype. There were times when things didn’t work and we had to reorient.”
Lorde is proud of his work, and he has also had his eyes opened to entrepreneurship. He dreams of using his design talents to contribute to inclusivity and has acquired many of the skills he needs to pursue this dream.
“The biggest takeaway for me is the importance of entrepreneurship in terms of engineering,” he said. “This co-op reassured me that what I’m doing is right for me. I also improved my soft skills in terms of communications, leadership and organizing my time, and I learned that in business, you have to understand your target audience. It’s a great experience, and having a leadership role is really helpful.”
BEST co-op terms are among the many and varied co-op opportunities available at Lassonde. All Lassonde students who have completed two years of study are eligible to apply. BEST startup founders review the applications, conduct interviews with the applicants and select their candidates.
“When we set up the Lassonde School more than 10 years ago, co-ops and entrepreneurship were key priorities and we were intent on joining these two things together,” said Richard Hornsey, associate dean, academic and students at Lassonde. “These co-ops give students a cutting-edge experience where everyone does a bit of everything and they are a realization of the founding priorities of Lassonde.”
Sedaghat highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship experience, especially in light of York’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, noting, “Promoting entrepreneurship is seen as a catalyst for positive economic and social change, fostering a culture of innovation, job creation and sustainable development.
“Entrepreneurship often involves the development and application of new technologies contributing to positive social change by tackling problems such as poverty, health-care disparities and environmental sustainability,” she said. The entrepreneurial mindset contributes to a culture of continuous learning, adaptability and risk-taking, which is even more crucial in today’s rapidly changing global economy.”
Lassonde’s BEST co-op program is only one of the Faculty’s transformative and enriching experiences for undergraduate students. Other opportunities include the UNHack and the BEST Startup Experience.
Creating accessibility through both research and training
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By Elaine Smith
If the Lassonde School of Engineering wants to illustrate Empowering our People with Perspectives, Tools and Knowledge, a theme from its new academic plan, they have a perfect example close at hand: the research lab run by Melanie Baljko, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
Melanie Baljko
Baljko’s Practices in Enabling Technologies (PiET) Lab and her students – undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral – focus their research on making life more accessible for people facing barriers and involve the users in designing assistive devices to ensure their needs are met. Many of her researchers actually are the very people who face barriers.
“We hire only students with lived experience, if possible, and find a way to let the research be led by these folks,” Baljko said. “All of us without disabilities can only be allies and create space.”
Although she knows of only one North American research lab led by a neurodiverse researcher, Baljko hopes the students who train with her will help increase those numbers.
“I’m taking the long view,” Baljko said. “This isn’t a five-year plan. If I train an undergraduate and they go on to graduate school and postdoctoral work, it will take time for them to become part of the system, and the system also has to be ready to receive them.
“There is a lot of ableism built into the system and it may require us to unsettle things and change the status quo.”
As she provides valuable training to students, they become immersed in designing solutions for disabled people, but they don’t simply jump in and pursue research they decide is a good idea. Such an approach, Baljko says, leads to a disability dongle – well-intentioned solutions that were never requested by clients and don’t actually address the problem at hand. Instead, they ask clients which problems they would like to see solved.
Foad Hamidi (photo credit: Research Graphics UMBC)
Baljko’s lab focuses on value-based digital media and digital technology design, paying particular attention to inclusion and social belonging. In one of the lab’s accessibility projects, Baljko and her students formed a partnership with a community-based organization in Kenya. Foad Hamidi, who completed his PhD research under Baljko’s supervision and is now an assistant professor in information systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was one of the researchers on the study.
“We wanted to see what factors would impact a do-it-yourself communication device for non-verbal children outside of Europe and North America,” Hamidi said.
The team used open-source technology-building kits and fashioned a simple device that could be used to create vocalizations for these non-verbal children. They brought the device to the community and had families work together to build similar units for their children.
“There were positive impacts,” Baljko said. “The children could use the devices at a special education school and the community came together to talk about the special education stigma, too.”
A major ongoing project, funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada and done in collaboration with Iris Epstein at the School of Nursing, Karen Swartz at Student Accessibility Services and external colleagues, is Accessibility in Educational Placement for Students with Disabilities. The researcher team is creating a toolkit that will enable people involved with student placements to find what is needed to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in placements.
“Students may face certain barriers in the classroom, but there are different challenges that come with going to a work site for placements, co-ops and work-integrated learning terms,” Baljko said. “Unfortunately, although people mean well, it often falls to the students themselves to raise awareness.”
Sarah Akhavan Kazemzadeh
Sarah Akhavan Kazemzadeh, a York computer science instructor, did her master’s thesis with Baljko in 2022 and has also been a collaborator on a number of PiET Lab’s research projects, including the design of assistive technology for a person with motor disabilities who is largely blind and deaf.
“It is basically a large screen that shows the letters of the alphabet,” said Akhavan Kazemzadeh. “The system scans through the letters and the person can press a button to stop it and choose a specific letter. It is a switch-activated writing system that this person has now been using for 10 years. She has gone to school with it and is now using it to write a book.”
Projects of this type have drawn interest from researchers elsewhere in the world. In 2023, for example, Baljko hosted an education event for her students and members of De Leidsche Fleisch, a study association for physics, astronomy, mathematics and computer science based at Leiden University, Netherlands, that aims to share knowledge and expertise with wider scientific communities.
No matter how many prototypes the PiET Lab creates, its motivation is sharing through open scholarship, not commercialization.
“The focus is on knowledge production, and the main outcome is papers and reports and open-source software,” said Hamidi. “However, if someone wants to take one of the ideas and turn it into a product, that would be wonderful. Unfortunately, with assistive technology, you often need government support.”
Akhavan noted, “Melanie’s significant impact shines through her development of a switch-activated writing system, utilized consistently for over a decade by an individual with motor disabilities and sensory impairments. This prolonged use underscores the essence of true accessibility. By involving individuals in the design process, Melanie’s approach ensures practical, enduring solutions. Unlike costly assistive technologies that often fall short of users’ needs, Melanie’s methodology advocates for sustainable, collaboratively driven innovation.”
Indeed, for Baljko, the process is as important as the research outcomes.
“I want to create conditions to bring people with lived experience of disability to projects as co-designers,” she said. “It’s a participatory method that erases barriers and lessens power imbalances.”
The final word about Baljko and the PiET Lab goes to Akhavan Kazemzadeh.
“When you think about this, it’s amazing. Melanie has realized that neglecting accessibility is a global issue and there’s a lot of work yet to be done.”
Connected Minds researcher explores AI’s future at top conference
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Thousands of artificial intelligence (AI) researchers from around the world have gathered in Vancouver this week for one of the largest international academic conferences on AI and machine learning.
Laleh Seyyed-Kalantari
Among the attendees of the 38th annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference on Artificial Intelligence is York University’s Laleh Seyyed-Kalantari, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and a member of Connected Minds: Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society – a $318.4-million, York-led program focused on socially responsible technologies, funded in part by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.
Seyyed-Kalantari will bring her leading research expertise in responsible AI to the conference, while also helping to run a Connected Minds- and VISTA-sponsored workshop on responsible language models (ReLM 2024), alongside researchers from the internationally recognized Vector Institute, a Connected Minds partner.
In the Q-and-A below, she talks about the workshop and the state of AI research.
Q: Why a workshop on responsible language models?
A: The use of generative AI models, like ChatGPT, is increasingly becoming more and more common in our everyday lives. In fact, recent studies show that generative AI (GPT-4) can be programmed to pass the U.S. medical examination or pass the bar exam to become a lawyer. This has encouraged the idea that generative AI models can replace humans, but the reality is that this is not true, and we are far away from that point.
For my research and that of my Connected Minds colleagues, the question is not if generative AI models can be used for good – they can – but a more important and pressing question to ask inside and outside of this workshop is whether these AI models generate reliable and responsible things. Despite our rapidly evolving technological world, the answer is still no. Our workshop aims to get at the right kinds of questions both academia and industry should consider now and in the future.
Q: What makes a language model responsible?
A: Responsible language models can be evaluated with the following factors in mind: fairness, robustness, accountability, security, transparency and privacy. AI models need to be tested and evaluated for whether they are fair to all its human users. For example, AI models use data that may not include ethnic minority populations, and programmers run the risk of amplifying existing racial biases. Robustness involves assessing the generated material and its accuracy. Does it generate the right or consistent solution? Is it robust to adversarial attacks? Accountability involves decisions about regulation and legislation. Who oversees ensuring the model is fair? Security means how to protect a model from malicious attacks. Transparency and privacy refer to the use and permissibility of people’s private data, including medical information. These six factors set up a framework for a broad discussion on various issues related to responsible AI and machine learning in the context of language models.
Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending the conference and running this workshop?
A: The trip to Vancouver offers an opportunity for a significant exchange of ideas and collaborative brainstorming among a diverse group of communities, bringing academia and industry together. It’s a rare chance to gather with influential figures in the field of generative AI, all in one space. It allows us to discuss the issues, to learn from one another, and to shape future research questions and collaboration surrounding large language models. I’m grateful to Connected Minds and VISTA [Vision: Science to Applications] for helping to advance my work and for making this event possible.
York research looks to improve air quality prediction
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Mark Gordon, a professor in the Earth & Space Science & Engineering Department at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, has dedicated the past five years to forest fieldwork to help create better air quality models that detect the detrimental impact pollutants may have on the environment.
Mark Gordon
In the summer of 2023, Toronto was briefly covered in a thick blanket of smoke due to pollution from wildfires in Quebec – causing the bustling city to have some of the worst air quality in the world. During that time, air quality models served as a crucial tool, helping people understand potentially harmful atmospheric conditions and adopt safety measures in the face of potential risks.
The experience served as a demonstration of how important air quality models – which some may have been unaware of until now – can be.
“Air quality models work in the same way weather models do,” says Gordon. “Just like a weather model can tell you when it is going to rain, these models allow us to understand air quality and inform necessary action.” Beyond this, air quality models are used to help control air pollution and monitor the impact of pollutants on natural ecosystems like grasslands and forests.
Gordon’s work looks to further the significance of air quality models by improving their accuracy to reflect real atmospheric conditions as closely as possible. “Getting air quality models right is crucial,” says Gordon. “Accurate models can help predict many things, like how pollutants from a newly implemented industrial site might impact nearby communities.”
To achieve this, physical and chemical properties and processes of various pollutants in the atmosphere need to be first measured and analyzed. Then, mathematical and numerical techniques are used to simulate the collected data and create or improve air quality models.
In a recently concluded project funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, Gordon has looked to do just that.
He and his graduate students Kaiti (Timothy) Jiang, Xuanyi Zhang and Dane Blanchard measured pollutant emissions – emphasizing those with greatest impact on climate, vegetation and natural ecosystems – from the Athabasca oil sands region in northern Alberta to examine how pollutants interact with the nearby boreal forest. Measurements were also compared with values used in existing air quality models to validate their accuracy.
From left to right: Kaiti (Timothy) Jiang, Xuanyi Zhang and Gordon standing in front of the York Athabasca Jack Pine tower.
A 100-foot retractable tower, the York Athabasca Jack Pine tower, was erected in the boreal forest, equipped with tools to measure the concentration of the pollutants and used to examine their activity as well as their physical and chemical properties. In particular, the team looked to investigate how fast the surrounding forest takes the pollutants out of the air.
After five years of fieldwork in a remote forest, countless hours of research and a few encounters with bears, Gordon and his research team published three unique papers, each focused on one of the three distinct and harmful pollutants: aerosols, sulfur dioxide and ozone.
The trilogy of investigations resulted in insights that can help improve the accuracy of existing air quality models and support further studies. The goal is that in others drawing on Gordon and his team’s information and air quality model algorithms, inaccuracies of current air quality models can be corrected to reflect real-world conditions and establish more precise models.
Professor proposes making virtual reality more secure
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Yan Shvartzshnaider, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, is one of many researchers working to address virtual privacy concerns and develop practical solutions for growing cybersecurity needs.
Yan Shvartzshnaider
Imagine travelling to the peak of Mount Everest to observe the mountainous region, or floating in space to study the stars, constellations and planets – all during a class at school. Virtual reality (VR) technologies have made immersive learning experiences like these possible, expanding the opportunities available in traditional education settings.
However, though convenient and often exciting, some VR technologies pose significant privacy risks. “VR technologies are powered by an array of sensors and collect large amounts of data about users and their surrounding environment,” says Shvartzshnaider. “The extensive data collection practices intrinsic to VR technology expose users to a range of novel privacy and security threats.”
Shvartzshnaider and Karoline Brehm, an international exchange master’s student at York from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, recently developed a paper titled “Understanding Privacy in Virtual Reality Classrooms,” which explores privacy concerns around VR platforms in education settings and proposes a framework to address those challenges. “As technology develops and becomes mainstream in established contexts like education, workplaces and health care, we need to examine and mitigate the associated privacy risks,” says Shvartzshnaider.
One reason concerns can arise around virtual reality’s use in education is that while VR platforms allow both real and virtual environments to exist simultaneously, each environment may adhere to different privacy norms. For example, if a student uses VR technology to attend a virtual lecture while at home, they are in two vastly different environments at the same time. Many VR platforms do not recognize these differences and may collect sensitive information about the user’s home environment, causing a violation of privacy of which the user may not be aware.
The paper by Shvartzshnaider presents a framework to help examine and address such privacy risks. First, VR providers should gather information from stakeholders – like faculty and students – about their privacy expectations and the context within which the tech will be used. Then, providers should consider how VR technology might impact those privacy expectations, and what data is gathered, followed by examining and identifying potential privacy violations of the technology. The last proposed step would see VR companies apply the gathered information to help inform solutions, ensuring the VR technology adheres to privacy expectations and avoids breaches.
Shvartzshnaider’s proposed framework – and work overall in the recently published paper – are part of ongoing efforts to help contribute to global cybersecurity efforts, especially as emergency technologies like VR and artificial intelligence bring with their innovations privacy concerns.
Prof’s new book reveals how a tiny chip can revolutionize health care
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Ebrahim Ghafar-Zadeh, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, has co-written a new book about the innovative realm of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, which has the potential to revolutionize health care.
Ebrahim Ghafar-Zadeh
What if semiconductor chips could do more than just power our computers, smartphones and other devices? What if they could help power our bodies? Ghafar-Zadeh considers that emerging possibility with his latest book.
“The influence of semiconductor technology has extended far beyond its role in developing digital and analog electronics,” explains Ghafar-Zadeh, director of the Lassonde’s Biologically Inspired Sensors & Actuators Laboratory. “It has significantly impacted life science and health by creating sensors and actuators that interact with biological molecules like DNA and living cells.”
In CMOS-Based Sensors and Actuators for Life Science Applications (2023), which was co-authored by two of Ghafar-Zadeh’s team members – Saghi Forouhi, a former PhD student and current research associate; and Tayebeh Azadmousavi, a visiting research scholar – Ghafar-Zadeh explores the world of advanced sensors and actuators (components of a machine that produces force), with each chapter dedicated to spotlighting unique iterations of them that reflect recent breakthroughs.
“I advocate for the inclusion of CMOS sensors in graduate courses, and this book serves as the first step toward achieving this educational goal,” he says. “By recognizing the pivotal role of semiconductor technology, the book explores its contribution to shaping the future of electronic devices across diverse applications.”
The book concludes by addressing challenges and proposing future steps to harness CMOS technology for creating cutting-edge sensors, ultimately contributing to the fight against diseases and enhancing quality of life.
