Alumni and students share top tips for making the most of time in ECE
December 4, 2014
Take risks, be involved and make the most of your time: These were the top three pieces of advice imparted to first-year ECE students by those who have gone before them.
Alumni Richard Medal, Mehrad Mashayekhi and David Li joined second-year student Deep Prasad in a panel discussion on how to make the most of time spent as an undergraduate in ECE. Professor Khoman Phang moderated the conversation, hosted to mark the final lecture of his ECE101 course.
Professor Phang hosted the session in hopes of encouraging first-year students to begin thinking about design, motivation and taking advantage of unique opportunities in U of T Engineering—whether starting a company, improving networking skills, or joining a musical group. He invited the three alumni to speak about the successes, failures and challenges they faced along the way. “Take university as a first step into a lifelong career, not only as an extension of high school,” recommended Professor Phang.
Medal, Mashayekhi and classmate Miad Fard wasted no time after graduating from ECE in 2103. The three had worked together on a fourth-year capstone design project to reinvent analog electronics labs for second-year classes, and their project was recognized with the Gordon R. Slemon Design Award for the most imaginative project coupled with good design and execution. In 2014 the new graduates founded Illuster Technologies Inc. to commercialize their project’s technology.
“You should always have a back-up plan if your company doesn’t succeed,” advised Medal. “Your engineering degree is the best start you can have.” Still based in Toronto, Medal, Mashayekhi and Fard are currently focused on overhauling the way in which electronics experiments are taught in higher education institutions here and around the world. “Don’t treat this course as a course,” added Mashayekhi. “It could end up changing your life.”
David Li, chair of the IEEE University of Toronto student branch, offered the club’s help to students, informing them of the wide range of services, networking opportunities and connections that IEEE can provide.
From the undergraduate perspective, Prasad, a current second-year student in ECE is already busy inventing, testing his ideas and winning awards. Prasad encouraged students to take risks and not to be afraid of failing because experience is what matters the most. “Don’t waste your time, and use every moment you have to be involved in something,” he said. “When you’re out, everything you did counts.”
Reporting and photography by Mireille Khreich
More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca